Weintraub happily signed over the ownership of the British 2000 film library to a company owned by Ronald Douglas, Jr. and an anonymous minority shareholder.
Although it was nearly half less than the peak price when he bought it, it was much higher than the price that was cut off by nearly 90% when it was ordered to be auctioned by the court after bankruptcy.
And this money can support his cash flow. Those bastards at Bank of America, seeing that there was no opportunity to take advantage of his failure, found another reason to continue to give him loans.
Weintraub learned his lesson, regrouped, and found a new bank to balance the risks. Ronald also introduced him to Bannon's foundation to invest in his new film in the form of investment or loan. But there was a condition.
Must be a film project approved by Ronald.
Weintraub learned the hard way and decided to look for a movie about Dragon King that Ronald had filmed to get a chance. He immediately held a press conference and invited Noriyuki Morita, who plays Miyagi-sensei, to announce that he would shoot a movie.
The new Dragon King movie.
Ralph Marzio is already thirty years old, and it is inappropriate to play a young man in any case. So Daniel officially retired from the "Dragon Kid" series and went to college.
Weintraub carefully studied Ronald's film success studies in recent years and found that there was always a very strong female character in his movies, so he also officially announced that the untitled "The Dragon King" will be
A girl will be found to replace Daniel and continue to be trained in Ryukyu Karate by Master Miyagi.
To this end, they will also open an audition to the public to select Daniel's successor...
…
"Weintraub is finally back to normal..." Ronald looked at Weintraub talking about America's need for a female Daniel LaRusso at the press conference, and knew that this guy had finally recovered from the blow.
He came through.
"Look, ABC is broadcasting Julia Roberts' return to Los Angeles..." Diane grabbed the remote control and switched to the scene at Los Angeles Airport.
I saw Julia Roberts wearing big sunglasses, and Jason Patric walked out of the airport with their fingers intertwined. Faced with the swarm of photographers and reporters, the two showed no fear and officially appeared as a couple.
"Let me just say, Kiefer Sutherland must be in the wrong. If the bachelor party involves strippers, he will definitely not show up at the scene..." She was about to run back and start a fight with Demi Moore.
On the phone, the two of them had different opinions on whether there would be two men competing for a woman at the airport.
All of America is talking about this gossip, and young people are automatically divided into two camps, those who support the old love and those who support the new love. Some think that Kiefer Sutherland is not worthy of Julia after "Pretty Woman"
Roberts, who doesn't even have his own house and still has to live in his girlfriend's mansion, the two will score sooner or later.
Some people also think that Julia Roberts didn't want to be with Sutherland, so she deliberately planned the stripper time, and Kiefer was purely a victim...
Under such circumstances, the news that Justice Clarence Thomas successfully passed the Senate by a few votes did not receive such a large space of coverage.
…
"This is the list of actors I want..."
On this day, the Chinese director Wang Ying, whom he hadn't seen for a long time, also came to Ronald's home in Los Angeles. Yang Yanzi brought him in with him. He was preparing for "The Joy Luck Club". It was a movie for an American audience, not a movie like Ang's.
Lee's "promoter" is still mainly Chinese audiences.
Therefore, the importance of casting in the movie The Joy Luck Club is closely linked to the movie's box office success.
First of all, these female characters must have the appearance characteristics of Chinese Americans in the eyes of American audiences, and they must look like Chinese. Secondly, they must also have an understanding of mainstream American culture. After all, this is a film about Americans.
Movies that understand Chinese culture from a different perspective.
Finally, these actors must speak English fluently but with a distinct Chinese accent. Only in this way can the audience be able to immerse themselves in the scene.
In the past few months, Wang Ying's most important thing was casting. He traveled to Broadway and Hollywood, as well as drama students in other parts of the United States, to find suitable candidates.
Ronald took the stack of photos and looked at them. In addition to the familiar Zhou Caiqin and Lu Yan, there were also two Vietnamese actresses, Qiao Zheng and Ruan Yun'e.
"They look very Chinese..." Ronald looked at the two old Vietnamese ladies.
"They are immigrants from South Vietnam and originally of Chinese origin..." Wang Ying explained.
The four mothers who play the roles all have profound Chinese facial features, and their English has also been well tempered. They have been working in theater circles and film festivals for decades, so acting in English is not a problem.
.
"These are the candidates for the four daughters..." Wang Ying handed over four more photos. It was more difficult to find young actresses who met the requirements.
This time, we spent a lot of effort and found some potential newcomers to gather four daughters together. One is Zhao Jialing, a California native. She was the only non-white female graduate of Pomona College where she attended university.
One is Lauren Tom, from Chicago. She is the third generation of Chinese immigrants. She grew up in the Jewish Quarter and is more familiar with American culture than many white actors.
One is Ming-Na Wen. She was born in Macau and later immigrated to her father. Her family ran a restaurant in Pittsburgh. But she is very impressive. She graduated from the Department of Drama at Carnegie Mellon University and was the first Chinese to play a role in a soap opera on the three major wireless stations.
actress.
For the last one, I really couldn’t find a Chinese person who met the requirements, so I had to find one...
"Pfft, isn't this Tomita? She has grown into a big girl now?"
Ronald almost spat out his black tea after taking a sip of it. Is this the same Tomita Tan Ling who played Daniel's fat Japanese girlfriend in "The Dragon King 2"?
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "Do you know her?" Wang Ying was surprised.
"Why don't I know her? I chose her for her first Hollywood role."
Tomita Tan Ling has grown up now, and she doesn't have the cute look of baby fat in the past. She is very well-proportioned and has a feminine look. After she finished filming "The Dragon King 2", she went to UCLA to complete her college studies, so she never got a
More film and television roles.
This time, she couldn't live without drama. She participated in some auditions for TV series before she was discovered by Wang Ying. After the interview, she found that Tomita Tan Ling has a strong sense of camera, her performance is relaxed, and she is not nervous at all. She immediately felt that she had found a treasure.
…I didn’t expect that this was an actress trained by Ronald.
"Very good, who else do you want now?" Ronald saw a lot of audition photos at the back, including Chao Li, and knew how difficult it was to assemble such an all-Chinese team in Hollywood.
So he decided to strongly support the film.
"There are also young versions of the four mothers..."
"That will be difficult. You have found all the Asians in Hollywood who can speak English and can perform..."
"This plot is about the four sisters who have just arrived in America, so they don't need good English..."
"Oh, that's easy. I have an expert here. Just ask him." Ronald called Director Wu and asked him to come to his house for dinner and ask for advice on mainland movies.
"Hey, mainland actresses are very good. A large number of them came to America in the past few years, and they were all the actresses of Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers... However, many of them were influenced by the acting methods of old movies and were stereotyped.
Yes. It may not meet your requirements..."
Director Wu's daughter is now in college. He has an important job entrusted by Ronald. In addition, he has a good income and is living a comfortable life. He has become fat. He is just a film director and the head of a film studio. He has no chance in Hollywood.
It’s still a bit lonely when I’m shooting.
Today I had the opportunity to talk about the film situation in the Mainland, and he became more motivated. He named all the Mainland actresses who have distinguished themselves in their performances in the past few years.
"But my movie is about the older generation of women who came to the United States. They didn't know English when they first came. After their own struggles, they now have children and grandchildren and are living a good life. So it's best for those who have never been to America.
She is an actress who can truly portray the sense of cultural alienation and the strangeness of America..."
Wang Ying attaches great importance to this movie, and he has the idea of making the movie a classic.
"Then you'd better go to Beijing Film Academy and China Theater to choose. The actors there haven't been stereotyped by that kind of acting routine..." Director Wu listened carefully to Wang Ying's ideas, thought for a long time and gave his own suggestions.
"Let me ask Director Huang..." Ronald called Director Huang who was filming "Hi, Frank". When he came back, there were two names written on the note in his hand, Wu Junmei, "Xi Meijuan..."
"Is this the actress who plays Princess Wenxiu in The Last Emperor?" Wang Ying recognized the name, "I've seen her named one of the fifty most beautiful faces in People magazine, and I thought she wouldn't come to take a photo like this.
Movie……"
"It's okay to give it a try. Just say that this is the first Hollywood movie in many years to tell all stories of Chinese Americans. They are both actors that Director Huang has worked with at Xujiahui Studio. There is no need to worry about their abilities."
Ronald asked Yang Yanzi to write down the names of several people and arrange for them to audition. If necessary, he could also invite them in his name.
As for other roles, a trip to the mainland is unavoidable. Ronald also asked Xiao Yan to help contact Xujiahui Studio and two colleges in the far north for this large-scale Chinese story after "The Last Emperor"
Open the door for convenience.
Apart from anything else, Ronald's reputation as the city's foreign special consultant still has some credibility.
"Is this the bamboo mahjong prop you found?"
The Joy Luck Club is the name of the mahjong club established by four women. They encountered various unsatisfactory things after immigrating. In the regular mahjong gatherings, they supported and understood each other, and finally settled down successfully.
Therefore, mahjong is a very important prop in the movie.
"I spent a lot of time and found a lot of mahjong from that year. This is a sample of the props made after referring to many pairs of mahjong..."
"Self-touch... a red hit..." Ronald twisted a mahjong tile with one hand, touched two tiles back and forth on the card with his middle finger, and then turned it over with a snap. Sure enough, it was a red hit...
…
"Director Luo, you are really an expert on Chinese culture. They really found the right person when they asked you to be a foreign expert..." Director Wu laughed loudly, "How about we do some work?"
"A few...am I still afraid of you?"
We agreed to play sixteen rounds, and the loser would put money into the prize pool. After the settlement, we went to a new restaurant in Chinatown to eat Cantonese food. I heard that the master chef was a famous chef from Xiangjiang.
"Three short of one, Wang Ma, Wang Ma, come here, do you know how to play mahjong? Yes, play a few rounds with us, if you win, it's yours, if you lose, I'll pay..."
"Seven loaves..."
"Wait a minute, touch...all the same...you dare to beat me with just one piece of seven cakes..."
Wang Ma happily took the chips in front of Ronald. This boss was smart and kind, but his poker skills were really bad.
Ronald's face turned pale after losing a few games. He wanted to be a big player, but he was pushed down by others and cut off many hands. He quickly lost all his chips.
It happened that Diane walked in and asked, "What kind of game are you playing?"
"Mahjong, it's very fun. Come and touch a few for me. I have to make some phone calls." Ronald quickly briefly popularized the basic knowledge of mahjong. Diane found it very interesting as soon as he heard it, and sat down like a model.
Played the cards decently.
"How is Ovitz's place? What's happening?" Ronald called Niceta. Now they are also paying close attention to what Ovitz will do after losing David Letterman.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "He now wants to sign Spielberg. His Captain Hook crew has been in big trouble in the past two days. Ovitz wants to
Help him solve this problem. If we can succeed, Spielberg will probably have a good impression of him..."
"What's the problem?" Ronald thought to himself. If Spielberg was on his side, the balance of power between the two sides would definitely be unbalanced again. He had to find a way to do this...
"That's the most famous woman in America..."
It turns out that Julia Roberts had a role in "Captain Hook", which was Tinkerbell, an elf girl who finally helped Peter Pan find the courage to find himself...
This character doesn't have many scenes opposite many other characters, most of them are with Robin Williams. In addition, special effects need to be shot with a green screen, so they were concentrated in the last period of filming.
But after Julia Roberts ran away from the wedding and spent some time with the groom's best friend, her mental state became unstable.
On the set, Roberts and Spielberg had big differences. Spielberg was already under a lot of pressure, and the original shooting cycle had been postponed because of Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams.
At three times the original length, it has seriously exceeded the budget.
Now Julia Roberts has to do this too. She has to maintain her own image and slowly adapt to green screen shooting. This is definitely not possible.
But Julia Roberts vowed to refuse to film the remaining scenes, saying that she suffered mental trauma...
"So, you have a good relationship with Steven and Julia, can you go to the set of Captain Hook?" Niceta said.
"Then how much are you willing to pay for Spielberg?"
When Ronald heard that he was asked to be a peacemaker, he thought about whether Niceta and the others were sure to sign Spielberg, otherwise it would be too stupid to be someone else's wedding dress.
"..." Niceta told them their conditions, and they fought hard to prevent Ovitz from succeeding.
"Okay, let me go and take a look. This may not be possible..."
After Ronald finished talking on the phone, he came back to the card table. Luck is a very mysterious thing. It is said that novices have good luck. He must have a strong hand now. He killed the three of them to pieces and showed them to them.
Look at how powerful a mahjong master is.
"Hahaha, red, I touched the same color, give money, give money..." Dai An looked at the card list, confirmed that he had matched a big one, and happily pushed down the card...
Now it was the turn of the three of them to turn pale.
"Hahaha, Ronnie, this game is really interesting. I like playing it very much..." Diane happily counted the chips.
"Director Luo, you are an incredible wife. Big names are even more powerful than you..." The chips that Director Wu just won have almost been returned to Diane.
"Um..." Ronald saw that Diane was happy and he had nothing to do. "It's almost time to go to dinner? Let's take a rest first..."
"Why don't you come back after dinner?" Diane turned around...