"Francis, this is my nomination letter to you. I may not be able to catch up with the opportunity to add stars for the first two times this year, but I am very sure about the third time. On the committee of the Walk of Fame, Columbia Company has several votes, and I voted for them all.
What a hello. Just in time for the release of your 400 Years of Horror at the end of the year."
Ronald took out a letter he had written and handed it to Coppola, who he invited to his home for dinner. Today he was treated to fine Italian food, and the two of them were hosting a family dinner. Although Ronald did not have Coppola
He has the ability to cook by himself, but Diane was also the heroine he favored back then. Coppola, his wife and daughter Sophia were very happy.
"Oh, who am I with?" Francis wiped his mouth. Today's ingredients are obviously imported from Italy, and the chef is also very good. Ronald also opened a few bottles of wine from his own estate that he gave to him back then.
Red wine really gives you face.
"I am going to nominate Roger Corman, but he is no better than you. Many people in Hollywood hate his film philosophy and do not agree that he is a member of Hollywood. I have to do more work, and I may not be able to get a good rating this time.
.”
Ronald sighed, this is still a relatively easy Walk of Fame, but if he wants to get an honorary Oscar for Roger Corman, it will be even more difficult.
"Roger, he deserves to win the award. Hollywood has greatly underestimated his contribution." Coppola agreed. This master of low-cost B-level movies, many people got their Hollywood jobs from him back then.
Where are the tickets?
After the meal, the two drank Ronald's black tea and got down to business.
"This is a good idea of yours, but I can't help with Malone's matter... My relationship with him was completely broken after Apocalypse Now."
It turned out that Ronald asked Coppola for help because he wanted to invite Marlon Brando, who played Don Corleone in "The Godfather", to guest star as a mafia boss in "Sugar-Coated Trap", and it was Tom.
Cruise plays a client whom Mitchell helps avoid taxes.
But after contacting his agent, Brando offered the crew an impossible sky-high price. Ronald also wanted to use the friendship back then to get Coppola to lower the price, but Coppola said that he was also a victim back then.
.
When filming Apocalypse Now, the filming time and salary were agreed upon, but Brando didn't read the script and acted randomly based on instinct. Later, Coppola realized that he just wanted to exceed the agreed time limit in order to get another one.
Millions of overtime pay.
"God……"
Ronald was a little surprised by this kind of behavior. He had only seen the 1990 movie "The Freshman", in which Brando played a comedy version of the godfather image and personally deconstructed the Don...
Corleone. He thought that Brando would be more talkative as he got older, but now it seems that he is still the film industry prodigal who could make more and more money.
"This guy's acting is all based on interest. If the price he offers you is too high, it means he is no longer interested. Is the role the same as his previous one?" Coppola understood Brando's thoughts and explained to Ronald.
Marlon Brando was probably dissatisfied with the script, but if you offered him a big price, he wouldn't refuse.
"What about the supporting characters in The Godfather? What about Sollozzo and Clemenza?"
Ronald respects the casting of "The Godfather" very much. He thinks it may be the best movie casting in Hollywood. The one who threatened and assassinated the godfather can see the internal strife from the words of the godfather and his eldest son.
Sollozzo, the Dragon Crossing the River, the godfather's right-hand man, and the fat Clemenza who still remembers to take pancakes home for his children after killing people, are all actors with unforgettable images.
It is impossible for Brando to agree to blackmail Ronald, so allowing these two to guest star as the two Italian gangster clients is also a clever way of allowing the audience to enter the prescribed situation very quickly.
"Al Lettieri [the actor who played Sollozzo] died of a heart attack at the age of forty-seven, which was too young. He was a John Wayne-level actor... As for Richard Castle
Nora (the actor who played Clemenza), he also died a few years ago from a heart attack, and the producers always made him fatter and fatter."
"Why……"
The plan to touch the "Godfather" was a complete failure. Ronald had to comfort himself that fortunately Robert Duvall was also a member of the Godfather, although he was now bald and many viewers could not recognize him.
…
"Julia, please help me see if there are any actors who look similar to these two people. I want one with a similar temperament. At first glance, he looks like an Italian gangster..."
Ronald didn't give up yet, and came up with a set of B-level movie tricks. If you can't afford a star actor to make a B-level movie, then hire an actor with similar looks and temperament. This is also a trick to a certain extent.
heat……
"Ha, have you seen Scorsese's Goodfellas?" Casting director Julia Taylor laughed as soon as she saw the two photos in The Godfather. She must have been asked similar questions by other producers.
"Huh?" Ronald got up. In Marty Scorsese's previous "Goodfellas", the actor who joked and confronted the protagonist in the bar seemed a bit like Sollozzo, with the same temperament.
The kind of dragon that crosses the river, showing no emotion or anger, tough on the outside, and smart on the inside. And he can change from a calm state to a violent rage at any time, which is very consistent with the appearance of a high-ranking gangster in the audience's mind.
"For Clemenza, you need to look for that fat image that is unique to Italians. It is difficult for other ethnic groups to portray that kind of temperament..."
"You seem to have put a lot of effort into this movie?" In Julia Taylor's eyes, Ronald was still the young photographer who worked for their casting studio. Seeing how devoted Ronald was, she felt very concerned.
.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "I also want to devote myself fully. Look at this adapted script..." Ronald took the script and flipped it. It was obviously better than other scripts.
It was one-third thicker, and the copper nails used to bind the script did not stick out like ordinary scripts.
"This length..." Julia Taylor also understood that a 160-page script is much longer than an ordinary movie. This kind of movie is also a double-edged sword for the director. Once it is filmed, it can earn both fame and fortune.
The industry considers it to be a work that breaks away from ordinary commercial films. If it is not shot well, it will lose money very badly.
"What do you think of the heroine?" Julia Taylor had seen the audition photos of the three actresses. She knew that if Ronald liked it, the heroine would be chosen between the three of them.
"I prefer Robin White, which can save me a lot of things. Bridget Fonda's image is the most suitable, but she needs to be trained slowly. I heard that she does not seem to have inherited the acting skills of her grandfather and aunt..."
This kind of super-long movie really tests the actors' performances, and there are many scenes in the sugar-coated trap that require acting skills. If an actress is not good at acting, it will be really troublesome to shoot.
Julia Taylor put a mark on Robin White's name. She is not the kind of casting director who only caters to the director's preferences. In her eyes, Bridget Fonda seems to be a more suitable candidate.
As for Jane Tripplehorn, if the script is still the original outrageous version, her face that looks like Jacqueline would be more suitable. Women who look like Jacqueline, in America
In the minds of the audience, he is the kind of person who is relatively smart. I am afraid that he will take advantage of her husband Mitchell's cheating and take advantage of him. It will not be so easy for him to return to Boston and live an ordinary life.
"Very good, we will start auditioning according to this schedule, and there will be various supporting roles. This is a big project no less than that of The Godfather."
"Yeah, I won't see you off, Julia, I have guests from across the ocean, sorry."
…
The guest Ronald was talking about was Deputy Director Fei, whom he met there not long ago. As expected, his speech at the banquet last time had something to say, and he came again this time.
This time he came with a large delegation. He mainly came to visit friendly Chinese people in the literary and art circles. He didn't go directly to Washington, DC. Ronald was the first person he visited in Hollywood.
"You're neglecting me, Deputy Director Fei. We, the capitalists in Hollywood, actually work very hard. You see, we have to work at home on weekends. We are so busy."
"Director Luo is joking..." Deputy Director Fei still called him Director Luo, just like the mainland filmmakers.
He came to Hollywood this time and brought good news to Ronald. His Daydream has been specially approved as the first Hollywood production company that can negotiate a split agreement with China Film. This is Ronald's consistent friendship.
A kind of reward for Hua's actions.
Of course, they also want to learn more about the inside story of Hollywood from Ronald. If they can help rehabilitate this major matter that the leaders are particularly concerned about, it will be considered a great achievement.
"You want to know who to talk to in Hollywood? I'm afraid those big studios are no longer as interested in the mainland film market as they were ten years ago."
Ronald also told the truth that the number of TV sets there has grown rapidly in recent years. It is said that several color TV production lines have also been introduced. His leather goods company that supplies TV series to the TV station in Xujiahui has recently done a lot of business.
It is doing well, which shows that the mainland's TV market is developing at an alarming rate.
Similar to when Hollywood was beaten to a pulp by television stations, the mainland market is also experiencing the same thing now. The decline in movie box office compared to a few years ago is very alarming.
Under such circumstances, it is not very easy to get the seven major studios to be interested.
"I don't know. Which one does Director Luo think is more likely?" Deputy Director Fei took the initiative to ask Ronald, asking him which major studio is more likely to achieve breakthroughs and cooperation first?
"I suggest you look for MGM and Columbia. During World War II, MGM made a series of films that reflected the heroic resistance of the Chinese people against Japan. Katharine Hepburn also played a Chinese girl.
Columbia is now acquired by Japan, and they will have more experience in dealing with the mainland than other major studios."
Ronald did not hide his secrets. According to his own understanding, he told some major studios that might cooperate with China Film and gave them some guidance on who they should look for to move forward faster. Then they can designate those companies.
Talk to executives who are friendly to China, such as Mike Medavoy of TriStar Pictures, who can also gossip about Songhay.
"Before I came, I asked some teachers from the Chinese Theater Company. They said that Warner Bros. has recently made a lot of films that reflect Chinese people. I wonder if they are also suitable?" Before Deputy Director Fei came, he asked his secretary to ask the people from the Chinese Theater Company.
I wrote a report that those studios like to make Chinese stories.
"Hey, you have to look for those movies yourself. I can't comment. I can only say that not all movies about Chinese people are friendly to China. Maybe in some movies, the image of Chinese people has been deliberately distorted...
…”
As soon as Ronald heard this, he knew that he was talking about movies like Chinatown and Year of the Dragon with Chinese-American protagonists. They were either bad guys or gangsters, and there were no positive images. Of course, these movies could not be dubbed into Chinese versions, so this
It's normal that the deputy director doesn't understand.
"Thank you, Director Luo, for your great assistance..." Although Deputy Director Fei didn't fully understand what Ronald meant, such a statement made him vaguely feel that it might not be a good word.
The visit ended here, and their literary and artistic front could not help much, they could only play a side role. Deputy Director Fei planned to leave.
"Stay and eat, my wife has prepared the meal..." Ronald thought to himself, how could any Chinese come to his home as a guest and not eat.
"Then it's better to be respectful than to obey..." Someone invited me to dinner, and it was official business. I had reported... and the whole group was very happy.
"Please wait a moment, I have something to discuss here..." Ronald stood up and left.
"Hey, what kind of delicious food do these Hollywood capitalists eat?" the translator and assistant began to joke.
"If you don't understand, Director Luo is a lover of Chinese culture. Didn't you see that there is a garden here?"
"Is this a garden? It seems like a Japanese dry landscape, right?"
Anyway, Ronald's family was full of ideas and had a little bit of everything. The young people started to argue.
"Hey, look, who does Director Luo's guest look like?"
Suddenly, Deputy Director Fei's confidant secretary pointed out his hand. From the garden, Ronald and a white man were walking towards another house. They looked a bit familiar.
"Isn't it a bit similar?" Deputy Director Fei was unsure, and suddenly felt hot in his heart.
…
"How's it going, George? How's the scenery in Beverly? Is it better than the scenery you have in Texas?"
The guest Ronald received was little George. He suddenly appeared in Hollywood, got off the plane and went straight to Ronald's house.
"My mother Barbara is very unhappy. I came to check something for her..."