Chapter 558: How to return to the historical scene
"Gagaga, Ronald and I have known each other for a long time. At the Montreal Film Festival, my film went to the festival, and he bought the film as a buyer. At that time, we admired each other very much.
I admired his keen sense for movies, and he appreciated my dedication to movies. Later, when I had a break-dancing project, he was the first one I thought of. I produced it, and the first one grossed over 100% at the box office.
Billions of movies.
After this, everything will be familiar history to you..."
"Minahan and I have known each other for a long time, and I admire his endless enthusiasm for low- to medium-cost entertainment films and his deep experience in overseas market distribution. This is the perfect combination for Daydream and 21st Century Pictures."
The beginning is also a testimony of the personal friendship between the two of us."
"Ronald, Minahan, want to take a group photo?"
"OK……"
Surrounded by reporters, Ronald affectionately hugged Minahan Golan, and the two posed in a very special position in front of the background of the launch posters of the two movies "Mortal Kombat" and "Forrest Gump"
Proper posture.
Finally, Daydream officially obtained the legal rights to film Forrest Gump through a cooperation deal with Minahan Golan's 21st Century Pictures.
Theoretically, this movie was co-produced by 21st Century and Daydream, but the vast majority of the entire proceeds went to Ronald's company. What Ronald exchanged for was the overseas production of "Mortal Kombat"
Issuance rights, capital injection as Minahan deems appropriate.
Such an agreement avoids many legal problems. It is also difficult for Warner Bros. and Winston Groom, the original author of the novel, to find flaws in the contract. They really want to prevent Ronald from filming this movie.
, the effort required may be more troublesome than shooting a big production by yourself.
…
However, Warner Bros. did not want to just let it go. They began to use some connections in the industry to spread the word in the media and private conversations that the box office prospects of this movie were poor, because "Rain Man" a few years ago had exhausted all similar themes.
The statement of potential.
Considering that Warner Bros. did exchange the filming rights for this movie with Shirley Lansing after he took over as CEO of Paramount, this statement has been recognized by some people in the industry. Some people are targeting Ronald this time.
Speculations began to circulate as to whether it would finally fail.
Of course, no one said this kind of rumor in front of Ronald so shamelessly. He was busy working with various heroes in Hollywood and the television industry to resolve copyright issues.
In the Forrest Gump movie, there are many historical figures, and historical TV programs appear. These require the consent of the copyright owner. Some people are easier to talk to, and some people are more difficult to talk to. When you encounter problems, you have to ask Rona
De took action personally and went to talk.
"Mr. Dick Cavett, it's a pleasure to meet you. I am your loyal audience. I have watched the tapes of your talk show series where you interview famous directors over and over again."
"Ah, those were the good old days. At that time, TV audiences were still interested in listening to me interview some directors about such serious professions..."
Dick Cavett is a talk show host whose ratings were once second only to the recently retired Johnny Carson. Like Johnny Carson and David Letterman, he used gags and late-night talk shows to tell humorous jokes.
The show was different, a Dick Cavett talk show, with some serious atmosphere from the golden age of television.
He has many interview series, such as boxers, musicians, directors, politicians, and athletes. The content of the talks is more profound than Johnny Carson, and there is also humor. However, this kind of serious talk show is still
No match for the vulgar and funny Johnny Carson.
After entering the mid-1980s, the ratings of the talk show named after Dick Cavett continued to decline, and finally it was impossible to compete with Johnny Carson in prime time.
His show was moved from PBS to a smaller Olympia TV network, and then it could only be broadcast on ABC's late night slot for two episodes a week. After entering the 1990s, it was moved to a larger audience.
There are fewer, but more expensive cable TV channels like CNBC.
There, his program became a non-resident program. If there was a hot topic, he would be invited to come out to interview and make an album. When there was no hot topic, he would often just squeeze in every opportunity. It can be said that he was semi-retired to a certain extent.
status.
Ronald invited him here this time because he had a very important supporting role that needed his cooperation.
Because according to the plot, during the Vietnam War, Forrest Gump went on the Dick Cavett Show and appeared on the show with the famous music superstar and Beatles lead singer John Lennon.
It was September 1971. John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono appeared on the show together. At that time, Yoko Ono's reputation was not very good because she was responsible for breaking up the Beatles. The Beatles
Her fans hated her so much that they nicknamed her the Dragon Lady.
What Ronald has to do is to grab some clips of John Lennon from this interview, then replace Yoko Ono's position with Forrest Gump, and finally let Dick Cavett once again host this interview that never happened.
Interview, complete the scene of Forrest Gump witnessing history.
"Oh, I was so young at that time..." Dick Cavett happily agreed to Ronald's invitation. He generously provided the copyright for the program, but it also came with a requirement, that is, when the movie is released,
Inviting Ronald to his show with the show's creator, he also wanted to revisit that in-depth interview.
Of course, Ronald happily agreed, and Dick Cavett also asked some questions. For example, how to implement this interview, how to insert a virtual character into the real environment, and how he could return to that young age.
of oneself.
"We have tried many methods and done many experiments. This interview, in general, will probably be re-shot. We will restore your studio at that time, you are still sitting in your seat, our dressing room
It will make you look twenty years younger. In the middle is our actor who plays Forrest Gump, answering your questions. John Lennon on the far left needs a special effect to let him change his lines at the time and say what we want
I want the effect he said."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "Oh, this sounds very interesting. Can you also use a special effect to make me really twenty years younger?"
"Hahaha, maybe there will be such a method in the future, Mr. Cavett, but now we mainly rely on makeup and special effects."
Dick Cavett also visited the Daydream History Gallery, where there are many B-movies that have done well at the box office. Dick Cavett himself still likes Oscar-winning movies and only exposes the corruption of money for "other people's money"
I was very interested in this movie of Power and took some photos.
"Thank you, Mr. Cavett." Finally, after the other party signed a cooperation agreement and transferred the copyright for the adaptation of that program, Ronald shook hands with him.
"Thank you too. Now I actually don't have many programs worth doing..."
The two laughed, and Ronald asked him to try on the makeup to see how convincing he was of making him look twenty years younger.
"Ms. Yoko Ono is a difficult person..." Dick Cavett, who was very satisfied with the makeup effect, reminded Ronald before leaving.
"It's okay, that's why I don't let her in the camera..."
Ronald smiled secretly in his heart. It seemed that the attitude of Yoko Ono during the interview made the host remember it today. At that time, Lennon tried his best to protect his wife, but it can also be seen that the host and the audience had a negative attitude towards Yoko Ono.
Hostility. In addition to dissatisfaction with the dissolution of the Beatles, there is also a hint of racial discrimination. Why did Lennon, who was famous among hippies at that time, be fucked by a thin Japanese woman?
One is done, and there are twenty-five more to go.
Ronald looked at the long list of names on the list. It is not easy to make such a movie that faithfully reflects history.
For example, he also has to communicate with Michael Jackson, who owned John Lennon's records during the Beatles period, and David Geffen, who owned the rights after his solo career. The former is easy to deal with because he happens to live in a real estate developer's house.
In the big house, I heard it was just one or two lines and I quickly agreed.
David Geffen is in more trouble. He is currently working hard to find a way to allow Commander-in-Chief William to pass his bill to cancel the discriminatory bill against people with different orientations in the military. Ronald's few lines of dialogue are
The lyrics taken from Lennon's famous song "Imagine" after his solo career required his permission.
Finally, after agreeing to let a lobbying firm he knew well in DC take over Geffen's order in lobbying for a bill to eliminate discrimination, Ronald also obtained the right to use the song.
Similarly, David Geffen also reminded Ronald not to mess with Yoko Ono. It seems that he is also well aware of this woman's ability to cause trouble. The two reached an agreement to use this interview video and the lyrics of a song
I have asked Lennon's widow Ono for her permission, so I won't go into details. Anyway, this Japanese woman is not too interested in Lennon's songs, except for things that can generate profits.
Next, two major categories of authorizations need to be completed.
One category is the right to use historical images of historical celebrities, including former generals, JFK, Richard, Lyndon Johnson, etc.
In addition to the commander-in-chief, there was also the governor of Arkansas at that time, who prevented blacks and whites from going to the same college. These videos can be used directly from newsreels without adapting the dialogues of those characters to obtain permission for use.
But Forrest Gump modified the historical details, put Forrest Gump in, and also modified some dialogues or lines with the meaning of laughter at the time (mostly Forrest Gump was stupid and made the other party laugh), and also
With the consent of the descendants of these people.
To this end, Ronald also wrote to the memorial libraries of these former commanders through his relationship with George Sr. to seek permission. George Sr. was also a retired commander, so he guaranteed to endorse Ronald, and nothing would happen.
It was such an inappropriate thing that Ronald quickly obtained permission from the Memorial Library of three former commanders to modify the historical images.
However, permission to modify historical images of celebrities was rejected by a well-known civil rights leader.
This is the foundation controlled by the descendant of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the representative of black civil rights.
"I am speaking for them and turning Dr. King into a figure who adapts American history. Why would they refuse?"
Ronald was puzzled. This plot was actually very much on Dr. King's side. At the beginning, A-Gump learned that Jenny was admitted to college, and then he also wanted to go to college with her. On the way home, he met Martin.
Luther King's Civil Rights Movement Protests.
Historically, Arkansas was a very conservative slave state. There was segregation discrimination until the 1950s and 1960s. During this protest, the white state government also used many police dogs to intimidate Dr. King and prevent them from completing the task.
protest activity.
Forrest Gump recognized the police dogs. They turned out to be the grown-up puppies he had played with when he was a child. He happily picked up a branch and played a game of throwing the branch and then picking it back up with the police dogs.
The three dogs that originally rushed towards Martin Luther King recognized the grown-up Forrest Gump and happily played a game they had not played with him for a long time. Finally, Forrest Gump went over to explain to Dr. King that these were just
"Dogs", they are not sensible.
This plot of using dogs as a metaphor for those conservative and uncivilized white governments was actually felt by Dr. King's descendants to be insidious and offensive to them.
Sometimes Ronald doesn’t understand what these people’s thinking is like. Maybe white people in mainstream society don’t understand the various sufferings those black people suffered during apartheid? Maybe there were really police dogs at that time.
Black people may have caused the tragedy?
For this reason, Ronald found Spike Lee, the old banger, and asked him to communicate and ask Dr. King if he was dissatisfied with this plot. Anyway, all Spike Lee's works are
Those who advocate for the rights of black people are considered one of their own, and he may be able to come up with some words.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! The last filming permit involving celebrities is from China on the other side of the Pacific. Ronald was a counselor who won domestic awards for panda diplomacy and most-favored-nation status issues.
Sir, he expressed his desire to go to China for filming.
The word that came back was that this period of ping-pong diplomacy is an important page in the history of the two countries. We don’t want any distortion or possible misunderstanding, so we asked Ronald to submit the relevant script for review by the other side before making a decision.
.
After all, Ronald is a Hollywood director, and he cannot agree to such a request for script review. Otherwise, if it is leaked, it will cause strong protests from the Screenwriters Guild and the Producers Guild, which would be unsightly at the time.
Ronald then asked his friends for help, asking them if they could provide some historical photos and news documentaries of the time. In this way, he obtained the images of the American table tennis delegation's visit to China through private channels, and tried his best to make a production based on this.
Re-creation ensures that images that are too far removed from history will not appear.
In this way, no one breaks each other's industry regulations, and when the time comes for the film to apply for distribution in China, there won't be any problems.
In addition to this type of image license, another major category is the commercial use of magazines, newspapers, and television stations. Ronald's "Forrest Gump" contains many famous moments in history.
Therefore, he had to write to Time Magazine, Fortune Magazine, Runner's World, and the National Enquirer Magazine, the Watergate Hotel, South Carolina State Parks, the Department of the Interior, the National Park Service, etc. to obtain a series of filming permissions.
Fortunately, these places often receive filming permits for similar movies, and colleagues at Daydream Company can handle them very well.
"The next thing is these trademark brands..."
There are many trademarks in the movie, such as the running shoes worn by Forrest Gump, the box of chocolate candies he gave to Jenny, and the Coca-Cola in the White House when he drank too much and had to go to the bathroom and even stayed in the Watergate Hotel, all of which can be released to companies in the industry.
Information, do a process similar to bidding.
This also adds a lot to the film’s shooting budget.
Just as they were talking about budget matters, Ronald received another call from Shirley Lansing. There were some problems with the film's shooting budget.