Chapter 670: Cutting through the mess quickly to determine the direction of the project
The script of "Two-Way Mirror" cannot be said to be good-looking. On the whole, it is actually suitable for small-scale screenings. It brought in European pre-sales funds and finally asked Barbra Streisand, the highest-paid among the main creative staff, to reduce the fixed salary, increase the share ratio, and other methods.
to reduce risk.
In this sense, Ovitz actually did nothing wrong. Moreover, he was quite kind to Barbra Streisand and gave her a high fixed salary. After Ronald took over, he discovered that Streisand was famous in Europe.
There is simply no way to sign the pre-sale payment for many copies.
But Ovitz has been in the position of president of CAA for too long, with a mentality of taking care of all parties and brokering deals. His personal wealth and status in the industry make him a little bit intolerable to swallow the excessive demands of these stars.
, so he verbally "offended" Barbra Streisand's age...that is, he told her the truth.
Barbra Streisand always wants to compare with Robert Redford, and wants to be on par with this contemporary male star in terms of salary and awards. However, the gap between the two is not entirely due to gender differences.
Physical appeal to the audience is also an important factor.
In the end, Barbra Streisand paid a heavy price for her self-esteem. She agreed to reduce her director's salary and convert most of it into gross profit sharing after box office profits. She ranked first in the sharing list and guaranteed that as long as
If the movie can make a profit, she will be the first to share it.
As for the script that Barbra Streisand brought, Ronald also tested it. It did not match the "fingerprint" of the target printer. The inspector from Connecticut had also completed the test.
None of the documents in Daydream were found to be consistent. This made Ronald doubtful of his guess.
However, one should not be impatient about this kind of thing. Ronald suppressed his irritation and gave the inspector a large bonus, agreeing that if there were still more things to be tested in the future, they would be sent to the university where he works...
The script of "Two-Way Mirror" passed the script review of Ronald Daydream Pictures. However, Ronald did not have the idea of sole proprietorship of development. He found the person who has the most ideas for this kind of niche film in Hollywood.
At TriStar Pictures, Medavoy has no intention of competing for the new president of Sony Columbia, but his favorite production job has made him interested.
Unlike Ronald, Medavoy regarded the film as his career, so he was very interested in it. He held meetings with Ronald and Barbra Streisand one after another to discuss the film.
The script has been modified to better suit the audience's taste...
After Ronald went there twice, he was no longer interested in participating. He simply gave up the control of the film to Medavoy and asked him to slowly convince Barbra Streisand about the marital conflicts in the film.
The mother-daughter conflict and sister conflict have been modified to be more in line with public tastes.
From this incident, it can be seen that a star like Barbra Streisand is actually just more famous in the industry. She has little ability to compete with the studio executives who really have the power to decide the project.
Of chips.
In other words, no matter how good a script she is, the studio executives who represent the market will make revisions based on their feedback on the market. Moreover, in the arguments between the two parties, she often cannot convince the other party because Medawar
Yi's grasp of market tastes is better than hers.
In a similar situation to this, a real big star like Tom Cruise won repeatedly in the game with Paramount's executives, and he was the one who won the "Mission Impossible" script and
Regarding the scenario, most of the opinions put forward were adopted.
Paula Wagner held meetings with Paramount producers for several months, and finally, at Ronald's reminder, Brian De Palma was selected as the director. The famous screenwriter David Co. was hired.
Epp came to revise the script.
David Koep had done a lot of screenwriting work on Spielberg's "Jurassic Park," but Tom Cruise wasn't happy with his ideas.
What Cruise wants is to highlight his performance as the most important star who is undoubtedly the most important star, and to make every scene and every action reflect his handsomeness. But David Koep still thinks of a traditional screenwriter and wants to
You want the movie to have a continuation and transition, with some moments of tension and other moments of relaxation.
At this time, director Brian De Palma, who supported David Coep, did not have any confidence himself. He originally got the director's position only after Tom Cruise approved it.
The differences between the two parties were so great that Paramount was involved in whether or not to green light the film.
Because the two sides have different fundamental concepts, they are basically in a state of you and me. As one of the screenwriters of the highest-grossing movie Jurassic Park in history, David Koep still has some people at Paramount who are critical of him.
I am rather superstitious and think I should listen to him.
At this time, Paramount Pictures CEO Shirley Lansing should come out and make the final decision. But Shirley Lansing is a human being after all. She knows that behind David Koep is Spielberg, and Tom
Not to mention Cruise, Ronald is standing behind him. No matter who she decides is more reasonable in this matter, there is a risk of offending the two big bosses that she cannot afford to offend.
Therefore, having made a good start with good interpersonal relationships and obtained an important position at Paramount, she used Tai Chi to push her hand and threw the problem to Ronald.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with her nominal reasons. Who is right when Shirley Lansing said to Ronald that she didn’t even know the movie was adapted from the TV series? Tom Cruise has his
It makes sense, after all, he is the only international superstar who can ignore Cinema Score and single-handedly boost the box office.
And what David Koep said is not necessarily wrong. Jurassic Park, which he overhauled after taking over, is now regarded as a "standard script" by the Hollywood industry. With a large-scale production of more than 50 million, everyone wants to make it.
The structure of this script is close to the direction so as not to lose money.
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! Of course Ronald knows what she really thinks, but of course he is on the side of Tom Cruise. This kind of movie is essentially old-fashioned Hollywood
The movie is about something more bizarre and thrilling than real life. It is not a new-school movie like Jurassic Park, except for the big dinosaurs, the story and characters should be as close to real life as possible.
Because the "Mission Impossible" in the old version of the TV series is a fake narrative. Anyway, everyone knows that you are making it up. What kind of disguise and headgear will make the other party think you are another person? A strongman can carry it with one hand.
An adult woman hiding in a suitcase walks like flying...
What the audience wants is not a reliable story that makes sense logically, but to constantly give them new stimulation to make them forget how unreasonable and ridiculous the previous plot was.
Therefore, under the constraints of this plot mode, the most important thing is not the reasonableness of the story, but to make Tom Cruise look handsome in various situations...
Ronald first called Spielberg and informed him of his thoughts and decisions. In fact, Spielberg did not attach so much importance to David Koep's screenwriting ability, and Ronald also called to inform him in advance.
The etiquette was impeccable. He immediately said that this matter should be Ronald's sole decision...
The second person to contact was Gale Heard, Cameron’s ex-wife. This old friend fell in love with Brian De Palma at first sight a few years ago, and then got married. After the marriage, they gave birth to a daughter, and then they married Cara.
Mellon's old plot unfolded, the two became estranged due to the gap between having children, De Palma fell in love with another person, the two divorced, and Gale Heard gained the title of the ex-wife of a famous Hollywood director, and many more
received an alimony.
However, as a female producer, Gale Heard is still different from the ex-wives of female celebrities who are directors. After the divorce, she still maintained a certain degree of contact with her two ex-husbands, and sometimes talked on the phone.
Let’s talk about work.
So Ronald also bluntly told Gail that she might lose a large amount of alimony. After Gail understood what was going on and laughed, she agreed to send the message to Brian De.
Parma.
After De Palma's star-studded directorial effort "Flame of the Vanity" bombed at the box office, there was no way he could survive another commercial failure, let alone being fired from the director's chair.
Brian De Palma, after receiving the news, immediately gave in and called Ronald, saying that he was definitely on the side of the producers and Tom Cruise and understood that the key to the project was the star, not a screenwriter.
After settling the interests of all parties, Ronald also went to Paramount's office to be the one to announce the decision.
"The project will start shooting in three months. We can't afford such modifications. Tom, I'm pretty sure that the movie still needs a classic story..."
As soon as he entered the conference room, Ronald heard David Koep still acting like a mentor. He spoke as if he was really the decisive factor in the success of Jurassic Park.
"I don't want to be rude, but we have to increase the protagonist's role. We have to do some scenes that the audience has never seen. For example, put more than ten tons of explosives, blow up a huge aquarium, and the protagonist escapes the bad guys and the enemy on land.
A shared attack by sharks…”
Tom Cruise just emphasized his own thoughts. Today, action movies can no longer attract audiences just by knocking down the enemy with one punch in some old TV series. All kinds of never-before-seen scenes have to be added.
I have seen scenes that I have never even imagined.
As for the action scenes, just punching, kicking and shooting enemies has reached its bottleneck. The previous scene of Schwarzenegger holding a Gatling gun and firing has reached the limit of firearms. Now no one can imitate him.
The machine gun that was originally on the armed helicopter was unlikely to be surpassed by anyone in the future, raising a howitzer or something like that.
Therefore, we have to go in new directions. For example, Tom Cruise has several crazy ideas, such as hanging upside down from the ceiling with a rope and stealing spy lists in the heavily guarded CIA headquarters.
As for the various bizarre ways of death that are indispensable in such spy movies, Tom Cruise is also planning to play some big ones, such as being squeezed to death in an elevator, being blown up to the sky in a car, and being killed on a bridge.
Pedestrians passing by were killed with a knife and fell into the river without any bones left...
David Coep had a bad look on his face when he heard this. Stars are so boring and shameless. They only think about how good the scene in which they appear is, and never think about the whole movie.
"Tom, I've said it many times..." He also wanted to refute some of Tom Cruise's ideas at the meeting, which made the staff next to him grimace. Today might be another wasted day.
"David..." Ronald spoke up to attract his attention, "You're right, we only have less than three months to start shooting, and Tom's schedule is very tight (he will also be filming Sweetheart with Diane later)
Sir), Brian also needs to do preliminary inspections, so it was decided..."
Ronald pointed at Brian De Palma, and the other person took out his notes, opened them, and began to talk about his ideas for various filming locations. In addition to various thrilling action scenes, this movie also has
There are scenery from all over the world, making the audience's eyes full of ice cream. Anyway, the story is very ridiculous. The most powerful spy agency in the world is not the CIA in America, nor the KGB, but the IMF that no one has ever heard of...
"What?" David Koep was put aside for a moment, and he had to open his mouth to get the topic back on track.
Ronald turned his head and looked at him with sharp eyes, causing David Koep to stop talking.
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! "I think you are confused about the situation now, David. You are fired, you go to your agent, Paramount will settle the fee with you
, all your creativity and modifications to the script will be bought out, and it has nothing to do with you whether you use it or not."
Ronald also pointed to the door and quickly solved the problem.
After David Koep left in despair, Ronald whistled, and the assistant came in with another man.
"Introduction, this is Robert Towne, who will take over from David Koep."
The screenwriter Ronald hired originally wrote a script for Roger Corman, and he was very familiar with this screenwriting model that focuses on stars and changes the plot at any time. The Chinatown he wrote later was also made into an award-winning film.
, and later collaborated with Tom Cruise in Thunderbolts, and the two had a good relationship.
If you come to him, you can get started quickly and understand what Tom Cruise needs.
Sure enough, Ronald's decision was very effective. Soon, there was a tacit understanding between the director, screenwriter and the big stars, and there were some substantive discussions about which cities to shoot in and which thrilling scenes to arrange.
Of course, there are still some disagreements between them, but now at least everyone is constructive compared to David Koep's original statement that stopped the discussion from continuing.
As an arbiter, Ronald also made many difficult decisions for them. For example, it was confirmed that the film would be shot in London. Ronald would coordinate the filming of Big Ben, Charles Bridge, the National Museum and the Old Town Square.
In the final scene on the high-speed train TGV, Ronald also found a way to communicate with the TGV operator.
For these big scenes and big productions, Ronald agreed with Tom Cruise's opinion. After all, he was the one doing these stunts, not the director. He should be the one who knows best what effect he wants to achieve.
Of course, there is one thing that Ronald supports De Palma, and that is that the opening scene will be shot in Prague. De Palma said that Prague does not appear many times in Hollywood movies, and the old-fashioned European urban buildings will make it more popular.
The audience has an immersive feeling and quickly becomes involved in the movie.
Tom Cruise still wanted to shoot this scene in New York or Paris, but was persuaded by Ronald. This was a mise-en-scène, not a thrilling action scene, and the director’s experience was much more important.
Of course, the real reason is that shooting in Prague can save a lot of money and get funding from the Czech government.
After two hours, the production meeting chaired by Ronald achieved more results than in the past few weeks. Afterwards, De Palma went back to Europe to view scenes, and Tom Cruise did specific exercises to achieve those thrilling scenes.
Movement ability. For example, maintaining body balance with a rope tied around the waist is not as easy as imagined and requires professional coaching.
After clarifying the direction of the film project, Ronald wanted to treat everyone to dinner. However, Shirley Lansing appeared in the conference room at the right time, stopped Ronald, and expressed that she wanted to ask him to talk specifically.
"Mr. Redstone wants to see you, Ronald." Shirley Lansing told Ronald the true reason for her visit after sending the creatives off.
"I just want to talk to him..." Ronald thought to himself. After Paramount was acquired by Viacom, the stock price has been stagnant. I still have a lot of stocks to sell.