Helen Slater was very happy. Although she did not pass the preliminary audition for the heroine in Leon's new film, she had a great time in Los Angeles. Especially with Ronald accompanying her from time to time, she visited scenic spots and enjoyed delicious food.
It wasn't until her father called twice to urge her that she bought a plane ticket to return to New York to star in an ABC TV series.
Gerald arranged for his daughter to be the heroine in an episode of the evergreen drama "ABC After School Special". This is a unit drama, each episode has an independent plot and is starred by young actors, for children after school to watch.
"Which episode will you appear in?" Ronald asked Helen at the departure gate of the airport.
"I still have to audition." Helen, still wearing a turtleneck sweater and a black woolen coat, said to Ronald with a smile.
"Gerald will arrange it for you." Ronald wrapped his two big hands around Helen's small hand, seizing the last bit of time together.
"In the female version of 'It's a Wonderful Life', I play a girl who meets an angel. Only after the angel helps me can I grow wings." Helen shrank her head and neck and retracted into the raised collar of her woolen coat, feeling a little embarrassed.
I got the role because of my father's relationship.
"Oh, will ABC show your TV series every Christmas Eve in the future?"
"Hehe..." Helen was amused by Ronald. "It's a Wonderful Life" is a movie about the story of Christmas Eve, directed by Frank Capra and starring James Stewart.
The RKO company that produced it later went bankrupt, and Universal Pictures, which took over the copyright of the film, forgot to register the copyright renewal for the film. So every Christmas Eve, the TV station would show the film for free. Over the past few decades, that year
A box-office failure that turned out to be the most famous Christmas movie.
"Flights to New York will be closed for check-in..."
"I have to go, bye!" Helen took her hands out of Ronald's hands and covered Ronald's face. Seeing that his face was a little deformed by her hands, Helen felt inexplicably happy.
He gave Ronald a quick kiss on the lips, then took the package and walked to the cabin.
Ronald waited until Helen's plane took off before turning around and walking out of the airport. Such a normal date seemed abnormal to him in the film industry. Ronald couldn't suppress the smile on his face and went back
Coppola's studio.
"This is impossible. You promised to give me the right to decide on the casting of the movie. You should see the audition videos of the actors I selected."
"Of course we respect your decision, Mr. Coppola. But we are responsible for the final quality of the film. The executive producer is worried that the actors in the film are not well-known enough to attract enough audiences into the cinema."
"The producers of 'The Godfather' were also worried about this. When that movie was shot, there were no famous stars... You also know the result."
Before he entered, Ronald heard Coppola's loud retort coming from inside the wooden partition.
"What's going on?" Ronald asked the trainee girl who was eavesdropping at the door in a low voice.
"Warner Bros., the executive producer in charge of this movie, was not very satisfied with Mr. Coppola's casting decision. He wanted to have more popular stars in "The Kid", such as Brooke Shields. So he sent people to put pressure on it.
It's a story set in a small country town in the 1960s, and they thought young people today wouldn't be interested in a small-town Italian gang drama."
The trainee girl quietly told Ronald what she knew.
"Will Coppola compromise?" Ronald asked.
"Why compromise? This is an artistic decision. He is the director who made 'The Godfather', and we should trust his artistic vision."
The trainee girl looked Ronald up and down, as if she didn't believe he would say such a thing and did not support Coppola's casting decision.
"Well, he is one of the best directors in Hollywood. He can make genre films like the author's films, with an overall sense of beauty." Ronald replied.
However, he felt that Warner's executives were right to be worried about the subject matter. Even though readers of Hinton's novels would support such a movie.
However, the number of novel readers was still an absolute minority in America in the 20th century compared to film and television dramas. In order to recoup its costs, "The Kid" must attract audiences who have never read the novel.
But most moviegoers who haven't read the novel are still torn between whether they can appreciate this kind of movie.
Although the movie itself has all the elements that made "The Godfather" a hit: adaptation of the best-selling novel, Coppola's direction, a gang story, and a group of young and talented actors.
But times have changed, and so have the audiences.
Coppola is not the same Coppola who the production company paid more than 10 million U.S. dollars to make "The Godfather Part 2" and did whatever they wanted.
Coppola refused to compromise and suspended the work of the "The Kid" crew. The art director who had planned to go to Tulsa, Oklahoma, also canceled his air ticket. The selected actors were notified that the filming might be postponed.
The executive producers of Warner Bros. are not willing to compromise. After all, this is an investment of 10 million US dollars. It is the first project of the new president. It is used to establish prestige within the company. It is only allowed to succeed and not fail. They are allowed to succeed.
Insisted on a popular teen star, preferably Brooke Shields.
The casting matter suddenly reached a deadlock.
Ronald had no choice but to watch movies and scripts at home every day to hone his skills. At the same time, he waited for either Coppola or Warner to give in first.
The ballots for the 54th Oscars have been mailed to Ronald. He began to vote for Henry Fonda and others.
There is one more award this year than last year. Because last year, David Lynch's "The Elephant Man" failed to win any of the eight nominations, which caused a lot of controversy. The American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences therefore added an additional award.
Best Makeup Award to quell the controversy.
However, although David Lynch's "The Elephant Man" has magical makeup, this year's awards cannot give him a replacement award for last year. Lynch's movies still maintain the record of eight out of eight nominations.
After voting for the "Golden Pond" crew, Ronald sealed the envelope and mailed it to the academy. There, PricewaterhouseCoopers will secretly count the votes and not deliver them to the awards show until the day of the awards, ensuring that
Impartiality and confidentiality.
"Ronald."
Ronald had just thrown the letter to the hotel front desk when he heard someone calling his name.
"Ronald, great, you're here. Something happened to Jim."
Ronald's old friend in the New World, Gale Hurd, hurried into the hotel lobby and stopped him.
"What's wrong? Speak slowly. What happened to Cameron?"
"I received an international call last night from Rome, Italy. The signal was very poor, but I'm sure it was Jim's voice. He seemed to be seriously ill and called me for help."
"Could there be a mistake? He went to Rome to complete the post-production work of 'Piranha 2'. Besides, if he had a problem, shouldn't he call his wife first?"
"You don't know." Gail pulled Ronald aside, "He and his wife had a falling out, and Jim used all the family money to buy a one-way ticket to Rome.
His wife also received a call from Jim, but they had already fallen out and were preparing for a divorce. Jim probably called me because he had no one to ask for help."
"What did he say on the phone?"
"He said he was very uncomfortable and had no clean food or drinking water. But the signal was very poor and I heard some intermittently."
Ronald pondered for a moment and felt that he would rather believe it. Cameron fell ill alone in backward Italy. If something really happened, as a friend, he would regret it if he did not help.
"In this case, I will go to the Italian consulate to apply for a visa. I will go to Rome immediately. You can check the phone number Jim used to call you. I will check it in Rome. There is also the phone number and address of the producer.
."
"It's all here, Ronald." Gale took out a copy and handed it to Ronald, "I'll go with you to apply for an emergency visa. By the way, your job doesn't matter, right? I just talked to Roger...
Coleman took a leave of absence."
"It's okay, it just so happened that the crew was deadlocked on casting."
The two of them went to the consulate to apply for visas. Ronald went to Wells Fargo Bank, wrote himself ten traveler's checks of varying denominations, and hurried to the airport.
The two bought the first flight to Rome at the airport. They jumped on a Pan Am Boeing plane and flew straight to Rome, Italy.
After a stop in Munich and a fifteen-hour long flight, Ronald and Gale arrived at the Leonardo da Vinci Airport in Rome. After exiting the customs, they hailed a taxi and went to the "Food Restaurant"
Departing from the company address of Assonitis, the producer of "Mermaid 2".
"buon giorno!benvenuto a roma!"
The driver of the Fiat car, who did not understand English, spoke a series of Italian words, supplemented by gestures, in an attempt to communicate with Ronald.
"Please take us to this address." Gale handed over a piece of paper with the English address of the producer Assonitis' company.
"stai andando qui?"
“studio del cinema?”
"Yes, studio! Cinema!" Ronald understood two words in Italian, studio and movie. This is a language with the same pronunciation in Europe and America.
The driver gave two thumbs up to indicate that he understood, and pulled them to Assonitis' office.
There are many people in Assonitis's office, but no one can speak English. But they all like to communicate, and they come up and make gestures to talk to Ronald and Gale.
"I'm looking for Mr. Assonitis, Assonitis!" Ronald said to his secretary at the front desk for a long time, but he didn't understand what he meant.
“non lo conosco……#%#￥……”
While he was anxious, a man came over and explained to Ronald in English with a strong Italian accent, "She said she didn't know the person you were talking about. This is the Rome Film Studio."
"Oh, thank you. Can you help me ask him if he knows where Assonitis, the producer of 'Piranha 2', has his office."
"Hey, is it you? Roberto?" Ronald saw the familiar face of the man. It was none other than Isabella Rossellini, Roberto's partner in Italian news reporting at the New York TV station.
"That's great, Roberto, God bless there's someone here who speaks simple English."
Ronald quickly took out the phone number Cameron dialed and asked, "We are here to find a friend, Jim. He is the director of 'Piranha 2'. We only have his phone number but no address. So we went here to make the film."
I came here to try my luck at the filmmaker’s address, but I didn’t expect that this was not his company.”
Roberto couldn't understand too long English sentences, so he took the phone number handed over by Gale, "You are looking for this person? He called this number, phone number?"
"Yes, that's what it means. Jim, he called me from this phone number. We want to find him."
Roberto went to talk to the front desk secretary, borrowed a phone and dialed the number on the note.
After a conversation, Roberto said to Ronald and Gale, "Your friend, he is..., well, small, bad, what should I say?" He put his hands next to his ears as if sleeping.
"hostel?"
"Oh, yes. The hotel is what you Americans call it..." Roberto pretended to drive again, making a beep beep sound from his mouth.
"car?"
"Motel?"
"Yes, motel."
"Can you take us there?" Ronald took out a few U.S. dollar bills and handed them over. "Please prepare a car for us and take us there."
"I have a car." Roberto did not accept the money he handed over, but let the two of them get into his Fiat car.
After Ronald finally squeezed into the passenger seat, Roberto started the car and drove through the narrow streets.
"Hey, don't block the road." Roberto banged the car door with his hand, cursed at the driver in front of him, and then turned around to explain, "In Rome, we don't listen to the horn very much."
When we arrived at the motel where Cameron called, the owner suddenly became excited when he heard that he was looking for an American. He said a long speech to Roberto, including these curse words.
"Well, he said that your friend had no money and stole food from the kitchen to eat. If it weren't for his illness, he would have kicked him out."
"I have a traveler's check here, which is enough to pay off all the debts of my friends." Ronald took out a traveler's check. The hotel owner was knowledgeable and knew that dollars could be cashed immediately in large department stores, so he grabbed it.
Then he mumbled and led the three of them to the room where Cameron lived.
In a small room at the end of the ground floor next to the laundry room, amid the rumbling noise of the washing machine, Ronald and Gale found a pale Cameron lying on the bed with only a tattered blanket on him.
"Oh, Jim." Gale rushed up and held Cameron's head in his arms, "We finally found you."
Cameron was groggy and woke up from his dream. He saw Gale and Ronald standing next to him. He didn't know where he was for a moment. Thinking of the scene he had dreamed in his dream, he blurted out, "It's scary.