"The box office of et Alien exceeded 200 million U.S. dollars, continuing to set the fastest box office record for a U.S. movie."
Ronald watched the weekend movie box office review program on TV. The Extra-Terrestrial has been in theaters for more than two months. The weekly box office of a single theater is more than 10,000 US dollars, and the number of theaters showing it has been expanded to 1,700.
Many.
"Fast-paced Richmond High School" ranked second, but it is getting further and further away from et Alien.
Family portrait movies still have much greater box office potential than movies focusing on teenagers.
"Ronnie, when are we going to watch the US Open? Did your friend make it to the main draw? Who did he face in the first round?" Helen Slater asked Ronald from the inside. She had just passed away from her mother.
Come over there and talk to your cousin Donna.
"Yes, he entered the main draw at Wimbledon in June. This time the US Open is in his hometown." Ronald replied.
Vincent Van Patten, the male protagonist of "Rock and Roll High School", has been on the rise since he entered the professional tennis field and is now a regular participant in the ATP Challenger League.
At the Seiko Challenge held in Tokyo before, he also defeated compatriot John McEnroe, who was ranked number one in the world, and won the championship. This time at the US Open, he was ranked in the same half as McEnroe. Ronald
Ready to cheer up an old friend.
Those who are capable can do anything. This Vincent guy, apart from being handsome and able to play the leading role in movies, I didn’t expect that tennis is also a real professional level.
PJ Soles, the heroine of "Rock of Ages", has already called and asked Ronald to go to the scene to cheer Van Patten on when he faces McEnroe again in the third round.
Ronald knew that she also wanted to find opportunities for her husband, Dennis Quaid. Quaid had played minor roles in several of the movies she had starred in, and he still lacked a starring opportunity.
I am very willing to help these old friends, but a role is a role after all. Ronald cannot give away such a big opportunity for no reason.
"Ring ring ring ring..." Ronald answered the phone and called to Donna, "Donna, the telescope you ordered has arrived. Little Douglas is calling."
"Really? Let's go get it quickly. I heard that astronomy enthusiasts all over the world are looking for traces of Halley's Comet. It is said that there have been unconfirmed sighting reports. It would be great if I could be the first to see it.
"
Donna ran out happily. Her high school focused on cultivating scientific knowledge. Donna became interested in astronomy and wanted to buy an astronomical telescope to see the stars.
Ronald searched several stores but couldn't find it. Few people buy this kind of thing, and Macy's doesn't even have it.
When Staten Island landowner Douglas Hanson III, a good friend from the high school wrestling club, came to visit, he learned about Donna's hobby and boasted that he would buy it for her.
"He said he would bring it to you."
"Doug, do you really have the goods?" Donna took the phone and started chatting with Doug.
After a while, little Douglas delivered the astronomical telescope that Donna wanted to buy to his home as promised.
"Donna, you are getting better and better, and you can also observe comets? I am most interested in comets."
"Of course, did you know that a comet that returned recently split, and the original comet became two very close to each other. According to the return cycle, Halley's Comet will pass perihelion in 1986, and this year it will be eight
In two years, it should be visible through the telescopes of astronomers in the second half of the year."
Ronald looked at Donna's serious look and found it interesting. Many key middle schools in America are like this. They offer many elective courses to talented high school students. As long as you are interested, you will develop knowledge in this area.
Helen hugged Donald from behind, who was sitting and watching TV, "Shall we find something to do?"
Ronald touched Helen's arm and knew that she had been helpless recently. The agent introduced by her father often screened out a round with Gerald without telling her before recommending audition opportunities. The agent introduced by her mother was a talent scout.
, does not have many industry connections.
Helen has only acted in one TV series and has not tasted the taste of a movie actor.
Ronald thought he might be able to help Helen fulfill her wish.
He should also start preparations for his next film. Richard has accumulated a lot of invitations for youth exploitation films, but there is no particularly outstanding story outline.
Hollywood is unwilling to change the formula for success. Since Fast Time became popular, Ronald has been getting books with themes such as sexual embarrassment, adults, high school students, or valley girls.
This made him a little helpless. The success of a fast-paced movie is not necessarily due to these superficial elements. Can a successful movie be replicated by taking apart the elements of a blockbuster movie and then putting these elements together?
If he continues to make movies like this, he may not be able to meet the box office expectations given to him by major studios. Why "Fast-paced Richmond High" can be such a hit, Ronald can't explain.
This has something to do with the fact that it happened to have some good actors, the script was interesting, Brooke Shields' popularity helped it, and there were no competitive films of the same type when it was released.
Ronald began to seriously consider whether to find Roger Corman to make a low-budget production of other types. Now that he has just been proven to be able to make a youth sex comedy, I am afraid that the seven major studios will not
Give him opportunities to practice on other types of movies.
Only bosses like Roger Corman were willing to give the green light to Ronald's small production. This would give Helen a role and let her shoot explicit scenes in an exploitation film, but he was not willing to do so.
Unfortunately, there haven’t been any signs of dreaming about new movies recently.
"Let's practice meditation later." Helen thought of something to do.
Ronald and Helen have been practicing meditation recently, which is quite popular among middle-class families in New York, or among artists.
Since the last time he practiced Jane Fonda's aerobics and dreamed about the movie "The Kid", Ronald often practiced women's aerobics without fear of others' ridicule. However, it did not trigger any dreams after that.
After thinking carefully, he felt that maybe it was the dream caused by the cross-legged and deep breathing exercises during the final tidying up exercise.
So after seeing the meditation postures Helen practiced, I felt that they were similar to the final postures and breathing rhythms of Jane Fonda's aerobics, so I started practicing them too.
But apart from numbness in my legs, it has no effect.
"No, I'm going to the screening club at New York University. Some old friends invited me to meet them."
"Then let me go together." Helen recently happened to be at a time when she and Ronald didn't really want to be separated.
"Okay, let's go together." Ronald replied, "Spike Lee, who shot your commercial last time, and Kathryn Bigelow are both here. Their screening club organized a symposium tonight and invited me to go.
Let’s talk.”
"Then let me go too. I'm most interested in movies." When he heard that Kathryn Bigelow was also going back, little Douglas immediately expressed that he wanted to go together to see her.
The three of them drove to the Screening Club of New York University, where Spike, Bigelow, and the Chinese graduate student Li Ang were waiting at the door for Ronald and others to arrive.
A year later, Ronald took the first step and the movie was released in theaters.
After entering the club, there were many new students waiting for Ronald to come and talk to them.
"It cannot be said that Coppola is still the most capable director in America. His "Old Love, New Love" is something that the audience does not understand."
"I watched your movie and I didn't like it. It's too Hollywood. Movies are not just a tool to make money, they should also be art that leads the direction of social thought."
"Why would you make an exploitation film like this?"
Ronald did not expect that instead of congratulating his alumni on his success, these New York University classmates began to accuse him of his Hollywood tendencies.
"I also want to make the kind of movie you mentioned, but the movie market is not booming now. Only by finding a director who can sell movies can I continue in this industry.
If you don’t believe what I say, you can ask Spike, Catherine and the others.”
"I think that scene with Stacey shouldn't be shot like this..."
"Why not have a long shot at the beginning?"
Next came some technical questions, and Ronald answered them one by one.
Many times it's not that the director doesn't want to take good-looking shots, but that due to budget and shooting deadline constraints, he can only shoot in a quick way. Long shots are the best way for directors to show off their skills, but they are difficult to shoot, and a small mistake can lead to
Have to reshoot.
Actors who shoot long shots are also under great pressure, fearing that one of their own mistakes will delay the overall progress.
For a small production worth more than three million US dollars, the most important thing is to ensure that the number of shots is shot on time and on schedule.
This practical answer dissatisfied the students at New York University Tisch College. A director of blockbuster films does not have much artistic creation, and is all about schedule and budget. He is different from Hollywood producers who are full of copper odor.
What a difference.
Ronald, who smiled wryly, finished answering the questions and sent the students away.
Only a few close friends such as Spike Lee, Leon, and Kathryn Bigelow understand how difficult it is for Ronald to complete a theatrical film.
They also gave Ronald some technical suggestions, but as everyone has made movies, they know that shooting is constrained by many artistic and unexpected factors, and many times the director has no room for improvement.
Therefore, the suggestions from these close friends are all based on what is feasible.
Everyone exchanged techniques and experiences on directing actors' performances for a while, and everyone gained something.
Film directing may be one of the professions with relatively few people in the world. It is also a blessing for Ronald to be able to criticize each other's works with several directors in the circle. Many times other directors do it out of courtesy, or
Jealousy will not be like that of several young directors in New York, who will speak frankly to each other.
As for those students who have never made a film, their minds are full of art and they cannot make any feasible suggestions on the craft of directing.
"I used to be like them, and my mind was full of art. After shooting my graduation feature film, I knew that finding money, shooting, and then negotiating with distributors are the most time-consuming tasks for a director."
Spike Lee recently received some money from the Black Charity Fund. His graduation film has been filmed on and off for more than two years. Filming has recently started again and is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Li Ang also began to work for him as an assistant director while preparing his own works. He seemed to be able to apply for some official funding from the exchange association and start writing scripts.
Kathryn Bigelow was in the worst situation. She finally got financing for her first feature film, "The Loveless," but after it was completed, no one cared about it and no distributor was willing to release it.
The film's negatives are in a warehouse, and I don't know when they will be seen again.
"Maybe we can only try our luck at the film festival." Ronald said.
"Maybe, I have participated in two small film festivals, and no buyers are willing to try their luck." Bigelow could only shrug and leave everything to God.
"I'll keep an eye out for you." Douglas Jr. still hopes to help Bigelow's movie be released.
Ronald took out the Burger King commercial tape he had shot, put it into the VCR, and showed it to several friends.
"This is the commercial I shot recently. If you have time, you can help me shoot some. My agent Eddie often does business in this area."
"Oh, you're still doing these simple close-ups." Spike laughed out loud when he saw another advertisement of a girl talking to a close-up.
Ronald still likes to play simple and direct.
"This actor is good." Bigelow commented.
"I don't know how my acting skills are. I heard from the teacher in the acting class that people's expressions will be magnified a lot on the big screen, which is a special test of acting skills. Many performances that cannot be seen as flawed on TV will appear on the big screen.
question."
Since the acting teacher at the Acting High School played the role of the teacher in "Famous", he has a deeper understanding of the acting skills of movie actors, and Helen also chose his course to learn acting.
Helen accompanied Ronald after the exchange and went home together. When she heard Kathryn Bigelow praising Leigh Thompson's acting skills, she also had some comparison thoughts in her heart. If she could be in this advertisement, she should be no worse than her.
"I watched the TV series you filmed for ABC TV. There is no problem with your acting skills on the big screen." Ronald comforted.