John Hughes was a Chicago native. His first job was as a copywriter at the Leo Burnett advertising agency, and later he also wrote humorous articles for the "National Lampoon" magazine.
This part-time job gave him the opportunity to switch to the film industry, and he published an article in a magazine that was adapted into the 1978 hit comedy "National Lampoon's Animal House".
Afterwards, his two sequel scripts, "National Lampoon's Homecoming" and "National Lampoon's Vacation", were both successful, especially "Vacation", which was just released recently, and the box office momentum was very strong. This made Hughes be recognized by Ned
·Tan Ning took a fancy to it and signed a director's contract.
This time the script was called "Sixteen Candles" and it was another script by John Hughes. After it was rejected by Tanin, it took him less than a week to write it out.
It tells the story of Samantha Baker, a girl from a middle-class family in the suburbs of Chicago. On her sixteenth birthday, she was forgotten by everyone in her family.
Her parents and grandparents are busy with Samantha's sister's wedding, and she is also ignored by her crush, the rich boy Jack Ryan, who is the man of the hour in school.
With the help of her male friend Ted Farmer, Samantha finally fell in love with her crush Jack Ryan after her sister's wedding. Ryan lit sixteen candles for Samantha at home.
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After casually flipping through the script, Ronald had a rough impression of the story. It may be related to Hughes's origin, but the story of this script also takes place in the suburbs of Chicago, where wealthy white middle-class people live.
All the characters in it are white, except for a high school exchange student from Asia, Korea, whose name is also very bizarre, called Long Duk Dong.
This kind of vulgar name for Asians made Ronald a little unhappy, but considering that Hughes wrote for the vulgar comedy magazine "National Lampoon", it made sense.
"Farmer, and baker? Why didn't they end up together?" Ronald saw the last names of the two protagonists, Samantha and Ted, and felt that Hughes did it on purpose, but
The two opposite-sex friends did not end up together, but Samantha still went to celebrate her birthday with her crush.
"I had this idea..." John Hughes adjusted his glasses. Ronald was an expert and could see what he had set up at a glance. Samantha and Ted both came from ordinary families, and Jack...
Ryan comes from a wealthy family, and his father owns a Rolls-Royce.
"But American audiences like beautiful women paired with heroes, don't they?" Ned Tanin interjected from the side.
"It makes sense." Ronald put down the script and continued to visit.
"Ronald, actually this is the script I want to make, but Mr. Tanin wants me to make this commercial film first." John Hughes agreed with Ronald when he saw that Samantha and Ted were together.
, is the ending that the story should have, so I took out another script and asked Ronald to read it.
"The Breakfast Club?" Ronald flipped through the script and glanced at the outline.
"Actually, I really like your 'fast-paced Richmond High'" John Hughes adjusted his big black-rimmed glasses again. I really liked the idea of focusing on different types of high school teenagers, so I set the protagonist to
Five typical high school characters.
Athletes, princesses, criminals, smart people, and Shen Jingbing. Arrange for them to stay in school on the same day for probation, breaking the social barriers of high school students and allowing them to get to know each other."
"Oh, my God. John, you have to make this movie first. If it's a hit, The Breakfast Club is a very simple thing and the investment is not high." Ned Tanning's temper got worse again.
Came over and pulled Ronald aside.
"I invite you here mainly because I want to hear your opinion. Which of the heroines in 'Sixteen Candles' do you think is the best choice?"
The audition photos of the two heroines were placed on the table. One was Ally Sheedy, the heroine of "War Games" whom Ronald had seen on the movie screen. The other was a red star.
Girls with long hair look younger.
"It seems that producer Ned Tanning and director John Hughes also had a dispute," Ronald thought to himself. In today's big studios, producers always have disagreements about scripts, casting and other things.
Point and point to show your ability and vision.
However, they rarely point out technical tasks such as photography and recording. Because the photographer can generously say, "How about you come?"
As for the screenwriting and casting, anyone who has watched the movie can comment on it.
"Why not choose her? Ellie is beautiful and has been tested by the market." Tanin likes Ellie Xidi, the heroine in War Game.
As for Molly Ringwald, whom director John Hughes liked, he said in a nonchalant tone, "No, I just saw the casting photos of Molly Ringwald and that's why I wrote this script for her.
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After "The Kid", Ronald saw this kind of controversy over casting again. He didn't give his own preference, but asked Hughes what he thought.
"Because Molly has a quality that allows the audience to empathize with her."
Ronald held up the photos of the two actresses and looked at them for a long time, "Why not let them all audition? This way we can intuitively see their acting skills and temperament, which one we choose, and then recall it, and other
It would be nice for the actors to watch the chemistry together."
"That's it." Tanin slowly gained confidence in his vision and agreed to Ronald's suggestion, "But you have to come when the time comes."
"Yes, you want to come too, Ronald." John Hughes was also striving for Ronald. He saw that Ronald had some influence on Tanin. He also knew that Director Ronald's "fast pace" was deeply affecting.
If you understand the gist of the youth film, you will definitely agree with your own judgment. Inviting him to attend the audition will increase your persuasiveness.
During the audition the next day, Ronald came to the Universal office as scheduled. Two actresses, Ally Sheedy and Molly Ringwald, came in to film an audition respectively.
After watching their performances, Ronald was convinced that John Hughes was right. Molly Ringwald was indeed the best choice because she was a teenager herself.
Ali Sheedy was born in 1962 and is already 21 years old this year. If she plays the role of Samantha, she must use "methods" to integrate into the role.
As for Molly Ringwald, she was born in 1968 and is just fifteen years old this year. She is exactly the same age as the character Samantha in the play.
One of the very difficult things about playing teenagers is that most people, when they become adults, will forget the stupid things they did in high school, some of the stupid ideas, and the emotions they had for some inexplicable things.
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If you want to re-experience these emotions and thoughts, you have to go back to high school and go undercover for a while, as Cameron Crowe, the writer of "Fast Richmond High," did.
Often, people in their twenties will be surprised by the rapid changes in their thoughts when they look at diaries from previous years. Sometimes they can no longer remember why they are written like this in their diaries.
And a thirty-year-old person, looking at his diary when he was twenty-years-old, will very easily remember his thoughts and feelings at that time.
This is the difficulty of teenage roles. And generally speaking, teenage actors are in their rebellious period and are very difficult to train. But Molly Ringwald is a spiritual girl, and she has a mature side beyond ordinary people.
Molly is in high school, and she is very familiar with all aspects of high school life, which things embarrass her, and which boys make her excited.
"I think it's clear that Ally Sheedy is good, but Molly Ringwald is Samantha," Ronald told Ned Tanin about his thoughts.
Tanin also nodded frequently, not knowing whether he really agreed with Ronald's idea or because he had a step down and agreed with John Hughes's opinion in this way, which was more respectable.
"Sorry, I have to go to the bathroom." Ronald stood up and walked out of the audition room, leaving Tanin and Hughes a chance to chat and communicate alone.
He walked into the corridor outside the door, and the scenes of his battle of wits and courage with Tom Mount came back to his memory. He had made some achievements along the way.
"Excuse me, is this the audition location for 'Sixteen Candles'?" A voice interrupted Ronald's memory.
Ronald looked up and saw an Asian face with hair parted in the middle, which was a bit funny.
"Yes, are you here for an interview?"
"Yes, I'm here to audition for the role of Long Da Diao. My name is Gerd Watanabe, you can call me Gerd." The Japanese actor stretched out his hand and shook hands with Ronald.
"Hello, Gerd, they are still auditioning for the heroine. You may have to wait a moment." Ronald heard that Mr. Watanabe spoke and pronounced as if he was born and raised in America.
It is speculated that he is a second or even third generation immigrant.
"Okay, I just want to prepare."
Watanabe took out a page, which was exactly what he had prepared for the audition.
"A very good dinner. Appetizers, served in interesting round pies." Watanabe began speaking in a ridiculous accent.
"Huh?" Ronald was surprised to hear that Watanabe's accent had changed, from a boy who had received an American education since childhood, to the dull accent of a Korean speaking English. He also spoke very slowly, as if he was speaking in English first.
What you want to say in Korean is translated into English word for word.
Ronald was greatly surprised. This acting skill was extraordinary.
"How did you do it? This accent is exactly the same as the one I saw spoken by Korean tourists."
"I learned it from the Korean exchange students in school." Watanabe has completely switched to the accent of the Korean exchange student Long Da Diao.
"I like your performance, especially your accent." Later, John Hughes, who auditioned, was very satisfied with Gerd Watanabe's audition performance and made an agreement with him on the spot to make Watanabe available.
"Actually, he is..." Ronald found it interesting that Watanabe spoke with a Korean accent throughout the entire audition. John Hughes might have thought he was a Korean actor.
"Thank you, I will make my schedule available. Thank you for your support, thank you Director Hughes, and thank you Ronald..."
While Watanabe thanked everyone in a Korean accent, he winked at Ronald and asked him not to tell anyone that he could speak fluent American English.
Ronald understood and winked, saying that he would not reveal his plan to John Hughes.