"I think when choosing Ali, we must first look at the actor's popularity. An actress with average acting skills but high reputation is our best choice." Weintraub chatted with Ronald again in the office
When it came to choosing the heroine, he seemed to have changed his mind again.
"Actually, I agree with you. Ali's role is not too many. Of course, it would be best if she is well-known and has certain acting skills." Ronald took out his notebook and turned to the page where he recorded that day. Under the "Yes"
Who?" Next to the writing, another circle was drawn heavily.
"So, do you have any candidates?" Ronald asked.
"What do you think of Brooke Shields? She's the dream girl of every boy in America."
"This?" Ronald hesitated. Brooke's appearance is certainly very suitable for the girl of his dreams, but it does not fit well with the overall story of the movie. A girl of her level of beauty is unlikely to live in a middle-class family.
, Johnny who loves riding motorcycles and practicing karate falls in love.
And in the future, I would like to fall in love with an undeveloped skinny monkey like Ralph Mazio... It's unlikely. The people of America won't accept it. If he is similar to a handsome and muscular guy like myself... Hey, what comes to mind?
went.
"It's a good choice," Ronald replied while thinking of reasons, "but Brooke has already been admitted to Princeton. I know this is her wish. She had just entered college when we were filming, and it was unlikely that she would ask for leave."
"Is that so? I will formally contact her mother Terry through her agent. You and Brooke know each other, and I will also call her privately to ask her, how about it?"
"Okay, I will..." Ronald's doubts deepened, why every time Weintraub went back to rest, he would come up with some new ideas the next day that were whimsical but not unreasonable.
"In addition, we can't just bet on Brooke Shields. Among young audiences, Diane Lane, the heroine of 'The Kid', is also very well-known. She is currently filming 'Streets of Fire'. Can you
Can't you please take some time to chat? I know you worked with her on a Coppola film."
"This? I'll ask her agent how the filming went." Ronald added two more question marks next to the question mark, and then folded the page of the notebook.
Ronald felt a little conflicted about Diane Lane. Ever since he accidentally said the wrong line last time, he had been avoiding her and had not contacted this little girl whom he had watched grow up.
I wonder what will happen when we meet? Ronald is a little worried and a little looking forward to it.
It happened that Donna was taking advantage of the summer vacation to come to Los Angeles to investigate colleges. She will graduate from high school next year and is choosing the college she wants to go to. She has already gone to several Ivy League schools on the east coast, and this time she came to the west coast to visit. It just happened that she could be with her
Let's go to visit the class together.
The person who came to Los Angeles earlier than Donna was Helen Slater.
Warner Bros. pressed hard, and the director of "Supergirl" quickly edited the 138-minute preliminary version, which was to be screened for the audience. Helen also came to support it. This was her first time on the big screen.
See your own performance on .
Ronald took a break from his busy work on the set and took an evening to accompany Helen to watch the preview.
Warner Bros. has high hopes for "Supergirl", but the poor box office performance of "Superman 3" has caused Warner to doubt this series of movies. This test screening is the key to whether the entire "Superman" series can continue.
Although Ronald had only been separated from Helen Slater for less than two weeks, he found that Helen had lost weight. He was a little worried, but he did not say it in person, but decided to call Gerald later.
Understand the situation.
Helen was a little nervous. She entered the screening room, sat on the creator's seat, and held Ronald's hand so hard that her fingers turned white.
The name of producer Alexander Salkind appears directly at the beginning of the film. The subtitles are made into three-dimensional characters, surrounded by clouds. Salkind's name also emits a burst of blue light, full of mystery.
Then there is the separate name of the actor. This separate listing means that the actor is the main creator and will also have a position above the film title on the movie poster.
The first thing that flew over was Faye Dunaway's name, which also exuded a mysterious blue light. Generally speaking, the first actor's name is usually the leading actor, but in this movie, Dunaway's salary was much higher than Helen's.
Helen muttered something, and Ronald quickly comforted her.
Then Helen Slater's name flew in. The blue light on the name flew halfway and turned red. When it faded, it was the official title "Supergirl".
"The actor's name closest to the title of the film is the most important. Congratulations, Helen." Ronald said softly in Helen's ear.
"Giggle", Helen's nervous expression finally turned into a smile, "You don't know, this subtitle cost more than one million US dollars to produce."
"Oh", Ronald thought it was too expensive. This subtitle was very shocking when the first "Superman" came out in 1978. But five years later, three Superman films have been made, including Supergirl.
The audience didn’t find this kind of subtitles very interesting.
Ronald looked around, and sure enough, there was no excited reaction from the audience. Instead, some people yawned, hoping that the boring subtitles would pass quickly.
The slow subtitles finally ended, and Supergirl, played by Helen Slater, was in a spaceship, discussing some Kryptonian technology with a scientist played by Peter O'Toole.
Helen was still very cute, wearing a dress. Soon Supergirl destroyed the spaceship. She took a small escape cabin and went to Earth to find her cousin Superman to find out what the solution was.
"I feel so strange, it doesn't look like me." Helen said quietly to Ronald.
"The left and right sides of people in movies are reversed, which is different from what you see in the mirror. But it's the same as what other people see. I think you are beautiful."
"Really?" Helen temporarily let go of her worries.
Ronald watched intently, especially those scenes of Helen. The director made Helen very beautiful. Compared to Superwoman, Ronald even liked the scenes where she disguised herself as Linda Lee, an ordinary high school student. Helen wore
After wearing a wig, she regained her original brown hair and looked very demure.
But the audience didn't buy it. They didn't come to see their girlfriend like Ronald. When Supergirl flew into the sky to save the forklift driver, some viewers even booed.
No one wants to come to the cinema to watch Supergirl fight a forklift, at least in the movie Superman is stopping an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Helen heard the boos and her palms began to sweat. Being strongly dissatisfied by the audience in this way was a blow to Helen, who had just made her debut film.
Ronald hugged Helen and gently comforted her with one hand. He had also experienced this nervous feeling. Fortunately, he was lucky and made two movies that were considered successful.
After returning home from the test screening, Helen was in a bad mood. Ronald gave her some advice, saying that the reaction to the test screening may not necessarily be the reaction to the final film.
"Really? Is it that Brooke Shields movie?"
"Yes, I worked for director Zeffirelli back then. The response to "Endless Love" was not good during the test screenings, but in the end it sold well at the box office," Ronald said.
"Oh." Helen's mood did not improve with a few words from Ronald. Instead, she sat there feeling a little sentimental. Ronald went over to say a few words of comfort.
Gucai
"I want to be alone for a while," Helen said.
At this time, the phone rang. It was Helen's agent. "It's your agent." Ronald handed over the phone.
"Yeah, okay, I understand." After hearing the call, Helen lowered her head and looked even more uncomfortable.
"What's wrong? What did you say on the phone?" Ronald felt that when Helen came back this time, she was not as optimistic as before, but rather depressed.
"Warner is not satisfied with the movie and wants to cut it from 138 minutes to 120 minutes. Many of my scenes will be cut."
"It's okay, this is all normal, now the tape..." Ronald tried to comfort.
"No, you don't know the troubles of an actor. I spent so much time trying to fit into the role of Superwoman, and even acted in the stunt scenes with wires under the big hanging tower. I...I didn't want those scenes to be cut out like this.
"Helen interrupted Ronald and turned around to feel sad.
Helen, who was in a bad mood, went to bed first. Ronald secretly called Helen's father Gerald.
It was already midnight in New York where Gerald was located. He was woken up by Ronald's phone call, but he was a little relieved. Ronald still cared about his daughter very much.
Speaking of Helen's weight loss, Gerald admitted that Helen had started dieting to lose weight again.
"Has her anorexia relapsed? I'm very worried. Do I need to see a doctor?"
"No, there are two types of anorexia. One is not eating. This kind of anorexia is very dangerous and can be life-threatening. You may know Karen Carpenter's case.
Helen suffers from another type. She will eat too much and then deal with it by inducing vomiting or taking laxatives. I made two appointments with a psychiatrist for her in New York. When she comes back, she will slowly get better."
"Oh, okay." Ronald felt relieved a little.
"Who are you talking to on the phone?" Helen dug out a lot of Ronald's snacks from the room, ate them all, and then went to the bathroom to spit them out. When she walked out of the room, she found Ronald talking on the phone.
.
"Oh, it's Gerald."
"Oh, my God", Helen covered her face, ran into the bathroom, dug her throat with her hands, and vomited out everything she had eaten.
Ronald knew that the problem was not serious, so he waited outside for her to come out and handed her a glass of warm water.
Helen took the water glass, lowered her head, then sat cross-legged on the sofa, lowered her head and said nothing.
Her psychological problems broke out again, and she seemed to think that her performance and body shape were the main reasons for the failure of the movie test screening. Then Helen thought from the failure of the movie that her relationship with Ronald might also fail.
"The movie will definitely fail. Do you think my performance is too childish?" Helen finally raised her head and asked.
"It doesn't matter, it won't necessarily fail, and even if it fails, your career will not necessarily be affected. I think your performance is good." Ronald knew that Helen's performance was a bit childish, and this was probably due to the actor.
Influenced by Peter O'Toole, Helen's lines have a bit of a Shakespearean accent, which is not very suitable for a movie like this.
"I'm definitely finished. No one will ask me to act in movies anymore."
"Don't say that. I will find you to play the heroine. How about you play my 'Longwei Boy'? I'll go talk to Weintraub."
"If you see how stupid I am in acting, you will definitely not cast me again."
"It's okay. I think your performance is pretty good. The main reason is that the script is not good."
"You are comforting me. If you use me as the heroine, the movie will definitely lose money."
"You don't believe me that much?"
"I believe you are a very good director, but I am not a very good actor. I will make your movies disliked by the audience. Then you will like me and you will feel bored when you watch me. When you see me, you will be reminded of me."
I caused you to fail at the box office, alas." Helen cried softly.
"Where did all this go? Haven't I asked you to play the role yet? Why don't you take a break for 'Long Wei Boy' this time? I'll be looking for you to play the leading role in the next part." Ronald opened the door for Helen.
The hair in the front was combed behind her ears.
"You really dislike me..." Helen turned her head and ignored him.
"Nothing, this matter is entirely up to you. I have always felt that you are a good choice to play Ali."
"Actually, I don't have to act in your movie. I'm afraid that if I don't perform well, you will dislike me." Helen turned around again.
"No, Helen, it's you I like, not the character you play."
"Hmm... um... um..." Helen twisted around and talked to Ronald for a long time.
The two of them said these words back and forth many times. An hour had passed and it was late at night.
"I'm fine. I'm like this sometimes. Did it scare you?" Helen's mood finally improved.
"It's okay, do you want to eat something? I'm already hungry. There is a Japanese restaurant here, open until very late."
"Hee hee..." Helen was very happy. She and Ronald had been arguing for so long, and Ronald was not bored. Instead, he cared about her.
"Okay, don't eat too much this time."
"Um……"
The two went to the Japanese restaurant downstairs to eat some sushi, and finally everything calmed down.
"Helen is really hard to coax sometimes..." Ronald wiped his sweat.