Weintraub hired Pat Johnson, the senior brother of Chuck Norris Tangate Club, to serve as a martial arts instructor and train actors.
Pat Johnson is slightly bald, has a mustache, and his exposed arms are full of hair, which makes him look like he has strong male hormones.
After Ronald met with him, he told him about the concepts of two karate schools in his script. One is Chris's preemptive strike, taking no prisoners, and eliminating the opponent's ability to fight back first. The other is Mr. Miyagi's.
He doesn't use martial arts to bully others, he only uses it to defend himself.
Pat Johnson greatly appreciated and sympathized with Ronald's philosophy, "Ronald, I have many students in Hollywood, and you are the first person in the film industry that I have met who understands the philosophy of martial arts. Listen.
You said you’ve practiced before, why don’t we give it a try.”
"Okay", Ronald started to play with the opponent a few times. The first two times he was defeated by the opponent at once, but the third time he may have let Ronald win.
Ronald saw that he was more powerful than Vidal and not as obsessed with his own ideas as Chuck Norris. He was an enlightened martial artist. He quickly talked to him about the action design of the two schools and how to make the audience feel the same.
You can tell the difference just by looking.
It turns out that Pat Johnson was the master of karate. He was originally a black belt in karate, and he only followed Norris to take advantage of his reputation.
"My idea is that once the disciples of the two schools appear on the scene, the audience should be able to see obvious differences. The students in the glasses dojo are intimidated by the instructor and maintain an unnecessary aggressiveness in everything.
On the other hand, Miyagi-sensei’s Goju-ryu style is kind to others. He is usually not seen as a martial arts master, but only shows his edge at critical moments.”
"Do your actors have a foundation in karate or other martial arts?"
"Except for Coach Chris, who has practiced karate, and the protagonist's opponent Johnny, who has practiced wrestling, the other actors probably don't have any martial arts training."
"Okay, I will carefully design two training methods so that they are separated at the beginning of training and each other cannot see each other's training content, so that they can relate to karate with the concepts I instilled in them."
"This is a good method." Pat Johnson's idea reminded Ronald of Coppola. During the filming of "The Kid", he asked several young people to deliberately prank Diane Lane.
Let them maintain a relationship in life similar to the characters in the movie.
"My request is that after they finish training, they will agree with the fighting concepts of their characters in the movie script. In this way, when filming, they will be acting in their true colors and the confrontation will appear real."
"That's no problem. I need a month, five days a week, and after four weeks they can shoot the movie."
"I have a friend, Daryl Vidal, who is also a karate coach. Let him cooperate with your teaching. Do you need anything else for action design?" Ronald likes this kind of professional talent, and he
I can't beat him either. This level of professionalism is very reassuring.
"I think you may need some professional stuntmen. Karate is different from other martial arts. If it's boxing, any stuntman can do a couple of gestures. But in karate, if the stuntman is not a professional player, he can't perform the movements very well. They
The difference between fighting in Europe and the United States is still quite big."
"Do you have a team?" Ronald trusted his opponents who could knock him down.
"I don't want to use Chuck's team. He has his own things to be busy with. I recommend a Japanese karate master, Fumio Demura, who has a big dojo in California."
Fumio Demura is a true Japanese, a fifth-dan karate master. He is one of the first people in America dedicated to promoting and teaching karate.
What’s interesting is that he himself has studied Ryukyu’s Goju-ryu and Japan’s native Ito-ryu. He happens to know both the schools Ronald wrote about.
After Weintraub and his team met, they were full of praise. It just so happened that Demura was a small man like Noriyuki Morita, who played Master Miyagi, and he also signed a stunt contract, allowing him to replace Morita in filming.
Those fight scenes.
After securing the action team, Ronald began to ask Weintraub to sign all the main actors and have them come to Los Angeles for training as soon as possible. He himself and art director Cassidy began to inspect scenes in Los Angeles.
"How about this apartment?" production director Cassidy asked Ronald, pointing to a location he found.
"Much like the apartment Daniel's mother could afford."
This apartment in Venice has three palm trees at the door, a dry swimming pool inside, and is surrounded on three sides by three-story low buildings.
Ronald found it very interesting, a bit like the apartment he lived in when he first came to Los Angeles. The swimming pool in the middle was built by the developer, but because the maintenance cost was very expensive, the residents were unwilling to share it equally. Some people didn't want to go out if they didn't want to swim.
So in the end it was left dry and unused.
Daniel's mother, Lucille, found a job as a secretary in a computer company and could afford to live in an apartment with maintenance workers, but she couldn't afford a more expensive one.
"Is there a maintenance room?"
The two found the maintenance room of the apartment. When they walked inside, it was very small. Ronald felt that it was not enough to take a picture.
"It's a pity that we have to find another maintenance room for shooting. It would be great if there was a large room here. The lenses here are very concentrated. Shooting in different places will cause confusion." Ronald said.
"I've thought about it for a long time, come and see." Art director Cassidy led him to the back of the first floor.
Guquan
"Is this a garage?" Ronald saw a large space, which was as big as two apartments and could park four cars side by side. Most of the tenants in this apartment were low-income, so they bought it.
Not many people drive their cars, so the garage is not big.
"Yes, let the scenery surround this place on three sides and make it a maintenance room where Master Miyagi works. One side here can be used to place the camera."
"Very good, Susan, what do you think?" Ronald looked at Susan who was following him.
"You all agreed, then let's settle it."
Then there was the Cobra Karate Gym venue. Ronald and art director Cassidy went to the Miracle Mile next to Museum Row in Los Angeles.
This is the commercial street with the highest population density in Los Angeles and the most resemblance to New York. There are many old buildings on it. There is a street store, and the current owner is planning to give up the lease.
Opening the door, a large space appeared in front of him. Ronald measured the space back and forth and thought it was OK. Cassidy reminded him to look outside, which happened to be the street scene of Miracle Mile.
Ronald, who was very satisfied, asked Susan if she agreed. After getting her agreement, he completed the selection of another location.
"When will this place be renovated? Our actors are still waiting to train." Ronald asked the art director Cassidy.
"I'm afraid it won't be quick. Negotiations with the owners will take some time, and most importantly, their lease doesn't expire in two weeks."
"That's not possible. We have to start karate training as soon as possible."
"I know there is a place." Susan followed them on location for a few days and admired Ronald's efficient work attitude. She thought of the female celebrities she met at parties before.
"This is the dance studio you mentioned owned by Princess Leia?" Ronald came to the place Susan introduced. It was a large dance studio with mirrors and handrails for practicing.
"No, it was Carrie Fisher's mother, Debbie Reynolds. She is now planning to open a dance studio to accept students."
"That means it hasn't opened yet?" Ronald thought to himself that this is good, the rent can be cheaper. He walked around the wall. These mirrors can be covered with cloth so as not to hinder training. There is a small one next to it.
The classroom is just right for two groups of people to train separately.
Debbie Reynolds made her debut in musicals. Her debut film was the famous "Singin' in the Rain", where she danced on the sofa with the king of dance, Jim Carrey. Now she is no longer as beautiful as she used to be, or maybe she has always been
Not the glamorous type.
"Hello, Debbie, I've always been a fan of your movies."
"Directors are so young now. When I used to make movies, the directors were all middle-aged." Debbie Reynolds hugged Ronald and kissed him, "Thank you, honey, for this
For less than the rent, I can start advertising for enrollment.”
It turns out Debbie Reynolds was still waiting for money to run a dance studio.
All the actors have also signed contracts with Weintraub, and those who have action scenes are all summoned to Los Angeles to prepare for a month of intensive training.
Weintraub's funds began to flow out like water. All actors' training time must be paid according to the union's minimum wage. There are also rents for various venues and equipment, and the cost of filming movies in Los Angeles is getting higher and higher.
Taller.
Ronald put Vidal into the training team and reported the progress to himself every day. In his spare time, he started busy with other exterior scenes and interior scene selections.
Action director Pat Johnson did have a knack for it. He immediately saw that Martin Kove had real abilities, and he freed him to serve as the coach's deputy.
The training for Kove and his disciples, including William Zebka and a host of second-generation actors, was very strict. They squatted and benched every day, making these young actors complain incessantly.
Fortunately, there was a lot of karate training, including kicking targets and hitting planks every day, which made the teenagers brag to their friends, so they practiced very seriously, which made Ronald somewhat relieved.
In the training class on the other side, there were only two students and one audience. The students were Noriyuki Morita and Ralph Mazio. Their training content was completely different from that of the Cobra class, and they practiced various flexibility and
Coordination. The audience is Elizabeth Sue, who took a semester off from Harvard to take the photo. She also stayed with Ralph Mazzio every day to develop a tacit understanding.
Movement director Pat Johnson's idea is that since you are attacking from behind, you need to be more flexible than your opponent. You can avoid the opponent's punches and kicks, and then attack the opponent's weak points from the side.
So two students, one old and one young, were made to cry and howl every day while stretching. However, they were not asked too much to do high-strength training, but listened to Johnson's story about the origin and philosophy of karate.
Therefore, the three of them have a good impression of karate. In their view, karate is a martial art with more philosophical ideas than practical training.
"I think it's very interesting. When will you come and take a look? Both sides are training karate, but the effects are completely different. I think it is very similar to what you want to show in the script." Vidal called Ronald again in the evening to report the news.
, report training progress.
"Okay, Friday is the last day of training in the first week, I'll go check on the situation."