Ronald told the two screenwriters all the flying details he learned with Miss Long Legs, and asked them to integrate these flying combat scenes into the entire story and character development.
Grumman Corporation, which received the invitation from the crew, was very active. They specially sent a vice president in charge of public relations to ask director Ronald to discuss the installation of cameras on the F-14 Tomcat fighter jets.
We arrived in Bethpage, Long Island, New York, where Grumman Corporation is headquartered. Most people in this town work directly or indirectly for Grumman Corporation.
Several senior executives of the company welcomed Ronald's arrival very much. They made a special trip to greet him and tasted American steak in the company's executive cafeteria.
This large-scale military industrial enterprise is actually similar to the industry of America's enemy, the Soviet Union. It runs schools, hospitals, canteens, and even hotels within the enterprise. It is like a small society.
After visiting the company's historical exhibition hall, Ronald learned that Grumman not only built countless attack aircraft, fighters, patrol aircraft, and anti-submarine aircraft for the Navy during World War II, but was also responsible for the production of early warning aircraft on aircraft carriers.
Grumman had a bad year. The F-14 won an order to be exported to Persia and delivered the first batch of fighter jets. Unexpectedly, the embassy hostage incident occurred a few years later, and it suddenly became a solo flight.
The company is in the Air Force and has not received new orders. Now its main product is the improved version of the F14 Tomcat. Grumman hopes that Ronald can take beautiful pictures of the Tomcat like he did with the Saab Lightning fighter.
.
America's military is easily influenced by the people. If the movie can be like Ronald's "Break Dance" that started the dance trend, and "The Dragon King" started the karate trend, this movie can use this movie to arouse the public's support for the dance trend.
If there is enthusiasm for the F-14 Tomcat, then the Navy still has a large order that can be renewed.
The engineer and Ronald held meetings for several days and worked out a plan for the location of the camera that Ronald wanted to install. Either install a small camera in the cabin, or simply replace it with a camera gondola and place the high-rise camera in the cabin.
High-resolution reconnaissance cameras were replaced by movie cameras that can work in high-altitude and high-acceleration environments.
Then Grumman formed a team that would follow Ronald to the Miramar base in California to modify the F-14 Tomcat fighter jets.
"I still don't have intuitive experience on what moves look good on fighter jets. Do you know any experienced pilots? I'd like to talk to them." After the discussion, Ronald thought about asking Grumman about man-to-air combat.
the opinion of.
The navy, which has a strong bureaucracy, is slow to respond to its own requests, but Grumman is very enthusiastic about it. It depends on whether they have connections.
"Your movie is called Top Gun, right?", an engineer asked Ronald, "Why don't you talk to the real Top Gun veteran Pete Pettigrew? He was one of the first Top Gun
gun is an instructor at a flight school and one of the few pilots who has shot down a MiG-21 head-on."
"Oh yeah?" Ronald wrote down this person's name, thinking that this was rare.
top Gun flight school, because during the Vietnam War, American fighter pilots could only use missiles and forgot about cannon and dog fighting skills. It was a school established by the Pentagon for elite pilots. Here they would learn the system
Combat skills greatly improve the combat capabilities of the navy and air force.
"Is he still in top gun school?"
"It seems that he has been transferred to reserve service. You can ask the Navy for it. He has a very good relationship with the Navy."
After hurriedly finishing his trip on Long Island, Ronald came to the Siegfried Cinema in Manhattan to attend the premiere of his good friend Jim Cameron's new film "Terminator".
"Congratulations, congratulations." Ronald saw Cameron in a suit and his girlfriend Gail. Next to him was the heroine Linda Hamilton.
"God, I'm so nervous." Cameron showed a rare expression of nervousness. "Schwarzenegger only attended the premiere in Los Angeles. There were very few celebrities here, and it seems that there were not many reporters here today."
"Don't be nervous, the box office has nothing to do with the stars who come to support it." Ronald is experienced and his own movies don't have big names coming to premiere.
"Really? I also hope that my movie will be a hit." Cameron pulled Ronald to sit down. He wanted to hear the evaluation of his old friend.
"Dong dong dong dong..." One hour and fifty minutes passed. Under the theme song of The Terminator, Ronald saw the last cumulonimbus shot of Sarah Connor under the cumulonimbus clouds with the future savior in mind.
A shot of the jeep running into the distance.
That was a reshoot between him and Cameron Gale.
Ronald was very excited. The rhythm of this movie was very tight. Cameron, who was directing a feature film for the first time, had a good grasp of the rhythm.
There were two big explosion scenes, which didn't cost much, but produced very realistic effects. There was also Schwarzenegger's terrifying makeup, a red eye, and a metal skull coming out of the flesh. It really scared the audience.
Screamed a few times.
In the end, the male protagonist and the Terminator killing machine died together. The heroine Sarah Connor inherited the legacy of the male protagonist who returned from the future and was determined to raise her son.
There was no sound from the audience after the subtitles went up. It took dozens of seconds before they burst into roaring applause.
They have never seen a movie like this. The threat of the end of the world is very realistically presented to the audience through the Terminator. The ending is hopeful and dilutes the sadness of the hero's sacrifice.
"You succeeded, Jim, you can start preparing for the sequel." As soon as Ronald saw the audience's reaction, he knew that Cameron's debut film would definitely be a blockbuster movie. The production cost of six million would allow Heimdall and
Orion made a lot of money.
"You can ask a high price then." Ronald knew that in order to shoot this movie, Cameron forfeited the script transfer fee and the director's remuneration was also very low. Now that he became famous, he could finally make some money.
"I don't know, the New York audience likes it, but we are also releasing a film about Cambodia called 'Killing Fields' at the same time. I heard that the response to their film review session was very good."
Cameron began to worry about gains and losses again.
"Do you want the Oscars or the box office?" Ronald asked his old friend in the lounge, opening the champagne.
"Of course, it depends on the box office first, then I can continue to be a director."
"Isn't this the end? Based on my experience, the audience response to your movie will be very good." Ronald used the method of observing the bathroom again. In the middle of the movie, few people were willing to give up the plot and go
To the restroom.
After the show ended, in the queue for the restroom, many viewers imitated the phrase "I'll be back" from the Terminator played by Schwarzenegger.
These signals are very optimistic.
"I hope you're right." Cameron picked up the wine glass and drank it in one gulp.
"How about we make a bet. If your movie comes in first at the weekend box office, you and Gale will treat me to a big dinner when we return to Los Angeles. If your movie comes in second, then I'll treat you two to a vacation in Hawaii.
No matter how the box office is, you can all be happy."
"No problem, you can choose the restaurant." Gale came over to answer. The two were planning to get married officially next year, but their honeymoon trip had not yet been decided.
"Hahaha, it is indeed number one at the box office. I want to eat Chinese food. There is a good restaurant in Chinatown."
When the weekend box office results came out, it turned out that "Terminator" had won the first place with $4 million.
"Okay, no problem," Cameron and Gale, who had already returned to Los Angeles, agreed on the phone.
"Mr. Roger Coleman is also very happy. He invited us to a banquet. Will you come with him?" Gale asked on the phone.
"I'm going to stay in New York for a while. This is his old tradition. Whenever Roger Corman, a director who graduated from film school, makes his first big-selling film, he will treat him to dinner. I have already enjoyed it,
Hahaha."
"Okay then, remember to call us when you come back."
Ronald put down the phone and continued to discuss work arrangements with his agent Eddie. He daydreamed about entering the corporate video market, and he found the right one. Many small and medium-sized companies came to hire them to shoot, and the business was good.
"Okay, there are many companies here. We don't have to worry about business. Depending on the situation, you can go to New York University's Tisch College to recruit some talents and treat them as interns. You can still acquire the basic skills of those graduate students." Ronald finished the order.
"Hasn't your new movie started shooting yet?" Little Douglas also came to observe the business of Daydream. He was specially invited by Ronald. When the business becomes busy in the future, the landlord needs to rent a piece of land to build a studio for convenience.
Improve shooting efficiency.
"Hey, the navy's bureaucracy is very serious. Our first draft of the script was completed, and after submitting it, it was like nothing. I don't know when they will reply." Ronald also didn't expect that the navy's script review, and the studio
Script review is completely two concepts.
A studio may have to go through rounds of managers and directors, and everyone has their own opinions and ideas. Just like playing a game, if you don't pass the boss of the first level, you won't be able to see the boss of the second level.
The Navy is like buying a lottery ticket. You won't get any information about whether you won or not before the lottery is drawn.
"No news at all?"
"No, they have to go through several rounds of review. Some are responsible for technical review and cannot leak Navy secrets. Some are responsible for plot review. The protagonist cannot do anything that goes against the values of the Navy. But they like Tom Cruise playing the male protagonist very much.
, it passed his review immediately.”
"Who wouldn't want a handsome guy to play themselves?" Douglas Jr. said.
"Yes, after the script review is completed, the Navy has agreed to let Tom Cruise go to the base in advance to experience the flight of the F-14 Tomcat. It has given him a lot of convenience, and now he is going to vomit."
"Hahaha" little Douglas smiled happily, "What about you? Do you want to get a pilot's license too?"
"Wait until I'm free. I heard it's very expensive."
"It's not expensive. A beginner's propeller aircraft driving course only costs a few hundred dollars. Even buying a small second-hand Cessna aircraft costs tens of thousands of dollars, so it's not a problem for you."
"Really?" Ronald didn't expect civilian propeller planes to be so cheap.
"When I get some free time, I'm going to take the exam for a license."