With only one day to film the sex scene between Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis, Ronald needed to be fully prepared.
The first problem I encountered was Tom Cruise's hairstyle.
For the filming of "The Color of Money," Tom wanted to play Vincent, a pool master and apprentice to Eddie, played by Paul Newman. Not only did he grow his hair long, but his hairstylist also gave him relatively conservative long sideburns to match his character.
The image of Paul Newman in the original 1961 work "The Hustler" and the popular social atmosphere in the southern town.
But in "Top Gun", the "Lone Ranger" played by Tom Cruise has a typical short navy hair. The length of the hair and the sideburns are typical military style.
There's no way to cut the hair, not to cut Cruise's hair short again for Ronald's day, and then have him wear a wig in "The Color of Money," or to wait a few months to grow it out.
Ronald didn't think of any good solution for the time being, so he had to go back to Los Angeles to make long-term plans and see what hairstylists could do.
The second problem is that the rhythm of the romantic story between the two needs to be reorganized.
Originally, in the story shot by Ronald, the love story between Lone Ranger and Charlie had its original rhythm. They got to know each other in a bar and had a crush on each other, and then got to know each other's true identity in the airport class, and then because of Charlie's love for Lone Ranger.
The two broke out over criticism of Knight Rider's style, and then they chased each other in a car and kissed each other.
After that, the wife of the Lone Ranger's partner Goose (starring Meg Ryan) revealed in a bar that the Lone Ranger was really attracted to Charlie. The remaining doubts and barriers between the two were broken.
Make love after dinner.
Finally, after the Lone Ranger shot down three MiG-28s, he chose to return to Miramar Naval Base to be an instructor at the top gun school, and met Charlie again.
With a length of one hour and forty-seven minutes, any shot has its own rhythm. It took a lot of brainpower for Ronald to add the passionate scene between the two without destroying the original rhythm.
Ronald has two choices. One is to have sex after the two kissed for the first time. The other is to have Charlie come back to comfort the Lone Ranger after the accidental death of Goose, and the two of them will do good things again.
However, these two insertions each have their own problems. The two people in the first part just kissed, which lacked a little foreshadowing, and the emotional low point in the second part when the partner died was a bit abrupt.
"It's better to put it in the front, otherwise the audience's psychological ups and downs will be too great. It's understandable that Charlie comforts the Lone Ranger because of the death of his partner, but taking advantage of the situation would be too damaging to the Lone Ranger's image. Paula Wagner will definitely not let him
Shoot like this."
Ronald took the opportunity to look at Rick Niceta, who was working on his laptop in the next seat on the return plane.
"What? Is there any problem that I need to solve?" Niceta noticed Ronald's gaze. He closed his notebook and asked what Ronald thought. Now in his mind, Ronald's importance was ranked.
Has vaguely surpassed Francis Coppola.
"I'm thinking about how to add that passionate scene. It's like a seesaw. If you put it down here, other plots will rise again. It's difficult to balance the beginning and the end."
"I can't help you with that. Do you need a script doctor? I can find William Goldman for you. He has a lot of free time now."
"Not needed at the moment." Ronald knew this person's name. He was once the screenwriter of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", "A Bridge Too Far" and other good movies. He was also a novelist, but he faded out after the 1980s.
In Hollywood, I now occasionally take on some script consulting work.
If you have any difficult questions, just ask for help. The difficulty of inserting passionate scenes really makes seniors laugh.
"There is something you can do for me." Ronald remembered something and said to Niceta, "Orson Welles once asked me for something. He was the first person to do it when he returned to Hollywood in 1958.
The movie 'Touch of Evil' was cut by Universal.
He wants to find the original film, re-edit it according to his opinions, and see if there is any chance of re-release, or release the video tape, sell it to TV stations, etc. In short, he wants to make a movie based on his idea back then and meet the audience.
I know that nearly thirty years have passed, and there is little hope of finding the negatives. He once wrote a letter to Universal’s executives, saying that he had read dozens of comments on the preliminary version. If this letter could be
Now that the original copy has been found, I want to buy the rights to the script for The Last Day and re-publish it with Welles's letters, so that at least film students can see the full extent of his genius."
"No problem, I'll do it when I get back to Los Angeles."
…
"Movies are like a seesaw. If you put a shot here, it will tilt up elsewhere, so you need to add a weight here."
Ronald muttered to the wooden board on the wall in the study room, and finally he added the passionate scene after the two were chasing a passionate kiss while racing.
But in this way, the relationship between the two seemed to progress too fast. Ronald arranged another reunion for the two after the Lone Ranger visited Charlie's house.
Charlie asked the Lone Ranger to go home, and the Lone Ranger gave up competing with Iceman in beach volleyball to keep the date. But when he arrived at Charlie's house, he found that Charlie was only interested in him having close contact with the MiG-28. Feeling hurt, the Lone Ranger left alone.
In order to make the emotional scene turn smoothly, Ronald re-wrote a scene and had Charlie and the Lone Ranger meet in the elevator the next day. Charlie told the Lone Ranger that although he mainly wanted to learn about MiG aircraft, he usually did not invite men.
Go back to your home to discuss technical issues.
In this way, there is a foreshadowing, which makes the subsequent passionate scenes seem more logical.
The script was sequenced and the storyboards were drawn. Ronald nodded with satisfaction, and now only the issue of Tom Cruise's hairstyle remained.
"Ronald, McGillis flew over from New York, come and talk to her." Two producers, Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, called Ronald.
"Okay." Ronald put down the script and drawings. "Just in time, I've written the new scene for you to take a look at."
"You'd better come first." Bruckheimer's tone on the phone was unkind.
"What's wrong?"
…
"Don Jerry?" Ronald arrived at Paramount's production office, opened the door, and first saw a blonde girl inside, who was Kelly McGillis.
"What's wrong with you?" Ronald exclaimed. Two producers behind him were also sitting on chairs talking on the phone.
McGillis turned around and smiled sweetly at Ronald, "Ronald, long time no see."
However, this smile looked very scary in Ronald's eyes.
After not seeing each other for six months, McGillis actually cut his golden curly hair short.
It's not very short, but it's obviously different from the light blond, slightly curly, sexy hairstyle that I wore during the filming of "Top Gun".
"Why did you cut your hair short, Kelly?"
Ronald knew where the two producers' dissatisfaction came from.
"Why do you all say that? I didn't know you would have to reshoot scenes after half a year?" McGillis was a little unhappy, "I went back to New York to audition for a Broadway play, and they happened to need a character with short hair, so I cut it.
short."
"It's not too short, right?"
As McGillis spoke, he leaned forward and tilted his head to let Ronald see the length of his hair.
The blond hair was a little darker than before, and lay neatly above the ears. Looking from above, Ronald could see that there was still a little light down on the neck. The snow-white neck and collarbone made him feel moved.
"Is there anything we can do?" Ronald looked away and asked Bruckheimer.
"Don has contacted the best hairstylists and special effects makeup artists he can find to see if there is any remedy.
…
Soon the hairstylist came and surrounded McGillis and began to use his tricks.
"I want to recover to this level, and I can't let the audience see the difference."
Ronald picked up the bust of McGillis on the set that was taken at that time, a photo that was originally going to be used as a promotional poster, and said to the two professionals.
"Oh...ok"
The hairstylist was a somewhat effeminate man, wearing a baseball cap, and had two beautiful assistants. He was stunned for a moment after hearing the request, then lifted up McGillis' hair with his hands and compared it with the photo.
"Look at Ramsay's magic."
After more than an hour, the hairstylist and his two assistants finally finished doing Kelly McGillis' hair.
"Dang!" the hairstylist moved the mirror away for Ronald and the two producers to watch.
"Well, the curl has been restored very well, but it's still a little too short."
"What can I do?" Don Simpson turned to the hairstylist.
"Two ways, either shave it shorter or wear a wig." The hairstylist suggested.
"Hmm..." McGillis shook his head at Ronald and everyone in opposition.
Ronald looked back at the hairstylist.
"Either you can find human hair of similar color and texture and give her strands of extensions. This requires careful operation and fresh human hair. We have to go to the scene to do it for her, which takes about five hours, and only a few seconds after it is done.
It can last for a day.”
"Well, no." This time it was Ronald's turn to say nothing. He only had one day of shooting and spent five hours styling his hair, so McGillis' condition could not be guaranteed.
"Then there's nothing I can do to help. Ramsay's magic power is also limited." The hairstylist raised an orchid finger to show that he was helpless.
Ronald looked at him and then at McGillis. It's not okay to be half-hearted like this. The audience will always see the flaws. If they are allowed to act here, they will be distracted for the next five minutes, which will greatly affect the box office and reputation.
"What if you put a baseball cap on her head?"
Ronald had a sudden idea and took off the hairstylist's hat, walked over to McGillis and put it on for her.
"No one says Charlie can't wear a baseball cap, right?"
McGillis was stunned for a moment, then looked at Ronald, who was almost nose to nose with her, and said, "Indeed, Charlie can wear a baseball cap."
"Hahahaha... let's do it, Ronald, you are a genius." Don Simpson laughed happily. "Who is that? You go to Chicago together then and solve the hair problem for Tom Cruise."
"When it comes to the passionate scene, McGillis is lying on the bed with his hair surrounded by pillows, and the camera will pass. It will not be easy to find out." Bruckheimer was more careful, he added.
"You are really a genius." McGillis looked at Ronald with a smile on his face.
"Would this so-called genius have the honor to treat you to a drink?"
Ronald was in a good mood.
"Did you come here in your Ferrari?" McGillis flirted with his hair and combed it behind his ears.