"Excuse me, are you from the top gun flight academy? I saw the word top gun on the badge you are wearing."
Pete Pettigrew, the naval consultant for the "Top Gun" crew, was stopped by a group of teenagers at the airport. After receiving a positive answer, he was surrounded and asked to tell whether the air combat scenes in the movie were real.
"It's really very real. It was like that when we were fighting dogs. It's rare to see a movie like this that accurately uses the fighting skills we teach in flight school so perfectly. I tell you, almost all of them
The shots were all shot in the cockpit of an F-14A Tomcat fighter jet."
Next to Pettigrew was a pilot from Miramar Air Force Base who was the first to answer the question. When "Top Gun" was first released, he complained that the air combat shot by Ronald had too much roll and was not realistic enough.
But after a few weeks, he has now taken Ronald's side and will go up to praise fans when he sees them.
The movie "Top Gun" has brought so many benefits to fighter pilots.
In the past, everyone only knew that there was a group of people who served in the Navy, Air Force, and National Guard, and they flew fighter jets.
But as soon as this movie came out, fighter pilots are now seen as a group of people with high intelligence and bravery. They are engaged in the most dangerous job in the world, protecting the safety of the people on the front line of the confrontation with the Soviet Union.
The most important thing is that they have good figures and are very popular with beautiful women. As long as they wear uniforms, the chance of being approached in a bar increases tenfold.
In the bar of Miramar Naval Base, hundreds of beauties drive there every night, trying to find the Lone Ranger in the real world. They also bring officers from other branches and arms, and they rent costumes for the masquerade.
Shop, rent a naval officer uniform and come to the base to try your luck.
"Oh... it's really cool. Is everything you said true? You are the pilot, right? We were very excited after watching the movie. We all want to sign up for the Air Force and want to be like you."
When the young audience saw this man wearing Ray-Ban aviator sunglasses and speaking very professionally, they all came up to express their admiration.
"No, Top Gun is from the Navy. They take off and land on aircraft carriers."
"Isn't it? Don't lie to me. It's obviously a fighter jet, not an air force? The navy is a ship pilot."
Seeing the long face of the naval pilot, Ronald, who met Pettigrew by chance at the airport, went up to rescue him.
"When you go to the recruiting office, you need to ask if you can fly the F-14A Tomcat fighter jet with variable wings, the type the Mavericks fly. That's the aircraft the warriors fly," Ronald told them.
said.
"Yeah, brother, you're right. When we go to the recruiting office, we need to ask clearly. Those who can't drive Tomcats won't go, leaving those MiGs for those idiots in the public school across the street."
The teenagers left happily. Pettigrew patted his fellow pilots on the shoulder and said, "Don't be angry. Those kids are so stupid. If they go to the recruitment office, they can only be on the ground and work with engine oil every day."
"Hahaha", the three of them laughed.
"Top Gun" is becoming more and more popular in America, and Pettigrew is often recognized in the street by strangers in uniform and praises him.
He was now recalled by the Navy and began to work with Matthew, the Navy Department representative, to set up an office for each military branch in the Pentagon. It was specifically designed to provide convenience to Hollywood and major TV stations. If they want to shoot military-related movies, if the images of soldiers in them are positive
, will provide a variety of support.
This time, he happened to go to the Pentagon with Matthew and the top gun pilots from the Miramar base to report to the big shots.
This time I happened to meet Ronald at the airport. They chatted for a while and wished each other the best to make more money in their future careers.
Ronald was taken away by Nicita and went directly to the VIP lounge.
Among the protagonists of "Top Gun", Tom Cruise is already famous all over the world, and McGillis is now at a level where he will be watched by people whenever he appears.
Only Ronald, wearing sunglasses, still has a certain freedom of movement. After all, he is a director. Most of the fans who know what he looks like only know his face and are not familiar with his figure.
Sunglasses will do the trick.
"Hey, hey... I'm looking for Snow White... Yes, me? I'm Howard the Duck."
In the VIP lounge, Tom Cruise was calling his girlfriend Cher. Both of them are celebrities, so they must use code names when calling the hotel where they are staying. Otherwise, if they are heard by lower-level hotel staff, it will be a big mistake.
It will lead to leaks and blockage from fans.
As the male protagonist in "Top Gun", Cruise's contract includes a lot of content to cooperate with the announcement. Whether it is a domestic fan meeting or a premiere around the world, Tom Cruise is a must-have.
An indispensable member.
The same goes for McGillis. Her life has been very difficult recently. The sudden fame and her unpreparedness have made her feel more disgust than happiness about these publicity jobs.
"Honey, are you okay?" Ronald stepped forward and looked at McGillis, who was wearing a pair of sunglasses that covered two-thirds of his face, and asked.
"Ah...I don't want to sign." McGillis reflexively stretched out her hands to resist. Just now when she was watching the big screen of the flight outside, she accidentally took off her sunglasses, and was immediately chased by fans who recognized her and asked for her autograph.
"I'm sorry, Ronald. I talked with my agent. I will leave after attending the premiere in Tokyo this time and will never participate in marketing activities again. I would rather lose money."
Kelly McGillis went from being a confident actress to becoming the idol on the posters posted in the lockers of young men. She didn't adapt well to this change, except for the crazy fans who kept her from
You know, without realizing it, my temper got a lot louder.
"Hi, Ronald. This press schedule is really hard for me. Cher and I haven't seen each other in two weeks, either me attending a meet-and-greet or her singing career. This is really terrible."
Tom Cruise finished the phone call, Cher only said a few words of love to him, and it was time to board the plane.
"Maybe it will be better after this period of busy work is over."
Ronald had no choice but to comfort him, and the group boarded the plane. After more than ten hours of flight, they landed at Tokyo Narita International Airport.
"It's a very clean place." Ronald was full of praise for the environment. The person who came to pick him up was Paramount's staff in Asia, a Japanese. He held up a "Top gun" sign to pick him up.
The machine license was received by the crew and a group of people.
The next day, the scale of the premiere in Tokyo was much smaller than that in London. Although Japan was a defeated country in World War II and was garrisoned by America, their culture is relatively closed.
The number of people who can truly appreciate American movies is much smaller than in Britain where there is no language barrier. There are also not many people who have developed the habit of watching Hollywood movies over the years.
So Paramount chose a theater near western Tokyo for the premiere.
It is adjacent to the Yokota Air Force Base of the American Air Force and the Yokosuka Naval Base of the Navy, and is not far from the industrial area of Yokohama. It is considered a small island in the Tokyo metropolitan area and is deeply influenced by American culture.
In addition to having branches in Canada, India, Britain and other English-speaking countries that are directly responsible for distribution business, Paramount mainly uses two methods for overseas distribution.
One is to sell the entire movie to United International Pictures (UIP), an international distributor formed by Paramount and Universal. This joint venture is mainly responsible for the business of the two movies in European countries.
Another model is to jointly distribute with local distributors in Asia, or sell out or split accounts. The culture here is different, a lot of marketing requires local talents, and the market is relatively closed, and the power of Hollywood is unlikely to come in directly.
.
The regional distributor this time is Toho Pictures. Just like the last time he came to Japan, Ronald was also entertained by Toho's senior management after the premiere and had the best Japanese meal.
Like other business fields attacked by Datong, the film and television entertainment industry is also a relatively closed environment in Japan. Generally speaking, the products of Japanese companies sell well in America, while the products of America are under the influence of Japan.
Lots of obstacles.
Moreover, the Japanese people are very scheming. They open the market on the surface, but they never arrange any good sales channels. When American companies asked about it, they shied away from cultural incompatibility and other reasons.
After being fooled several times, the United States finally came to their senses. In addition to forcing the yen to appreciate, they also forcefully forced the Japanese Prime Minister to open the market.
As a defeated country whose territory was occupied and garrisoned, Japan could not be forceful. On the surface, it opened up the Japanese market, which had previously been blocked by many obstacles. However, in fact, it still used various reasons in the merchant circle to hinder the entry of goods from America.
For example, it favors domestic manufacturers in loans and discriminates against wholesalers of foreign goods.
When Ronald was in New York, he read a lot of in-depth reports analyzing the friction between Japan and the United States, and he understood these things much more clearly than when he first came here.
But after all, he was not a businessman, and he only had a general understanding. After a good meal and a drink, Toho began to talk about deepening cooperation.
There are always two sides to everything. With America's constant pressure, companies in Japan have also become quite divided.
Some companies have gradually begun to embrace the American market and have begun to use American culture to transform themselves.
Unlike large companies such as Mitsubishi and Sumitomo, which were chaebols before the war, Sony and other companies that only achieved great development after the war relied more on America and Europe for their markets, so their vision was more international.
No more burden.
Switching to the film industry, among the three traditional major producers, Toho, Shochiku, and Toei, Toho was the first to open a branch in Los Angeles. It was also the first to introduce Akira Kurosawa's film "Seven Samurai" to
for North American audiences.
And their company also has the most talents who can speak English fluently.
Soon, when the sake was almost gone, the manager who came to pick him up at the airport quietly sat down next to Ronald.
"Ronald San, there are many industry presidents and presidents in Tokyo who want to invite you to talk about cooperation. I wonder if you will be able to honor them tomorrow."