After agreeing to Dongbao's matchmaking, Ronald discussed the arrangements with Niceta. He would continue to stay in Tokyo for a few days, Tom Cruise would go to Seoul, and the two would meet in Xiangjiang. McGillis and Cruise
Let's go together with Si. After she completes this publicity mission, she will take leave after returning to America and miss the domestic publicity schedule.
Of course, since it was a friend from America who came to Tokyo, Toho had to arrange to meet Japan's biggest star in Hollywood, director Akira Kurosawa.
"Director Kurosawa, we meet again."
"Ronald San, your recent movies are getting better and better. I watched the internal screening of 'Top Gun' at Toho. This kind of movie can only be made by young people like you, hahaha.
."
When they arrived at Kurosawa Film Studio in Yokohama, Toho staff acted as translators for Ronald and Akira Kurosawa.
The two met at this year's Oscars. At that time, Akira Kurosawa's "Chaos" earned him a nomination for Best Director.
Unfortunately, he lost out to "Out of Africa" director Sidney Pollack.
And he was unfortunate enough to be selected as one of the best picture award representatives, along with John Huston and Billy Wilder, to present the award to director Sidney Pollack, who also served as producer.
The organizing committee obviously wanted to arrange a legacy ceremony and let three veteran directors of the previous generation present awards to the young and powerful Sidney Pollack, to show that Hollywood has successors and will continue to thrive.
However, this was tantamount to a humiliation for Kurosawa, who wanted to win the Oscar for Best Director. Afterwards, Ronald came to comfort him.
"This is Diane..." Ronald introduced Diane Lane, who had just arrived, to Akira Kurosawa. Knowing that Ronald was coming to visit Akira Kurosawa, Diane also wanted to come.
"Dian Ansang needs no introduction. Her diamond ring advertisements are everywhere now. Our young men are very distressed. Unless they buy a big diamond ring, their girlfriend will not accept the proposal."
"Hahaha..." Diane was very proud that director Akira Kurosawa remembered his name.
Diane's appeal in the Japanese market is getting stronger and stronger. In addition to two advertisements for diamond rings and lipsticks, she also received an invitation from a local fashion magazine, asking her to take a set of photos in kimono for the cover and insert poster of the magazine.
It's strange that some American stars are very popular in Japan, but some are ignored here. Maybe it's because some of Diane's appearance characteristics are more accepted by the Japanese people. Although there have been no new works in the past two years,
Her role in "Streets of Rage" has become more and more popular among Japanese teenagers.
In particular, the two theme songs that Diane lip-synced have been popular on the radio for a long time. The original soundtrack of this movie is still selling very well among high school students. And the video tape released last year is even more popular in Japan.
In high school, it has become a must-read introductory textbook for student gangs.
Everyone wants to be like the hero, defeat the enemy and win the love of the rock star.
Akira Kurosawa expressed his gratitude to Ronald for his visit. He is now in a semi-retired state and is still preparing the script for a new film, but no one in Japan is willing to invest in him.
Kurosawa doesn't know why Japanese audiences don't like him, but audiences in other parts of the world rate and love him more than Japanese people.
"Why is this happening?" Ronald also scratched his head.
"If I knew this, I wouldn't be left with no movies to make." Kurosawa was also confused.
Ronald felt it was a pity. A talented director like Akira Kurosawa is the best example of the "auteur's film" advocated by the new wave generation in Japan. From the script, casting, shooting, editing, and soundtrack, everything was done by
One person decides that the movie is a product that truly belongs to him alone.
Directors like Ronald, who work under the Hollywood system, require the cooperation of various specialists. Many times they have to make compromises. In Hollywood, movies are a collective achievement and have nothing to do with the author's movies.
…
After visiting the director, Ronald came to the headquarters of Toho Corporation.
Dongbao's top management hosted a banquet in honor of Ronald and Diane.
In addition to people from Dongbao, there were also two pro-American bigwigs from the Japanese entertainment industry sitting at the banquet.
One was Tahara Toshihiko's boss, Johnny Kitagawa, the founder of Johnny's, who was singing in front of the banquet hall.
Just by looking at the spelling of his name, you can tell that he is an American Japanese. In fact, Johnny Kitagawa was also a Japanese immigrant in California, and he returned to Japan after the war to start a career.
Johnny's sister Mary also appeared at the banquet. They also had a brother who died young and worked as an engineer for NASA's Apollo moon landing project.
"Toshihiko, why don't you come and say hello to your benefactor?" Mary Kitagawa clapped her hands to her most popular male star.
Toshihiko Tahara obediently came over to say hello to Ronald, "Ronald-san, my break dancing is pretty good now, and it has become my trump card in variety shows now."
"Sit down and talk. We are friends. Is Kazami-kun back now?"
"He is still learning the most advanced break dancing techniques in Los Angeles and New York. When I called him, he was very excited. It seemed that he had found his dream. He also often talked about the help of Ronald Sang,
If it weren't for you, we wouldn't..."
Johnny's idol Toshihiko Tahara was very grateful that Ronald still considered him a friend. He was a little envious of Kazami Shingo who was able to pursue his dream and go to Los Angeles to dance. Unlike himself, although he has been on the red and white list for six consecutive years
Song battle, but Johnny's rules are very strong. At a banquet of this level, he is just an entertainer, coming to entertain the distinguished guests.
"Okay, Toshihiko, let's sing one more song for Ronald-Sang and President Kadokawa." Mary Kitagawa looked at him talking non-stop and immediately asked him to sing again.
"Hey Yi", Tahara Toshihiko is going to sing. He is good at singing and dancing, and can also act. He was once called the Michael Jackson of Japan.
Ronald couldn't stand it anymore, so he grabbed his hand and shook it to express his gratitude.
"Toshihiko-san, come on. You are a singer. At any time, the show must go on." Johnny Kitagawa, who was sitting at the top, knew his sister's problem and spoke to encourage and comfort his best singer.
"Hi, thank you, President." Toshihiko Tahara went down to sing.
"Oh...oh...", another guest at the banquet, Kadokawa Haruki, the president of Kadokawa Publishing House, also hummed along with Toshihiko's singing.
He is a rich second-generation son. After graduating from college, he returned to his father's business and took over Kadokawa Books. He imported many novels from America, translated them and published them, and also invested in the filming of some movies.
In the film and television entertainment industry, he is another entrepreneur who is more pro-American besides the Kitagawa family.
"Ronald San, your movies are always so fascinating. Have you ever considered accepting investment from our Japanese companies to make a movie that reflects Japanese culture?"
After Kadokawa Haruki finished singing in Japanese MJ, he talked about the topic to Ronald.
"This is also what confuses me. You Japan has a master that our generation of directors admire, Akira Kurosawa, but he can't get investment in movies, but you want to invest in Hollywood." Ronald listened to the interpreter and knocked.
He knocked on the table and said something.
"Master Kurosawa is certainly good, but he is very handsy in spending money. Moreover, Kurosawa Pictures and Toho have a long history of cooperation. We have many companies with significant interests in America and hope to invest in Hollywood.
I love Ronald Sand's movies very much and hope to have the opportunity to participate in the production of Ronald Sand's next movie."
"If you want to invest in Hollywood, of course I welcome it. But the Japanese culture shot by Hollywood and the Japanese culture shot by Japanese film companies seem to be two different things. My 'Long Wei Boy' is considered a masterpiece of Japanese culture in America, but here
The audience didn't like it.
Hollywood producers don't put the promotion of culture first. We just like movies that make money. If it happens to reflect a certain culture, that's the best. If it doesn't reflect any culture and just makes money, then
It’s nothing.”
"Ronald-san is really a smart businessman and artist, admirable." Johnny Kitagawa came over to smooth things over. Kadokawa Haruki was still thinking about what Ronald said. He really liked movies. If Ronald could not be allowed to
Nader is shooting a movie about Japanese culture, so it would be a good idea to take the opportunity to make acquaintance with a big Hollywood director and look for opportunities for cooperation.
"The publishing industry is my family's main business. If there are any novels or scripts suitable for cooperation, I will send them to Ronald Sang. I hope you can help us find people we like to cooperate with in Hollywood. Of course, what we hope most is
Working with Ronald Sand.”
"Easy to say, easy to say."
"Come here, let us boys from Johnny's come up and perform for the distinguished guests." Seeing that everyone was almost talking, Mary Kitagawa clapped her hands and asked a group of teenage children to come in and perform for Ronald.
"These are the trainees we hired. It is a business method of industrialized production of idols. Ronald Sang will give them some guidance when he has the opportunity."
Ronald was surprised to see these boys who looked to be only fifteen or sixteen years old. It turned out that Japan also uses this industrial method to cultivate idol stars. No wonder their products are so high-quality and cheap, but this method is used by artists...
Thinking of this, Ronald asked, "What are your names?"
A big boy who took the lead understood Ronald's English, and he pulled a few good friends out to introduce themselves to Ronald.
"Ichikiyo Nishikori... Katsuhide Uekusa... Noriyuki Higashiyama, we are the youth team!"
"Where's the chorus you prepared?" Mary Kitagawa said again in a timid voice.
Several boys lined up and began to sing to Ronald the song they had rehearsed for a long time.
"ベッドにhengたわり, 土曜日の夜には
Summer heat
しかし,あなたの脳は,メッセージをGET しました
"そして"
"Hahaha……"
Although they didn't understand, Ronald and Diane were already laughing together. It turned out that this boy's idol group called the Boys sang the Japanese cover version of "Nowhere Fast", the opening song of Diane's "Streets of Rage".
"You are really popular in Japan." Ronald quietly reached out to scratch Diane's itch.
"Hahaha..." Diane smiled happily.
Ronald stood up and told the translator that he had to go to the bathroom.
The translator took him outside. Ronald, who was about to go to the bathroom, suddenly saw two Americans standing outside the door talking.
No, the words were not very appropriate. He was a tall man with a square chin, training another handsome middle-aged man.
"You put away your Hollywood tricks, this is Tokyo. No one knows who you are, you know? We have gone to NHK more than ten times, but we still haven't gotten the money. I asked my colleagues at Goldman Sachs
Here, two entrepreneurs, Kitagawa and Kadokawa, entertained important American guests.
They are rare entrepreneurs who are pro-American in Japan. Put away your arrogance and face. Now you are the one asking them to invest. Be honest and be a producer seeking investment. They may really be little japs
, but they are a bunch of rich little japs.”
Ronald rarely saw people lecturing others with such force in public. He didn't feel disgusted, but felt very happy. Especially the person he was scolding was also a person in a high position, and he was his former enemy.
.
"Steve, I listen to you. I will wait here to see if there is a chance to meet Mr. Kitagawa and Kadokawa."
"Hehehe..." Ronald looked at his fawning look and couldn't help but laugh out loud when he recalled the various ways the other party made things difficult for him when he was in a high position.
"Is it you, Ronald?" When the handsome middle-aged guy who was trained to be like a grandson saw Ronald, his face turned from green to white, then from white to red, and he wanted to leave on the spot with a look of shame and anger.
But he was stopped by the square-jawed man who was lecturing him, "Tom, what's wrong with you? Have you forgotten what I just told you? Now is the time for you to ask for help."
Then he turned around again, his face quickly turned into a bright smile, stretched out his hand and said to Ronald, "Hello, Ronald. My name is Bannon, and I am your fan. I am currently working on Mount
Sir, you are working part-time at Mount Production Company, and now you need to meet with the two directors, Kitagawa and Kadokawa, who hosted a banquet for you, to discuss the financing of the new film. Can you please make an introduction to us?"