Another meeting that Ronald could not avoid was the invitation from Joseph Farrow, the vice president of Twentieth Century Fox.
He serves as executive producer on "Mannequin," directed by Michael Gottlieb and starring Kim Cattrall and Andrew McCarthy, which has completed filming and is in the editing room for its first rough cut.
Secondary assembly.
Ronald has taken on the title of producer, and at this time has the power to enter the editing room and inspect the director's work with senior executives from other producers.
Since the 1950s, when the traditional big studio system collapsed, directors have gradually gained artistic decision-making power over film shooting and editing. However, producers are responsible for financing and final box office results, so a system has been arranged.
The handover point between the two parties.
After completing the first rough cut, the producer will find some people to watch the internal test screening, and then based on their own experience and the feedback of the test audience, they will make a decision whether the film meets the requirements and make some modification decisions.
"Ronald, I'm a little nervous. I've never been invited to an internal preview of a movie I've shot before."
Kim Cattrall sat on the chair next to her, leaning closely against Ronald next to her. Generally speaking, actors have no power and no need to participate in internal previews.
Ronald heard Niceta say that during the filming in Philadelphia, Kim Cattrall worked very hard, working harder than ever before, striving to make a breakthrough in the first real heroine movie she only got at the age of thirty.
However, according to Ronald's understanding of the thoughts of all parties before filming, it was the director's first time filming a theatrical feature film, and he was not very optimistic about the quality of the film. So he asked Cattrall to come and exchange ideas with her.
.
The internal test screenings were all attended by Fox receptionists, secretaries, and studio workers.
They often attend such internal movie viewing parties and are accustomed to movie copies without opening and closing subtitles. Experienced secretaries will also place bets on the box office performance of the movie based on some internal gossip.
Twentieth Century Fox didn't have time to assemble the title sequence with the lights waving in front of the theater, and the movie opened directly without a title. This is the interior of a Pharaoh's pyramid. Amy, played by Cattrall, is the daughter of the Pharaoh.
Wearing white cloth strips, she pretended to be a mummy to avoid her mother's desire to marry her.
Cattrall, whose whole body was covered with strips of cloth, with only two eyes exposed, vividly acted out his naughty attitude of trying to hide from his mother.
Ronald turned his head and glanced at Cattrall. After all, he underestimated her acting skills and hard work. Being able to achieve this level was completely beyond the reach of a blond vase.
Even though the audience has not seen her full face, they can still see Amy's character from her eyes. Cattrall's appearance is very unusual.
"What do you think of my performance? This is the best role I have prepared for since my debut. I have also become in good shape after working out. You will know after watching it." Cattrall smiled and said very
brilliant.
"The wedding is ready. You have rejected Pharaoh's jewelers, you have rejected grain merchants, you have rejected Pharaoh's food testers. Now there is only one choice. You must marry Hazara."
"So, what does Hazara do?" Cattrall took off his veil, his expression critical and curious.
"He's a fuel dealer."
"mom!"
"Well, he sells camel dung."
"Don't even think about it!"
"Don't be crazy, you must marry him."
Then the queen said something and explained to her daughter that women have no power in today's era. If women can do what they want to do, wouldn't the mother encourage her daughter to do it?
Amy was still full of dreams. She prayed to the gods, hoping to go to an era where women also had the right to pursue their dreams. Then the blue light flashed inside the pyramid, the cave walls shook, and a final burst of ashes erupted, and Amy disappeared on the spot.
Ronald turned to look at director Michael Gottlieb on the other side. This sequence was shot skillfully and smoothly, and the special effects were visible. The cost was not high, but the effect was very good.
Although the performances of the two actors may not conform to the habits of ancient Egypt, for American teenagers, these lines and performances are exactly in line with their ideas.
Gottlieb felt the kindness and appreciation in Ronald's eyes, and nodded and smiled at him.
"It seems good." Ronald looked back. Gottlieb was able to balance so many interests and produce a movie with a very good beginning under a limited budget.
The opening theme song hadn't been finished yet, and the camera switched to modern times after the black screen, giving the male protagonist Jonathan played by Andrew McCarthy riding a motorcycle.
Jonathan was an unlucky guy. He lost his job when he first came to work. When he came to pick up his girlfriend on a motorcycle, he was teased by his colleagues. After a heavy rainstorm, his girlfriend also broke up with him.
"Forehead……"
Ronald covered his face.
Don't praise too early.
I don't know what happened to Andrew McCarthy, but he didn't have the same level of acting as before. He was completely blank and could only express the emotions of the character with his eyes, grins, and fake smiles.
He also recalled going to the Philadelphia set, where director Gottlieb tried his best to exaggerate everyone's acting. But exaggeration is exaggeration, so why did Andrew McCarthy perform so poorly?
"What the hell is going on? Why did Andrew act so badly?" Ronald couldn't help it. He approached Cattrall's ear, covered his mouth with his hand, and asked softly.
"Andrew? He was drunk every day on the set. When I was filming opposite scenes with him, I could smell the bad smell in his mouth."
"Tsk..." Ronald sighed, and throughout the entire movie, whenever McCarthy was present, he always seemed out of place with the other characters.
This also brought down Cattrall's acting skills. Several times when Ronald saw her and McCarthy hugging, getting close, kissing, etc., Cattrall's face could not help but show disgust. It seems that this
The members of the Brat Gang are indeed very smelly.
But compared with Andrew McCarthy's performance of Jonathan, which was too exaggerated and looked very fake, the exaggerated performances of the supporting characters did not make Ronald feel uncomfortable.
It seems that the different roles also give different people's performances different tolerance ranges.
The male protagonist, Jonathan, is a silly boy who is naive enough to believe that a wooden model can turn into a living person because of his gaze at night when no one is around. Therefore, the audience must believe in such a person in order to be involved in the whole story.
Then Jonathan's behavior is required to be authentic and credible. The audience's tolerance for him will be relatively low.
Several supporting characters, the security guard in the shopping mall, the cheating manager, and the hero and heroine's ally, a black "Hollywood" with an obviously strange orientation and very feminine clothes, are all exaggerated supporting characters in fairy tales.
The audience has a high level of tolerance for them. They can be as bad as possible, as weird as possible, and as exaggerated as possible, and they won't feel abnormal.
Ronald had been thinking about this issue while watching the movie. The same seems to be true in traditional fairy tales. The supporting characters can be very extreme, but the protagonist must be believable. For example, the two sisters and stepmother in Cinderella are very bad.
It's normal, but Snow White's seven dwarfs are also very weird and exaggerated.
After watching the test screening, Ronald asked Cattrall to wait for him outside and went into the conference room with director Michael Gottlieb and executive producer Joseph Farrow.
Discuss further modifications to the film.
"I said Michael, what's going on with your filming? Why are the characters so exaggerated? It's not like a live-action movie, but like those movable figures produced by Disney."
Executive producer Joseph Farrow specially took time to watch the internal test screenings. He has a lot of profits to share in his own projects. If the finished film is still of this exaggerated quality, I'm afraid the distribution department will be very disappointed.
Opinion. They will be afraid that it will not be released and no theater will be willing to show it, even in the traditional off-season.
At that time, if someone raises objections and reduces the distribution budget, I am afraid that I will lose a large piece of cake.
"What do you mean by that? I have expressed my opinion a long time ago. This kind of story is originally a story that is difficult to believe. The wooden model turns into a real person. It can only be told in this fairy tale way.
The story must make people immersed, otherwise we will lose a lot of audiences." Director Gottlieb began to argue for himself.
"I know, but your filming is a bit too exaggerated. I can already imagine how those film critics will comment on the actor's acting skills - not at all."
"No, Cattrall's performance is very good, and the supporting roles also have their own characteristics."
The two talked fiercely for a long time, and finally Farrow thought of Ronald, who was silent.
"What do you think, Ronald? Who do you agree with?"
"Actually, I kind of agree with Joseph a little bit, and I agree a little bit with Michael." Ronald said, "In fact, I also think that the exaggerated acting skills of the supporting characters in this movie are not a bad thing. Disney's little activities
People', also the character of the supporting character is very exaggerated."
Ronald used the fingers of both hands to flex and stretch, and put a quotation mark on the term "mobile little person", "Cattrall's performance is very good, her figure is also maintained very well, and she changes with the wooden model."
The scenes are convincing. But Andrew, he made me a little disappointed. The whole movie's ability to put the audience into dreams, because of his expressions and movements, will go down a notch."
"Ha...Andrew."
The other two people stopped talking.
"How did he do it? I believe that if he could show a normal performance level like the last 'Pretty in Pink', the audience might not even notice the disharmony in the movie." Ronald asked.
"He was crushed."
Finally, it was Joseph Farrow who spoke, after all, Andrew McCarthy was the person he found.
It turns out that McCarthy, as a member of the Hollywood "brat pack", has been increasingly criticized by public opinion.
The leader of the Brats, Emilio Estevez, got together last year with another of Ronald's enemies, Italian independent producer Dino De Laurentiis.
He took a fancy to Emilio's potential and signed a three-film contract with him. The first "Chariots of Fire" was released by Laurentiis' own company in July this year.
The quality of the movie was mediocre, and the audience generally hated Emilio's boy gang. This kind of teenage star who did not do his job properly left the theaters after two weeks of release. The box office did not even reach the production cost.
Another film, "Wisdom", which he wrote, directed and starred in, is also failing at the box office and is looking for a distributor in Hollywood.
Another main member of the Brat Gang, Rob Lowe, co-produced the movie "Last Night" with Emilio's girlfriend Demi Moore, which did well at the box office. This movie directed by newcomer director Edward Zwick just
It was released and unexpectedly earned a box office of 35 million.
But Rob Lowe's stardom is also worrying. He has had affairs with many actresses, and a large number of fans claim to have had a one-night affair with him.
The title of "boy gang" has been attached to these young actors since they came out. Regardless of whether what they do is different from other actors or not, the audience's perception of them is very bad.
The bad reputation of the Brats has put a lot of pressure on Andrew McCarthy. Many scripts with good image characters will not be handed to him, but many bad boy roles are beckoning to him.
In addition, the box office of the previous film "Pretty in Pink" did not meet expectations. Andrew McCarthy almost suffered from clinical depression. He stayed away from Hollywood and returned to New York where his parents lived. This resulted in fewer scripts being sent to him, which led to him becoming addicted to alcohol.
, I drank until I was so drunk every day that I couldn’t wake up.
"Hey, the mentality of a loser." Ronald sighed in his heart. The best way to fight back against this kind of pressure from public opinion is to use a successful character to fight back, instead of being afraid at home every day.
Tom Cruise was also swept under the rug by reports of "The Brats" at first, but once "Top Gun" came out, no one regarded him as a member of the "The Brats" anymore.
"How is he doing now?" Ronald couldn't help but feel that the actor's industry really depends on luck and there is a lot of pressure. In addition, many actors have emotional and sensitive personalities, and they are prone to psychological problems.
"Arrange a rehabilitation center for him. So, what do you propose?" Executive producer Joseph Farrow shook his wrist, revealing a gold watch under the sleeves of his close-fitting handmade shirt.
Ronald recognized it as a Rolex, but he didn't understand the model number. He also flicked his wrist, revealing his Casio electronic watch, "It's still early, how about we go to the editing room to discuss it in detail?"
"My idea is, if there is a chance, I can ask Andrew McCarthy to reshoot these close-up reaction shots. See if the effect can be better. If there is no chance, delete it. And then reduce some of the scenes where he and Cattrall are in the same frame, especially
A total of half a minute of awkward shots may be lost, but the number of times when the audience is acting strangely can be reduced by five or six times.”
Ronald was on the editing machine, fast forwarding and rewinding, found a few shots that he thought were not good, and gave suggestions to the director.
Reshooting this kind of thing must be a helpless last choice because it is unlikely that the actors will return to the state they were in when filming. So Ronald only selected a few close-ups of single people to make suggestions.
"Hmph..." Director Michael Gottlieb turned the knob on the editing table back and forth many times, and he reluctantly admitted that Ronald's plan was right.
"What do you think, Joseph?"
"Is that all? I have no objection. You are a professional, Ronald."
"Hey, hey..." Ronald covered it up, Joseph Farrow said this, as if to imply that director Michael Gottlieb was an amateur.
"By the way, where are the opening and ending theme songs? Let's take a look too." Ronald thought of his dream, as if he had dreamed of a song, and it sounded good.
"Here", director Michael Gottlieb found the recordings of the opening and ending theme songs, hung up the tape recorder and played them for Ronald and the others to listen to.
"shxt!, you should have put this song in the preview copy." Ronald confirmed that this was the song he had dreamed about. The overall melody of the song is very catchy, and the voices of the two singers
It's also very magnetic, with a bright and upbeat rhythm, and it might become a good song on the charts.
"You know what? I think we should find a singer to shoot a music video and then play it repeatedly on MTV. Just shoot some scenes of the singer and edit them together with the movie clips."
Ronald is in a good mood, and there is a popular song at the end, which will increase the number of viewers who come to the movie to listen to the song.
He shared some of his experiences and what he could tell with the two people present.
"I think this is a good idea." Director Michael Gottlieb nodded frequently.
"Ha, let's do it. I'll let the distribution and marketing department increase the budget." Joseph Farrow was very happy, and he had more excuses to increase the budget.
"Who would have thought that a 47-year-old female rock singer, Grace Slick, could still sing this kind of song." Joseph Farrow sighed.
"Will a lot of resources be invested in marketing before the movie is released? For example, will the protagonist have any TV interviews? Or exclusive interviews with newspapers and media?"
Seeing that Ronald was in a good mood, he began to give him subtle hints.
"Of course, of course. I will arrange it." Joseph Farrow understood what Ronald meant. "For the TV interview, Fox will try to find the best opportunity to appear. Andrew McCarthy also has to go to the rehabilitation center, so we will put all the
resources are devoted to Miss Cattrall. After all, she is the reason why many viewers go to the cinema.
The newspaper interview will be done by Miss Cattrall, who will be shared with Michael. After the film is released in February next year, it will depend on whether additional resources will be added."
"Kim would be happy." Ronald shook hands with Joseph Farrow.
"She deserves it. We all see her talent and hard work."
"Let's go. Mr. King Farrow has agreed to give you a lot of opportunities for TV talk shows. Just before it is released next year."
Ronald came out and waved Cattrall, who was waiting anxiously, to come over and told her the good news.
"Really? I..." Cattrall happily kissed Ronald on the spot, and then hugged Ronald tightly.
"You have to get used to it. This movie is well shot and you will have many interview opportunities. If necessary, I can find a public relations company to give you some media training."
"You're so kind, Ronald." Cattrall hugged him a little tighter, letting Ronald fully feel his "gratitude."
"What a beauty." Ronald also became more energetic. He picked up Cattrall's coat from the chair, put it on her, and then helped her take her blond hair out of the collar.
He put his hands around Cattrall's waist. There was a warmth in the long silk skirt. This woman is really born with passion.
"Let's go." Ronald held Cattrall in his arms and walked toward the door. The texture on his hands made him distracted.
"Is my waist very strong? In order to shoot this movie, I kept up my daily fitness habit after filming. So what you see now is my best condition." Cattrall said in Ronald's ear
while whispering softly.
"Who can bear this?" Ronald made a buzzing sound as a stream of blood rose from his ears to the top of his head.
"During the filming, the costume designer even praised me that my figure is better than those six sculptures."
"Huh?" Ronald heard this and suddenly turned to look at Cattrall. Cattrall, who was caught off guard, twisted his waist and leaned against Ronald. His eyes were as spiritual as at the beginning of the movie, as if
Asking, "Did you feel it?"
"No, wait a minute, where are your sculptures?"
"It's in the warehouse of 20th Century Fox, I don't know. There are six sculptures in different postures. There are sitting postures, standing postures, and half-sitting postures looking back. They are all specially made for a certain lens.
"
"You'd better take them all back," Ronald reminded Cattrall in his ear.
"Why?" Cattrall was puzzled, "The house where I live is small and I can't fit it in."
"You don't want to know that after the movie is released, you will become famous, and some men will bring home those sculptures that look very like you, and then..."
"Oh..." Cattrall figured it out and quickly took Ronald to the warehouse to get his sculpture back.
"One, two, three, four...why are there only four?"
Sure enough, when they arrived at the 20th Century Fox production warehouse, only four of the six statues made for Cattrall by Ronald's friend Dai Young were still on the floor.
"I don't know, I'm just a custodian, working the day shift every day." The warehouse custodian is a white man with an unshaven beard and the smell of beer in his mouth.
"Okay, we have to take away the rest. If you have any news about the two missing ones, you have to inform us."
"This is the property of 20th Century Fox." The custodian was still reluctant. Such life-like statues are rarely seen in movie props.
"If you have any questions, call Joseph Farrow." Ronald asked Cattrall to sign for confirmation, then borrowed a trolley and transported the sculpture to the parking lot.
Little Bud was in the Mercedes-Benz and quickly came out to take over, "Oh, is this the statue of Miss Cattrall? It's very beautiful."
"Thank you, Bud. I want to take it home. Please send it to my apartment. This is the address. The concierge will take care of it."
"No problem, I will hand over to the concierge." Little Bud put the three statues in the back seat and passenger seat of the car, and then fastened their seat belts.
"Let's put this in the back seat of my Ferrari." Ronald held the last statue, the half-sitting one with his body forward and his eyes looking back. He placed it on the back seat of the Ferrari and adjusted it.
Take a stance.
Cattrall got in the car and Ronald took her to the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
The doorman from the Hilton Hotel came over and opened the door, "Good afternoon, Mr. Li."
"Hello", Ronald got out of the car first, took Cattrall's hand, and waited at the door.
"Miss, won't you come down?" The doorman said to the statue in the back seat, "Oh, shxt, this is a dummy."
"Hahaha" Ronald and Cattrall both laughed.
"Thank you. In one hour, bring us a bottle of champagne and a plate of strawberries." Ronald took out a tip of twenty dollars and handed it to the doorman, and then helped put the statue on the sofa.
"Okay, sir, thank you, sir." The doorman closed the door happily and left.
After closing the door and turning around, Ronald found that Cattrall had taken off his coat, was wearing a red dress, and was also sitting on the sofa.
Cattrall also leaned forward and looked back at Ronald, "Which one do you think is sexier, me or the statue?"
Ronald felt a little dazed for a moment, as if there were really two Cattralls in front of him.
This scene is a bit too similar to the scene in the movie where Cattrall transforms from a statue into a real person.
"Jin..." Ronald pulled Cattrall up, "You don't have to be like this. In my eyes, you will always be a diligent, brave, and very talented actress."
"I like hearing you say that, go on." Cattrall hugged Ronald, and a warm current flowed into his heart if he was hugged by Ronald's palm.
"You have a good figure and are very beautiful, but in the opening mummy scene, the audience was conquered by your temperament without even seeing your face. This is rare for an actress."
"Oh..., Ronald." Cattrall became more and more happy as he listened. He grabbed Ronald's hair and scratched it, and then jerked his head back, feeling dizzy.
"Can I see you again?" Cattrall felt very strong after working out. She was lying on the bed drinking champagne and strawberries. The two aromas mixed together, smelled particularly good and made people feel happy.
"Of course, you know, I appreciate your performance in the movie. You can call my agent at any time in the future. I am usually very busy. If you have anything, just talk to Niceta or Richard."
Ronald knew what Cattrall meant. The contract between the two was about to expire, and the two of them had their own projects to be busy with. Cattrall liked Ronald's performance and wanted to capture this young man.
Big blockbuster director.
"Don't worry, I won't harass you. I'm just afraid that I won't forget you in the future." Cattrall picked a strawberry with good quality and put it into Ronald's mouth.
"Hmm..." Ronald's mouth, which was chewing strawberries, was sealed by Cattrall again, and a scent accompanied by the champagne came over.
…
On the second day, the internal test screening score of "Brilliant" was given to Ronald.
Out of a total score of ten, more than one hundred 20th Century Fox employees gave it a score of 8.3.
"What kind of level does this score count in internal screenings?" Ronald didn't understand the scoring standards for internal screenings, so he approached his agent Niceta for advice.
"The specific standard is not clear, but it is roughly equivalent to EMA score from b to b. To give you a reference, Emilio Estevez's new film 'Wisdom' was screened internally at Fox and only received a 6.2
Fraction."
"It's nothing compared to that hunchback." Ronald heard this comparison and gradually felt relieved. It seems that the box office of "Arrogant" will not be too bad, and his famous vision of selecting movies will not be challenged for the time being.
"Michael Douglas called. He just finished filming Fatal Attra and wants to talk to you."
"Let's wait until the editing of my new film is completed. Please explain it to him for me, and I'll find him after I'm done." Ronald roughly guessed Douglas's intention, and set the time to meet after the editing of "Dirty Dancing" was completed.
after.
"Spielberg called from Xujiahui Film Studio and said that your friends, Assistant Director Huang and Xiao Yan, helped him a lot and expressed his gratitude."
"Remind me to call him back. Or you can send me a telegram first. It's difficult to get through international long distance calls there."
After sorting out some things accumulated during the filming and vacation, Ronald was about to leave Niceta's office.
"Rick," the door opened and Paula Wagner walked in.
"Oh, Ronald, you are here too." Paula hugged him and then handed her husband Niceta a piece of paper. Niceta looked at it and it seemed that the two of them had something to discuss.
"I was about to leave." Seeing that she seemed to have something to talk to her husband, Ronald said goodbye.
"By the way, Ronald. Do you still have stock investments?" Niceta suddenly stopped Ronald, "I originally planned to talk to you about this new legislation."
"The tax reduction bill pushed by the Prime Minister will be passed by both houses of the House. The new provisions treat income from long-term stock investment as the same as other income, and the highest tax rate is also applied.
The tax exemption limit of 60% of long-term asset income has also been cancelled. Please contact your accountant as soon as possible. If you don’t sell it this year, the new tax law will apply next year. Rick and I, as well as all our stars, must
Notification arrived." Paula continued to explain.
"Ah?" Ronald didn't expect that the new tax law would have such a trick, "Didn't it mean that the commander-in-chief supports tax reduction? Why did he increase taxes?"
"This is a tax reform bill, not a tax cut bill scrawled in the newspaper." What Paula Wagner was holding in her hand was taken from an accounting firm. It contained a concise explanation of the provisions of the new tax law that have a major impact on star actors.
The top federal personal income tax rate has been lowered from 28% to 20%, which is good news.
But in the past, if you bought a house or stock, and earned money by holding the asset for more than a year and then selling it, you only needed to calculate and pay a discount as the tax payable on the profit. Under various discounts, in fact
Only about 30% of long-term capital income is subject to tax.
In this way, the actual tax rate for investing in stocks and real estate is only 10%. The "Tax Reform Bill" promoted by the media as a tax reduction bill actually more than doubled the tax rate for these high-income groups.
Moreover, the new bill also cancels many of the original tax exemption provisions. For example, if you re-purchase assets, there will be no tax deferral benefits in the future. If you sell and make money, you will have to pay taxes.
Therefore, celebrities must allocate their assets again to avoid high losses after the new tax law.
"Fortunately, I sold all the stocks." Ronald crossed himself secretly. "Otherwise, wouldn't I have to pay millions in back taxes? This still does not include the losses caused by the inevitable fall in stock prices due to the increase in taxes."