Back in the Mercedes-Benz driven by Little Bud, Ronald was chatting and relaxing with Elizabeth Sue. The intense shooting was very demanding on the director's mental energy. Ronald felt that chatting with the beautiful woman was a way to reintegrate into life.
, a way to rejuvenate.
Su talked a lot about her experience at Harvard. Liberal Arts majors were purely prepared for children from rich families. After Elizabeth entered Harvard, she realized that it had no effect on her acting career.
"That's not the case. University is a place where you receive education, which is good for your acting career." Ronald disagreed with this. Many actors from low-level backgrounds cannot play high-status roles, but they have received good education.
It is possible for educated actors to go back and play people at the bottom.
At least you can broaden your horizons.
"The career of an actress lasts only a few years. I have wasted several years in college. After this time, my agent also advised me to take a break from school and focus on my career as an actor."
Ronald shrugged. He was also a suspended student and was not qualified to speak on such matters.
While chatting all the way, Ronald felt a lot more relaxed. Su had been studying at Harvard for three years, and her temperament had changed a lot. Ronald had a great time chatting with her.
"When we arrive in Toronto, I have arranged for someone from the crew to pick you up. You have a good rest. You are exhausted from this business trip."
"Haha, it's okay. I feel like I have fulfilled a girl's dream."
When the car arrived at the airport, Ronald carried Elizabeth Sue's luggage and sent her to the plane. Ronald specially bought a first-class ticket so that Sue could have a good rest and continue the intense shooting when she returned to Toronto.
As soon as the car turned around, Little Bud asked, "Should we go to the apartment or the hotel?"
"Let's go to the hotel. The apartment has been unoccupied for a long time and needs to be cleaned." Ronald is a director. His income mainly comes from film salary and some investment income. Now he has thrown it into "Dirty Dancing" and has not hired a maid to help.
Naturally, he didn’t want to go back to clean the room. Little Bud turned the steering wheel and went to the Beverly Hills Hilton Hotel.
"Didi..." The car phone rang, and Ronald picked up the phone, "Hey, who's looking for me?"
"Ronald, the two producers of Top Gun, Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, asked you to attend a celebration party. Top Gun won the annual box office championship in 1986. They called me.
We're here, are you going?" It was the manager Niceta's phone call. He was the only one who made the most personal calls like this.
Before Ronald could express his opinion, Niceta continued, "Go ahead. Tom will also find time to go. You haven't seen each other for a long time."
"Okay, I'll go and tell little Bud the time and address."
The celebration party was a private banquet. Don Simpson was recently using a "Twelve Step Therapy" to get over his alcohol addiction, so he didn't have a messy party with a lot of beauties. Instead, it was held at his Beverly Hills mansion.
, the normal pattern where everyone brings their own female companions.
Ronald arrived at the hotel, checked into the suite, and called several female companions he knew.
Helen returned to New York and acted as the heroine in two movies in a row. She thought about taking the lead in the filming of a movie. Recently, she has been doing the preparation work with the help of her father.
Diane was not in her small apartment in New York, and the phone calls were recorded, but she did have an agent to help handle things. After Ronald called her agent, she quickly called back.
"Ronnie, where are you?"
"I'm in Los Angeles, see if you're free, I'm going to the Top Gun celebration party."
"Oh? I happen to be in Los Angeles. Wait, I'll go find you."
Diane hurriedly asked for the address, then hurriedly hung up the phone and came over.
"Do you have any new auditions?" Ronald poured a cup of coffee for Diane. She didn't have many connections in the industry. Ronald was busy with the new movie and didn't pay much attention.
"No, this time Matt Dillon called me and said he had a good opportunity and asked me if I wanted to try it."
"Oh", Ronald hasn't heard from Matt Dillon for a long time. This young man has also been cheated by Coppola's two or three consecutive non-grossing movies. Like Diane, three consecutive starring movies have box office.
Failure, he has been wasted so far, has not become a star.
"Hehe, I actually don't get along with him, but they all say that he and I have great chemistry on screen. You know, the camera can make two people who originally hate each other look very interesting."
Seeing that Ronald was silent, Diane thought he was a little unhappy and hurriedly explained.
"No, no, I'm happy for you, Diane. Is there any news on when 'Running Man', which I introduced to you, will be released?"
"I heard that editing is very difficult and it reminds me of bad memories from the past."
Ronald knew that Diane was talking about "The Amazing Dirt Band" and "Streets of Rage". There were problems with the filming, and the editing was very slow and difficult. The final results were often not good.
"But this movie is produced by Martin Ranselhoff's company. I heard that he wants to make Matt Dillon the next Paul Newman or Steve McQueen."
A trace of desire flashed in Diane's eyes. She also wanted to become famous and find her lost dream.
She was born as a child star, and although she has experienced ups and downs, with successes and failures, she is not yet twenty-two years old. She has a strong age advantage over Elizabeth Sue, a woman who debuted in her twenties.
"Who is Martin Ransohoff?" Ronald didn't know these people.
"Don't you know? Your friend Tom Cruise's previous role in 'The Color of Money' was the sequel to 'Hustlers' that he produced in the 1960s, which made Paul Newman famous, and later also filmed 'The Cincinnati Kid'
', made Steve McQueen famous. He single-handedly made the two major male stars famous back then, and this time he wants to make Matt Dillon the same star.
Even the plot is similar, it’s about a casino master making his way in the world.”
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "Oh", Ronald has no feelings about casinos. Spending real money to make a movie in reality is no better than going to Las Vegas to play poker.
More exciting?
"This is a more casual party, so just wear your usual clothes, Paula Wagner said, and it seems Tom's new girlfriend is going too."
Ronald took Diane to visit the hotel mall and bought her a pair of earrings. The two wore everyday clothes and attended the "Top Gun" celebration party.
"What was the final score?" Ronald asked Jerry Bruckheimer who came to say hello at the party.
"The nationwide release period included in the box office statistics was 34 weeks in total, and it earned a total of 193 million in the domestic market."
Bruckheimer quoted a number and handed Ronald a box office summary.
"It's almost over 200 million." Ronald clicked his tongue, which was a bit of a pity.
If you can break 200 million, you will be called a "200 million director". Compared with the hat of a 100 million director, it is still a bit different.
"The Persian Gate incident had an impact on us. After the audience saw the government's incompetent performance in the Lebanese hostage incident, they lost interest in beating up fighter jets from other countries in the movie."
Bruckheimer gave Ronald a reason. After the movie ended in the first week of 1987, it was withdrawn from screening in mainstream theaters across the country due to a sharp box office drop.
"Oh, what a pity." Ronald read the summary carefully. It was only thanks to the help of the commander that he could direct this movie. This time, because of the scandal of the commander, the box office did not end well, so it was a return.
Already.
Top Gun won the annual box office championship in 1986. However, compared to last year's champion "Back to the Future" and the previous year's champion "Ghostbusters", the performance was still slightly lower, and it did not exceed 200 million like the previous two years.
mark.
However, the average weekly box office performance and the average box office per theater are actually similar to those of the champions in the previous two years.
The main reason for the gap in box office is that "Top Gun" did not spend enough time in theaters like them.
Comparing the box office champions in the past five years, the most powerful one is Spielberg's "ET", which has a domestic box office of 350 million. That's because it was released in theaters.
It lasted for more than 80 weeks and lasted for more than a year. It was on the box office rankings for more than 50 weeks.
"Ronald, congratulations." Bruckheimer picked up the champagne and congratulated Ronald loudly.
Regardless of whether it exceeds 200 million, a movie can become the annual box office champion, which is a great recognition of a director's commercial ability.
Especially "Top Gun", a theme of aerial combat that no one had successfully tackled before, made Ronald's reputation equal to a guarantee of making money in the eyes of major producers.
"Congratulations to us."
Ronald clinked glasses with him in congratulations. Diane, who was holding his arm, smiled even happier than herself. She stamped her feet desperately to show her excitement.
"Ronald, you are really amazing. You succeeded."
"Hahaha", Ronald was a little happy to be praised by the beauty, but he still had to be modest, "It's just luck that makes him so popular."
Diane looked at Ronald with eyes full of admiration. The director's reputation represents past achievements, while the box office reflects the current ability.
"Where's Don?" Ronald asked Bruckheimer where Simpson was.
"He's over there, chatting with Tom and his new girlfriend. Let's go over there."
Ronald nodded to the people beside him who were eager to come up and talk to him, and he and Diane walked to the other side of the large room.
Looking at the envious looks of the actresses around her, Diane also felt a strong sense of satisfaction in her heart, "Humph, what kind of friendship do Ronald and I have! I attended the Oscar Awards ceremony with him in 1981."
"Hi, Ronald", Tom Cruise, who was chatting with Don Simpson, saw Ronald coming over and hugged him quickly to say hello.
"What are you talking about?" Ronald looked at Don Simpson and Cruise as if they were having a very lively conversation.
"We were talking about twelve-step treatment. Tom's new girlfriend inspired me a lot. Sometimes religion and psychiatrist are similar."
Don Simpson's condition improved a lot after treatment. He pointed at the blond beauty next to him with the hand holding the champagne.
"I haven't introduced you yet, this is my girlfriend Mimi, this is Ronald, and this is Diane." Tom Cruise reacted and was busy introducing Ronald.
Then he looked at Ronald, wondering how he would react to his new girlfriend.
"Ah, hello, Miss Rogers."
Ronald then took a look at this beauty. Her position was very particular and measured. She was slightly one step behind Cruise, always highlighting Tom's status.
Ronald's eyes moved downwards. Sure enough, she was wearing a pair of flat shoes, which made her appear several inches shorter than Tom when she was behind him.
However, this woman named Mimi looks much older than Tom. The roots of her blond hair also have some newly grown black mixed-colored hair. It seems that she is also an artificial blond.
But Ronald is already accustomed to Cruise's taste. Starting from the original Rebecca De Mornay, all his girlfriends are at least three years older than him. At least Mimi Rogers is much younger than Cher
Already.
"It's really nice to meet you, Ronald. Just now, when Tom was talking about working with you, it was his most comfortable acting experience."
"a ha ha ha……"
As soon as Mimi Rogers opened her mouth, Ronald couldn't help but frown inwardly.
This woman is a crooked talker.
It's not that she adapts to the situation and knows how to read people's faces and say something to make everyone happy. But Mimi Rogers really has a bit of a crooked mouth.
Whenever she spoke, her mouth would involuntarily tilt to the right, which made Ronald very uncomfortable.
And Mimi gradually came out from behind Tom and faced Ronald to communicate. Ronald took a closer look and found that Mimi was a little bit blind.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "Mimi, Mimi, where are you?"
At this time, a short man walked from the darkness of the corridor leading to other places in the room. He called Mimi Rogers hurriedly. Both Ronald and Diane looked in the direction of the sound.
I saw a short man with a funny watermelon haircut and a mustache. He came over and said to Mimi Rogers, "I've been looking for you for a long time, Mimi. Are you free now? I feel that I urgently need one."
audit!"
"Oh, Sonny, can I come over later? I'm still chatting with other people." Mimi looked very polite to the visitor.
"Hi, Tom, Hi, Don, I have to borrow Mimi's time, don't you object?" The man named Sonny apologized to Tom Cruise, took Mimi and left.
"Are you so impolite? We are chatting." Ronald felt something was wrong and looked at Tom Cruise as if he was a bit embarrassed, so he stopped him.
"It's okay, Ronald, this is Mimi's job, I'll accompany her to take a look." Tom didn't have any particular dissatisfaction, he just didn't want Mimi to leave him.
"I'll do an audit for him, soon." Mimi Rogers smiled crookedly and patted Tom Cruise's arm. Then she and the watermelon head walked out of the room and went to another room.
We chatted alone in a room.
"That seems to be Sonny Bono, Cher's ex-husband?" Diane whispered in Ronald's ear.
"Are you sure?" Ronald recalled, and his voice was indeed very similar to the male voice singing with Cher in the song "I Got you Babe".
"That's Sonny Bono," Don Simpson nodded to Ronald in confirmation. "Mimi is the senior auditor of Scientology, Tom is also her client, and so is Sonny, but soon I guess she will just
Audited by Tom."
"Audit? Is she an accountant?" Ronald felt that Mimi Rogers' temperament had nothing in common with his accountant Lawrence.
"Ah, no, it's a form of Scientology."
"Scientology, what is that?" Ronald looked at Tom Cruise in confusion. Is that the name of an accounting firm?
"It's a new kind of religion. Auditing in Scientology is like prayer in Protestantism, or confession in Catholicism." Tom Cruise knew that Ronald had been misled. It was not the kind of auditing that an accountant does.
"Yes, they are very effective. This is an instrument invented by Lafayette Ronald Hubbard, the founder of Scientology. It is like an electrician's multimeter. It is very effective. I feel that after using it, my whole body
It's all so easy." Don Simpson said good things about Scientology next to him.
"Lafayette Ronald Hubbard? I seem to have heard this name somewhere." Ronald frowned.
"He was originally a science fiction writer and wrote a best-selling book 'Battlefield Earth'. He later created 'Dianetics', a new form of meditation that combines psychology, mystical experience, and religion, and is beneficial to learning.
It’s very beneficial.” Tom Cruise introduced his new girlfriend Mimi’s work to Ronald next to him.
"Oh." When Ronald heard these things, he remembered David Lynch's transcendental meditation. He had a natural distrust of this kind of thing.
"Actually, this Scientology has helped my dyslexia a little bit. I can read more scripts now." Tom Cruise whispered in Ronald's ear.
"Oh, that's good, it will help you a lot." Ronald heard that it can cure dyslexia, and he is no longer disgusted with Dianetics. Maybe the psychiatrist's stuff has been restyled, and it just suits Tom.
.
"By the way, Ronald, what is your religious belief?" Tom Cruise asked him, "There is a celebrity hall in Scientology. Do you want to experience it?"
"I belong to the Quakers in New York and Boston." Ronald didn't expect Tom to ask himself this question. After thinking about it, he cited the denomination to which his ancestors belonged to ward off the question.
"Oh, that's a very old sect." Tom Cruise stopped talking.
After a while, Mimi Rogers completed the audit for Sony Bono and came out to chat with Tom and Ronald.
"Are you a Quaker? Do you go to church every week?" Mimi Rogers was much more enthusiastic about Scientology than Tom.
"I'm the director, I'm definitely not free." Ronald was a little impatient. The enthusiasm of such a preacher was out of place, and Mimi's crooked mouth looked even more annoying.
"Actually, the Western solutions have come to an end. We have to go to the East to find some ways to solve America's current problems."
Mimi Rogers also wanted to try, "Lafayette Ronald Hubbard, the founder of our Scientology, was inspired by the masters from the East. In the 1950s, he was inspired by
It was only after being inspired by Jack Parsons, the founder of the Jet Laboratory, and his Eastern partners that I gradually became interested in the occult."
Ronald gradually began to get tired of such nonsense. Diane, who was holding his hand, felt that the strength in his hand was wrong. Diane looked at Ronald and quickly touched his hand gently with her other hand.
Arms to soothe his emotions.
"When you are free, you can come and see the hall left by Herbert. He was summoned by the Emperor of the Universe at the beginning of last year and left the believers who loved him." Mimi Rogers also keenly felt Ronald's
Impatiently, he ended the topic.
"I feel that Eastern philosophy does have merit. Our Western civilization has its weaknesses and considers too little about the connection between people. Therefore, many people in the film industry are interested in Eastern philosophy. Ronald, you
You should also be interested in Eastern culture. I see that your Longwei boy has many elements of Japanese culture."
Mimi Rogers chatted for a while and then changed the topic back. She knew that Ronald didn't like occultism, so she changed her approach and wanted to discuss some high-end philosophical issues with him.
Mimi's father is one of the founding fathers of Scientology and a good friend of Herbert. She has been exposed to it since she was a child, and she knows how to deal with different people and attract them in different ways.
Tom Cruise is not highly educated and has dyslexia, so he is very interested in talking about occultism. In addition, it can help him read scripts without feeling dazzled. This is the best proof that Scientology is effective.
And Ronald seems to be a widely read person who is well aware of many film and television technologies. For such people, if they are not interested in occultism, they have to talk from a philosophical level. Some people who have joined Scientology have received
Well-educated people also joined through their interest in some of the specious cosmological theories of the founder Herbert.
"Actually, I have also studied Eastern philosophy. For example, I have been studying the teachings of Confucius." Ronald felt that he was no longer interested in chatting with her, so he brought up the ultimate topic terminator:
"Confucius said that a gentleman should not talk about supernatural phenomena, or the sins of man's unnatural depravity, or supernatural evil creatures."
"Forehead……"
Mimi Rogers' mouth became even more crooked. How could this person keep talking to death?