Chapter 412: Romantic scenes can easily become real
The editing of "Moonlight" continued. When editing the sex scene between Nicolas Cage and Cher, editor Walter Murch also praised Ronald's directorial skills.
"You are really good at directing this sex scene. This scene should not only show the desire of a man and a woman to fall in love at first sight and be attracted to each other's bodies, but also have a bit of dramatic exaggeration, so that they can say, 'You have my heart, your brother.
"You can only get my body" is a line that would appear very gross and exaggerated in a movie.
What you directed made people look very natural, without the goosebumps feeling. How did you do it?"
"Hehehe, this is a coincidence. It relies less on my on-site guidance and more on the casting." Ronald chuckled.
As Murch said, many places in this movie have traces of Broadway theater performances. If two actors were to perform such disgusting lines, it would feel fake and make people feel goosebumps.
Even the scene in the movie where Loretta and Ronnie went to see the opera "La Bohème" did not have such disgusting lines.
This drama allows the audience to watch the extremely exaggerated performances of the two actors without making people feel fake. To a large extent, it relies on the special acting skills of Nicolas Cage.
Influenced by his uncle, he highly admired the German Expressionist film masterpiece "Metropolis" in the 1920s. Expressionism allows the audience to ignore the details of the performance and reach directly into the audience's heart through the cooperation of various lights, scenery, and actors.
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In other words, this acting genre pays more attention to the actor's imagination. The actor can imagine himself as the character himself, and the audience will be directly brought into the actor's inner emotions by his subconscious expression in movements and expressions.
In this case, once the audience can believe that this is a real person, no matter how exaggerated the lines are, there will still be a certain element of truth in their eyes.
What movie directors fear most is that when the audience sees a certain shot, they will suddenly jump out of the plot and realize that they are watching a play. Once there is such an experience of jumping out, it will be difficult for the audience to be brought in again.
It's in the plot.
Therefore, the most difficult thing for such an exaggerated plot is to find suitable actors to play it. As for the on-site director and guidance, it will not play a big role.
You can't take an actor whose acting skills are average and can't bring himself into the situation, and say a few words on the scene, and then make him be convincing to the audience.
"Humph, this nephew of Francis (Coppola) has great potential." Murch pointed at Cage on the small monitor and said.
"He is indeed a unique actor." Ronald nodded in agreement. Among a large group of actors in Hollywood who respect method, such an actor who does not rely on analysis and skills but relies on strong imagination to perform is very special.
are different.
In fact, there was not a strong chemical reaction between him and Cher in this scene, but relying on his own excellent imagination, Cage believed in his role very much and brought Cher into the prescribed situation.
Many strange roles that are difficult for other people to play are actually easy in his hands.
"I have to leave first today. The son of my Chinese partner is coming to America today." In the afternoon, Ronald looked at his watch, said goodbye to Murch, and went to Los Angeles Airport to pick up the son of his partner Lao Yan.
"
"Uncle Li!"
Ronald waited until Xiao Yan was poking his head outside the cabin, seeing everything new.
"No, just like in Xujiahui, call me Ronaldinho or Ronald."
"My dad asked me to call him...hehehehe." Xiao Yan scratched his head in embarrassment. He didn't want to call this person who was about the same age as him uncle.
"I have arranged that you will stay in my apartment for two days, and I will ask my assistant Bud to take you to Los Angeles for two days. At the weekend, he will go back to Staten Island with you. You are in Stann Island
The admission procedures for Day Island Community College have been completed. You will first take a language class in New York and then wait for admission in the fall."
Ronald arranged for Xiao Yan to go to a community college in his hometown. Xiao Yan's English level was average. He had practiced with foreigners traveling in the Bund for a long time, but he still couldn't understand it well in the United States.
Staten Island Community College has just joined the public education system of the City University of New York. As long as Xiaoyan can graduate in two years and get an associate degree, he can also choose other schools in the City University system to continue to upgrade to a bachelor's degree.
If he is unable to do so, Ronald is also prepared to work in the Stanton factory. After he enters the factory to study for a period of time, he can go back to take over Lao Yan's shift.
If he wants to do something else, Ronald will also help. He has to take care of his partner in the Minhang factory. The Chinese value mutual help between relatives and friends. With a partner like Lao Yan, he will be able to help in the future.
We can also think of ways to do other cooperation.
"Director Huang's application materials have been brought to me." Xiao Yan asked Xiao Yan to translate the materials for Director Huang's participation in the Los Angeles Women's Independent Film Festival and ask Xiao Yan to bring them to Ronald.
"It's very good. Director Huang's film has caused a small sensation among female producers and directors in the industry here. They didn't expect that Xujiahui could produce such a pioneering work."
Ronald collected the materials and asked Xiao Yan to send a telegram to his family to report that he was safe. Then he asked little Bud to accompany him shopping, completely transforming into a young man dressed as America.
Ronald brought Director Huang's application materials to Gale Hurd. She is now preparing for a Hollywood Women Producers and Directors Association with Director Martha Coolidge and others. It happens to be in contact with the independent film festival at the beginning of each year.
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Ronald found them and added an award for emerging female directors in the independent film festival. It was open to female directors from all over the world. It happened that there were not many people who signed up for the first festival, so Director Huang's "Human and Ghost Love" was cheap.
.
Martha Coolidge, who had been fired by John Hughes from the cast of "Wonderful" and had her comedy ideas stolen from him, now scolded that Chicagoan John Hughes whenever she saw anyone.
Ronald listened for a long time, but there was nothing new. Coolidge just kept cursing Hughes, while assuring Ronald that such a pioneering and progressive film by Director Huang must be seen by more Americans.
Ronald knew in his heart that except for a small number of curious people in America, it was impossible for Americans to watch the story of a Chinese opera actress. So he just asked Daydream Company to contact movie theaters in Chinatown in major cities.
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There are many immigrants here who have worked here for many years. They are eager to see more of the scenery and culture of their hometown and relieve the pain of homesickness. Therefore, let "The Love of Humans and Ghosts" be released in these places first to make money from the copies.
Perhaps the curse of Martha Coolidge had taken effect, or perhaps Howard Deutch, who replaced her as director of "Brilliant," was not taken seriously within Paramount.
The day after sending Xiao Yan away, Ronald received a distress call from Paramount President Ned Tanning.
"That's what happened. I'm investigating. If someone is behind the scenes, I will definitely give him justice. But now that this kind of accident has happened, I can only ask you to help me see if I need to reshoot the footage.
Now that the crew is scattered, only you have the prestige to bring the main actors back for reshoots."
Ned Tanning was in the Paramount screening room with Ronald and director Howard Deutch, watching the dailies of Serious Accident.
The movie has been shot and edited. However, when editing the negatives and developing the copies, a serious accident occurred.
A romantic outdoor scene between Eric Stoltz, who plays the male lead, and Leigh Thompson, who plays the female lead, at the largest outdoor movie theater in Los Angeles, the "Hollywood Bowl."
In this semi-open-air theater, in addition to showing movies, various performances are also held.
The male protagonist, Keith, wanted to be here to impress Amanda Jones, whom he had been secretly in love with for a long time. Finally, in the room inside the Hollywood Bowl, he showed Amanda that he had spent several months drawing her.
The portrait finally moved Amanda so much that she looked squarely at this young man who, although poor, was upright and dared to love.
On the screen, there were black borders and dark frames around this scene, and the film had been damaged.
"Do you have any enemies? Howard?" Ronald asked the extremely frustrated director Howard Deutch who was sitting next to him.
"I can't think of anyone who wants to harm me, unless..."
"Martha? The most she can do is curse you. It's impossible for you to go to the printing laboratory to do this."
Ronald sighed.
In a laboratory, every time a copy is made, a chemical solution specified by the formula must be used. This is the most important part of quality management. In a good studio, the hundreds of copies produced can be seen with the naked eye.
Doesn't make any difference.
But this time, for some unknown reason, there was an accident at Paramount's lab. There was a problem with the film, chemical formula, or water temperature control of these scenes, and overexposure and burnt marks appeared around the film.
Fortunately, experienced experienced technical workers discovered and stopped the accident from further expansion in time.
But what is very unfortunate is that the scene that was damaged this time happened to be the scene that director Howard Deutch only shot one scene.
It costs a lot of money to rent a venue to shoot at the Hollywood Bowl. In order to save money, Howard Deutch only rented it for half a day.
As a result, the only lens that I was satisfied with and could be used was damaged by the photo lab.
There were no extra copies to replace this scene. There were only two choices before him, either to delete this scene, or to recall the two leading actors Eric Stoltz and Leigh Thompson to reshoot.
Howard Deutch did not have the prestige to recall the actors and pay for the technical errors of the printing laboratory. Only Ronald, who solved Stoltz's out-of-the-box mentality at the time and persuaded Leigh Thompson to take over the leading role, might be able to make it happen.
They are selling face.
Ronald originally didn't want to deal with such bad things.
But the movie is innocent. The other parts of the movie are shot at a very high level. The interactions between the three protagonists, one male and two female, are very chemical. It can be seen that they have put a lot of effort into it.
gave an extraordinary performance.
This scene is the scene where the two protagonists establish their love. It is a key change in the plot of the movie. If deleted, the entire story of the movie will collapse. There is no plot where Keith uses Amanda as a model to paint.
When the audience sees this, they will be very confused as to why Keith and Amanda suddenly have a crush on each other.
Looking at Howard Deutch's pitiful face, Ronald agreed to give it a try.
There are no errors in the movie itself. It cost tens of millions of dollars and hundreds of people worked hard for several months. Ronald didn't want everyone's hard work to be ruined by an accidental or intentional technical error.
"I watched the movie you filmed. It's very good, very good." Ronald arrived at the mansion in Beverly Hills. Leigh Thompson was packing up her house. Her house was about to be taken over by real estate agents and she was looking for a house to view.
Already.
The failure of "Howard the Duck" caused her expected income to plummet, and now she can no longer afford the mortgage on such a good house. After filming "How Wonderful", Leigh Thompson got rid of the house as soon as possible and prepared to move with her sister.
"Ha, I followed the guidance you gave me. I'm not pretty enough, so I made Amanda try harder to be kind." Leigh Thompson shrugged and looked at the house, still a little reluctant.
"I have to thank you very much. If this movie can do well at the box office, I may not need to sell my house. I like this house very much."
"Hey, actually, I came here to..." Ronald glanced at the director Daqi who was also here, and when he saw that he didn't speak, he had to speak himself.
"Sister, your phone number" her sister called from the room.
"Sorry, I'm going to go for a moment." Leigh Thompson said sorry to Ronald and went inside to answer the phone.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "You bastard...why do you say that? If you don't want to get engaged, I can cancel it..."
After a while, the sound of a quarrel came faintly from the room.
Ronald and director Howard Deutch looked at each other and knew something embarrassing had happened again. Leigh Thompson and her boyfriend Dennis Quaid started to quarrel again.
"Eric? Eric? I only have a relationship with him as colleagues, but you actually criticized me and said that..."
Leigh Thompson hung up the phone and came out with a very bad expression.
"We have a scene that needs reshoots..." Howard Deutch was very concerned about Leigh Thompson. Seeing that her expression was not good, he comforted her for a few words and told her the purpose of his visit.
"I'm sorry, Howard, I'm not in a good state right now and I need to make some adjustments. When will you reshoot?"
"Oh, the movie is scheduled to be released next month, it'd be best if it could be released as soon as possible..."
"Forget it, you need to rest for a few days. Howard and I are thinking about other ways. The photo lab damaged the film."
"Sorry, you asked me to adjust for one day. I can resume filming the day after tomorrow. Which scene is it?"
"It's the scene where Amanda discovers that Keith secretly painted his oil painting."
"Oh..." Leigh Thompson covered her face in pain.
This scene requires a long time of preparation to show the kind of mentality of two lovers who have broken through the barriers and developed a good impression of each other, but have not yet officially fallen in love.
Lea Thompson was accused by her boyfriend Dennis Quaid of having an affair with Eric Stoltz because of filming with him. It is estimated that it will be difficult to regain that subtle feeling in a short time.
"What happened? Did you make their drama come true?" Ronald asked director Dutch after coming out of the mansion.
"No, how could I do this?"
Romantic comedies, especially this kind of whole movie, rely on the chemical reaction between the leading actors and the script to impress the audience with true feelings. Some directors can't find that subtle feeling, so they will take shortcuts and make the actors really
of falling in love on set.
This is more convincing than acting.
But on the set, I filmed many falling-in-love scenes with beautiful women and dashing men. It was hard not to really fall in love on the set.
If the male and female protagonists do not work hard to get rid of their emotions after filming, they will easily fall into emotional distress.
"I won't do this. I just let them be together and discover more of the advantages in each other..."
"This..." Ronald scratched his head. Doesn't love start from discovering the advantages in the other person, this kind of small spark?
Now, on the one hand, there is Leigh Thompson's personal love life, and on the other hand, the movie requires her to use her acting skills again and pretend to be in love with Stoltz.
"Isn't this a moral dilemma?"
Ronald also felt a little painful. The director's professional ethics cannot intrude too much into the actor's private life. But the total cost of tens of millions before and after is missing one scene, which is more important?
"What should I do?" Howard Deutch was very painful. He thought about it for a long time. He had no choice between his work and the actor's private life.
"Take me to see the props and scenery and see if there are any other ways to remedy this."
The two came to Paramount's warehouse, where all the important props for "Wonderful" were stored.
"So, did Leigh and Eric really fall in love during the filming?" Ronald looked at the various props and remembered that when he saw the dailies again, the chemistry between the two was indeed very good, so he asked Howard.
"They have dated once or twice. But I don't think Leigh Thompson necessarily likes Eric. She is just looking for feelings.
However, Mary Stuart Masterson, who played Watts, Keith's neighbor girl, was actually a bit unpalatable. That's why the confession scene between Watts and Keith in the end was so beautiful. Mary Stuart Masterson started crying.
Very beautiful.”
"Is this Amanda's oil painting prop?" Ronald turned over a framed oil painting and asked Howard Deutch.
"Yes, that's it." The woman above looks a bit like Leigh Thompson, but there is still a gap between her and the real person.
In fact, we should find a better painter. Ronald thought to himself, the audience actually doesn't care whether Keith can draw very well, so the audience will be disappointed by such a portrait that doesn't look like him.
"What is this?" Ronald finished looking at the portrait and found that there was a frame behind it.
"Uh?" Ronald found another portrait of Amanda.
"Where's this? And this?" Jumping into the pile of props, Ronald found that there were seven or eight portraits leaning against the wall, all of which were painted after Leigh Thompson.
"Well, I felt that my painting was not good, so I found many painters."
Ronald looked deeply at Howard Deutch.
It seems that it is easy for the director to fall in love with the heroine. He thinks about the inner story of the heroine every day, what are her advantages, and why the hero falls in love with her. After thinking about it too much, love sprouts from this little place.
?
In fact, these paintings are all of the same level. Howard Deutch is also a little crazy, and he seems to be very obsessed with Leigh Thompson. I just don't know if he has discovered it himself.
"Okay, let's think of a way and check on Li's condition tomorrow."
Ronald had no choice but to reshoot the matter.
"What's wrong with you? You seem to have something on your mind?"
Back in the editing room, Walter Murch saw that Ronald was worried.
"As a producer, a movie I promoted had a big technical problem. When the film was developed, an accident happened... The scenes that need to be reshot now are difficult to find because of the heroine's private love life.
state……"
Ronald told Murch about the dilemma he faced.
"How is it washed?"
"It's the formula of the potion, time, and temperature. One of the three things went wrong. The four corners of the film turned black and the four edges turned yellow, making it unusable."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "You said it would be difficult to reshoot?"
"Yes, it's difficult to handle. Leigh Thompson has had a big problem in her personal love life recently. I think she is a very good actress, but there are some things that she cannot control."
"If that's the case, you can go to Lloyd. He has been working in the photofinishing plant for forty years and he has a way."
"any solution?"
…
"Can this method work?" Ronald found Lloyd, who Murch said had worked at Paramount Printing Plant for forty years and was about to retire.
"It depends, you might lose a few frames."
Lloyd worked on the machine slowly and unhurriedly.
"Okay, look at this section."
"Huh? Not bad." Ronald leaned against the monitor and looked at the picture that Lloyd was repairing.
"Come and take a look, Howard." Ronald gave up his position to director Dutch. This old-fashioned machine can only allow one person to view the film through the monitor.
"That's right, we didn't lose much."
Howard Deutch watched it several times.
The four sides of the film were carefully cut, and the original long shot was cut off on all sides to become a medium shot.
Although a lot of lens arrangement and image quality were lost, there was finally no need to reshoot.
"That's it, it's good to be able to save a little bit."
Ronald feels that although the picture quality is a little rough, it is much better than reshooting the heroine who is not in good condition.
"Thank you, Ronald." Howard Deutch admired this strange trick to solve the problem. If it weren't for Ronald, his second movie would have been terrible.
"It's okay, you have to be busy with marketing next. By the way, those portrait oil paintings, won't you just put them in the warehouse if you don't take them back?"
"I found one and gave it to Li."
"Hey, you don't understand." Ronald thought of the models who looked very similar to the "swaggering" Likin Cattrall, "You don't know what those warehouse workers can do to the portraits of beautiful women.