"Hey, okay, I'll take the radio to my room later." Little Bud spent a long time with his girlfriend during this vacation, and he smiled when he saw Ronald.
"When will you propose to Lucy?" Ronald knew that his extended family had close contacts with Lucy, and Lucy was very satisfied with this boyfriend who could have a serious job.
"Come on, I'm asking a real estate agent to find a suitable rental house in the surrounding area. I plan to bring Lucy over and we will settle down near your apartment. Lucy has learned some typing work and is looking for a word processor here.
The secretarial job is not difficult, but the rent of the surrounding houses is a bit expensive."
"Don't worry about it, I'll take care of it." Ronald was very happy when he heard that little Bud and his fiancée were so motivated, and planned to rent a small apartment for them to live in. Anyway, he couldn't live without this person who knew everything.
Driver and assistant.
Little Bud was very different from his out-of-the-box personality when I first met him. His years in the Marine Corps had made him less talkative, and he also had some habits of saving money.
Ronald never asked him about his experience. Anyway, every time his mother saw him, she would repeatedly say that it was lucky that Ronald saved little Bud back then and allowed him to complete his high school education in the Marine Corps.
Ronald picked up the phone, called his agent Richard, and asked him to look for apartments not far away.
"Ring ring ring ring..."
Another phone in the apartment rang in the living room, and Ronald motioned to Little Bud to answer it. This phone was mainly his work phone number at Daydream, and only people from Daydream Pictures would call it.
"Just stay close to me. Yes, it's for little Bud and his girlfriend." Ronald told Richard.
Then, he said to Bud, who had also answered the phone, "Let's make an appointment. The real estate agent that CAA cooperates with will give you a call and let's go look at houses together. CAA often finds cheap houses with good conditions for actors who are just starting out in the industry."
, have long-term partners.”
"Ronald, I don't know how to thank you." Bud was very happy to be separated from his girlfriend.
"It's a trivial matter. Our fathers were brothers, and so are we." Ronald waved his hand to let him ignore it, "Who was looking for me just now?"
"Oh, it's your general manager Ed. He said that there is a man named Bannon who claims to be your friend and said that he has a movie project that he wants to talk to you about." Bud replied, referring to the phone call he just answered in the living room.
.
Ronald frowned. Now he is well-known. Some people know that he is the boss behind Daydream, and many people claim to be their friends. Daydream will communicate with Ronald to eliminate scammers and people who come to try their luck.
.
"Bannon? I don't know him. Let him go."
Ronald didn't expect to have such a friend, "I have to go to CAA, please call Ed back and explain."
After speaking, Ronald drove his Ferrari to the CAA office.
Tom Cruise thought about it for two days and felt that Ronald's suggestion that he would be more likely to win Oscar favors by playing the mentally retarded character made sense, so he proposed his idea to CAA President Michael Ovitz.
conveyed.
But Ovitz tried his best to persuade him to consider the role of the younger brother with normal intelligence. He also said that if Cruise played the mentally retarded character, it would damage the star's image. And Dustin Hoffman often plays some abnormal roles, so
The audience is more receptive.
In short, Ovitz's point of view is that whether the character is mentally retarded has little to do with winning the award.
After learning that Ronald was the mastermind behind the scenes that persuaded Cruise to grab the role, Ovitz invited Ronald and Tom Cruise to go to CAA for an interview.
Outside Ovitz's huge office, his secretary quickly stood up and guided Ronald and Cruise through the aisle. The secretary knocked on the door and led them in.
"Aha, my favorite director client and my favorite male star client are here."
Michael Ovitz is very low-key to the outside world and never accepts interviews, but in the kingdom of CAA, he is undoubtedly the king.
Ronald had not seen the king for a long time. He was impressed by his debut script before he could sign the contract. At that time, Ovitz was full of passion and was very dedicated to his work.
CAA has developed very rapidly in the past few years, signing many actors and directors in succession. In addition to screenwriters, Ovitz's scripts have taken the lead, and the project packaging strategy has also been a great success.
For several years, the top three box-office movies can be said to be his role as a producer. From the script, to the director, to the actors, it was all handled by CAA. However, in the opening subtitles, Ovitz was mentioned due to legal reasons.
I can't sign it.
Movies such as "Ghostbusters" have made CAA a lot of money, and Ovitz has gradually become more and more popular, which can be seen from the increase in the area of his office. Now his renovated office takes up almost
A quarter of the first floor is much larger than the other partners.
"I don't know why you would think that, Ronald."
Ovitz was very vocal about his dislike of the idea of Cruise playing a mentally retarded character.
"He is a star, a big star! Letting such a beautiful boy play a fool is simply a crime against all the female audiences in America. Besides, Tom is young, so he doesn't look good playing Dustin's brother."
"But, Mr. Ovitz, the fool played by Tom is also a beautiful fool. Don't you think this is very interesting? And it will help him get an Oscar nomination. As for age, we just change the script and let Tom play
It would be nice if the fool was the younger one."
Ronald insisted that if he wanted Cruise to be nominated for an Oscar, it would be best to play a role that was completely different from his image.
"God, he's a star, and a star is someone who has the same qualities in every movie he plays. We're talking about Tom, perhaps the most beautiful star in Hollywood since Paul Newman."
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! Ronald agrees with this classification method.
The existence of a movie star is the kind of person who makes the audience want to watch his movies when they hear his name.
If celebrities, like ordinary actors, perform roles with different personalities so that no one can tell that it is the actor who plays them, then why should the audience be attracted to the stars and buy tickets?
Many stars, such as Harrison Ford, always have a sense of cynicism no matter what they are playing. Although the earlier James Stewart has superb acting skills, his role also has strong characteristics of a typical small-town American hero.
.
It is difficult for Ronald to refute this statement. Cruise's management team also hopes that he will continue to develop under the image of a beautiful boy full of male impulses.
"But what we are talking about is winning awards. As for the problem of retardation affecting Tom's image, I also have a solution. How about we change the character of Raymond from retardation to autism. Autism has normal and even
Beyond the talents of ordinary people.
I also heard that there is another type of autism. In addition to having difficulty communicating with others, people also have amazing talents in other areas. For example, they are very good at mathematics and can calculate the number of toothpicks in a box in one second."
Ronald clings to what Cruise wants most - the award:
"Tom's image is fixed as a handsome guy with mainstream American values. If he doesn't break through this shackles, what's the point of talking about an Oscar?"
"What do you mean by that?" Ovitz knew that Tom Cruise wanted to win an Oscar when he entered the industry. The first thing he did when he signed with CAA was to make a list of big-name directors he wanted to work with.
"What I mean is that if an actor has his own star quality in this kind of role, if he wants to win an Oscar, he must break through his inherent image."
Ronald stretched out his hand and counted them one by one.
"Bogart, Humphrey Bogart, has played ruthless tough guys all his life, but when he got the best actor role, he played an incompetent, foul-mouthed boatman in 'The African Queen' with no initiative at all.
No, he was eaten to death by the missionary played by Katharine Hepburn. He would do whatever he was asked to do. In order to please the old maid, he must have the courage to do something serious.
Henry Fonda played a lifelong left-wing hero who was wronged and misunderstood, but was able to endure the humiliation and lead the people to resist exploitation. But his role as the best actor was really that of an old and frail father in the golden pond.
Faced with my daughter’s liberating and progressive values, I instead embraced conservative family values. I broke through the shackles I had always had.”
"Ronald, you are overgeneralizing. What about John Wayne? His film 'True Grit', which won the Best Actor, still won the award with the image of a typical western hero?"
Ovitz waved his hand. He had done this trick of positioning a star and balancing commercial value and critical awards countless times, and he also knew how to refute Ronald's point of view.
He began to talk endlessly about his understanding of winning awards, how actors should choose at different career stages, how to plan their career optimally, etc.
Ovitz is strong and eloquent, speaks very quickly, sounds logical and very confusing.
Ronald clearly felt that the balance in Tom Cruise's heart had shifted towards playing the normal younger brother.
"Steven (Spielberg) and Sidney (Pollack) are both very optimistic about your acting skills. You will perform very well in this movie. Coupled with the operation of our CAA, we will get
Nomination is very possible."
"What do you think, Ronald? What Mr. Ovitz said makes sense. John Wayne did not break through his star image and also won the Best Actor. Maybe breaking his image is not necessarily necessary."
Listening to Cruise say this, Ronald knew that his heart was already leaning towards playing the normal younger brother Charlie.
"If you insist..." Ronald shrugged, indicating that he had no intention of continuing the debate.
Then he whispered in a low voice that he could only hear, "True Grit, John Wayne plays a one-eyed dragon."
Paula Wagner could already tell that she was pregnant. She whispered to Cruise next to her, and the two reached an agreement.
Niceta was behind Ronald and whispered in Ronald's ear, "You just said that Wayne played a one-eyed dragon, which can be regarded as damaging his image. But Tom is not as smart as you. If Tom doesn't want to
He’s acting mentally retarded, why don’t we give up on this project?”
"Go out and talk." Ronald whispered back.
"I will carefully consider your opinion, Ronald. In fact, this role of Charlie is also very difficult to play. I feel that it is no less challenging than my brother's acting skills. When the time comes, I will exchange ideas with Dustin during rehearsals.
Let’s try the role. It’s a good challenge for my acting skills.”
Tom came over and chatted with Ronald about his thoughts sincerely.
Ronald looked at Cruise, who looked forward to it, and thought, "Poor Tom, you missed this role, and you don't know how long you have to wait to get nominated."
Obviously Ovitz, the president of CAA, wants to make him a big star. The more roles he plays, the more he will be stereotyped. It will not be easy to break through in the future. I wonder if he can still be like Henry Fonda, Humphrey...
Bogart was so lucky that he could make a breakthrough in the twilight years of his star career, win the Best Actor, and get what he wanted?
"I don't want to direct anymore. Tom doesn't play mentally retarded people. I'm not sure that his acting skills can meet the standards of the Oscar judges. Besides, I haven't been nominated for best director yet, so I'm not convincing enough now." Ronald
After leaving Ovitz's office with Niceta, we went to his office to continue chatting.
"I'll pass on your comments to Paula. But I have to consider your interests first. Dustin Hoffman is a big problem. All the directors and actors who have worked with him say he is a big ass."
sore."
Unlike Tom Cruise, who is more superstitious about Hoffman, who has been nominated for the Oscar five times and won the Oscar for Kramer and his wife. Niceta has been immersed in the industry for a long time and knows that Hoffman is actually a very troublesome cooperation.
object.
He is a typical method actor. In order to get into the role, he can constantly torture the director and fellow actors on the set. When playing the role of Mr. and Mrs. Kramer, in order to increase believability, he improvised and threw a glass against the wall, breaking the shards.
The face of her co-star Meryl Streep was scratched and almost disfigured.
As for all kinds of strange behaviors on set for acting, such as when he once played a marathon runner, he forced himself not to sleep for 72 hours, which almost made his co-star Laurence Olivier almost exhausted. Such things are commonplace.
Ronald has never been truly recognized by film critics, nor has he won an Oscar, or even a lesser directing award from the Directors Guild or the Film Critics Association. If Cruise had played the leading role, the two could still have a positive interaction.
, if Dustin Hoffman plays the role, might something happen on the set?
The two reached an agreement and continued to look for a movie script that was more suitable for Ronald.
"Your directing style is more like Frank Capra in the golden age. You can always dig out the touching American spirit in ordinary people's characters. We will select more scripts in this direction in the future.
This kind of script relies on weak intelligence to highlight dramatic conflicts..."
"It may not be suitable for me, right?" Ronald answered.
In fact, directors all have their own strengths, and Ronald really prefers stories about ordinary people. Those very dramatic stories that are far away from ordinary people, such as growing up to be a monster, having low intelligence, or having mental illness, or
A born criminal, he actually doesn't have much interest or enthusiasm.
Since my friend Cruise doesn't play a role that is easy to win awards, there is no need for him to challenge himself.
At the same time, in Ovitz's large office, he called Dustin Hoffman.
"Dustin, I have convinced Tom that the role of brother Raymond is still yours. In addition, they came up with an idea to make Raymond not a real intellectual disability, but an autistic person who is said to be autistic.
Some people have extremely high IQs. What do you think? Is it more difficult to act?"
"Let me think about it, is what you said true? I will go to the Autism Patients Association to observe."
Dustin Hoffman has returned to the ranks of the highest-grossing male stars since "My Fair Lady". His salary in 1982 was US$5.5 million.
The salary inflation caused by Stallone and Schwarzenegger in the past two years has allowed Dustin to charge higher prices.
And Cruise doesn't have that much influence yet. In Top Gun, he has just entered the ranks of male stars and still has a lot of potential to grow.
This is also the real reason why Ovitz prefers Dustin Hoffman to play this mentally handicapped character who is more likely to win awards, so that he can get more money.
After coming out of CAA, Ronald remembered the countermeasures he had discussed with Niceta.
Ovitz values Dustin Hoffman, who is of the same race, and is sure that most mentally retarded roles will be played by him. He can gradually withdraw, showing his weakening interest every time, and explain it to Cruise when the time is right.
Given the situation, it would be very difficult for Cruise to quit this movie, and it would be hard to win an award.
Film projects come and go, and Ronald is not the first successful director to quit anyway. The two previous great Jewish directors, Spielberg and Sidney Pollack, did not stick to the end and both quit midway.
No.
He drove to his Daydream Film Company. The employees here were more down-to-earth and everyone discussed matters. The distribution work of "Dirty Dancing" was going on in a busy and orderly manner. Every time Ronald saw them, he felt more at ease.
.
"I am Ronald's friend. We attended a gathering of top entrepreneurs there together in Japan. You must pass it on. I'm not lying to you. My project is very important to Ronald. Don't delay.
Your boss’s important business.”
A sound of arguing came from the front desk.
Ronald heard what happened at the front desk and seemed to be stopping a man from coming in. The man's voice insisted that he was his friend.
"Isn't that Bannon here?" Ronald opened the door in the office and stuck his head out, "What's wrong? What happened? Who is it?"
"Ah ha, Ronald. I'm so happy to see you. It's nothing. Your front desk is very responsible. I just forgot to make an appointment for you."
"Ah, it's you..."
Ronald thought of Bannon, the Wall Street banker he met outside the door when the presidents of Kadokawa Publishing House and Johnny & Associates treated him to high-end cuisine when he was in Tokyo.
With his big head and thick neck, wasn't he the same person who was scolding his enemy, the former Vice President of Universal, Tom Mount, whom he always had trouble with?
"Hello, Mr. Bannon?"
"Call me Steve, Ronald."
Bannon behaved like every Hollywood banker, pretending to be very familiar with Ronald and calling him by his name affectionately.
"How is your family? I'm going to visit your aunt on Veterans Day."
Ronald was not averse to this kind of familiarity. Bankers relied on this to make a living.
Moreover, their approach was different from Hollywood's overly enthusiastic and fake approach. Although Ronald was not familiar with him, Bannon actually knew that his aunt was a veteran's widow.
"How do you know my aunt?"
After entering the small office and asking the front desk to bring him coffee, Ronald asked curiously.
"I did my homework." Bannon took a sip of the coffee poured from the coffee machine and made no comment.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "Tell me what you want to see me for."
"That's right, I didn't get a large amount of financing in Japan, but my cooperation with Tom Mount will continue. This man is a waste, and I can only rely on myself.
I found some old friends on Wall Street and finally got the funds to shoot my first movie, and now I want to..."
As he spoke, Bannon looked into Ronald's eyes, anticipating his reaction.
"Our company doesn't have extra funds to shoot other movies now." Ronald also picked up the coffee and took a sip. The cheap coffee machine didn't taste as good as instant coffee.
"No, I don't need your funds. The money I got from Wall Street is enough to film this movie called 'Boy Rent Girl'. I came here to find a distribution company. Our movie has no stars, so the distribution company wants to
I’m looking for your help. I heard that you have a good relationship with Disney’s Touchstone. Can you recommend me..."
"Boy rents girl?" Ronald heard the weird name of the script, reached out and took the script handed over by Bannon, opened it and read it quickly.
"This script is very well written."
Twenty minutes later, Ronald closed the script.
It's a very interesting teen romance.
The male protagonist is a nerd Nerd, whose name happens to be Ronald. He falls in love with Cindy, the most popular cheerleader in the school. By chance, Nerd pays to rent Cindy, the cheerleader, to be his fake girlfriend and teach him how to do it.
Only then can you be popular among girls.
After a series of coincidences, Nerd finally changed his appearance and became a very popular boy. Finally, his fake relationship with Cindy came true.
Ronald felt that, regardless of the fact that other parts were a bit immature, there was a concept in the script that Ronald liked very much. That was the plot of the male protagonist, the ugly duckling, turning into a swan.
This kind of scene where teenagers suddenly become mature and become more popular often happened to the heroine in the past. Just like the "Wonderful" movie that Ronald just finished.
But this script is just the opposite, with a boy changing his appearance to make a girl fall in love with him. There must be many boys in America who don't have girlfriends and would like this kind of plot.
Thinking of this, Ronald looked up and looked at Bannon, "You said you did your homework?"
"What?" Bannon was a little confused.
"If you have really done your homework, you should know that my daydream is also involved in the distribution business. My new film will be released in about a thousand stores during the summer. If your film can satisfy me
, I can also distribute your movie, you don’t have to ask Disney.”
"That's my dereliction of duty. I didn't do my homework well. Of course I'm very interested." When Bannon heard that it was showing in a thousand theaters, he knew that Ronald had invested a huge amount of money in distribution. At least for this movie,