Chapter 4: Go all out for marketing and public relations
"Hello, Xue'er, I'm glad you can accept our interview."
Erin Poulos, the 1966 Miss America's host for the morning news program "Good Day!" on the ABC television network in Boston, was interviewing Cher in New York via a communications satellite.
This program is the flagship program of the Boston ABC station and is broadcast on syndicated stars across the United States.
The marketing budget invested by the producers MGM and Ronald was not very high, so they did not win the broadcast opportunity of "Good Morning America", which has the highest ratings, but found the second most popular morning news category
program, gave Cher a public relations interview to promote the movie and her acting skills.
"Nice to meet you, Erin." Cher started a satellite connection with her in her studio in New York.
"Moonlight has not been released in Boston yet. I heard that day will come soon." The host Erin has not seen the movie yet, but the public relations company came to visit, and the producer ordered that she had to follow the usual movie schedule.
Interview methods, asking questions in the air:
"Can you step back now and look at the character of Loretta, the heroine of the movie, objectively? As a completely different person than you are."
Erin's basic skills as host are very good. She asked this awkward question smoothly. It was obvious that the purpose of this question was to bring up the topic of Cher's acting skills.
"Oh, of course. I made this movie a long time ago, and time has given me a new perspective. I have watched the movie several times recently, and I can look at the heroine Loretta from an objective perspective."
Cher squinted her eyes, trying to see the teleprompter behind the camera, but squinting would make the wrinkles obvious, so Cher immediately gave up. The teleprompter was shrouded in the dazzling light behind the camera, and Cher still couldn't see it.
Not knowing the answer above, she had to work hard to adjust her sitting posture.
"Do you like her?" host Erin asked.
"Oh... yes, I like the role of Loretta very much. It's very interesting. I... um... can't see myself in this character... but... well, she is a very good character.
"
Xue'er adjusted for a long time but couldn't find a non-reflective angle to see the answer clearly, so she had to use her own free will.
"I haven't seen the movie yet, but I think after it is released in Boston, I will definitely go and see how different that character is from you, hahaha..."
Eileen saw that there was something wrong with the New York studio. Cher's answer was hesitant. She gave full play to her skills as a senior host and started to make things up out of thin air, "So how did you prepare for Lorre before you acted in this movie?"
Who does the role of Ta do research?"
"Ah...well...of course I will do research..." Xue'er has seen countless big scenes. Even if she forgets the lyrics during a concert, she can still get over it. This kind of interview where she can't see the answer clearly doesn't count for her.
difficulty.
"But this kind of research is not like that of doctors and professors... well, you know... I have to go to the set in advance and work hard to integrate with other actors... uh... after a long time, it is equivalent to doing research.
"
"Pfft...heh...um"
Two beauties had an awkward chat for five minutes on a morning news talk show. The cameraman next to them thought it was a bit funny, but they couldn't laugh out loud during the live broadcast, so they had to hold it in.
"What did your mother think of your collaboration with Olympia Dukakis in the film, and what did she think of the mother-daughter relationship you and Dukakis played on screen?"
"Ah, that was my mother's favorite movie in which I acted. Of course she didn't specifically talk about the scene between me and Olympia. She loved the whole movie."
"Did you enjoy working with Dukakis? You know, in Boston and Massachusetts, Dukakis is the talk of the town, and we all have a special fondness for her as a hometown person."
"Ah, yes, it's very good. When she first came to the crew, the director Ronald specially introduced that she and I look a bit similar, so it is very suitable to play mother and daughter. She and I get along very well on the crew, she is a
An actor with a very good personality..."
…
"Cher's acting skills are quite good. She had a lot of quarrels with Dukakis on the set." Ronald was watching the live TV broadcast in his apartment. The two chatted awkwardly without making the audience feel strange. He smiled.
Said to Diane beside him.
Diane held Ronald's arm. Tomorrow he would fly to New York to prepare for another premiere there. It would be quite sweet to stick to him and stay together for a while longer. Diane raised her head and asked
, "Why did they quarrel?"
"In order to respect my director's guidance on her acting skills, hahaha..." Ronald recalled the conflict between Cher and Dukakis at that time. Dukakis and other Broadway actors were very concerned about their position as directors.
Respect and try to act in the direction that Ronald leads.
And Cher is a star. If she thinks Ronald's direction is wrong, she will point it out on the spot and then express her own opinions. In the final breakfast round table scene, the two really got angry and accused each other.
However, this unexpectedly opened up the actor's emotional state similar to that of the plot outside the scene. After Ronald found out, he immediately rushed to shoot, and he successfully shot the most difficult dinner table scene in one fell swoop.
"You mentioned director Ronald, would he be able to direct your acting? We all know you have a reputation for being tough, like Bette Davis, a star of Hollywood's past. Do you think you could take acting guidance from Ronald?"
?" The host Irene was feeling bored. After hearing Xueer's answer, she improvised.
Bette Davis was a famously troubled star who often had conflicts with directors on set.
"Did she listen to you on the set?" Diane became interested and poked Ronald's waist.
"Depending on what she said, I actually don't direct the actors very much on the set," Ronald said with a smile. This kind of interview was just a gimmick, and it was impossible for Cher to talk in depth.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! My own directing style is to respect the actors and give guidance in the general direction. For specific performances, I still let the actors devote themselves fully to their performances. Ronald is not like Xi
Like Dick Kirk or Stanley Kubrick, he prescribed specific acting methods for actors.
Ronald's directing style was deeply influenced by Roger Corman, and later he was deeply influenced by Coppola, Jonathan Demme, Martin Scorsese and others who came from the same school.
The approach is to let the actors take the initiative.
"Well, it depends on your definition of director. If you ask Ronald or other directors I have worked with, they all like to work with me...but..." Cher did not expect this host
People face new problems and start thinking about them while talking.
"But I have my own way of acting... I don't like others telling me how to act, but I like to talk about acting with others..."
"Hehehe, it seems she doesn't quite listen to you." Diane continued to tickle Ronald's waist.
"Hahaha, you don't understand. The best directors have to be like this. They have to make the actors feel that they made their own decisions." Ronald began to boast proudly. In fact, there are also directors in Hollywood who can give Cher a high-level performance.
Not too much.
"Um...well..."
It was rare for him and Diane to have some free time alone, and Ronald didn't want to waste it.
Soon, their hands came together, and their moist lips came close and touched each other. The moist feeling made them both start to close their eyes...
…
"An actor like Cher can control herself and then let her perform according to the framework. She can perform unexpectedly in the final table scene. I didn't expect that Ronald's ability to control stars has already
So outstanding.”
Goldberg, the president of 20th Century Fox, also arrived at the office early and was also watching the live broadcast of "Good Days". This Q&A where Cher talked about Ronald's directorial skills impressed Goldberg.
As a CEO who has been in the film and television industry for many years and has worked his way up from the grassroots level, he is very clear about how difficult it is to get top stars.
Ronald's ability to control Cher's performance, no matter what means he uses to do it, is a clear sign that the director's level has begun to reach a high level.
"Linda, bring me all the movie reviews about 'Moonlight' that I asked you to collect." Goldberg called his secretary Linda.
"These are film reviews from two newspapers in Chicago. I put them at the top. The videotape is yesterday's TV show where Albert and Cisco reviewed this week's new movies." Linda moved a large frame of newspapers and several videotapes.
Come in and take them gently.
Goldberg first picked up the Chicago Sun-Times and flipped to the film reviews page.
When the moon hits your eyes, like a big pizza pie - that's love.
-Dean Martin
Roger Ebert began his review of "Moonlight" with lyrics from the interlude sung by Dean Martin at the film's opening:
The most charming quality of "Moonlight" is also the hardest to describe, and that is the tone of the film.
Reviews of this film tend to make it sound like a wild comedy about a people, and it is. But there's something more here, some kind of bittersweet longing that manifests itself in the ineffable.
Romance, and a certain magical quality reflected in the film's title.
The film stars Cher, who plays an Italian-American widow in her 30s, but she's not the only person in the film to be stirred up by moonlight.
For example, one moonlit night when her smart, cynical mother (Olympia Dukakis) goes out to eat alone, she encounters a middle-aged university professor (John Mahoney) who specializes in seducing his young students.
, but he found some undeniable attraction in this mature woman.
Cher's father (Vincent Gardenia) has been carrying on a secret but sweet extramarital affair for years with the mature, disillusioned Anita Gillette.
At the center of the story, Cher surprisingly discovers that even in middle age, she still has the ability to love.
As the film opens, she is engaged to Mr. Johnny Camarelli (Danny Aiello), less out of love than out of boredom with widowhood.
But after he flies to Sicily to be with his dying mother, she goes to her fiancé's estranged brother Ronnie (Nicolas Cage) and asks him to attend their wedding. When they are almost immediately drawn together in each other's thoughts
, she was startled.
"Moonlight" was directed by Ronald Lee and written by John Patrick Shanley, and one of their achievements is that the film resonates with all Americans.
This is an ensemble comedy, and many of the laughs come from the feeling of an immigrant family created by Ronald and Shanley.
There are some small, hilarious moments, such as Dukakis's resentment toward her ancient father-in-law (Fyodor Chaliapin), who lives upstairs with his dog. Over the course of a family dinner, she
I got angry at my father-in-law and said, old man, if you feed your dog one more bite of my food, I will kick you to death!
When Cher's absent fiancé lingers at his mother's hospital bed, Cher and Cage become more desperate and passionate, and Cher learns the secret of the hatred between the two brothers. One day, Johnny lets Ronnie sleep in the wrong house.
Time looked in the wrong direction and his hand was severed by a bread slicer. Now, he wears a prosthetic hand and harbors an unforgivable grudge.
Resentment, old wounds, and resentment toward family members are everywhere in this film.
For example, the mother knew that her husband was having an affair. She asked from the bottom of her heart why this was happening, and a friend replied: "Because he is afraid of death."
She understood this at once. But did it make her sympathize with her husband? It was hard to say. One night he came home. She asked him where he had been. He replied: "I haven't gone anywhere.
” She told him that she wanted him to know one thing: “No matter where you go or what you do, you will die.”
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! Some of these moments are so intense that they remind us of the wonderful opening scene of "Saturday Night Fever" (where Julie Boisseau plays the mother)
Appears here as aunt).
But all passion is drained by the influence of the moon, which fascinates these people and protects them from the weaknesses of their character.
Ronald is striking and seems to capture some of the same qualities of Ingmar Bergman's "A Smile on a Summer Night," in which the moon itself conspires with people to bring them happiness.
The film is filled with great performances - Cher's performance has never been funnier; Dukakis plays her mother, whose love is as deep as their anger. In the warmth and harmony of family, love, and roundness
In its charm, and in its laughter, we find the best comedy we've seen in a long time.
Strongly recommend four stars!
…
Goldberg put down the review, and Ebert was full of praise for the film, which didn't seem like a perfunctory essay to deal with the benefits that had been collected.
Maybe he really liked the movie, so he started to drop his book bag and write down the names of Ronald and Ingmar Bergman, the famous Swedish director and the favorite director of film critics.
Goldberg put the tape into the machine, and Abbott and Sisko's weekly movie review recommendations began to appear on the television screen.
"Our movie recommendation this week is 'Moonlight,' which is being marketed as a romance film, but is actually one of the funniest movies to come out in quite some time.
Cher is the titular star of this film, a wonderful ensemble piece about a group of tough Italians living in New York. How tough? Fuck you is said more often than hello.
Cher plays a widow who immediately falls in love with the brother of the man she just agreed to marry. Meanwhile, her mother wonders why her own husband keeps having affairs with almost every other man she knows.
You won't easily forget this movie from writer John Patrick Shanley and directed by Ronald Lee, which is R-rated but incredibly family-friendly.
We both give it a thumbs up recommendation…
For the following weekly new movies, we recommend ‘Good Morning, Vietnam’ starring Robin Williams...”
…
"Is it really that good?" Goldberg looked at the movie review and fell into deep thought.
For a president who is in charge of seven major studios, he undoubtedly knows that film critics are actually his own people in the industry. They are paid to do things and have become part of the film industry. Their standards for what they say fluctuate greatly.
Good and bad reviews may not necessarily reflect the true state of the film...
But such a situation where all the film critics say good things is indeed not the public relations effect that Ronald's medium-budgeted film, which MGM did not spend heavily on marketing, can achieve.
If what Cher said on TV about Ronald's directorial skills and the praise for Ronald and screenwriter Shanley in the film reviews are true, or 80% true, then his new film,
You can definitely give him the script to read...
Anyway, director Mike Nichols has too many ideas now. He is not satisfied with the choice of male lead proposed by Fox. When the two sides are in a stalemate, Nichols suspends the negotiations on the pretext of preparing for his own wedding.
Inviting Ronald here might actually be a good move.
"Linda, please book a ticket for me. I'm going to watch the movie Moonlight." Goldberg called his secretary again.
"Also, prepare yourself and send a copy of the script to Director Ronald, along with a letter saying that I asked him to read it..."