Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1057 Back to the Future Sequel - Everyone's turnaround

The founder of Orion Films, Mike McDavoy, is a tall Jewish man.However, he has a different feeling for the film industry than ordinary Jews. He does not regard film as a pure business, but believes that it is the greatest art form in the world.

With such a concept rooted in him since he was a child, his path along the way can be said to be exactly the two extremes of Michael Ovitz.

He first worked as an agent in "Creative Management Partner", a famous agency in the industry for signing artists.This company is known for serving artists and giving customers more artistic freedom, unlike CAA, which aims at maximizing profits.

After that, he went to the only major studio in Hollywood, which adopted the director-centered system and gave the director the final cutting rights of the company United Artists (of course, it was eventually bankrupted by this director-centered system).

During Mike McDavoy's time at United Artists, he supervised the production of "Leap Over the Cuckoo's Nest", "Rocky", "Annie Hall", "Apocalypse Now", "Black Horse", "Return" and other Oscar winners.

Afterwards, he defected from United Artists and established "Orion Films". He still maintained the style of giving directors creative freedom, and released "Platoon", "Mozart" and other best Oscar films.

In art, the director is given the greatest freedom of expression, so that the commercial success appears to be quite inferior.Orion Films has not jumped out of the trap of a medium-sized studio until now. The budget of each film is still hovering around 2000 million, and each time it has to wait for the investment to be recovered before the next blockbuster film can be shot.

During the writers' strike, they accumulated a large number of projects, and immediately began to shoot on a large scale after the strike ended.So now Orion also encounters the problem of insufficient cash.

Ronald bought the share that belonged to Gene Hackman, and Mike McDavoy immediately became happy. It is a rumor in Hollywood that Ronald is rich. Now he wants to win an Oscar, and Orion needs investment and cooperation. A director, isn't this a match made in heaven?

……

"This is the set for the Back to the Future sequel. This scene was rebuilt according to the appearance of Marty McFly's home in the first film. Hollywood is an industry. According to the records at the time and the photos on the scene, it can be completely Restore the details of the shooting at that time..."

On the set of the Back to the Future sequel, Ronald was explaining to Xiaoyan in Chinese.After graduating from community college, he interned at Daydream for a while, and like his father, he also fell in love with operating cameras and lights.

This time he represented Daydream, joined the crew of Back to the Future, and operated lightning lights and other photography accessories produced by Daydream.Ronald, the director Zemeckis and the producer Spielberg are familiar with each other, and they got acquainted with each other. Besides the lightning, he also promoted the No.1 dog-viewing camera stick of their company to director Zemeckis. , can greatly reduce the difficulty of shooting the drag racing scenes in Back to the Future.

Originally, it was necessary to tie a camera mobile team to the bracket outside the racing car, but now it can be simplified to two people, and the camera operator can watch the second-person lens effect on the spot through the mirror, which is very convenient.

Daydream also uses the Steadicam model, which only rents and does not sell. This time, Xiaoyan was appointed as the operator to fulfill his dream of a "Back to the Future" fan.

"Ronald, your Chinese is pretty good, and your machine is also good. When I was an agent for Steve McQueen, drag racing scenes could only be filmed outside the car. Only the McQueen Quinn was able to make those moves..."

Mike McDavoy, who also came to visit the crew of "Back to the Future", came up to greet Ronald very familiarly when he saw Ronald.He came here specially to interview Ronald.

"Hey, how do you know Chinese?" Xiaoyan was surprised beside him.

"I am a crooked nut, but here is a crooked nut, and I can still gossip about Sanghai." Mike McDavoy spoke Shanghai dialect, which shocked Xiao Yan.

"Hahaha, you must be Mr. McDavoy." Ronald smiled and shook hands with him.

Richard briefly told Ronald about the background of Mike McDavoy. His parents were Jews living in Hongkou. They opened a tailor shop at home when they were young. The customers were all female stars in Shanghai at that time. Including several actresses.

So he was obsessed with film art since he was a child, and he often went to Daguangming to watch the latest Hollywood movies and local Chinese movies.He has a talent for languages, and he will be proficient in Russian and Spanish in the future, and he can communicate smoothly with actors from all walks of life.

The two found a lounge to sit down, and Mike McDavoy got straight to the point, "Ronald, from what angle do you want to cut into this story? What style do you want to shoot The Silence of the Lambs?"

"Huh? I don't have any definite ideas yet, but what do you guys think?"

"Hehe, speaking of you being famous for so long, it's the first time you've cooperated with us Orion. We've never interfered with the director's ideas..."

"Is that so?" Ronald thought, this style, unless he meets a director who is artistically sure and has a good character.Otherwise, you will either find out that the film is shot in the wrong direction while filming, or you will be prepared to pay for the director's selfishness and get a lot of expensive and useless props and sets.

Or, in the worst case, a combination of both, like Michael Cimino, who brought down United Artists.

"To be honest, I haven't thought of a suitable angle yet, and I want to chat with the screenwriter Ted Tully first."

Adapting a novel to a movie is actually quite difficult, because the novel is long, and the movie takes two hours, so the plot of the novel needs to be selected and cut.

"I'll arrange it for you right now. Ted Tully just doesn't have a job right now. He took a lot of effort in rewriting the script. I like his adaptation very much. Of course, it's up to you to decide."

Mike McDavoy understands very well how to deal with artists, that is, to give them space, support, money, find beautiful (or handsome) actors they like, and finally let them perform. On average, three to five times total Once you can hit the big prize.

Not to mention Ronald's request for this, ten times more can satisfy you.For example, Ronald can propose the candidate of FBI detective Starling, and Orion is responsible for persuading them.

"Very well, my good friend Jim Cameron's Terminator is working with you. He said that it is a pleasant experience to cooperate with you. In this way, we can talk about business conditions first, and then we will mainly focus on that market. The moviegoing crowd."

"Huh?" Mike McDavoy was also very surprised. Orion didn't have much contact with such a director.Let's not talk about art, let's talk about production planning first, no wonder most of Ronald's movies make a lot of money.

The two had a quick exchange of investment plans for "Silence of the Lambs".Both Ronald and him confirmed that a budget of about 2000 million should be invested and stars should be invited to perform.This kind of suspenseful thriller drama, the theme of which is relatively unorthodox serial killer cases, and a large number of psychological analysis plots, if there are no stars to star in, then the marketing cost will be so high that no matter how good the film is, there will be no profit.

Among them, Daydream and Orion are respectively responsible for half of the quota. As long as the script is ready, suitable stars are found, and then Ronald is announced as the director, a lot of investment will come in immediately.In this industry, everyone is looking at the stars to invest. Gene Hackman has difficulty in financing, which does not mean that Ronald is also in difficulty.

"Camera? Recording? Action!"

After talking about things, Ronald and McDavoy went out to watch the filming of director Zemeckis.The shooting has just started for two days, and the main task is to reshoot the ending of the first part of "Back to the Future". Reunited at the door, and then encountered the scene of Dr. Brown who came back from the future driving a flying DeLorean sports car.

"Marty..."

"Jennifer..."

The two actors, wearing the same clothes and hairstyles as four years ago, looked at each other affectionately again.

The reason for reshooting this segment, rather than using the film from the first ending, is a bit complicated.

In the first film, Claudia Wells, who played the heroine, withdrew from the filming of the sequel due to family reasons, so the crew was looking for an actress who looked like her to film the sequel.

Many newcomers were recommended to the crew to audition, and Zemeckis was not very satisfied.It happened that Ronald's agent Richard learned of this and recommended Elizabeth Sue to play this role.

Originally, Elizabeth Sue, who had already acted opposite Tom Cruise in "Cocktail", could be regarded as one of the most popular female stars, so she shouldn't go back to replace Claudia Wei, who only has one well-known work. Ernesto's.

But her ability to earn money was greatly questioned after the "cocktail", so that she could no longer receive invitations to blockbuster movies, so she had to squat at home every day, not knowing what to do.

The filming cost of "Cocktail" was 2000 million US dollars, and the domestic box office reached 800 million. After paying back the capital, there will be a small profit. It is said that Elizabeth Sue will not be out of luck.

But the movie's box office was a convention-shattering miracle.Originally, Cinema Score gave this movie a B+ rating, and the reviews were all bad.According to experience, this movie can only get a box office multiplier of 2.5-3 times the first weekend at most, which is a base of 3000 million.

But this movie broke the ever-accurate empirical formula of Cinema Score, which surprised the distributor Disney.

This also made Cinema Score unconvinced, and they don't think their sampling survey was wrong.Finally, after their joint large-scale audience interviews with Disney, they finally figured out that the most important reason for this movie to attract audiences is Tom Cruise.

In other words, Tom Cruise has broken an accurate empirical formula in Hollywood. He alone can increase the box office of a bad movie.This is a real superstar who can make audiences walk into the cinema just to see him.

After the Oscars, Tom Cruise's ability to boost the box office has been even more appreciated by the industry.Because the day before the Oscars, Cruise was also nominated for "Worst Actor" at the Golden Raspberry Awards.That is to say, no matter if he acts well or poorly, as long as he shows his face, the female audience will watch him like a nympho.

In these film reviews and audience surveys, no one has ever mentioned Elizabeth Sue.

This made Hollywood come to a consensus. If the director and heroine were changed, this movie might become another blockbuster.Therefore, Tom Cruise's current salary quotation has surpassed the new actor Dustin Hoffman and has become a real game changer.

At the same time, the film also put Elizabeth Shue in a difficult position.Sometimes, things are so ridiculous that you could do nothing wrong and Hollywood just downgrades your rating.

So Elizabeth Su was also very grateful for Richard's generosity, and came here specially to thank Ronald for going to the crew.

"Cut!" After Zemeckis called to stop, he watched the ending of the first part on the live video recorder again. After discussing with the cameraman, he found the three protagonists again, pointed out a few minor flaws, and then announced the break , Waiting for the props group to remake several places that do not match the original.

This change of corners caused a lot of trouble.This remake of the scene is going to make audiences accept Elizabeth Shue's Jennifer and forget about Claudia Wells' Jennifer.Because there are so many fans of Back to the Future, many people even bought the videotape and watched it multiple times. If there is a little inconsistency, the fans and audience at the beginning will feel wrong and let the audience play.

The play started at the beginning, and I began to think about whether the heroine had changed, and the plot seemed to be wrong. This is a very troublesome thing, and it will have a great impact on the audience's subsequent viewing experience, which in turn will affect the box office. Therefore, Zemeckis It was very demanding, and it took several days of continuous shooting, and it seemed that it would take another week to shoot.

Ronald stepped forward and handed Elizabeth Su a bottle of mineral water.She's joined by Lea Thompson, another leading lady returning to the series, and Michael J Fox.

Lea Thompson, who is engaged to her boyfriend, director Howard Deutch, has more roles this time around than in the first film, and a special make-up because Marty's mother, Lorraine, got breast implants in the sequel.When Ronald and she hugged, they both felt the power of silicone makeup.

Her situation is similar to that of Elizabeth Sue. After playing "Howard Duck", her coffee status has regressed so much that she urgently needs to go back to the future to get some blood back and forth.

Next to them is Michael J. Fox, the leading actor who is popular in America. He is popular on TV and movies. This sequel was approved after Zemeckis confirmed his joining.

"I still have to learn to skateboard. In this episode, there is a kind of floating skateboard that can float without wheels. I don't know if it will be invented in 2015." Michael J. Fox chatted happily with Ronald.

When filming the first film that year, he was running between two production crews, and could only sleep two or three hours a day, relying on the van arranged by Ronald to doze off in the car.So the relationship between the two is very good.

"I said, don't you know how to skateboard? Why do you still want to learn?" Ronald was a little confused. Isn't skateboarding similar to riding a bicycle, and once you learn it, you won't forget it?Fox also had a lot of skateboarding in the first film.

"Huh? I really know how to skateboard." Fox scratched his head, not knowing what happened. It seems that I can't do it now, and I have to learn it again with the coach.

"You must be too busy..." laughed Lee Thompson, who was friends with both of them.

"Fortunately, it's the director's turn to sleep three hours a day..." Fox smiled at Zemeckis.

"Haha..." Everyone was a little dissatisfied with Zemeckis' high standards and strict requirements, and took the opportunity to make fun of him.

Zemeckis's previous work "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" has just been released domestically, with a box office of 5000 million.However, the production cost cost more than 5000 million yuan, and the shooting cycle reached seven and a half months, which made the publisher Disney want to vomit blood.

In the middle, even Disney CEO Eisner wanted to close the production stop loss and get out of the game. Fortunately, Kazanberg let him dismiss this idea.

Unexpectedly, more bloody things are yet to come. The post-production of this film is also very slow. Due to the need for the synthesis of real people and animation, Industrial Light and Magic invested two teams, and it took a year and two months to complete. So even a high box office can't make up for the countless overrun production costs.

Zemeckis, like the two heroines, has to rely on this sequel to pay back and let Hollywood re-recognize his worth.Zemeckis needed financial help even more, so this time, he took a very radical approach and shot two sequels in succession.

Because the production cycle of the two consecutive sequels is extremely long, they are processed in parallel. After the second film here is finished, the assistant director will be in charge of post-production, the other team will continue to film the third film, and Zemeckis will have to Responsible for twice the work of the usual director, so very busy.

"How long do you have to shoot?" Ronald asked several friends. It was the first time in the history of Hollywood to shoot two episodes in a row. He wanted to know more.

"We don't actually have many scenes, but the director asked to be on set all the time, and it is estimated that we will stay here for ten months..."

"Hey, this is really terrible..." Ronald couldn't help but feel that Zemeckis was not very human, how could he have a part in the show, and he wanted to take up all the parts?

But this is also beneficial. Daydream's lightning lights and dog-view camera poles are charged according to the rental time. Zemeckis likes to waste other people's time, which is a good thing for business and Xiaoyan's study.

When Ronald's visit is complete, he returns to town with Orion's Mike McDavoy.The two walked to the door of the filming base and found another Jennifer Parker, wearing the same costume, entangled with the security guard at the door.

If it wasn't for the fact that he had just bid farewell to Elizabeth Su inside, Ronald would have thought that there was something wrong with his eyesight.When I got closer, I realized that it was Claudia Wells, who played Jennifer in the first film.

In terms of their temperament and beauty, Claudia Wells is actually better than Elizabeth Sue.She's more beautiful than the girls next door, and she's in the top 1% of high school.

"Wow..." Wells, who was refused to enter the set the next day, squatted at the door and cried.

"What's wrong with you? Don't cry..." Ronald couldn't see the beauty crying bitterly, he pulled her up, and together with Mike McDavoy, persuaded her to leave the set, and found a cafe to slowly understand the situation.

"I heard that you gave up the role yourself?" Ronald didn't know what was going on, and now it seems that the news on "Hollywood Reporter" may not be true.

"My mother was seriously ill and I really needed this job...but my agent informed me that I had been blacklisted by Universal Pictures. I came to Zemeckis a few times and he didn't would like to see me..."

Claudia Wells is wearing a costume from four years ago, which is a little yellowed, but it can be seen that she has cleaned and ironed it carefully.

"Is there some misunderstanding here?" Ronald handed the coffee cup to Claudia, but it is definitely impossible to change roles in a movie that has already started filming.

"I don't know... I don't know what I did wrong..." Claudia's tears that had just stopped streaming down again.

"Don't worry too much, ask your agent to help you see if there are any other roles?" Ronald knew that there were many teenage fans in Back to the Future. Although the heroine Claudia Wells did not act in the sequel, no As for a role, I can't get it.

"My agent wants to terminate my contract... He also warned me that if he said he quit voluntarily..."

"I remember you were Jewish?" Mike McDavoy interrupted suddenly, seeing the cross on Claudia's neck.

"I used to be, but I've reconverted to Christ, and now I'm a born-again Christian..." Claudia Wells showed them her denomination's unique cross.This sect pays attention to spiritual rebirth to accept the gospel, and they must be rebaptized after adulthood before they can join the religion.

"Hmm..." Ronald roughly understood the problem.Claudia Wells was somehow blocked by some people.

(End of this chapter)