Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 295 Roman Rescue
Helen Slater was very happy. Although she didn't pass the primary selection for the heroine of Leon's new film, she had a good time in Los Angeles.Especially accompanied by Ronald from time to time, visiting places of interest and enjoying delicious food.

It wasn't until her father called twice to urge her that she bought a plane ticket back to New York to star in an ABC TV series.

Gerald had arranged for her daughter to star in an episode of the evergreen ABC After School Special, a stand-alone series with young actors starring in each episode for children after school.

"Which episode will you be in?" Ronald asked Helen at the gate of the airport's departure cabin.

"I still have an audition." Helen was still wearing a turtleneck sweater and a black woolen coat, and said to Ronald with a smile.

"Gerald will arrange it for you." Ronald wrapped Helen's little hand with two big hands, and seized the last bit of time together.

"The female version of 'It's a Wonderful Life', I play a girl who meets an angel, and the angel helps me to grow wings." Helen shrank her head and neck into the raised collar of the woolen coat, a little embarrassed I got the role by virtue of my father's relationship.

"Oh, will ABC show your show every Christmas Eve in the future?"

"Hee hee..." Helen laughed straight at Ronald. "It's a Wonderful Life" is a movie about Christmas Eve directed by Frank Capra and starring James Stewart.

The RKO company that produced it later went bankrupt, and Universal Pictures, which took over the copyright of the film, forgot to register for the copyright renewal of the film.So every Christmas Eve, the TV station will show this movie for free. Over the past few decades, the box office failure of that year has become the most famous Christmas movie.

"Flights to New York... are about to stop checking in..."

"I have to go, bye!" Helen pulled her hands from Ronald's and covered Ronald's face.Seeing his face deformed by her own hands, Helen felt a little happy for no reason. She quickly kissed Ronald's lips, then took the package and walked towards the cabin.

Ronald waited until Helen's plane took off before turning around and walking outside the airport.Such a normal person's date seemed abnormal to him in the film industry.Ronald couldn't hold back the smile on his face, and went back to Coppola's studio.

"It's impossible. You promised to give me the right to choose the casting of the movie. You should watch the audition tapes of the actors I selected."

"Of course we respect your decision, Mr. Coppola. But we are responsible for the final quality of the film. Mr. Executive Producer is worried that the film's actors are not well-known enough to attract enough audiences into the cinema."

"The producers of 'The Godfather' were also worried. When the film was filmed, there were no famous stars...You know how it turned out."

Before entering the door, Ronald heard Coppola's loud retort from inside the wooden partition.

"What's going on?" Ronald asked the trainee girl who was eavesdropping at the door in a low voice.

"Warner Bros., who is in charge of the executive producer of this film, is not very satisfied with Mr. Coppola's casting decision. He hopes that 'The Urchin' will have more popular stars, such as Brooke Shields. So they sent someone to put pressure on it.

This is a story about a rural town in the 60s. They think that young people nowadays are not very interested in the plot of Italian gangs in this small town. "

The trainee girl quietly told Ronald what she knew.

"Will Coppola compromise?" Ronald asked.

"Why compromise? This is an artistic decision. He is the director who made 'The Godfather', and we should trust his artistic vision."

The trainee girl looked Ronald up and down, as if she didn't believe he would say such a thing, and she didn't support Coppola's casting decision.

"Well, he is one of the best directors in Hollywood. He can make genre films like the author's films, full of overall beauty." Ronald replied.

However, he felt that Warner's executives were not unreasonable to worry about the subject matter. Although such a movie has readers of Hinton's novels, it is not unreasonable.

However, the number of readers of novels in America in the twentieth century is still an absolute minority compared with film and television dramas. "Urchin" has to appeal to audiences who haven't read the novel in order to recoup its cost.

But most moviegoers who haven't read the novel can appreciate this kind of movie, or whether they can enjoy it.

Although the movie itself has all the elements of the "Godfather" hit: an adaptation of a best-selling novel, directed by Coppola, a gang story, and a group of young and talented actors.

But times have changed, and audiences have changed.

Coppola is not the same Coppola that the production company paid more than 1000 million US dollars and begged him to make "The Godfather 2", he can do whatever he wants.

Coppola refused to compromise, suspended the work of the "Naughty Boy" crew, and the art director who had planned to go to Tulsa, Oklahoma, also refunded the ticket.The actors selected for casting were notified that the shooting might be postponed.

Warner Bros. executive producer, also unwilling to compromise.After all, this is an investment of 1000 million U.S. dollars. The new president's first major project is to establish a reputation within the company. Only success is not allowed to fail.They insisted on a popular teenage star, preferably Brooke Shields.

Casting matters suddenly reached an impasse.

Ronald had to watch movies and scripts at home every day to hone his craft.At the same time, it is waiting for Coppola or Warner to make concessions first.

The ballots for the four Oscars have already been sent to Ronald.He started voting for Henry Fonda and others.

This year there is one more award than last year.Because David Lynch's "Elephant Man" failed to win one of eight nominations last year, it caused a lot of controversy.The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of America, therefore, added an award for Best Makeup to quell the controversy.

However, although David Lynch's "Elephant Man" has magical makeup, this year's awards cannot be reissued to him last year.Lynch's film still maintains the record of eight mentions and zero.

After casting all the ballots for the "Golden Pond" crew, Ronald sealed the envelope and mailed it to the academy.There, PricewaterhouseCoopers will secretly count the ballots and deliver them to the awards show on the day of the awards to ensure fairness and confidentiality.

"Ronald."

Just as Ronald threw the letter to the front desk of the hotel, he heard someone calling his name.

"Ronald, great you're here. Something happened to Jim."

Ronald's old friend in the New World, Gail Hurd hurried into the hotel lobby, just in time to call himself.

"What's the matter, slow down. What happened to Cameron?"

"I received an international call from Rome, Italy last night. The signal is very bad, but I'm sure it's Jim's voice. He seems to be very ill. Call me for help."

"Could it be a mistake? He went to Rome to complete the post-production work of 'Piranha 2'. Besides, if he has a problem, shouldn't he call his wife first?"

"You don't know." Gail pulled Ronald aside, "He and his wife had a falling out, and Jim spent all the family money on a one-way ticket to Rome.

His wife had also received a call from Jim, but they had fallen out and were preparing for a divorce.Jim should have called me because no one asked for help. "

"What did he say on the phone?"

"He said he was very unwell and had no clean food or drinking water. But the signal was not smooth, and I heard some intermittently."

Ronald pondered for a moment, feeling that he would rather believe it.Cameron fell ill alone in backward Italy. If something really happened and he didn't help as a friend, he would regret it.

"Well, I'm going to the Italian consulate to apply for a visa. I'll go to Rome right away. You go and check the phone number that Jim used to call you. I'll go to Rome and look it up. And the phone number and address of the producer .”

"It's all here, Ronald." Gail took out a copy and handed it to Ronald. "I'll go with you to apply for an emergency visa. By the way, your job doesn't matter, right? I just talked to Roger Coleman is on leave."

"It's okay, it just so happens that the casting of the crew is deadlocked."

The two went to the consulate to apply for visas. Ronald went to Wells Fargo Bank, wrote himself ten traveler's checks of varying denominations, and hurried to the airport.

The two bought the first flight to Rome at the airport.Hop on a Pan Am Boeing and head straight to Rome, Italy.

After a stopover in Munich, Ronald and Gail arrived at Leonardo da Vinci Airport in Rome after a fifteen-hour flight.After exiting the customs, the two called a taxi and set off to the address of the company where Asonitis, the producer of "Piranha 2", worked.

"Buon giorno! benvenuto a roma!"

The driver of the Fiat car, who did not understand English, uttered a series of Italian words, supplemented by gestures, trying to communicate with Ronald and the two.

"Please take us to this address." Gale handed over a note with the English address of the producer Asonitis.

"Stai andando qui?"

"Studio del Cinema?"

"Yes, Studio! Cinema!" Ronald understood two words in Italian, studio and film.This is a language that is pronounced equally in Europe and America.

The driver gave two thumbs up, indicating that he understood, and pulled them to the office where Asonitis was.

There are many people in Asonides' office, but none of them speak English.But they all like to communicate, and they have to talk to Ronald and Gail when they come up and make gestures.

"I'm looking for Mr. Asonitis, Asonitis!" Ronald told the secretary at the front desk for a long time, but he didn't understand what the other party meant.

"Non lo conosco...#%#￥..."

When he was anxious, a man came over and explained to Ronald in English with a strong Italian accent, "She said she didn't know the person you mentioned, this is Rome Film Studio."

"Oh, thanks. Can you ask him for me if he knows where Asonitis, the producer of 'Piranha 2', works."

"Huh, it's you? Roberto?" Ronald saw the familiar face of the man. It was Isabella Rossellini, Roberto, his Italian-language newscasting partner on New York TV.

"Great, Roberto, God bless there is a man here who can speak simple English."

Ronald hurriedly took out the phone number Cameron had dialed and asked, "We are looking for a friend, Jim. He is the director of 'Piranha 2', and we only have his phone number, but no address. I came to try my luck with the filmmaker's address, but I didn't expect that this is not his company."

Roberto couldn't understand too long English sentences, so he took the phone number Gail handed over, "You want to find this person? He called this number, phone?"

"Yes, that's what it means. Jim, he calls me at this number. We're going to find him."

Roberto went to talk to the secretary at the front desk, borrowed a phone and dialed the phone number on the note.

After a while of conversation, Roberto said to Ronald and Gale, "Your friend, he's..., well, little, bad, how can I say?" He made a sleeping position with his hands next to his ears.

"hostel?"

"Oh, yes. The hotel, the kind you Americans say..." Roberto pretended to be driving again, beeping his horn.

"car?"

"Motel?"

"Yes, a motel."

"Can you take us there?" Ronald took out a few twenty-dollar bills and handed them over. "Please prepare a car for us and take us there."

"I have a car." Roberto didn't accept the money he handed over, but let the two into his Fiat car.

Ronald managed to squeeze into the co-pilot, and Roberto started the car and drove through the narrow streets.

"Hey, get out of the way." Roberto slammed his hand on the car door, cursed at the driver in front, and then turned around to explain, "In Rome, we don't listen to the horn very much."

When we arrived at the motel where Cameron called, the boss got excited when he heard that he was looking for an American. He said a long speech to Roberto, with these swear words mixed in.

"Uh, he said, your friend has no money and steals food from the kitchen. If it wasn't for his illness, he would have kicked him out of the house."

"I have a traveler's check here, which is enough to pay off all my friends' debts." Ronald took out a traveler's check, and the hotel owner knew how to cash it in dollars in a big department store, so he snatched it.Then murmured and led the three of them to the room where Cameron lived.

In a small room on the far side of the ground floor next to the laundry room, amidst the noise of the rumbling washing machine, Ronald and Gail found the pale Cameron lying on the bed with only a torn blanket on his body.

"Oh, Jim." Gail rushed forward, holding Cameron's head in his arms, "We finally found you."

Cameron was drowsy and woke up in a dream.I saw Gail and Ronald standing beside me.He didn't know where he was for a moment, recalling the scene in his dream, he blurted out, "It's terrible, it's terrible."

(End of this chapter)