Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 146 Delay Tactics

   "These candidates are not good. Which one has the beauty of Bo Ji Xiaosi and her popularity? I use you all to be able to find suitable candidates. Until now, there is no one who can compare."

   Peter Guber was a little angry, like a tone of reprimand, which made Julia Taylor of the casting studio and the director of "Endless Love" Franco Zeffirelli a little embarrassed.

   It's been a few weeks since the premiere of "Famous", and Brooke Shields' mother, Terry, is still using procrastination tactics, not only making Calvin Klein's jeans commercial difficult, but also delaying the "Endless Love" crew very uncomfortable.

   The casting studio has recommended a lot of young actors in the early stage, and Bo Ji Xiaosi seems to have softened her attitude, showing that she can accept the script and enter the bargaining stage. Therefore, the casting of the heroine of the film has also slowed down.

   But after Brooke Shields was on the cover of "Vogue", Terry's attitude became tough again, and he also raised the price and offered a price of 1.2 million US dollars. Guber, who lacked personal information in the fashion industry, was a little upset by the surprise attack.

   The movie was originally scheduled to start in July, but because of the delay of Brooke Shields' mother, she was unable to determine the heroine. And the focus of this kind of teen romance film is whether the male and female protagonists have chemical reactions together, so the candidate for the male protagonist has not been determined.

"Use your brains, think about who else we can invite?" Gubel knew that the so-called audition was just a gimmick, and the probability of being able to choose the heroine of a movie from people who have no acting experience is not high. , In Hollywood, which pays attention to the return on investment, it is more realistic to look for existing film and television actors.

  The photo on the table is Kelly Preston, who was selected in the last audition, and Deborah Wenger, Kelly Fisher, etc., who were promoted in the next few auditions.

   "Carrie Fisher is not bad, both beautiful and famous. Lucas' fifth Star Wars "The Empire Strikes Back" will be released soon..." Guber said, pointing to the photo of Princess Leia.

   "She's already got a deal, Blues bro, and last time she auditioned, she looked too mature, not like an underage girl." Julia Taylor voted against.

   Gubel pouted, in fact, it can catch the heat of Princess Leia, it doesn't matter how old you are. "Let's send her an audition notice."

"What about Deborah Wenger? In this TV series Wonder Woman, the actress who played the debut of the female hero's apprentice Wonder Girl, her acting skills are actually very superb." Director Zeffirelli suggested that he always has an inexplicable affection for black-haired actors .

   "She's not pretty enough. She was playing opposite John Travolta in the recent movie 'Cowboy', and she was almost returned by producer Robert Evans because she wasn't pretty enough." This time it was Guber who voted against.

  Robert Evans is a legendary Hollywood producer. He has produced movies such as the Devil's Child, Chinatown, and Love Story. His vision represents a certain authority.

   "Send her an audition invitation." Zeffirelli insisted.

   "Okay, is there any other candidate?" Guber invited all the casting staff present, asking them to name any candidate who could be the heroine or the hero in their memory.

   I remembered the noisy voices in the conference room for a while.

   "How about Roseanne Arquette? Typical blond girl."

   "Where's Linda Blair? She can look tender, a bit like Sally Field, the newly released Oscar-winning actress."

   "In that case, the actor should be found according to the template of the new actor Dustin Hoffman. When he was young, he played the kind of temperament in "The Graduate", which is very suitable for the actor."

   "Christie McNichol is good, she just played two girls in 'Little Cutie' with Tatum O'Neal who bet who will lose their innocence at summer camp first, similar to 'Endless Love'."

  …

   "Don't you have any candidates?" Julia Taylor asked the thinking Ronald quietly.

"Do you remember the girl who auditioned for the role of 'Famous' Hillary last time? It's called Michelle Fey or something." Ronald still doesn't know how to pronounce two consonants side by side, I don't know which one is silent.

   "Which one is it?" Julia was not impressed.

   "Marian should remember, I went looking for her audition photos. She's blond, beautiful, and comes from a wealthy family. Last time she was brushed off because of her poor ballet skills."

  Ronald went back to the archive to find the audition data for the girl who looked like a cat.

   "That's her, Michelle Pfeiffer." Ronald went to the conference table and spread the girl's picture on the table. "I remember the pronunciation of her name."

   "This girl has the temperament of a wealthy girl." Zeffirelli prefers this kind of classical-looking girl, who is suitable for performing Shakespeare's classical plays.

"That's good, send her agent an audition notice." Guber nodded, "Ronald, where did you get the candidate? I remember her, I saw her in ABC's 'B.A.D. Cats' TV series. , I didn't expect that a change of clothes would also suit a rich **** the east coast."

   "The photo of the last audition for 'Famous in the World' is actually even more beautiful. She participated in the Miss California beauty pageant."

   "Send her agent an audition notice." Guber turned to his assistant, then asked Ronald, "Anything else?"

   "There's another male lead candidate." Ronald slowly placed a photo of an actor on the table, covering his hands below his mouth, exposing only the part above his nose.

   "This person is very handsome." The casting directors and assistants present were all women, and they sighed when they saw the photos.

   "He has some problems with his teeth, but when he auditioned for 'Famous in the World' last time, he corrected his bad teeth and lost his chance to be the harlequin in Montgomery."

  When Ronald was looking for photos of Michelle Pfeiffer, he also saw the last photo of the young actor who had just been corrected by the dentist. He was very impressed with this actor who was disliked by his agents. He auditioned by himself. Although he lost his role due to an accident, he is always full of fighting spirit and has a very sunny personality.

  This time the actor doesn’t need messy teeth, and he may have a chance after having his teeth corrected, so he took his audition photos.

   removed the hand covering his mouth, and a mess of front teeth made the women onlookers sigh neatly "Hey".

   "It's also too different." Seeing that the man was a handsome man, Zeffirelli immediately lost interest.

   "I promise, his teeth have been corrected by the dentist and the worst of the two have been pulled. He's handsome and hardworking now."

   "Okay, let's also send an audition invitation to his agent, anyway, there is a high probability that the male lead will still be auditioned." Guber agreed.

   The story of "Endless Love" is cut from the perspective of the male protagonist, but in fact the central character is the heroine Jade. The audience's attention follows the perspective of the male protagonist, focusing on the beauty called Tianxian in the original work.

  Whether the male protagonist is very handsome is not that important. Moreover, the casting of the male lead is within the power of director Franco Zeffirelli. This blond, sunny boy is probably not in the director's eyes.

  Zeffirelli has always liked to use black-haired, gloomy male protagonists to satisfy his personal hobbies.

   "Send audition invitations to all these candidates, and also invite Brooke Shields to let her mother know that we are not the only choice for her daughter." Guber told his assistant.

   "But Terry kept pushing back," the assistant reminded.

   "You get on the phone with her, I'll tell you. It's always been the Hollywood rule that even if Marlon Brando played Godfather, Coppola had to audition once."

   "Hello, Ms. Terry Shields? I'm Mr. Peter Guber's assistant, regarding your daughter's audition..."

   "Terry? I'm Guber. We're going to audition soon, and your daughter will come too." Guber took the receiver and tried to finalize the audition in a statement tone.

"We will discuss the salary directly with her agent. As a manager, you can accompany her when the time comes. . . . The audition does not affect the negotiation of the salary. It is just a test to observe who is most suitable for the role. You can directly finalize the role without audition, unless she is the producer herself, are you sure you want to invest in this movie?"

"There is no problem with the time, I will arrange the audition ranking according to your requirements. Well, then it is settled." Guber put down the phone and clapped his hands, "Just send the audition notice according to this time, everyone will move, This time we have to decide on the candidates for the male and female protagonists."

  Ronald joined the group, giving Michelle Pfeiffer, and the agent of the boy with the messy teeth, a phone call to make an audition appointment. Julia quickly aggregated feedback from audition candidates, had her assistants pen to fill out a pre-printed form, and gave each person a copy.

   "Ronald, you're still in your old job, remember to take a Polaroid snapshot of each candidate for the audition. There are still quite a few candidates for this audition. Post the snapshot on the evaluation form to prevent confusion."

  …

   After finishing the preparations for the audition, Ronald went to the RTKD shop to go around again. The small-scale screenings of "Famous" worked well, and MGM began to quietly expand the scale of screenings. The word-of-mouth in the movie began to appear. After watching the movie, many people made a special trip to the New York Performing Arts High School to see the real Fame Middle School.

When they walk to the entrance of the Academy of Performing Arts, they will also find the RTKD dance supplies store opposite. When they enter the store and find the protagonist of the movie, they will take pictures with Aunt Karen, Tereza and others, and they will come up with money. Buy a leg warmer or two as a souvenir.

   Having dinner with Aunt Karen, "A student named Helen came to buy it two days ago. She said she knew you."

"Oh yes, she's the heroine in the commercial I shot, I'll give them a few, and Elizabeth Shue." Ronald thinks that these girls in the commercial can also be added to his group photo marketing plan , "When the time comes, invite them to come and take a few group photos."

The income that the    dance supply store brought to my aunt was already several times that of being a waiter on Staten Island, and the dividends at the end of the year were not counted. Kate now trusts Ronald's business vision, so she agrees.

   Ronald, who had returned to the apartment, was about to rest when the phone rang.

   "Hello, is that Ronald Lee?"

   "It's me, are you?"

   "I'm Rick Nisita, CAA's agent." A thick male voice came from the phone.

   "Mr. Nisita, you finally appeared, let me find it..."

   (end of this chapter)