Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 447 Dragon Eagle

  John Hughes, a Chicago native, started his career as a copywriter for Leo Burnett Advertising and later wrote humorous articles for National Lampoon magazine.

   This part-time job gave him the opportunity to switch to the film industry, and he published an article in a magazine that was adapted into the 1978 hit comedy "National Lampoon's Animal House".

   After that, his two sequel plays, "National Satire Classmates" and "National Satire Vacation", were both successful, especially the recently released "Holiday", which was very strong at the box office. This made Hughes spotted by Ned Tanin and signed a director contract.

   This time the script is called "Sixteen Candles", another John Hughes script, which took less than a week for him to get out after being rejected by Tanin.

   tells the story of Samantha Baker, a girl from a middle-class family in suburban Chicago, who was forgotten by everyone in her family on her sixteenth birthday.

  Parents and grandparents are busy with sister Samantha's wedding, and she is also neglected by her crush, Jack Ryan, a rich man in school.

  With the help of his male friend Ted Farmer (Ted Farmer), Samantha finally fell in love with his crush Jack Ryan after her sister's wedding, and Ryan lit sixteen candles for Samantha at home.

   casually flipped through the script, Ronald had a general impression of the story. Possibly related to Hughes' origin, the story of the script also takes place in the suburbs of Chicago, where the rich white middle class lives.

The characters in    are all white, and there is only one high school exchange student from Asian Korea, whose name is also very bizarre, called LongDukDong.

   This kind of vulgar name for Asians made Ronald a little unhappy, but it was obvious that Hughes wrote for the vulgar comedy magazine National Satire.

"Farmer, and Baker? Why didn't they end up together?" Ronald saw the surnames of the two protagonists Samantha and Ted, and thought Hughes did it on purpose, but The two friends of the opposite **** did not get together in the end, and Samantha went to celebrate her birthday with her crush.

   "I had this idea..." John Hughes adjusted his glasses. Ronald is an expert, and he can see at a glance what he has set up. Samantha and Ted are from ordinary families, while Jack Ryan is a rich family with a Rolls-Royce father.

   "But American audiences like beautiful women with heroes, don't they?" Ned Tanin interjected.

   "It makes sense." Ronald put down the script and continued the tour.

"Ronald, this is actually the script I want to make, but Mr. Tanin wants me to make this commercial film first." John Hughes saw Ronald also agree with his point of view, Samantha and Ted are together , is the ending the story should have, so he took out another script and asked Ronald to watch it.

   "The Breakfast Club?" Ronald flipped through the script and glanced at the outline.

"Actually I really like your 'Fast-Paced Richmond High School'" John Hughes pushed the big black-rimmed glasses again, I liked the idea of ​​different types of high school teenagers in it, so I set the protagonist as Five typical high school characters.

   Athletes, princesses, criminals, smart people, and deep well ice. Arrange for them to be on probation on the same day to break down the social barriers of high school students and let them get to know each other. "

"Oh, my God. John, you have to make this movie first. If it is a hit, the Breakfast Club is a very simple thing, and the investment is not high." Ned Tanin's temper came up again, Come and pull Ronald aside.

   "I invited you to come, mainly because I want to hear your opinion. Which heroine in 'Sixteen Candles' do you think is better?"

  The audition photos of two heroines were placed on the table, one was Ally Sheedy (Ally Sheedy), the heroine of "War Game", whom Ronald had seen on the movie screen. The other was a red-haired girl who looked younger.

   "It looks like producer Ned Tanning and director John Hughes have an argument too," thought Ronald. In today's big studios, producers are always pointing fingers at things like script and casting, showing their ability and vision.

   However, they seldom point fingers at the technical work of videography and recording. Because the photographer can say generously, "Why don't you come?"

   As for screenwriting and casting, anyone who has seen the movie can come out and make irresponsible remarks.

   "Why not choose her? Ellie is beautiful and has been tested by the market." Tanin likes Ellie Siti, the heroine in the war game.

And Molly Ringwald, whom director John Hughes liked, said in a light tone, "No, I just saw Molly Ringwald's casting photos and wrote this script for her. ."

After    "Longwei Kid", Ronald saw this kind of casting controversy again. He didn't give his preference, but asked Hughes what he thought.

   "Because Molly has a quality that makes the audience empathize with her."

Ronald held up the photos of the two actresses and looked at them for a long time, "Why not let them all audition? This way we can intuitively see their acting skills and temperament. The actors just watch the chemistry together."

   "Just do it." Tanin slowly gained confidence in his own vision and agreed with Ronald's suggestion, "But you will come when the time comes."

   "Yes, you have to come too, Ronald." John Hughes was also fighting for Ronald. He saw that Ronald had some influence on Tanin. I also know that director Ronald's "fast pace" has won the gist of youth films, and he will definitely agree with his own judgment, and inviting him to audition will increase his persuasiveness.

   On the second day of the audition, Ronald came to Universal's office as scheduled. Two actresses, Allie Sheedy and Molly Ringwald, came in for a separate audition.

   After watching the two perform, Ronald was convinced that John Hughes was right. Molly Ringwald really is the perfect candidate, since she's a teenager herself.

  Allie Sheedy was born in 1962 and is 21 years old this year. If she plays the role of Samantha, she must use "methods" to integrate into the role.

   And Molly Ringwald, born in 1968, is fifteen years old this year. Same age as Samantha.

One of the very difficult things about playing teenage characters is that most people, as adults, forget all the silly things they did in high school, some of those silly thoughts, and some inexplicable emotions .

   If you want to relive those emotions and thoughts, you have to go back to high school for a while, as "Fast-Paced Richmond High School" screenwriter Cameron Crowe did.

  Twenty-year-olds are often surprised by the rapid change in their thoughts when they read the diaries of previous years, and sometimes they can’t remember why they wrote in the diaries.

   And a thirty-year-old person, looking at his diary when he was twenty, can easily remember his thoughts and feelings at that time.

   That's the hard part about teenage characters. And generally speaking, teenage actors are in a period of rebellion and are very difficult to train. But Molly Ringwald is a spiritual girl, and she has a more mature side than ordinary people.

   Molly is in high school, and she knows every aspect of her high school life, which things embarrass her and which boys make her heart flutter.

   "I think it's clear, Allie Sheedy is fine, but Molly Ringwald is Samantha", Ronald shared his thoughts with Ned Tanin.

  Tanin also nodded frequently. He didn't know if he really agreed with Ronald's idea, or it was more decent to agree with John Hughes' opinion because he had a step down.

   "Sorry, I have to go to the bathroom." Ronald got up and walked out of the audition room, leaving Tanin and Hughes a chance to chat and communicate alone.

   He walked to the corridor outside the door, and the scenes of the battle of wits and courage with Tom Mount flooded in his memory. Along the way, I have made some achievements.

   "Excuse me, is this the audition site for 'Sixteen Candles'?" A voice interrupted Ronald's memory.

  Ronald looked up and saw an Asian face with his hair combed and parted in the middle, which was a little funny.

   "Yes, are you here for an interview?"

   "Yes, I'm here to audition for the role of Dragon Eagle. My name is Gerd Watanabe, you can call me Gerd." The Japanese actor stretched out his hand and shook hands with Ronald.

"Hello, Gerd, they are still interviewing for the heroine. You may have to wait." When Ronald heard Mr. Watanabe speak, his pronunciation was completely American born and raised. Guess he is a second or even third generation immigrant.

   "Okay, I'm just about to prepare."

  Watanabe took out a page, which was exactly what he prepared when he came to audition.

   "Very good dinner. Appetizers in a fun round pie." Watanabe began to speak in a comical accent.

"Huh?" Ronald was surprised to hear that Watanabe's accent had changed, from a boy who had been educated in America since childhood, to the dull accent of the Korean people who speak English. He also spoke very slowly, as if he first used Goryeo wanted to say something, and translated it into English word by word.

   Ronald was very surprised, this acting is very unusual.

   "How did you do that? It's the exact same accent as the Korean tourists I met."

   "I learned with the Korean exchange students at school", Watanabe has completely switched to the accent of the Korean exchange student Long Dadiao.

   "I like your performance, especially your accent." Later, John Hughes, who auditioned for the audition, was very satisfied with Gerd Watanabe's audition performance, and made an agreement with him on the spot to let Watanabe vacate.

   "Actually he is..." Ronald thought it was very interesting. During the whole audition, Watanabe spoke in that kind of Korean stammering accent. John Hughes probably thought he was a Korean actor.

   "Thank you, I'll be free. Thank you for your support, Director Hughes, and Ronald..."

  Watanabe thanked everyone with a Goryeo accent, and winked at Ronald, asking him not to tell him that he spoke fluent American English.

  Ronald understood, and winked his eyes, indicating that he would not expose his plan with John Hughes.

   (end of this chapter)