Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 599 Undercurrent

   "Why did you let the director of photography Kimball do something on the film? Although it protected Tom's interests, it was very disrespectful to Ronald." Nisita smoked a cigar and said to his wife Paula, who was sitting opposite.

   Ronald called himself before, and he said it very seriously. The implication was to let him take care of his wife. This kind of trick is beyond the norm, and it has greatly damaged the atmosphere of the crew. Next, Fang Kilmer's side will not continue to abide by the unspoken rules, and the competition will expand to those areas that Ronald does not want to go.

"I know, I know, I wanted to keep things between me and Kimball so that Ronald wouldn't necessarily find out, so it wouldn't affect our relationship. Who knows he guessed so quickly, I He deceived the truth."

   Paula smiled wryly. Ronald actually didn't know who did it, so he cheated on her to see the reaction. I was captured by his aura, and accidentally let the response reveal that it was the overexposure incident she planned.

   "I'll go and apologize to him in person, Paula. I don't understand, Ronald is his own person, and he will appropriately reduce the role of Val Kilmer, we have this tacit understanding.

  What is the reason for you to do this? I know you're smart. It's not good for Tom, because next time Kilmer's side will also make out-of-the-table moves. It's not good for Ronald, and it's not good for us. "

   Paula sat in Nisita's arms and put her arms around her husband's neck. The two went through hardships and paid a great price to become a couple. They were truly in love with each other.

   "Of course I wouldn't be so stupid, you're expecting Ronald to favor Tom in the editing. Of course that's fine, if Ronald can actually get the editing power."

"What do you mean?"

   Paula felt her husband's body stiffen a bit. Now Ronald is the most profitable director under his banner, leading the future of many actors. So you're not optimistic that Ronald can direct the editing?

   "I have my sources, Rick. Val Kilmer was liked by Paramount CEO Frank Mancuso, who personally complimented Kilmer in high-level meetings and suggested signing him for multiple film deals."

  Nisita recalled his wife's Jewish identity, and the reliability of this news should be very high.

"And he didn't mention Tom at the high-level meeting. Most importantly, he praised Kilmer's height and praised it in line with the traditional appearance of male stars since the golden age of Hollywood. Grant came to support him."

  Nisita put down the cigar and was silent for a long time. It seems that Mancuso really wanted to get involved in filming and editing.

  Frank Mancuso is an idiot. The idiot became the CEO without knowing it. He is very confident in his judgment of Hollywood and wants to intervene in the production business, which will inevitably bring a series of disasters.

  There are news from various channels that Mancuso wants to restore the old way of doing things at Paramount, signing male stars to lead the big production, creating the script around them, and then from the director to the scene, they are all workers on the assembly line.

   This kind of anti-historical trend of course will not succeed. Now is not the era when the studio shoots fifty films a year. The technicians can schedule production like an assembly line.

   Today's Hollywood studios are more like a venture capital fund, looking at producers, directors, or star-led projects that can bring in box office, and then betting. What everyone competes for is vision and the ability to control key people, not to bypass them and end up on their own.

   Paula's approach did protect Tom Cruise's interests to the greatest extent, but Ronald's interests were damaged. If Ronald and Tom hadn't been friends since childhood, they might have fallen out right now.

   But Paula is one with her husband and wife after all, Nisita thought for a while, then slowly raised her head and said to Paula in her arms:

   "You quit negotiating a contract renewal with Ronald. You won't be his agent for the next contract."

  …

  Ronald did not continue to work as a director on Sunday, but took a rare day off from filming. Together with Bruckheimer, he came to the Rehabilitation Center to meet Don Simpson.

  "You're in good spirits", Ronald saw Don wearing sunglasses, lying comfortably on the edge of the swimming pool basking in the sun.

   "There are a lot of actresses here, I know a lot, hahaha."

   "Don, we're not here to chat with you..." Bruckheimer told Simpson in detail what happened on the set.

Don Simpson listened to them talk about Val Kilmer's robbery problem, "It's all out of that old brain of Frank Mancuso. You keep shooting, I guess after you finish filming the scenes that don't involve fighters. It's time for Kilmer. Then I'll be healthy and go out and play the bad cop again."

   "Why? It's still a month before we finish filming at the base and in the studio."

  Don Simpson shook his head. He had seen the scene where the leading actors in the crew attacked each other by any means, and it would be very ugly at that time.

"Von Kilmer doesn't have solid evidence that someone is doing it, he's not clean himself, and he doesn't have a lot of scenes to come. I think he'll fight for those scenes only after the non-fighter-involved scenes are over. Especially the time in the cockpit of a fighter jet."

   Ronald was relieved when he saw Don Simpson say so. When this "bad cop" comes forward, the relationship between all aspects of the crew can be straightened out. It was the first time I was looking for a star to act, and the feeling that they could intervene in the creation of the crew at any time was really uncomfortable.

   "Your girl named Demi is good, she has the guts, she sees the situation and dares to bet. To be honest, she is very suitable for working in Hollywood..."

   "Oh, Shxt," Ronald then remembered that he had left Demi Moore in the motel for days. He hurriedly said goodbye to the two producers and went to release her.

"Do you think Ronald could withstand the pressure of Mancuso when the crew moved to shoot the fighter flight scenes? Will Mancuso intervene forcibly in the subsequent shooting of the fighter scenes? His business ability is not good, but his power Struggle is a good player, and even Eisner was pushed to Disney by him."

After Ronald left, Bruckheimer expressed concern to his partner, "The main reason we asked Ronald was because of his aesthetic ability to photograph fighters. If Mancus wants to borrow Kilmer's affairs and propose a substitution, We have to protect Ronald."

   "Don't worry, I don't need to come forward", Don Simpson's face is very good, and it seems that he has really gotten rid of his addiction after training at the Rehabilitation Center.

"The Navy cooperated so much because Ronald had a very strong relationship. If Mancuso wanted to intervene in the crew, if Ronald was fired and replaced, he would hit a big nail. Do you think the Navy will provide convenience to the crew? "

   "Demi, are you alright?" Ronald rushed to the hotel where Little Buddine had been, where Demi had been waiting for him for three days.

   Little Bud strictly implemented Ronald's instructions, booked a cheap hotel for Demi, gave her two hundred dollars in cash, and watched her at the hotel.

   Demi has been very good these days. She didn't go home to reunite with Emilio, but waited for Ronald in the hotel.

"Don't worry, I don't touch that thing anymore. I want to be a star. In it, I saw the big star Farrah Fawcett. She has become... It may be very rare to act again." Demi took the cash Come out and give Ronald back the remaining over a hundred dollars.

   "Take it, I owe you a favor this time." Ronald pushed her hand back, "I think you are not very short of money now, I will remember that there is a suitable opportunity to recommend you."

Seeing that she had achieved her goal, Demi Moore picked up the long-prepared luggage bag from the bed, "Thank you, Ronald, but you still have to lend me some money, I came out this time without any clothes, I I lied to Emilio that I went to Europe and had to buy some clothes to go back."

   Ronald took out his credit card and handed it to Bud Jr. "You take Demi to the clothing store in West Hollywood. Five thousand, no, under $10,000, don't call me."

   "Thank you", Demi rushed up, hugged Ronald and kissed happily.

  …

Sure enough, as Don Simpson and Nisita had expected, Val Kilmer spent the rest of the shoot without a fuss, save for his daily routine of stealing the camera, and changing his ways with Tom Cruise, alone. Apart from entertaining the actors once, their performance was quite cooperative.

  Tom Cruise deliberately found Ronald with Paula and apologized to him in person. Cruise repeatedly assured that he did not know Paula's little tricks, and he was confident that he could defeat Val Kilmer without these tricks, after all Ronald was his buddy.

   Paula apologized generously, and said that she would focus on being Tom's manager, and then fade out of Ronald's brokerage business.

   Ronald, who had interviewed with Nisita in advance, also forgave Paula. Ask him to stop making moves until the shooting of "Top Gun" is complete.

  Tom Cruise's confidence is not without reason. His handsomeness and ability to mobilize the audience's emotions are slightly stronger than Val Kilmer. Had Ronald been in charge until the filming was complete, and the final soundtrack, Tom would have attracted more fans than Kilmer.

   Filming at the Miramar base quickly came to an end, the crew was here, and there was only one shot of a fighter passing the tower left to shoot.

   This was the only shot of the fighter jets that was shot in advance before the crew focused on the aerial combat shots, because the tower at Miramar Airport was required to appear.

  Ronald brought in advisor Pete Pettigrew to discuss with him. He was arguing outside the door with a couple of real TopGun flight school old colleagues before entering the conference room.

   "You don't know the style of these Hollywood people. If I hadn't stopped them, they would have made the movie into a musical and a fighting movie."

   Pete said excitedly to his old colleague, and the voice was so loud that it all reached inside.

   "Pete is a little bit angry. Those instructors have a lot of opinions on him. They think the footage we shot is too nonsense. It's impossible for a real fighter pilot to fly like this."

   Speaking to Ronald was F-14A pilot Lloyd Abel with the callsign "Bozo". He will also serve as a flight consultant for the crew in the subsequent aerial combat shooting, and design the aerial combat scene together.

   "How? Why?"

"In today's shot, you let the F-14 Tomcat pass through the tower at high speed. If it was really shot at high speed, it would put the tower up and down and all the glass would be shattered. And any fighter pilot who dares to do this will He was punished and ordered to retire with honor."

   Stupid Bozo laughed.

   "We're making a movie, let's make a gimmick."

   "Actually, I really want to come here. In the second half of the year, I will retire from active duty and fly a civil aviation airliner." Bozo said with a bit of melancholy about his whereabouts.

   "When it comes to civil aviation, don't pull it up with a high G, or the passengers will be vomited by you." Ronald recalled his glorious deeds of vomiting Tom Cruise.

   "Hahaha, I'm not really stupid."

   "I never asked you, you really want to be fearless, and being a naval pilot doesn't make you afraid of anything?" Ronald asked.

   "It's still there." The idiot blurted out without hesitation, "We are most afraid of landing on an aircraft carrier at night, and every time my heartbeat feels like it's going to explode."

   "Oh?" Ronald was about to ask, when Pete Pettigrew persuaded his old colleague away, pushed the door and walked in.

   "You're here too, great, let's talk about this maneuver. Low altitude, low speed, let the wings be forced up, but don't really break the tower glass."

   "I think so too", the idiot replied, "The speed is low when flying, and it is also convenient for you to shoot."

   Ronald nodded, the consensus reached by the experts, he had to listen.

   "Okay, I'll go to the pilots at the base and see who's willing to fly." Pete turned to look for the pilots.

   "Uh..." The idiot raised his hand and put it down, "Forget it, don't argue with the young people, anyway, I'm about to retire."

   (end of this chapter)