Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 638 Released in the Year of the Dragon

   "Did you get Cher's autograph?" Ronald asked Tom Cruise as he left the wedding reception.

   "Ah...Yeah, I got (her phone number)." Tom showed the good boy smile in "Good boy is crazy too" again.

  "Have fun", Ronald glanced at several members of the "Boy Gang". They drank some alcoholic beverages and returned to their normal state. They began to wander, looking for beautiful girls on the scene to ask for their phone numbers.

   "Nature exposed again", Ronald shook his head and got into the car, none of his business.

   Back at the apartment, Ronald found that the light in the living room was still on, and his accountant, Lawrence, was waiting for him.

   "Are you coming from Chinatown?" Ronald remembered that Lawrence also went to welcome the state guests, and said that he would go to the premiere of a movie with some friends in Chinatown to promote the Chinese zodiac culture.

"Oh, Ronald, I'm very angry... They actually..." Lawrence saw Ronald back, hugged him, and began to hurriedly curse the movie "Year of the Dragon" in Cantonese, with Director Cimino scolded it over and over again.

   "What's the matter?" Ronald found that Lawrence's face had turned red, and he was obviously very angry, and he used his native language to scold, because he didn't like scolding in English.

   Well, but I love to hear it.

Who made director Cimino get on with him, and producer Dino de Laurentiis also took advantage of the danger and wanted to force himself to sign multiple film contracts and prevent himself from directing this Chinese-American film that happened in Chinatown. story.

   "The movie premieres tonight, and as long as there is a screening on the weekend, our Chinatown will suffer again, how many families will lose their jobs, how many travel agencies will go bankrupt, everything will be like 1974. It's all over again."

   Lawrence said, his eyes were actually red.

   "Don't be angry, what's wrong with this movie, you say slowly, we'll find a way to solve the problem."

   Ronald took a jump, how did it involve the economy of Chinatown, he quickly brought a cup of black tea to the accountant to calm him down.

"When I was young, I worked in Chinatown. In 1974, the 'Chinatown' portrayed Chinatown as a dirty place where no police dared to go. As a result, I traveled to Chinatown. The project went bankrupt by more than half, and many old Americans dare not come to Chinatown for special tourism.

   There are other normal souvenirs, and the retail business of special products also plummeted. I had no choice but to go out of Chinatown against my parents' wishes, found a job at an accounting firm in Manhattan, and finally moved out of Chinatown. Didn't expect all of this, and this nasty movie has to do it all over again. "

  "Nicita", Ronald, after hearing Lawrence's complaint, knew that he was worried about the impact of the movie on Chinatown, so he picked up the phone and called his agent.

   "Did the Year of the Dragon shoot badly? My accountant said it would cause the Great Depression in Chinatown."

"Almost, I didn't watch it, but I heard that Mickey Rourke is like a bull in heat, and the female reporter in Chinatown is going to chase him. It's the young man who plays the boss of Chinatown, very explosive... …”

   "No no no, I'm not asking about the artistic value of this film, but whether it will make ordinary American people's impression of Chinatown worse, and even affect Chinatown's economy."

"To be honest, there is a possibility. In 1974, the Chinatown filmed once. But the audience's reaction to this film is unclear. The actor who played the Chinese-American boss Joey Tai has a good temperament, and there may be an audience. You might fall in love with him, just like after The Godfather was filmed, many people worshipped the family-respecting culture of Italian-American gangsters instead."

   "Get ready and go see a show with me tomorrow."

   "Is Ronald of Chinese descent?" Nisita asked his wife Paula Wagner.

"Haven't heard of it? But he likes to use Chinese-American actors and subordinates. The fast-paced heroine, Phoebe Cates, has Chinese-American blood. His accountant is also Chinese. And he shot' Longwei kid' is also..."

   "Is that Japanese?" Nisita corrected that many people don't really know what the three ethnic groups in East Asia look like.

   "It's really racist."

   The next day, after watching Michael Cimino's new film "The Year of the Dragon" with Nisita, he was a little restless.

  In the movie, to Chinatown, through the mouth of the starring Mickey Rourke, he said some offensive words, what Chinese people, squinting and so on.

   This kind of name, the disgust of the public, may not be comparable to the word that begins with N in America when it scolded black people. But the severity is the same.

   But what's disgusting about Cimino is that he didn't let a good person scold him, but let the half black and white police officer scold him. You say he's racist, the audience knows it's a bad policeman.

  You said he was not racist, but he arranged for an Asian actress, fell madly in love with this policeman, and finally killed the new generation boss of Chinatown who was affectionate and righteous.

   Moreover, the movie depicts Chinatown too darkly, ignoring the virtues in the original novel of Chinese people who respect the old and love the young, raise funds for charity for the elderly, the weak and the widow, and arrange funerals. Highlights a lot of gang vendetta and the like.

The most ridiculous thing is that in this story that happened in Chinatown, the Chinese-American story, but also let the Chinese-American protagonist Joey Tai, go to Southeast Asia, must be linked to the Vietnam War, and made a stinky and long plot, A new 'Godfather' figure who was kind and righteous and who led Chinatown to order and prosperity died in Thailand.

   "If I came to shoot, I would make him the Michael Corleone of Chinatown," Ronald complained to his agent.

"What do you want?"

"I'm going to use my influence, I don't want to see a certain ethnic group get into a depression because of a movie. Movies have influence beyond the box office, preferably positive, like my breakdance tape. The dance class industry started, and Long Wei made karate popular again. I can't understand how a movie that slanders a race like this can be made in Hollywood."

   "Oh, what you said, it's a bit like a donkey party." Nisita was a little surprised.

   "Of course, it happened to be an opportunity. I didn't like Cimino very early on. And the producer Dino de Laurentiis, he should know who to work with is the best strategy."

   "I will help you arrange some PR activities, but in this case, it is the best policy for you not to provoke yourself."

   "I know, I'll just hide behind and give some money."

   After the weekend, new movie reviews came out one after another.

   Some Hollywood tabloids that Ronald's influence can reach have begun to criticize Cimino's new work after "Heaven's Gate", but it is still a mess. The film is full of prejudice against Chinese Americans, and the level of director is declining...

   On the contrary, Ronald's hometown, the big media in New York, began to attack Cimino on his own initiative.

Vincent Camby of The New York Times, wrote, "The Year of the Dragon is still a long way from being a classic, but it doesn't pretend to be some elaborate gangster movie, it's not boring for a minute, it's full Consists of over-the-top behavior, language, and visuals that ultimately exert their own hypnotic effects."

Janet Maslin, another New York Times film critic, also said, "I regret the lack of feeling, reason, and narrative continuity, in which the actors' performances are particularly bad, especially Mickey, who plays the policeman. Rock, and Ariana, who plays a Chinese journalist, have no role in their roles in the movie. Only John Lung's performance as Joey Tay is amazing...  

   Instead, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times had two nice things to say about "The Year of the Dragon," "The plot is strong, moving forward with power and efficiency."

   Chinatowns in New York, Los Angeles and other places have organized actions to oppose and boycott the film. Not only the Chinese, but also the Japanese, Korean, and Southeast Asians who belonged to East Asia were also mobilized to criticize Cimino.

   The mobilization mechanism of the previous Chen Guoren case played a role again.

  These boycott activities sponsored by Ronald gave a part of the money, which was a fatal blow to the box office of "Year of the Dragon". The state guest who just came to the state visit for the first time just left, and the White House did not want to see such a movie and started to offend the Chinese.

  The national media began to report this controversial incident with high intensity.

   A TV station stopped Michael Cimino in Los Angeles and asked him what he thought of the Chinatown boycott of his film.

   "The film was accused of being racist, but they didn't pay attention to what people were saying in the film.

   It's a movie that deals with racism, but it's not a racist movie. To deal with such a theme, you must inevitably reveal its tendencies.

   This is the first time we have dealt with the marginalization of Chinese Americans. Too little is known on this issue. Americans were surprised to learn that until 1943, Chinese Americans were excluded from U.S. citizenship.

   They can't bring their wives to America. The female reporter received applause for Stanley's speech. For all these reasons, Chinese Americans will love this movie. And the negative reaction from journalists may be a shield to cover up these unpleasant facts. "

  Cimino ran away from the interview after some nonsense.

"What should I do? Mr. Laurentiis", Michael Cimino came to Dino de Laurentiis' office in a daze, the movie began to show a strong negative social effect, and movie theaters everywhere began to consider Reduce the release time, or simply release it earlier, and reserve the number of screenings for "Back to the Future" with a strong reputation.

  "This waste", Dino de Laurentiis glanced at the lost Cimino, hoping that with this movie, he, who made a comeback after "Heaven's Gate", would be hit hard again. I really lost sight of it. Cimino, the best director of the Oscar, has fallen behind the times and can no longer make good movies. The box office is not good, what's the use of being cheap?

"I have urgently ordered that a subtitle be placed on the front of the copy, stating our position." "This film is not intended to belittle or ignore the many positive characteristics of Asian Americans, especially the Chinese American community. The descriptions in this film Any resemblance to any association, organization, individual or Chinatown that exists in real life is accidental."

   All copies of "Year of the Dragon" have this subtitle added at the beginning.

   Dino de Laurentiis was a bit of a pain in the ass, and the massive reprints and replacement copies cost him a fortune. And all of this is caused by the outdated director Cimino.

   "Ronald, what do you think of the recent controversy caused by the Year of the Dragon movie? What do you think of Cimino's defense?"

   A savage Ronald appeared on the TV, giving an interview.

   "I think he's going to see an ophthalmologist first, and none of the residents of Chinatown will agree with him that the film isn't racist. Their banners and flyers have made that clear.

   Also, not all movies have to do with the Vietnam War. In my opinion, the story of the whole movie would be much better without the slow plot of the Vietnam War. Of course, the director Cimino may prefer this kind of talk, and he did it in that famous movie... . "

   "You mean Heaven's Gate?" The reporter was very happy, and it is rare to see such a direct spray from a director.

   "I was talking about the deer hunter." Rhona laughed and put on his sunglasses. He didn't want to admit that he was laughing at Cimino.

"It's him, it's him, it must be him, behind the scenes." After watching the interview, Michael Cimino jumped up and pointed to Ronald on the TV and shouted to the producer Dino de Laurenti s revealed.

  Laurentiis is from Naples, Italy, and this background is no joke. If the movie loses money, it will definitely not be good for him to be stared at, and a scapegoat must be found.

   "Really?" Dino de Laurentiis squinted, watching Ronald on the TV.

   (end of this chapter)