Exploiting Hollywood 1980

  The shooting went very fast.

   Today, the heroine, Cher, is finally going to change her hairstyle.

  Loretta, played by Cher, is a dull, boring, conservative widow in the first half of the film. She often wears black, her hair is a little gray and she doesn't dye her hair, she just wears a hairstyle that is common to old Italian ladies.

  The clothes are also very conservative, black is the main color, and the shoes are also black boots, which does not look feminine at all.

   But after a night of spring breeze with Ronnie, who is full of passion and male hormones, her instinct as a beautiful woman has awakened.

  Ronnie was reluctant to let go of this and let Loretta and Johnny get married, and they would never communicate with each other in the future.

   The next morning, he expressed his thoughts, only to be slapped in the face by Loretta.

  Ronnie, played by Nicolas Cage, still asked to continue dating Loretta, but was slapped in the face by Cher again.

   "You wake up."

  The passion of a moment can never equal the rational thinking of a middle-aged woman the next morning.

Loretta felt that she couldn't face what Johnny said happened, and she didn't think that Ronnie, who was much younger than herself, could become life partners with herself. She wanted to wake him up, so she made this night a sweet one for the two of them. 's memories.

   But Ronnie was reluctant to let it go, and he offered to invite Loretta to Puccini's opera "The Bohemian."

   As long as Loretta promised to go see it with him, she promised to let it go, and she would attend her and Johnny's wedding, as if nothing had happened.

  Ronnie is well-informed. Watching opera is a very formal social activity for Italians, and watching opera will cause dramatic emotional reactions. Some people are romantic in nature.

   While others do not have a strong reaction to the opera, listening to it as ordinary classical music, and without emotionally transcendent reactions.

  Italy, there is this romantic and crazy gene in the culture, and it often belongs to the former.

  Loretta knew that this was unreliable, but her female instinct made her agree.

  As an Italian, watching opera is a big event. Loretta saw a hair salon on the road and walked in.

This is a very interesting transformation scene. Ronald thinks that in any romantic film, there needs to be such a process that the ugly duckling, who is not so conspicuous, becomes white with the help of friends and professionals. swan.

  Because at the beginning, the audience's impression was also shaped by the protagonist's makeup and dress. This makeover process not only made the actor Ronnie stunning, but more importantly, made the audience feel amazing as well.

   "I have to use my own hair stylist, Ronald. There are also nails and makeup." After Cher arrived at the scene, she began to make many requests.

   "But acting is needed here, can your hair stylist act?" Ronald's strict requirements for this star's appearance are also a bag.

   You can't say that Cher's demands are too much. She has sacrificed her image to be ugly in the first half for the artistic effect of the film.

   This transformation does not allow her to dress up beautifully according to her liking, and it is a pity that my painstaking effort to invite her to be the heroine was originally intended for some of Cher's fans to watch.

   But her request is a bit troublesome in operation.

   In this scene, Loretta dyed hair, permed, done nails, trimmed eyebrows, made up and a series of actions. Some of the hair and makeup process is to be shown in front of the movie camera.

  Cher must have a dedicated person to do it, so it is very troublesome to split the mirror when shooting.

"In this way, I will give you a close-up, only take the more beautiful left half of your face, and the camera will only take three-quarters of your face, and then let your authentic makeup room and hair stylist take care of it, so that they only have When you show your hands, you won't ruin the shot because of tension.

   As for other scenes, let these certain actors act. I'll cut it together through editing in post. "

  Cher discussed with the private team and agreed with Ronald's approach.

   She first got her hair back to its original black, then had her favorite personal stylist start steaming the hair to restore the big waves.

   Ronald and the director of photography, David Watkin, watched from the side. The two were good friends in private. They gave a wink to them. They both went out to smoke.

"You are very lucky. Cher is one of the stars who has less requirements. I made a romantic film before, and the heroine had a wrong attitude when she came. The director and I both thought that something was wrong with her. The filmmaker's husband has a falling out and is getting a divorce and quitting the set.

   She took her in the trailer for two hours and still hasn't found a good state. The director and I went up to see if we could still shoot that day.

   As a result, the female star said that it was because her dog died suddenly last night..."

"That's before you didn't see her." Ronald breathed, and Cher made a scene on David Letterman's late night talk show, and when she was rehearsing to read the script, she brought her A little boy friend who makes bagel bread comes along and almost **** off a bunch of Broadway supporting characters.

   "Fortunately, I passed MGM and refused her new boyfriend to come to Toronto, otherwise our situation would be several times more difficult than it is now."

"It has been filming in Toronto for several weeks. I think the filming is very boring, with a few long shots, a few close-ups, and no more dramatic conflicts with other characters. So far, the dramatic conflicts that I am impressed by are still playing. Just two slaps for Nick Cage."

  In the studio, in the indoor scene of the built hair salon, Cher is also chatting with Olympia Dukakis, who plays her mother, complaining that the director Ronald doesn't care about his role.

"And Ronald never taught me how to act, he never told me how to act, he always let me find my own feelings, and then he would say, you did a good job, now let's try another Acting, do it again."

"That's because he respects the performance of the actors. After all, the role is to be performed by the actors." Olympia Dukakis curled her lips. She had an opinion on Cher's acting skills, and she also knew that she was only a supporting role compared to the other party. You should bring your own personal views into the professional work of the crew.

   Ronald is a good director who can accommodate and understand actors. After all, Xue Er has not made a few movies, she does not know how difficult it is to have such a director.

  Cher's two previous films were co-operated with famous Hollywood directors. One "Skwood Incident" was Michael Nichols, who once directed "The Graduate". Another "Mask" director is Peter Bogdanovich.

   The two directors knew that Xueer's role was a weakness in her acting skills, so they often instructed themselves how some scenes should be played. If it was impossible, they used short shots to edit the performances that Xueer could watch.

   But on Broadway, a show has to be played from beginning to end, and there is no convenience to stop and start another one. Cher is going to act in a drama, and her acting skills have to be trained.

   Ronald, as a director, is particularly good at giving the actors a little room to improvise. Under the conditions that fit the situation, they can have some inspiration to play, and Ronald is encouraged.

  According to the script and lines, you may get 80 to 90 points, but if you want to stimulate the real reaction of the opponent's actors and perform to a full score, you must have a little improvisation.

   And the actors are a group of very sensitive people. Ronald never criticized them. He always took care of the actors' self-confidence. Only when they feel comfortable can they have room for extraordinary performance.

  Cher's use of this rigid request to see Ronald is a reaction to her own poor acting skills.

  Real actors, like them who have worked **** Broadway for many years, can analyze the characters by themselves after they get the script, and come up with suitable performance methods by themselves, so do they need the director to give specific guidance?

   "It's said that Ronald is very good, but I can't see it at all." Cher had some doubts about Ronald. Can this movie really be a successful work as he said?

   "Did we make a mistake? No one will watch this movie after it is released, right? I can imagine what the film critics will say..."

   "No way..." Dukakis was angry at what she said. This movie, he acted very enjoyable, will definitely be good.

  “A!”

   When she was finally ready, a steaming white towel was covered on Cher's head, and then her personal hair stylist lifted the towel and her straight long hair fell from Cher's forehead. The stylist pushed back her hair and began to style her.

  A super close-up shot of Cher's better-looking left face, and his hairstylist used a pair of tweezers to pluck a few stray hairs at the center of Cher's eyebrows.

   "Ah..." Xueer kept shouting in pain.

   "Cut!"

   "Very good, very good. Let's try another act now, let's try another one."

   "Oh..." Cher really had two eyebrows plucked and returned to the chair.

  …

  The shooting continues, except for Cher's part, the cooperation of others is getting more and more tacit.

  Ronald knew that Cher's acting skills were insufficient compared to Dukakis and the others. She cannot be taken as the centerpiece of the drama.

  Although she is the protagonist of the movie, she is a supporting role in the dramatic conflict. The whole family is actually centered around the role of mother Rose played by Dukakis.

   But he couldn't let Xue Er act randomly, so that the scene where she and other supporting roles were together would be very abrupt. A person with average acting skills suddenly appears in a group of old drama bones, and many rhythms and subtle emotions cannot be connected, which will drag the whole movie down.

   Ronald had no choice but to try his best to split Cher's shots individually. Minimize shots of her being framed with other family members. Make up for it with editing skills.

   "You can't do this, what do you do in the last scene?" David Watkin was a little worried about Ronald's handling.

   "I can't help it either, because of the pressure of the shooting cycle, I can't stop and wait for Cher to train her acting skills. It can only be used for what."

   This kind of treatment made Cher even more suspicious of Ronald's level. She always faced the camera alone a lot of the time. Cher felt that this shooting method was too simple.

   A long shot is walking, then a medium shot, cut to a close-up shot, then a close-up reaction, then cut back to an over-the-shoulder shot of the dialogue.

Comparing   Cher with the two great directors he has worked with, Ronald's handling is not so distinctive.

   Peter Bogdanovich always cites some classic clips from film and television to guide his acting. Michael Nichols is good at letting people play naturally. What about Ronald? There are a lot of cut shots.

   "Oh yo..." Cher walked out of the hair salon, and two young Italians played in a group, whistling at her. After dressing up, especially after changing the long wavy hair, high heels and skirts, Loretta's feminine charm finally began to exude.

  …

  The shooting went by day by day, and finally came to the final stage. This is the most important group scene in the movie. All the clues are heading for a point of no return, and they must be completely resolved in a breakfast of the big family.

   In this way, we can't use tricks, and we must let Cher and others be together and enter the viewfinder at the same time.

   Ronald's pressure is increasing. This long breakfast table scene is the most important scene in the whole film. If it is not done well, the film will collapse.

  “A!”

   "Cut, Cut...you're in the box."

   "Cut, Cut...it's not your turn to move."

   "Cut, the recorder is in"

   When we got to the morning scene for this shot, it didn’t work after a few shots.

This scene is a showdown for everyone. The center of the drama, from Loretta confessing to falling in love with his brother Ronnie, to Ronnie coming to the house to meet his family, to grandpa forcing father Cosmo to pay for his daughter Have a wedding.

   Then the mother Rose exposed the fact that her father had a lover outside. Just when everyone dealt with the conflict, Loretta's fiance and Ronnie's brother Johnny came back from Italy.

   Everyone didn't know how to tell him when Loretta didn't marry him. Johnny actually said that he wanted to break off the marriage first!

  The center of the play is constantly cruising between several characters. After the actors enter the roles, they play very unrestrainedly. The original set of camera positions and sub-shots have problems, which do not match their performances.

   After several shots were unsuccessful, Ronald decided to stop first and let everyone rest for half an hour, "You guys go out first, and let me think here alone."

   After all the actors and staff were out the door, Ronald lowered his head and sighed, how was this filmed?

  This kind of group scene that requires precise control of the movement, Ronald knew why the director regarded the table scene as the biggest challenge as soon as he shot it.

   The tension between multiple characters needs to be shown in a long shot. In addition to the fact that the actors cannot make mistakes, it also tests the director's scheduling ability.

   "If it really doesn't work, use a short shot to cut close-ups." David Watkin stayed in the room and said to a frustrated Ronald.

"No, the overall tone of this movie is a medium-length shot from a few seconds to a dozen seconds, and the big climax at the end. Suddenly the rhythm of the editing is hilarious, and the audience will play." Ronald covered his hands with his hands. With a face, he encountered a big challenge in his directing career. For the first time, he did not know how to shoot on the spot.

   "There is only one way to make a good film." David Watkin is a British native and has seen many drama performances in the West End of London.

"You have to direct this scene like a drama, and let them rehearse until they are proficient before shooting. In this way, I can recreate the scene according to their most comfortable position, so that there is no difference between the camera and the actors. not interfere with each other.”

   "Rehearsal, rehearse..." Ronald muttered to himself for half a minute, "Just do it!"

   Ronald called everyone in and announced his decision.

   Rehearse, wait for everyone's emotions to be in place, and after they are familiar with their positions, then set the position of the camera and split the mirror according to their most comfortable route.

   First rehearse this scene as a drama, and then introduce a camera to shoot after it has passed the stage as a drama.

  …

   "Wait...it's very late today, we'll end here and resume rehearsal tomorrow morning."

   The rehearsal lasted all day, and Ronald was close to despair. He even considered Watkin's first proposal, using the editing technique of the film to get over it.

During the rehearsal, Cher demanded a lot. She has worked with people like Peter Bogdanovich and Michael Nichols who have won the best director Oscar. And the concept of emphasizing the actor's own understanding and play is not suitable.

   Throughout the scene, she often interrupted rehearsals to let Ronald "instruct" her how to act.

   Ronald explained patiently, but often after rehearsals resumed, it was Cher who stopped and continued to ask for acting guidance.

   Those Broadway character actors were also exhausted. In particular, Fedor Chaliapin, who plays the old man, at eighty-one years old, needs a break.

   Ronald had no choice but to end the rehearsal.

   For the first time since entering the industry, Ronald fell behind schedule when he was making a movie.

  …

   The next morning, after the actors had arrived, the rehearsal continued.

  Cher's dissatisfaction with Ronald was already on her face. She felt that she did not act well, mainly because Ronald did not direct enough.

On the other hand, the supporting cast of Broadway character actors headed by Olympia Dukakis supported Ronald, and felt that such a director only talked about the effect he wanted to achieve, but not the way of acting, so that the actors had a certain amount of leeway. , is the best.

  The star and the actor actually quarreled over whether Ronald was a good director.

   Olympia Dukakis was very dissatisfied with the repeated disrespect of Ronald by Cher. When it was almost noon, she couldn't help it, and directly accused Xueer:

"Even if Ronald is a rookie who is directing a movie for the first time, as an actor, you should respect his position. What's more, he is a very talented and talented director. He is the director that actors most hope to meet. Type, it is our luck to meet him.

   You can't say such bossy things to a director. "

"Hmph, do you think I've never filmed under a famous director? Let me tell you, my first two movies were directed by the best director at the Oscars. It's not that I haven't seen a good director. And the movie is a star art, and this isn't a Broadway theater."

"Humph…"

"Humph…"

  The two actresses were angry, and the two began to quarrel over their acting skills, professionalism, and how to respect the director.

   "Aren't you going to stop it?" Director of photography David Watkin quietly pulled Ronald.

   "I don't want to stop them, anyway, sooner or later there will be a fight." Ronald had already seen that the two of them had long disliked each other. This is essentially actors and stars, different attitudes towards the film career.

   "I won't eat if I don't make a quarrel today." Ronald couldn't stand the rehearsal that continued without progress. In any case, whether it is a quarrel or a good talk, it is always necessary to reach a consensus on the dialogue and performance of this scene, and then I can shoot it myself.

   "Okay, I'll go to dinner first, then go to bed, and when they're done arguing, you can call me again." David Watkin walked out leisurely.

   Several Broadway actors just handed water to two female generals. They are used to seeing quarrels over artistic differences on Broadway. Such intense exchanges are actually a good thing, if both parties focus on drama.

  Nicholas Cage spoke for Ronald the day before, took Cher's hold, and now doesn't say a word, just watching from the side.

   This time, the two sides quarreled even more fiercely, and everyone had their own views on this scene.

   But the two of them didn't seem to stop, instead they seemed to be fired.

  Cher was told that her acting skills were not good, and she blurted out that Dukasky had not played the leading role for so many years on Broadway. Meryl Streep, who entered Broadway later than her, co-starred with Cher in the previous "Scrooge Incident", and she is already an Oscar-nominated actress.

Dukakis was so angry that he retorted, saying that Cher was just an outdated female singer and did not have a deep understanding of the filming of the film. The film only needs to take a good shot. I have seen her scene in the "Skwu Incident" and was scolded by her. It was cut into many short shots, didn't Director Bogdanovich tell you that it was because of your poor acting skills?

   Fyodor Chaliapin, who plays the old man of the grandfather, is very deaf, but he can read the mouth of the speaker.

   Seeing the two women quarreling more and more fiercely, he couldn't take it anymore.

  In his long career, he has seen many quarrels and even fights because of artistic differences. In this movie, everyone had a good time shooting, and the two female generals got along very well, so there is no need to get to such a point.

   Fyodor Chaliapin stood up and gestured for the two to stop.

   Nobody listened to him.

   Fedor Chaliapin had to pat the table, and everyone stopped.

   "Want to fight, not fight."

  Cher and Dukakis were startled by the loud sound of Fyodor Chaliapin's slap on the table. After hearing the old man's words, they both stood still and stopped arguing.

  The two looked at each other. They were originally discussing the performance of the scene. Not only that, but they started to become more and more arrogant.

  The words of the 80-year-old actor still have to be listened to. The two sat down at the dining table and looked at each other.

   The two sides of the quarrel were stopped by the old man's words, and the other actors were silent for a while.

  Suddenly, everything stopped.

   Ronald was suddenly blessed, and he immediately felt that the current situation was very similar to the plot of the breakfast scene.

   Everyone revealed the deepest secrets in each other's hearts at this breakfast table.

   Shocked that everyone else knew their secrets, and every family member apologized for their past.

   Then forgive each other, and the big family finally unites again. This is how the big Italian family resolves family conflicts. Spread everything out at the dinner table.

  Family members all have weaknesses and are **** slits at the dinner table, but in the end, eating the food made by mother together, we still have to trust each other and move on.

   "David!"

   Ronald suddenly shouted, "David, David, come here."

  David Watkin ran in after hearing the news.

   "Hurry up... This state is just right now, it's too late to draw the storyboard, don't waste this state, you can quickly locate the camera.

  Lights! ,recording! , Field Notes!, Makeup! "

  Ronald called everyone back and started shooting immediately!