Exploiting Hollywood 1980 Chapter 892

  Chapter 892 Rushing to the Christmas Party

   "Aha, here you come, Ronald, hahahaha..."

  At the fundraising meeting for George Sr., both George Jr. and his wife Laura appeared on the scene. This fundraising event is a special session for supporters of Staten Island and Lower Manhattan except Wall Street.

   All participants must donate at least a few thousand dollars. Those who sit in the front row and have the opportunity to chat with the deputy commander's family and take pictures need to donate more money, or be the head of a grassroots organization of the Elephant Party who can act in unison and vote for the old George group.

Of course, the ones who were finally able to sit at the same table with Old George and Barbara for dinner, chat about the family, and be greeted by the deputy commander in person, were Ronald, Douglas Jr., and the leaders of Chinatown in Manhattan. , representatives from the Little Italy clique, and some old money from the old ghetto.

   "Mom, look who's here." Little George welcomed Ronald very warmly. Ronald asked his assistant director Emile to shoot an advertisement for him, which made the little George and his wife stand out among several children and became the most popular child of the deputy commander among voters.

  Different from his bureaucratic younger brother who made his debut in Florida, Little George speaks like an uncle in every family. Voters have the best impression of him. Added a lot of supporters from the middle and lower classes to my father.

  His mother, Barbara, was surprised that George Jr. would be the most popular in the polls. She gave the eldest son more trust, and George Jr. had a greater say in the campaign team.

   Not to mention Ronald's donation...

   "Aha, Ronald. Let me give you a hug... Uh..." Barbara, with white hair and plain clothes, hugged Ronald and kissed her. In order to get the party's nomination, Barbara has been meeting different supporters across the country during this time to seek more donations.

  New York has always been an important city for seeking donations. This time, she has had secret talks with many heavyweights in the party and the rich and powerful on Wall Street, and participated in many such fundraising meetings.

What she didn't expect was that New York's 14th constituency, where Staten Island and lower Manhattan is a minority-inhabited district, could also raise so much money in the primary election stage, which was more than some private fundraising meetings on Wall Street. .

  Especially the "Continuing to Promote Employment and Prosperity Action Committee" run by Ronald and Douglas Jr., the numbers on the checks are impressive.

"I saw your name among the organizers of this PAC on the list. I thought it was the same name and surname. You are full of surprises." Barbara didn't expect that Ronald, a film director, now The amount of donation has reached the level of a multi-millionaire, and it must be a die-hard supporter.

"This is not due to me alone. This is my friend Douglas Hansen Jr. He is the most promising young man in the Hansen family on Staten Island." Ronald first introduced Fa Xiao to the old lady, and then And said:

"This is all thanks to George Jr. He explained the political views of Mr. Vice President very clearly. The people of Staten Island all hope that such a candidate who will continue to be tough in diplomacy and inherit the old economic policies in economy will be the candidate. president."

Ronald's emphasis was on the "old economic policy", and Barbara certainly understood, "George's idea is to continue free economic development and limit federal power. If the 'old' system works well, we don't have to Go fix it."

   "Hahaha, Ronald said it before, I just can say it more simply..." Little George was even happier when he heard that Ronald attributed the fundraising to himself.

   "Easier...not easy...", his wife Laura whispered behind him.

   "It's almost the same..." Little George waved his hand and continued to chat with Ronald and his mother.

   "Honorable United States of America, Mr. Vice President..." The waiter who announced his name at the door loudly uttered Old George's title. Although in the hands of ordinary people, this position is just a useless spare tire, but in the hands of old George, it is the most powerful one in history.

   In the previous Portsgate scandal, George Sr., as the former director of the CIA, was inevitably involved. There are rumors that the spokesperson of the Israeli government and anti-terrorism expert Amiram Neal finalized the deal with George Sr. when he visited Jerusalem. Through the Congress controlled by the Donkey Party, privately funded the opposition forces in Central America.

  But old George is the candidate for the next general leadership of the Xiang Party Committee, which is the establishment. So in the face of overwhelming evidence, the senior officials involved, like Secretary of Defense Casper Weinberger, Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams, National Security Advisor Robert C. McFarlane Everyone shut their mouths tightly, and no one said George's name.

Before he won the party's primary election, the old George, who was plagued by scandals, flew all over the country to raise funds, and at the same time had to devote his energy to responding to the inquiries of the Congressional Special Investigation Committee and the constant provocative questions from the news media. .

   "Thank you, thank you all, and like all Americans, I love New York..."

  Ronald noticed that the person who walked in with George Sr. was his electoral registration address, Representative Guy Molinari of Staten Island. He had been in the closet with old George for a long time just now, and he was a few minutes late for dinner. Ronald couldn't help turning to look at Douglas Jr.

   "Molinari and Peter Rodino, a member of the New Jersey Congressman who is also of Italian origin and a member of the Congressional Persian Special Investigation Committee, have been friends for many years..."

   "Aha..." Ronald understood, just as Old George finished his speech, he and the others applauded together.

  After taking a group photo with Mr. and Mrs. George, Mr. and Mrs. George, Congressman Guy Molinari and others, Ronald got in the car and went to the party at Julia Taylor's side.

  Julia is a senior employee of the casting studio. She has cast many directors based in New York, and she helped select many famous directors.

  However, Woody Allen, who she has worked with the most this time, did not come. Julia Taylor seems to have a little opinion of him, and has not cast this director since last year. This party invited many directors and casting directors in New York to gather in the office of the casting studio, which is also a kind of nostalgia.

   "Marty... nice to meet you, did you come back from Morocco before Christmas?"

   "Ah, yes, I've just been back for three days, cho... cho... There are cats here, and I'm allergic to cat hair."

  This party was attended by many directors, such as Ronald's teacher in college, Martin Scorsese. One of the conditions in exchange for him and Tom Cruise to shoot "The Color of Money" was to sign with CAA, and then Ovitz promised him to shoot his lifelong wish, the story about the ascension of **** Christ.

   This year, under Ovitz's relentless promotion, Universal finally agreed to shoot this film and gave it a shooting budget of 7 million US dollars. Delighted, Scorsese chose Ronald's old acquaintance Willem Dafoe as the male lead, and Barbara Hershey, who had worked with him, as the female lead. He flew to Morocco and finished filming in three months. "The Last Temptation of Christ". After finishing, he returned to New York to rest and spend Christmas with his wife.

   "Ah...ah," Scorsese continued to sneeze, Ronald picked up the cat, got up and put it in another room.

   When Ronald came back, he found that Scorsese's symptoms were relieved immediately, and he was chatting with a very personable man.

   "Ronald, come and meet Peter, the three of us all made our debut with Roger Coleman, hahaha."

   "Hello, Peter", Ronald recognized the person who came as Peter Bogdanovich. Had dinner with myself, the late Orson Welles, at a restaurant.

He is the girlfriend Stratten who was killed by her husband. In order to commemorate his girlfriend, he spent five million dollars to buy back the distribution rights of the movie "Laughing" in which Stratten played the leading role, and then invested a huge amount of money himself Released, but failed at the box office and got himself personally bankrupt.

"Hi Ronald, I saw your latest film 'Moonlight', very poetic. Isn't Cher difficult to work with?" Peter Bogdanovich is a haughty man, he would not In order to get closer, he flattered the younger generation. He himself still likes the movie quite a bit, that's why he said so.

   "Hey, you can't imagine", Ronald sighed. Cher caused him a lot of difficulties at that time, but fortunately, the scene of the dinner party was filmed like a miracle in the end.

"Oh no, you have directed Cher, then you know my distress better." Ronald remembered that Bogdanovich directed Cher and Eric Stolz in 1985. mask", he must have suffered a lot at that time when he said that.

  “I directed Xue Er in many scenes very closely at that time, but she denied it when she was interviewed later. She is a difficult person…”

   Speaking of filming star scenes, Ronald, Bogdanovic, and Scorsese are all suffering from the same disease, and often have to fight wits and courage with them.

   "What scene have you been filming recently?" Ronald and Bogdanovich had a very speculative chat this time. Maybe because he has lost all his wealth, and now he is starting to make money as a director again, his mentality is a little more normal.

   "I'm going to join the group after Christmas, 'Illegally Yours', and now I'm returning to comedy, with a budget of 13 million, and I'm also trying to make money..." Peter Bogdanovich laughed at himself.

"You are always applauded and sat down when you shoot comedies. Who is your star this time?" Ronald has watched Bogdanovich's "What's Up, Doc?" funny. The second highest-grossing work of the year.

   "I found Rob Lowe, he's a kid from Brad's gang."

"Huh..." Ronald stopped talking. The development of those teenage stars that Brad helped later was not very good. Emilio Estevez was almost disappeared by himself, and Andrew McCarthy also stagnated in acting. , nothing develops.

   "I found a lot of stars to play, in addition to him and Louise, I also chose David Bowie to play a supporting role..."

  Bogdanovich seems to be a little out of touch with the audience's taste. A beautiful niche like Rob Lowe is not comparable to the solid acting skills of Ryan O'Neill, who Bogdanovich worked with in his early years. As for Louise, that was the tragically deceased Playboy cover girl, Bogdanovich's ex-girlfriend Stratten's sister.

   "What about your next movie?" Bogdanovich said a lot about his own movie thoughts, seeing Scorsese and Ronald being a little perfunctory, he had to change the subject.

   "Working girl, you know..." Ronald smiled, "Julia still has the script..."

"Well, I don't like this script very much. It's a serious drama, but it doesn't reveal too much social reality, and it wraps the truth in a layer of sugar coating very well." Bogdanovich brought the script of "Working Girl" , commented again.

   "Hahaha, why don't you say that I only make movies that cater to the audience..." Ronald and Scorsese smiled at each other. This man is really as proud as the rumors say.

"No, it's just my personal preference. I'm looking forward to your new movie. I'll definitely go back and watch it. Let me tell you, this movie has to premiere in a theater with a capacity of thousands of people. When the time comes, you'll wear sunglasses. Sneak in after the opening to watch, the audience will definitely stand up and applaud at the climax at the end, the scene of thousands of people cheering for you together, enjoy a few more times, it is very good for your physical and mental health and confidence..."

   "I think you're right..." Ronald thought for a while, and had to admit that Bogdanovich was right. When the premiere of his most popular films such as "Breakdance", "Top Gun", and "Dirty Dancing" were premiered, the crazy appearance of those audiences really gave Ronald a super confidence, as if some movie He can shoot everything.

  After people have had this peak experience, they will not be intimidated when encountering major difficulties.

   "Maybe after I finish this movie, I can also have the capital to try to make something I like and work with a stronger personal style." Ronald said with a smile.

   "Don't think so..." Scorsese and Bogdanovich said to Ronald in unison.

   "Why?" Ronald was amazed. Didn't these two directors make a few commercial films, and then exchange the films they wanted to make?

"The times are different, and now the number of films shot is too small. My "The Last Temptation of Christ" was also optimistic about the box office potential, so I started filming." Scorsese had the experience of being too personal and stylized, and the box office failed. So I quickly persuaded Ronald to give up this idea.

"Yeah, yeah, you'd better keep shooting, keep making big box office hits. You know I've interviewed a number of famous directors from Hollywood's golden age, Frank Capra (Oscar's first grand slam 'It Happened One Night'), and every year The director of 'It's a Wonderful Life', which is broadcast on Christmas TV stations), the highest record is 13 consecutive movies that are sold well.

  He told me that the director's biggest secret is to make money at the box office! "Bogdanovich suffered more at the box office than Scorsese, and quickly persuaded Ronald with such a terrible idea.

   "Okay, I get it, I wish our new movie a hit..."

  After the party here, Ronald ran to the third party. Now he is famous, and many celebrity parties will send invitations. Ronald who could shirk away, only those good friends or particularly important gatherings, to attend.

   Today is the Christmas holiday. Now that it is out, join one more, which will be more efficient.

   "Ronald..." The organizer of the banquet, the owner of the record company, David Geffen came up to greet Ronald.

   "Hi David..." Ronald hugged him and said hello.

   Geffen was wearing a white turtleneck sweater, CK jeans and sneakers. This party is neither a formal dress banquet like George's, nor a relaxed private gathering of the director, but another way of gathering full of artistic atmosphere.

  The big house is full of various artworks. In front of one wall, there are many paintings of strange colors, which are the modern art works that David Geffen wants to promote.

"Look, how much creativity is there for modern artists, do you know? This is made by the painter with the method of screen printing. He breaks the traditional rules of the game, integrates the ambiguity of popular culture and creates art, and forms a wave. The Irony of Pop Art."

  Geffen enthusiastically introduced his collection to Ronald. He now has a wide collection of works by many modern artists. Andy Warhol, who passed away recently, is his art business, and the next step is to focus on an artist to hype.

   "Printed?" Ronald looked at the strange paintings, many of which were quadruples. Many of Warhol's works are based on Hollywood female stars. The head of a female star is made into four versions with pink like calamine lotion for skin diseases, or morbid green , and then put together as a set of compositions.

  The so-called pop art is so simple that a high school student can create it after knowing the method.

"He broke the tradition that artists need to have highly skilled hands. His works are anti-traditional. Art is not monopolized by a few people, but by the public." David Geffen continued to introduce modern art to Ronald Truth, there have been a lot of rumors about Ronald making money in the stock market recently. This new money class happens to be the object of his art business.

   "He created this all by himself?" Ronald looked at the two rows of Marilyn Monroe's portrait headbands, which were obviously molded and then printed with different paints by someone else.

   And the model is also drawn according to Monroe's particularly famous profile photo. No artistic difficulty? Put this thing in the frame on the screen printing machine, roll it back and forth with the roller, and create a picture in three seconds. "

"Whether an artist actually makes a work with his own hands is no longer the key factor in determining the authenticity of a work; and this conceptual revolution in artistic execution is what made twentieth-century art The fundamental reason why it is no longer the same as all art that came before it.”

  David Geffen knew that Ronald had seen through the tricks behind the works, so he hurriedly made up for it, and gave Ronald Science the difference between modern art and traditional classical art. Then he whispered in Ronald's ear: "The auction of Warhol's works will be held in New York next week. Now is a good time to collect. His works have great potential for appreciation."

   Then Geffen patted Ronald on the back and went to greet other guests.

   "It's obviously printed matter", Ronald couldn't understand, and complained to a set of portraits of Monroe.

   "This is the print. I bought several. Anyway, it's cheap, who knows if it will appreciate in value?" A person dressed like a rock star next to him answered Ronald's words.

   "Ah, Mr. Bowie." Ronald saw, isn't this the actor in Bogdanovich's new film, the rock star David Bowie?

   "Call me David, you are Ronald, I heard Geffen say you are back." As he spoke, David Bowie patted his leather jacket on and looked for cigarettes in his pocket.

   "I have Lasker here, do you smoke it?" Ronald handed over the Lasker cigarette that the prop master of "Working Girl" gave him.

   "Ah, thank you, I feel uncomfortable without it." Bowie happily unpacked, bought one for himself and Ronald, and lit it with a lighter.

   "Hmm...it feels good." Ronald was in the corner talking with David Bowie.

   "I heard you're going to be in Bogdanovich's new movie?" Ronald asked.

   "Ah, yes, they filmed in Florida, and the sunshine there suits me." Bowie's teeth and fingers were all yellow from cigarette smoke, and he looked like an old smoker. Ronald and he chatted while smoking.

  (end of this chapter)

Chapter end