Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1289: Shoe Throwing Incident
"Hi, is Steven filming? I'll just wait here for a while." Ronald found an excuse and came to the studio under the pretext of wanting to see how Spielberg used green screen to shoot special effects.

Spielberg is now living with actress Kate Capshaw after a divorce and is now more cautious about marriage after a costly divorce alimony battle.

Of course, although they are not married, it did not prevent him and Capshaw from having a daughter last year, and now Capshaw is pregnant again.

In essence, Spielberg was also a nerd in his teenage years, and he became a film director purely out of interest. Now he enjoys the company of his girlfriend and likes children, so Spielberg tries to shoot his current films in a studio in Los Angeles.

He would rather spend more money to set up the scenery in the studio and go home on time every night to be with his family. This is very similar to Ronald.

"Oh, Ronald. I'll go in with you. Green screen shooting is quite demanding. Let's watch from a distance outside the cordon for a while. When he's done shooting, I'll go and tell him to take a break. The shooting these days is killing him..."

Kathleen Kennedy, formerly Spielberg's secretary and now general manager of Amblin Pictures, personally accompanied Ronald into the studio.

Green screen shooting is a somewhat historical method. The prototype of this technology was developed as early as the 1930s. However, blue screens were mostly used at that time because this color is the farthest from human skin color and is not easily confused.

But with the invention of new movie cameras and films, they are more sensitive to capturing green. So now green screen is mainly used for special effects.

Ronald looked at the green background from afar. Julia Roberts was wearing a tattered short-sleeved shirt and shorts, with some shiny sequins on her head, two wings behind her, and a steel wire tied around her body. She played an elf called Tinker Bell.

"You are too old now, too old, Julia. Imagine yourself younger. Tinker Bell is an elf with the mentality of a young little girl..."

Spielberg was obviously not satisfied with the previous shooting. He loudly told Julia Roberts, who had just been dropped from the air, what effect he wanted.

"Hmm..." Julia Roberts pouted. She was very uncomfortable when hanging on the wire. It pressed tightly against her ribs. Not only was it uncomfortable, but she was always worried about hitting the scenery.

Ronald frowned.

After Spielberg became famous, most of the actors he worked with were very talented. Even the child actors in ET were the most spiritual ones selected from thousands of child actors...

After that, he has been working with the best actors in the industry, such as the two leading actors of "Hook", Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams, and the supporting actress Maggie Smith, all of whom are the kind of actors who can express the effect he wants...

But Julia Roberts is not...

Julia Roberts basically can't act. She is like Grace Kelly back then. As long as her close-up appears on the screen, the audience will be mesmerized. The face of that meter-tall beauty is like saying sweet words to herself.

Especially the pair of eyes that sparkle with water. When facing them, the audience will feel like they are brought to another space, a space where there is only themselves and Julia Roberts, and the two of them are talking about endless love with their eyes...

And Julia Roberts herself has a shy side on the screen, which makes this feeling more real. No matter men or women, seeing such a face will make their hearts beat.

But this kind of natural beauty can only be expressed by Julia Roberts when she puts herself into it. This is also an important reason why her previous boyfriends are all actors who played lovers with her in movies and TV series.

She can't act at all, she plays all the roles as herself. Or maybe Julia Roberts is the role itself. Male actors are also happy to play opposite such a fascinating actress, and it is also a pleasure to talk sweet words to her behind the camera.

But this green screen shot...

Unlike other shoots, it’s hard to get a male actor to act with you. When shooting Tinker Bell hanging in the air and flapping her wings to talk, it was hard to get Robin Williams, who plays Peter Pan, to hang up and act with her…

So Julia Roberts is basically performing to thin air this time.

This easily explains why the quality of her performance is so low. Acting without props requires skills...

"I think we are the best..." Ronald said to Kathleen Kennedy, wanting to call a pause and tell Spielberg his observations. When Ronald was shooting low-budget exploitation films, the actors' acting skills were only average, and he really had experience in how to train these actors.

"Hush, Ronald, we are seriously behind schedule. Now we just need this little special effect scene. We have to hurry..." Katherine Kennedy was Spielberg's assistant, so for her, Spielberg's words are the truth. Steven told her that the most important thing now is to race against time.

"Action!"

Spielberg gave the order to start filming again, and Ronald had to shut up.

This time it was even worse, Julia Roberts was obviously nervous about what Spielberg said, and when she was nervous, her performance was even worse, and Spielberg's body language also became much stiffer.

Ronald could see the problem even from a distance, and just as he was about to step forward, Spielberg couldn't help but start scolding him.

"Cut, Cut! Julia, what are you doing? You are like an old woman, an old woman... You have to act younger, Tinker Bell is a young woman who never grows up..."

"Uh..." Ronald looked at the great director Spielberg and seemed to be very angry. How could he have violated the taboos of all the actresses?
"what……"

Sure enough, Julia Roberts was so stimulated by the old woman's words that she trembled all over, her eyes were red, and as soon as she came down from the wire, she shouted, "Then what do you want me to do? How do I do it?"

During this period, the gossip media has been pursuing her relentlessly, and many of the comments are quite offensive to her. In particular, all her love history was dug up, and the story of "the most beautiful female star in Hollywood and three male actors" was exaggerated.

"Act younger, don't act like an old woman..." Spielberg adjusted his glasses. He couldn't understand how such a spiritual actress in "Pretty Woman" could be so clumsy when playing Tinker Bell?

Julia Roberts couldn't stand it anymore. She was shaking with anger. "You are all targeting me..."

Ronald saw this and stepped forward to ease the situation. Both of them were under great pressure and they just needed someone to communicate with them. He was also surprised that Kathleen Kennedy should have played this role...

"Is anyone here?" Ronald spoke first to indicate that he had arrived at the scene... When a big director is filming, ordinary people are not allowed to break into the work scene.

"Ah, you are all targeting me..."

Julia Roberts was so angry that she pulled her shoes off her feet and threw them at Spielberg's head...

"Be careful..." Ronald exclaimed, what happened?

"Ah..." Spielberg was also scared. Was he going to hit the director?

"Ah..." Julia Roberts was startled by Ronald's scream, and her movements became distorted. The shoe she threw deviated from the intended direction and flew towards Ronald.

"Oh……"

Fortunately, Ronald was agile and quickly lowered his head to avoid the shoe that was used as a hidden weapon.

He rushed forward and hugged Julia Roberts, who kept yelling in his arms, "You are all targeting me..."

Ronald saw that things were getting difficult, so he turned around and said to Spielberg, "Let's stop here today. I don't think we can shoot any quality shots. I'll take Julia to rest first. I think she's been hanging on the wire for too long, and she's having a hysterical attack due to difficulty breathing..."

"Hey? OK..." Spielberg suddenly heard this professional medical term and thought it was a disease. He nodded and said to Ronald, "Go quickly. Be careful of any problems. There is no doctor in this studio. You have experience..."

In fact, Spielberg is just insensitive to women's psychology. Ronald can see it, but he still treats it as a technical issue of performance.

Ronald nodded at him and said, "I have something to ask you later. I'll take her out first..." Then he half-dragged and half-coaxed Julia Roberts out.

"Hey, Kathryn, what's wrong with you?" Spielberg saw Kathryn Kennedy coming from behind, covering her head...

……

"Let me go..." Julia Roberts walked outside the studio, breathed some fresh air, and was exposed to the sunlight, and she returned to normal.

"I know you're under a lot of pressure right now, but you have to find a way to relieve it. Otherwise, if you become as hysterical as Sean Young, your future in Hollywood will be gone..."

"Oh, I don't know what to do..." Julia Roberts is a person who knows what is right and what is wrong. She was too impulsive just now.

"Do you have any family members you can talk to? Friends? Your brother?" Ronald felt that at times like this it would be best to have the company of family and friends to help relieve the depression.

"Uh-huh..." Julia Roberts shook her head. She had a very bad relationship with her brother Eric...

"Hey, come home with me later, I'll call Diane..."

Diane had worked with her in "Steel Magnolias" and was one of her few friends.

Ronald went back to talk to Spielberg. Kathleen Kennedy was still there complaining about Roberts' shoes, furious...

"If time is not running out, we have to fire her... It would be best to severely reduce her scenes..."

"That's not necessary. I heard from Ronald that it's a disease..."

"What disease?"

"Ahem, you may have never been suspended by a wire. When you are suspended, your chest cavity is squeezed, your breathing capacity is insufficient, your oxygen intake and blood oxygen content remain low, and your diaphragm is squeezed. These can cause sympathetic nerve disorders and a poisoning symptom caused by excessive carbon dioxide content in the blood..."

Ronald quickly made up a bunch of excuses.

"Really?" Kathleen Kennedy was obviously unconvinced.

"I don't really understand it either, but in Hong Kong, martial artists can't hang on the wire for too long. Many of them also pray to the gods for protection so that they won't have hysterical attacks on the set. Of course, it could also be a kind of superstition..."

"You make sense. Is Julia feeling better?"

"I'm still very emotional. I guess we can't shoot today." Ronald told Spielberg some of his observations on Julia Roberts' acting problems.

"Hmm, interesting idea, I'll try it tomorrow..."

Seeing Spielberg say this, and accepting Ronald's explanation completely (in fact, not accepting it would be more troublesome, so it is better to believe it), Katharine Kennedy had nothing to say and had to throw the shoe aside angrily.

"Did you use overlapping matte painting and traveling shots to make the green screen, or did you use a computer?" Seeing that Spielberg no longer bothered Julia, Ronald's curiosity about technology was aroused, and he and Spielberg started pointing and chatting about the green screen on the spot.

"Industrial Light & Magic is actually experimenting with both. The traditional methods are not sophisticated enough in some places, so we try to use computer graphics workstations to supplement them... I heard that you used a computer software in Die Hard 2?"

"Photoshop... But that software is more suitable for still images, like the traditional large-scale matte painting. If you want to replace the green screen with the real-life image, I'm afraid their efficiency is not very high. If you want, I'll ask them to contact you to try..."

"Well, one more choice..."

"How is the final effect of your green screen? When I used it, the cutout part and the background were always a little inconsistent..." Ronald remembered the flaw of the Coca-Cola advertisement...

"Industrial Light & Magic has software specifically for this problem. You can ask Lucas. But in short, it is a special effect that consumes a lot of man-hours, but the visual effect is really good..."

"Ronald..." The driver and bodyguard outside walked in to see what was going on, and saw this scene of two directors who were technology enthusiasts passionately exchanging their experiences in special effects production.

"Ah, I have to go...Who's still out there? I'll call you tomorrow..." Ronald said goodbye...

"Ah..." Kathleen Kennedy gave Spielberg a look.

"Oh, right, Ronald, I have something to ask you..."

Spielberg pulled Ronald aside and asked, "How did you sign your agency contract with CAA?"

"Ha... don't you want to give them a fixed share?" Ronald thought it was just in time when Spielberg asked this.

"In fact, a director like you is a coveted contract for them. We all know the reason... 90% of their clients are actors, but screenwriters and directors are paid the best..."

Spielberg nodded, thinking that Ronald was the one who understood him best.

"I can't say anything bad about Ovitz, but there are two things you can pay attention to. First, they don't share commissions with every client. Sean Connery was their first star, so his treatment was not even as good as mine...

Second... CAA is actually a partnership company, and many people are dissatisfied with his way of running the company as a joint-stock company..."

Ovitz threatened or bought most of the company's shares into his own name. But brokerage companies are like lawyers and accountants, they rely on people. Holding the shares in his hands and running them as a joint-stock system, and not giving young people the status of partners, in fact, young brokers are very dissatisfied with this matter, but when Ovitz is strong, it can bring them greater benefits, so they endure it.

"I understand, thank you..." When Spielberg talked about movies and business, his IQ advantage immediately returned.

……

"Julia, oh, I didn't expect you to come. We haven't seen each other for a long time..." Diane saw Julia Roberts and happily went forward to hug her, "Do you want to see the baby?"

"Diane, Julia is very tired. She was hanging on the wire on the set and she has some psychological problems..." Ronald came up quickly to explain.

"Oh, then do you want to relax? I have a jacuzzi and a cinema here. Over there is a yoga room, and you can also play games. These are samples sent by a Japanese company..." Diane happily introduced the equipment in her home.

But Julia Roberts still felt a little uncomfortable...When she calmed down, she thought about the pain of being exposed by gossip reporters.

"Ha, I've got it. I have an ancient game here that comes from the Chinese. Do you want to play it? It's called Mahjong. Ronald, Aunt Wang, we're short one..."

(End of this chapter)