Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1417 Forrest Gump's Test

MJ was very emotional because a week ago, he was featured in a special report by the National Enquirer, the largest gossip magazine, saying that he wanted to destroy other people's families by adopting a child and snatch a boy named Jordan Chandler away from his father.

The story of this child is quite complicated. According to MJ himself, Jordan Chandler was introduced to him by his mother Joan.

Once MJ's car broke down on the road and was towed to the local repair shop Rent-A-Wreck. The owner of the repair shop called his wife Joan and asked her to meet MJ.

During this meeting, Jordan Chandler, Joan's son from her previous marriage, and her husband's daughter also met MJ. Because he loves children, MJ invited the two children and Joan to visit his dream manor.

But Jordan Chandler's father, Evan Chandler, a dentist and amateur screenwriter, was very unhappy because the trip ruined what would have been a great vacation for him and his son.

Later facts proved that the father cared more about money and his career. He was very dissatisfied with MJ staying at the home of his ex-wife's current husband for a few days. He threatened to build a house for him in MJ's manor. After being rejected, he proposed that MJ buy his script and invest 20 million to start filming.

The National Enquirer is the gossip media with the largest circulation. Now wherever MJ goes, he is surrounded by reporters and asked all kinds of questions. He can't stand the harassment, so he finds Elizabeth Taylor to talk to. Elizabeth Taylor suggests that he go to New York to find a place to hide and prepare for the upcoming world tour.

Ronald knew both of them, so he agreed immediately after receiving the call and let MJ and his team live in his home, where the security measures and privacy protection were very good. After sending Helen to her mother's home in Long Island, he went to the private airport to pick up MJ and his team and settled them in his home.

Diane and Donna happened to be there too, and they met by chance.

"This place is not big enough. Our music team and security team cannot all stay here." MJ's assistants and lawyers have checked out Ronald's house and asked a lot of questions.

"Don't be rude, Ronald is my friend." MJ stopped them with a smile. This group of people below regarded themselves as omnipotent gods and spoke to others in the same tone.

"Do you know the developer here? There are houses for rent. We can rent some temporarily. It can accommodate many people..." MJ turned around and spoke to a group of lawyers and assistants. Ronald generously gave his house to him. You guys should not be rude. Just rent a small house next door for you to live in.

"This is...'s property, and it's also run by his company. I know his property in Atlantic City is having problems, and I can talk to him and get it cheaply..." The lawyers started to make a commotion again, and everyone wanted to demonstrate their own value in front of MJ.

"It would be even better if there was a big house to live in..." Ronald saw MJ frowning a little. He must be very concerned about his privacy. He was in the Dream Manor in California, and now he was surrounded by reporters. He had no privacy at all, so he hid here. These people don't know how to keep a low profile. Maybe they will be discovered again in a few days.

"Yes, Ronald, when this is over, come and live in my new home. There is everything there... You, Diane and your children will come with you. I have an orangutan and a little train..."

Ronald's heart moved, "There are big houses... that's no problem..." He remembered that the largest two-story apartment upstairs was bought by Saudi Prince Bandar, and it occupied half the size of a floor.

"Richard, can you contact the Saudi Embassy in DC?" After some coordination through Richard, the prince readily agreed. As a fan, his only request was to take a photo with MJ, get his autograph, and have dinner with him.

……

After doing all this, MJ will hide in Ronald's house tonight to avoid the siege of reporters.

Ronald and Diane went to the hotel next door and checked into a suite. They hugged each other and talked quietly.

"Tell me, why are you here?" After Ronald calmed down, he held Diane's hand, which must have made Diane sad this time.

"I thought you had a new love. You've been so elusive these past few months..." Diane was wondering if Ronald had met a new woman besides Helen. Sometimes he went to London, sometimes to China. She wondered if it was a woman who traveled internationally all year round, a celebrity or something like that.

Princess Diana had already separated from the prince, and she often traveled around to do charity work when she had nothing to do. The London newspapers often reported on the arrest of Diana's new boyfriend, which made Diana a little nervous.

It was already very unfair for him to be allowed to meet Helen every year, and now there was another one, and one from the royal family, how...

"Oh, how could I let you go?" Ronald hugged Diane. He didn't expect that his hurried schedule, coupled with some arrangements with Helen, still aroused Diane's suspicion.

"Prince Charles and Princess Diana have separated, Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder have broken up, and when these people announced their relationships, they were..."

Diane has also read a lot of gossip about breakups and reunions during this period. Even the couple that the entire American audience wished for finally broke up. It is said that Winona Ryder was completely lost and had signs of schizophrenia on the set of "The Age of Innocence". Johnny Depp was said by his mentor Tim Burton to have lost his soul and could not act anymore.

"No... I love you..." Ronald hugged Diane tightly.

"Promise me, Ronnie. If you have other women, you must tell me honestly. I can walk away, but I can't stand you lying to me..."

"I will always love you, Diane..." Ronald hugged Diane tightly and kissed her gently on the lips. At this time, he could only express his love for her through actions.

"However, I will still be a bridesmaid at Donna's wedding..." Diane was sure that Ronald still loved her, and her nervousness was gone, but she still had to fulfill the excuse.

"Of course, I also want to be the best man..."

"By the way, why don't you let MJ's subordinates rent a house? Wouldn't it be nice for him to stay here for two days? Why do we have to trouble the Saudi ambassador?"

Diane remembered something. This was originally a good opportunity to make MJ owe him a favor, but why did Ronald give it up to Prince Bandar?
"I always feel that this matter will not be simple. I don't want helicopters to watch over our house every day to grab the news."

Ronald felt that this decision was correct. Prince Bandar had diplomatic immunity, and he was just a famous Hollywood director who was not immune to the media. Moreover, Diane was a female star, and she wanted to help a pop star like MJ. How could that dentist and amateur screenwriter Evan Chandler think of blackmailing him to make a movie? The matter here seemed to be quite complicated, so it was better for him to stay out of it.

……

“This shot is great…”

Ronald and Diane returned to Los Angeles. Remembering her original excuse to go find Ronald, Diane quickly invited special effects director Van Fleet to her home.

Van Vliet brought a copy and showed it to Ronald and Diane in the home theater.

There are three experimental special effects shots on the copy. The first one was shot twice in the volleyball hall of Long Beach University, where a group of college students sat in the audience seats, one area at a time. Then the two shots were superimposed together through laser printing, and the final film showed that both areas were full of spectators.

There are many gatherings of tens of thousands of people in Forrest Gump. Not to mention the huge cost, some places, such as the monument opposite the Lincoln Memorial, can only be opened for one or two days at most, and it is impossible for you to really find so many people to cram in for filming.

After trying this special effects method, Ronald was very satisfied with the results.

The second shot shows an employee of the Daydream Stunt Department holding a ping-pong paddle in front of a blue screen, swinging it at a white object hanging from a rope. Then, after special effects correction, the white object was replaced with a ping-pong ball.

This is because in the story of Forrest Gump, he represented the American table tennis team in the competition and inadvertently opened the diplomatic channel between China and the United States. However, the table tennis level of Americans is too poor, and many of them cannot last a round against real Chinese athletes.

Even if Tom Hanks trained for a month, he still couldn't beat the volleyball team's main attacker on the table tennis table. So the special effects team experimented with the idea of ​​using blue screen keying to shoot this game scene.

"That's not how you play table tennis. These movements are too rigid and don't seem like those of an expert."

Ronald saw the employee after the special effects treatment, just standing there, swinging his racket left and right, looking very impressive. However, Ronald, who can play table tennis, knows that in the eyes of people who have played the game, this level of performance is just a waste of serve.

"Well, okay, let's find some professional athletes and let them teach us..." Van Vliet was also a little confused. This was played by a colleague who was the best at table tennis, but it seemed that he was not very good at it.

Ronald thought about it and decided that the most important detail for this Forrest Gump movie was to truly restore America in the past few decades. Americans back then had seen table tennis on TV, so although the details couldn't be professional, some basic details still needed to look like something completely different.

"Forget it, I'll find a professional retired athlete to teach you. I heard that the level of table tennis of the American national team is actually not as good as that of amateur athletes in China..."

The last special effects test shot was a scene where former President Ronald Sr. met former British Prime Minister Margaret at Camp David. The special effects team found a female employee of similar height to her and performed a similar action in a similar position in front of the blue screen.

She stepped accurately on the mark on the ground, and finally stretched out her hand and shook hands in the void at the location of the original image.

The two images are then processed, the image of the former prime minister is removed, and the image of the female employee on the blue screen is cut out, and the two are superimposed, as if the female employee shook hands with the former president on behalf of the former prime minister.

"This is not good, her lip shape is wrong..." Ronald looked at the screen. Prime Minister Margaret was originally greeting the former President, but the female employee just casually said, "What a nice day today." The sound of the original film, superimposed on her lip shape, did not match at all.

"If the lip shape is to match, it will have to be fixed frame by frame. I think that would be a huge workload." Van Vliet did these experiments just to determine the feasibility.

"It has to be done. I have to see the final effect before I can decide whether to handle it this way. If your special effects can't match the lip shape and voice, then I can only use other methods..."

Ever since Ronald watched Director Zhang's "Sanmao Joins the Army" in Xujiahui, he has been thinking about how to handle similar plots in Forrest Gump.

Chinese audiences have not seen the video footage of that time, so they can accept it if there are actors performing the roles. But American audiences have grown up watching the television speeches of the presidents since the 1960s. Using actors and makeup to play them is totally unacceptable.

That's why Ronald spent so much money to do it. Using computer special effects and news footage of past presidents, the film was processed in a way that made the audience fully recognize that this might be a true event that happened in history.

If Van Vliet's special effects team can't do it, he will have to consider looking for Industrial Light & Magic. Otherwise, he can only use some compromise methods, such as shooting the background, or using editing to let the audience imagine...

In this way, the most fascinating part of the movie, in which Forrest Gump participated in the historical events that his peers encountered when they were growing up, would lose a lot of its luster.

Not only will these special details become ineffective, but the sense of reality of "that could be me" in Forrest Gump may be greatly weakened, affecting the viewing experience of the entire movie.

"If we want perfect results, this test may cost..." Van Vliet asked. The cost of this test is not small.

"Go ahead and do it... Don't worry about the cost. I want to see the final effect." Ronald nodded and agreed to spend a large sum of money to do this test. "I want to see at least three seconds of the finished film, so that I can be sure."

The important special effects tests are almost completed, and Ronald is ready to devote himself to this "Forrest Gump".

On the one hand, he asked marketing consultant Michael Gray to prepare to announce the purchase of the copyright of the Forrest Gump script from Menahan Golan, and then announce the project with Paramount.

On the other hand, the real male lead Tom Hanks also needs to find an opportunity to be announced, and other main characters, especially the female lead Jenny, also need to be selected.

"Ronnie, honey, what do you think of me?" Diane, dressed in a hippie outfit, with eye makeup on, legs crossed, looked at Ronald in the room.

"Do you want to play Jenny?" Ronald didn't expect Diane to be interested. He looked around and found that she was quite charming. "It's good, but it's not a role that ordinary American audiences would like. For your future..."

"Okay..." Diane pouted, "Being a director's wife means that you can only get your turn after others have chosen the roles."

"Oh, I have no doubt about your acting ability... If you play this role, once the movie becomes popular, it may be difficult for you to play women who match your appearance and have traditional American virtues."

Ronald thought that Diane's face was rounded, which was incompatible with Jenny's strong and stubborn personality. In his eyes, the actor who played Jenny should have square and straight lines like a man, and be very independent and tough.

"OK, I understand." Diane seemed to be convinced by Ronald. But she went in again to change her clothes, and then asked Ronald to come in.

As soon as Ronald entered the room, he saw Diane sitting on the bed holding a wooden guitar. Apart from a pair of high heels, the guitar seemed to be her only outfit.

"Oh..." Ronald felt the passion he had at the beginning again. He threw his guitar away, hugged Diane and kissed her.

Fortunately, I convinced her, otherwise these shots would have been on the screen...