Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1423 Collaborators rather than employees
This is Haley Joel Osment Jr. Julia Taylor gave Ronald a photo of a young boy who looked very smart.

Ronald turned the photo over, and there was a resume of the performance of this little boy who was less than six years old. He had acted in a Pizza Hut pizza commercial. It also wrote the reason why he was selected. The casting director at the time asked him to describe the biggest thing he had ever seen, and little Harry answered that it was an IMAX movie.

Such cleverness, coupled with a face that people find very cute, helped him become a stepping stone to child stardom, and now he is also a commercial star that people all over the United States have seen.

"Very good, Forrest Gump Jr. can do the role..." Ronald watched some video clips of Harry Jr. and thought that he was very suitable to play the son of Forrest Gump and Jenny. "But what about Young Forrest Gump?"

Ronald was talking about the scene at the beginning of the movie when Forrest Gump and Jenny were both very young and were childhood sweethearts in school. This little Forrest Gump had to be about seven or eight years old and a little silly. Obviously, Julia Taylor didn't recommend him to play this little Forrest Gump when she showed him the photo of little Harry.

"Nothing, Ronald, nothing... The kids in Los Angeles are too..." Julia Taylor thought for a moment about how to describe it, "They are too knowledgeable. Forrest Gump and Jenny are both kids from the countryside of Alabama. Their eyes, body movements, and expressions are completely different from those of kids who are used to the fashion trends in big cities. Also... it's hard to train young actors to have accents. If you need some southern accents, you have to have kids from the Deep South..."

Julia Taylor tapped her pencil. Next to her were a bunch of resume photos of child actors that had been sent in after the auditions were announced. Basically, none of them were usable.

"Let's open the casting. Where do you think it would be best to put them?" Ronald had no choice. These two characters were at the beginning of the movie and the audience had to recognize them. Otherwise, the movie would not be able to attract the audience's attention and would definitely fail at the box office...

"By the way, we have to choose someone who looks a bit like Tom Hanks and Robin Wright..." Ronald made another request. In short, the face shape and body shape cannot be too different. For example, Hanks's rectangular face and Robin Wright's wild child temperament cannot be missing.

"Okay, I'm going to an open casting in Memphis, Tennessee, looking for a young Tom Hanks with light eyes and a quirky personality..." Julia Taylor also understood that this casting must be true to herself, and after looking at the national map on the wall, she pointed to the heart of the Deep South, Tennessee. Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, Colorado, Georgia and other places nearby are all places where people speak with a Southern accent.

……

"First audition for Forrest Gump, Harry Joel Osment Jr., Tom Hanks..."

In the afternoon, Ronald found Tom Hanks and asked him to audition with Harry Joel Osment Jr. for the scene where the father and son read together.

The central narrative of this movie revolves around Forrest Gump, and all the supporting characters reveal a certain aspect of Forrest Gump's character to some extent. His son, Little Forrest Gump, is a smart man. When Forrest Gump knew he had a son, his first reaction was to be afraid that he would suffer from the same IQ problems as himself. When he knew that Little Forrest Gump inherited his mother's high IQ, he was afraid that he and his smart son would not be able to communicate. This mixture of various subtle emotions of sadness, happiness, fear, and joy had to be expressed through a few body and facial expressions.

The young actor who plays Forrest Gump is the one who presses the emotional switch of Forrest Gump. So it is very necessary to let them audition together.

"Simon reached out his hand, wanting to help himself, but..."

The voice of the young actor Harry Joel Osment is very clear, and he does not have the childish speech organization skills of an ordinary five-year-old. This is the result of his parents' deliberate education, which allows him to read text with the ability of a six-year-old child.

Tom Hanks immediately glanced at little Harry, then looked away. Ronald and the child's father could see that little Harry Joel Osment didn't know the words below... But Hanks's action of raising and lowering his eyes showed the complex emotions very well, which shocked Ronald. This performance was very charming and just right.

"Instead..." Little Harry's father reminded his son that after all, he is not really six years old and it is still difficult for him to read this kind of reading material.

This situation happened two or three more times. Tom Hanks always respected the performance of the young actor and did not deviate from the character's state of mind.

"It's your turn next..." Harry Joel Osment Jr. finished reading the children's book and reminded Hanks in return.

"Oh, what should I say next?" Hanks decided to give it a try and asked little Harry.

"You should say next..." Little Harry was quite considerate of Hanks who "forgot his lines" and leaned over to his ear and whispered the lines that Forrest Gump should say.

"Oh, I just wanted to say, I love you..."

"I love you too, Daddy..."

Afterwards, the two of them deviated from the script and improvised dialogues for several shots. The chemistry between the "father and son" was very great, and Ronald and Julia Taylor nodded frequently below.

Tom Hanks also liked this young actor and expressed his approval to Ronald and Julia.

"Tom, I think this movie is different from all the movies I've made before. There are actually many stories, spanning a long period of time, and all the plots are driven by your narration. In this movie, you are not working for me, but we are working together to create it..."

After watching this audition, combined with some previous audition scenes performed by Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, Ronald's idea became clearer and clearer. He took the opportunity to be alone with Hanks and made new requests to him.

"Um, OK..." Tom Hanks didn't quite understand what Ronald meant, but the director's words were undoubtedly the greatest respect for him. He agreed first, and then listened to Ronald's detailed requests.

"This is not a movie that I can tell you how to act. I think you have done a good job in getting into the role, so if you feel anything is wrong during the filming and the early audition, please tell me immediately.

Don’t worry about the progress or getting along with other actors. This is all my job. Just tell me your feelings at any time, even if you don’t understand it yourself, but you can’t feel it intuitively, you should tell me…”

"OK, thank you for saying that, I will do as you ask..."

Hearing Ronald say this, Tom Hanks felt proud but also a little nervous. He drank some coffee and suddenly remembered something, "No, do I have to participate in the whole audition too?"

"Little Forrest Gump (younger version of Forrest Gump), you must participate. Julia will go to Memphis, Tennessee for an open audition. When the final few candidates are selected, you can go and feel them and tell me which one you think is most like the younger you. It's not just about appearance, but more importantly, the inner temperament...

Also, you have to understand that no one can play Forrest Gump to your level. We can’t find such a young child actor. So, you are their model. You think your performance is like the young version of Forrest Gump you played. That’s him…”

"That's a lot of responsibility..." Tom Hanks also figured it out. Ronald was right. Only by finding a little Forrest Gump with a similar acting temperament to his own can the film be made to match the beginning and the end. It seems that this project with dividends is really difficult to handle...

"How about signing you as an associate producer?" Ronald offered with a smile.

"Oh..." Hanks hadn't expected that this kind of treatment was only given to stars who had truly proven themselves at the box office. He now fully understood that everything Ronald said was for real.

……

"Today, it was reported that a certain LAPD unit has begun a criminal investigation into a big-name celebrity. The specific details of the investigation and the name of the celebrity have not been disclosed. The LAPD declined to comment on the matter and assured that all Los Angeles residents, whether civilians or big stars, will be treated equally...

An insider who wished to remain anonymous disclosed to the newspaper that the star's status was described as 'untouchable'. They also said that depending on the progress of the investigation, the LAPD will decide whether to make the matter public in the next few days..."

After the audition, Richard returned home and hurriedly brought a few gossip tabloids to Ronald's house. These newspapers are often full of sensational fabricated reports, but this report is surprisingly rational and not out of line. The source of the news of several newspapers is obviously the same, so such groundless accusations are actually somewhat credible.

"You mean MJ? No way? He just refused the blackmail. What criminal problem can there be?"

"Today, the agent circle is spreading this investigation. I need to confirm with you again. Is there any obvious connection with MJ?"

"No, not even the secret side. He went to find a real estate developer to rent a house himself. I just pointed the way..."

"That's good..." Richard was worried.

"Relax, it's not that risky, right? Which department of the LAPD is investigating? Criminal Investigations, Commercial Investigations, or Major Crimes?"

"Child Sexual Exploitation Unit..."

"what?"

Richard talked about some rumors surrounding MJ. Apart from the fact that he was a vampire, he died in a Pepsi commercial accident, and the current MJ was a stand-in (which also explains why his appearance has changed so much), his love for children is indeed known to many people in the circle...

However, Ronald still didn't quite believe that MJ would do this. He just discussed with Diane that it would be better for little Roger to not stay at other people's homes in the future. If he wanted to stay overnight at a friend's home, he had to be accompanied by someone, who must be a very close friend.

……

"Ah, what kind of pop music do you think would be best for this movie? Forrest Gump's story is exactly the growing memory of that generation. I think we need some representative songs that were very popular at the time... I don't really care about the copyright fees, but I have to pick the most appropriate ones..."

After dinner, Ronald started working again. While daydreaming, he began to prepare for the purchase of the soundtrack copyright.

This movie is also different from other movie interludes, many of which are directly related to the plot. For example, when young Elvis stayed at Forrest Gump's house, he was inspired by Forrest Gump wearing leg braces and learned his signature hip-shaking dance. This song is the "Hound Dog" that made Elvis famous.

Later, in order to realize her dream, Jenny went to a bar and sang naked with a guitar. The songs she sang had to be those of the folk rock stars of the time. Ronald preferred the song "Blowin' in the Wind" by Bob Dylan and his girlfriend at the time, Joan Baez, who was also Jenny's idol.

For example, Forrest Gump's hometown is in Alabama. So after retiring from the army and returning to his hometown, he should have played the famous song "Sweet Home Alabama" by the Lynyrd Skynyrd band that every Alabamian loves.

Forrest Gump comes back from the Vietnam War and meets Jenny again. She is now hanging out with the Black Panther Party of the hippie civil rights movement. So how can we miss the famous song "San Francisco" that represents the hippie movement?

The first two sentences, if you go to San Francisco, don't forget to wear a flower on your head, the audience who have experienced this will remember that wearing flowers was a very famous dress for hippies back then.

When Forrest Gump went to the Vietnam War battlefield, there must be a few representative songs...

"That must be the Creedence Clearwater Revival..."

The copyright and music departments of Bai Ri all laughed. This CCR song is the representative of the Vietnam War. Many Vietnam veterans think that their "Fortunate Son" is a synonym for anti-war songs.

This song is a sharp satire on the sons of big men who don't have to go to the battlefield. Even if they are conscripted, they don't have to go to the front line. However, children from poor families are forced to serve in the front line of the battlefield.

Their other song, "Who'll Stop the Rain," is a comprehensive denunciation of the Cold War and local wars, and the terror and threats they brought to all mankind.

"Ah, actually John Fogerty, the lead singer of CCR, taught me this song himself..." Ronald recalled that when he went to San Francisco to study editing, he met this folk king in a bar. The king was forbidden to sing the songs he wrote and was the biggest unlucky guy in the music industry.

"What?" Everyone looked at Ronald. The boss usually doesn't brag.

"Don't you believe it? Bring me my guitar..." Ronald took the acoustic guitar with a smile, and used the tricks taught by Fogerty to play and sing the song "Who'll Stop the Rain" again.

"Oh oh..."

Although he was a little unfamiliar with the song, Ronald still managed to sing it somewhat similarly thanks to the personal guidance of Fogerty, the composer and singer. After the song was over, he was praised by many people.

"Can you help me check how Fogerty's copyright is being resolved? If possible, I hope to ask him to sing it again..."

Several days later, good news came from Julia Taylor. The audition was very successful. Male and female child actors of appropriate age from as many as ten states rushed to Memphis, Tennessee. This was a chance to become famous.

"Very good, thank you for your hard work. If you find anything suitable, please send me the audition materials..."

Luo An was also very happy. The preparation for Forrest Gump was considered to be smooth compared to his own film-making history.

Ronald and Diane finished breakfast and were about to go out when a big news suddenly appeared on the morning news.

"LAPD obtained a search warrant allowing them to search the Neverland Ranch of pop star Michael Jackson."

"what……"