Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1426: Everything Goes Well

Bruce Springsteen is a sentimental artist. When he heard that the director, the leading actor and the producer all shed tears after hearing his demo, he was immediately moved as well. He wanted to make this interlude perfect, which he estimated would take more than two months.

"Philadelphia Story" was going to be released at the end of the year in order to win awards, so we had to save time for editing. As soon as the official version of the song was released, we mixed it and immediately entered the copy production process.

On the other hand, Ronald saw Tom Hanks hanging out with Michael Connor Humphries, who played Forrest Gump, every day. He would talk to him whenever he had nothing to do and record everything Michael said with a tape recorder.

When he was alone, Tom Hanks took a tape recorder and imitated Michael's pronunciation, including the shaking of his head when he spoke, and his walking posture with his neck straightened and his upper body completely straight.

"Can you run like this?" Ronald felt that this posture was a very good anchor point, which immediately made Forrest Gump's unique image ingrained in the audience's mind. But this posture was too rigid, wouldn't it look a bit weird when running?

"Yeah, no problem, just keep your upper body still, and then use your legs to exert force from the waist..." Tom Hanks ran twice in front of Ronald, and the character of a person with low IQ but who is wholeheartedly devoted and extremely serious in doing things was clearly portrayed.

"God, you're so great..." Ronald felt that Hanks' understanding of acting was indeed very profound. No wonder he could transform from a comedy star to the leading actor in dramas and romantic dramas without people feeling surprised.

"The director said I was great, so I just listened to him. This was a collaboration, not just working for him..." Hanks imitated the ending tone of Michael Jr.'s words while making eyes at Ronald, making him laugh.

……

"Ronald, the scenery here is amazing. Did you see the photos I sent you?" Director of Photography Don Burgess also called. After staying in Savannah, South Carolina for several days, Burgess visited all parts of the town. He took photos of many places he liked and wrote down the scenes he thought could be used. A large package of Polaroid photos and his handwritten notes were delivered to Ronald.

“Is this the scene you chose for that bus stop?”

Ronald saw a photo of a sidewalk with a lot of mud in front of it. In many towns in the south, there are not many hardened roads. Many places are muddy. When it rains, people's shoes or tires will sink into the mud...

"Yes, from Chippewa Square, there are a lot of old houses. I think we just need to install a bus stop sign and a bench here..."

"Very good, you explain the rest to me, I want to take a closer look..."

Ronald felt that Burgess was very cost-conscious. When scouting locations, he not only looked at the beauty of the picture and the possibility of spatial framing from the perspective of a photographer, but also took into account some considerations of shooting costs. Burgess had been shooting low-budget productions and TV movies for many years, and this way of thinking was almost embedded in his mind, which was very much to Ronald's liking.

"This is the location where I plan to shoot the old house of Forrest Gump. Look at these big trees. Even in South Carolina, it is difficult to find a suitable big tree scene like Bluffton in Beaufort County. We just need to build a wooden building with white walls opposite it..."

"Wait, there's no suitable house locally?"

Ronald heard the scenery Burgess had chosen for Forrest Gump's home, and when he heard that he had to build it himself, he wanted to find a real house in the local area to shoot, just like he did with Steel Magnolias.

"I'm afraid that won't work. No one in the area will be willing to lend their house to us as a fool's home... People here are very simple-minded, that's it..."

"Oh, okay..." Ronald gave up. It wouldn't be expensive to build a temporary house anyway. He forgot that the screenwriter of Steel Magnolias was a world-famous Broadway drama that told the story of the self-improvement of the Southerners.

Winston Groom, the author of Forrest Gump, is simply smearing the Southerners. In that autobiographical novel, every sentence has spelling and grammatical errors, and it is all about self-deprecation. Everyone welcomes you to make a movie, but if you want to turn your house into Forrest Gump's home, that's out of the question.

"Ronald, is that Ronald? Don't hang up, his luck is coming..."

Ronald heard Polly Pratt's voice on the phone and knew that her legs and feet were not in good condition. He quickly said, "It's me, Polly. Don't work too hard... Just let your assistant do it if you have anything to do..."

"It's okay, you don't have to go far. Like I said, your luck has come, one stone and three birds, three scenes in one place..."

Ronald exclaimed, and asked what the scene was. Polly Pratt took the photo of Forrest Gump's home, with the big tree opposite, and said to Ronald, "Forrest Gump's home, Jenny's home, and... and Vietnam..."

"What?"

Polly Pratt explained to Ronald that Forrest Gump's house was found by photography director Burgess, and she also went to visit it. Unexpectedly, after seeing this place, she ran to the nearby fields to look at it for a while longer.

It didn't matter that Jenny found her home next to the cotton field. Next to the big tree was the endless cotton field of South Carolina. In the movie, Forrest Gump's home was a fictional town in Alabama, and it happened to be in Bluffton, Beaufort County, that a very typical southern plantation scene was found.

Compared to the tall house passed down from Forrest Gump's ancestors, Jenny's house is just a wooden house, which makes it easier for the crew to build it.

The two scenes are so close, it's like God arranged it. It's very similar to the situation of Forrest Gump and Jenny's family in the novel. One is the descendant of a plantation owner, and the other is a poor white man who drives a tractor to pick cotton...

However, what Polly Pratt liked most was that a few hundred yards from Jenny's house was a golf course. The owner of the golf course was planning to renovate the area and build a residential community. He was going to demolish the rugged golf course and fill it up to form the foundation for the houses.

"I've already talked to the owner of the stadium. When you come over, he'll be doing the demolition and construction after the filming starts. We can shoot the scene where Forrest Gump is attacked in Vietnam. I've seen that the stadium is already closed. The lush weeds and the streams around it are perfect for filming the Vietnam battlefield..."

"I'm afraid that won't work, Polly. Vietnam has its own unique plant life. I've seen Apocalypse Now and Platoon, where there's a lot of tropical vegetation. It's nothing like the vegetation in South Carolina..."

"What's the problem? Just plant a few dozen palm trees. As long as the iconic plants are tropical, the audience won't care about the weeds. Besides, they will be blown up by bombs in just a few shots..."

"Oh my, you're right. When I go to South Carolina after attending the wedding in New York, let's do this. You should talk to the owner of the golf course first, and plant the palm trees in advance..."

Ronald felt that the filming of this Forrest Gump might go very smoothly. He had never had such a good thing come to him before when he was making a movie.

After finishing some preparations for the film, Ronald and Diane boarded a plane back to New York. The wedding of his high school classmate and good friend Douglas Hansen Jr. and his cousin Donna was about to take place.

……

"Aunt Karen..."

"Ronnie, Diane, let me see little Roger..."

After having her son Roger, Aunt Karen's love for Ronald's family shifted a lot to the chubby Roger.

Doug is now a senior member of the Elephant Party in DC and New York, and is a tyrant in Staten Island, an area firmly controlled by the Elephant Party. Donna's work at the Medallion Fund was also going smoothly. She was lucky to invest in the fund that Mr. Simmons first established, which had an extraordinary return of more than 30% every year. After that, the fund was closed and no longer open to investment by anyone other than employees or their relatives.

The two had been engaged for quite some time and finally found a holiday for their wedding. A large group of friends from the political and investment circles came to the town of Totville, the southernmost tip of Staten Island, to attend their wedding.

With the addition of cousin Ronald and the bride's best friend and cousin-in-law, movie star Diane Lane, the wedding stunned the guests who had wanted to show off their superiority in front of the country folk of Staten Island.

The Quaker church in the town will host the wedding. This wedding is quite low-key and private. Ronald does not want the gossip media to ruin his cousin's event. Fortunately, everyone in the town is his own people, so no news leaked out.

"Don't go too far with the groom's bachelor party..." Donna grabbed Ronald and happily congratulated her cousin on his new achievement. Two movies, one directed by him and one produced by him, appeared in the top five of the box office list at the same time.

"It wouldn't be a bachelorette party without dancers..." Ronald joked with his cousin. In fact, she and Doug were almost like a married couple. They had a stable relationship for many years and had nice houses in Manhattan, Long Island, and Staten Island.

"Ha, let's go, Donna, I know a lot of gold medal dancers in Manhattan..." Diane came over to support Donna when she heard it.

"Oh, Ronald, it seems your bluff has failed, but don't lose it..." Little Doug walked in with a smile and said to Ronald.

"Hey, isn't it unlucky to meet the bride now?" Seeing this, Diane immediately made a gesture to let Donna go.

"It hasn't been so long since we separated and stopped seeing each other..." Donna also smiled.

A few people were joking when they heard Aunt Karen upstairs exclaiming... "Oh, God..."

When everyone went up to take a look, they saw that the latest developments in the Michael Jackson case were being broadcast on TV.

The LAPD did find some stuff. It was said that there was a picture album in Neverland Ranch with many photos of adolescent boys. It was said that the poses and clothes in some of the photos were very inappropriate...

The plaintiff's dentist father, Elvin Chandler, also said that for nearly a week, Michael Jackson went to his ex-wife's house and lived in the same house with his son Jordan.

When he was interviewed, he also said that he had hired a big lawyer to join his litigation team. Even if the Los Angeles prosecutors did not prosecute MJ, he would file a civil lawsuit and seek more than 20 million US dollars in compensation...

More news appeared in the tabloids, and it was unknown whether it was true or false. MJ's driver, Gary Hearn, also testified that for about 30 consecutive days, he drove MJ to Jordan's mother's house every night and picked him up the next morning.

Michael Jackson had to give up his upcoming concert, announced that he was taking a break, and returned from London. As for whether he would accept the investigation, the lawyers who spoke on his behalf did not clarify. But the expressions on their faces were intriguing...

Ronald found it incredible. The MJ he knew was a pure person with great business acumen, but he never discovered that he had such an unknown dark side?
Now the whole world doesn't know where MJ has gone, he doesn't show up, all his statements are pre-recorded, or he lets his lawyer speak on his behalf...

This made the TV audiences across the United States feel that the pop king was behaving strangely, as if he really had something to hide...

Only Elizabeth Taylor stood up and spoke publicly for MJ, saying that she never believed MJ would be such a person. All of this was just a common attempt by bad people to blackmail celebrities. This is a chronic disease in America...

At night, the matter continued to ferment. It was said that there were 30 other children who suffered the same treatment as Jordan Chandler. They were all taken to Neverland Ranch and lived with Michael Jackson. Some of them even slept in a small bedroom with him, or even shared a bed with him.

Ronald is upset and turns off the TV. He goes to the bachelor party with Doug Jr.

It was a bachelor party, but as a prominent family in the town, they couldn't make it too extravagant. They found a dancer who was well-known in the local area and had been invited by many of Doug's uncles at their weddings. They danced a few times and that was it.

"You say, is MJ really that?" Little Doug is also a fan of MJ. He and Donna both like the song that stars many stars and saves the starving people in Ethiopia, as well as some songs with the theme of saving children.

Is this the way MJ saved people?
"It shouldn't be. I have some intuition about people... MJ is a person who was deprived of any joy in his childhood and was only forced by his father to go on a national tour..." Ronald still didn't quite believe it. If this rumor was true, it would be a world-shattering event. There would be no possibility for MJ to be a singer in American society.

"By the way, where are you and Donna going on your honeymoon?"

"We plan to go to DC first to explore the history of our great country. Maryland happens to have a famous Renaissance Carnival, where many people dress up as historical figures. Donna and I both like music from the hippie era, and it is said that many people will dress up as hippies this year to recreate the Woodstock Music Festival..."

"Oh?" Ronald suddenly had a thought. It just so happened that he was filming the scene in Forrest Gump where Forrest Gump and Jenny reunited, and he needed to invite a lot of hippie extras.

"Also, I want to go to your set with Donna. We have all seen your movies, but we haven't seen how they were filmed..."

"No problem, Donna has seen it..." Ronald agreed immediately. He would shoot those scenes in DC and recruit many extras from Maryland, without even having to put on makeup.

"Then we're going to Hawaii, then Tokyo, Paris, and London..."

"Take your time..." Ronald thought to himself. After these two wealthy people got married, they could really travel around the world's major cities slowly, just like the European aristocrats of the past.

A day later, Ronald put on his best man outfit, as he was going to give a speech at the wedding. Diane put on her somewhat ugly bridesmaid outfit, ready to set off her best friend Donna...

The latest news from the TV is that a tape of the plaintiff's dentist, Irvin Chandler, was leaked from the LAPD. According to the tape, Irvin is a jealous father who is jealous that MJ is closer than he and Jordan. This father's only goal is to blackmail Michael Jackson...

"Ronnie..."

After Ronald put on his suit, he heard Aunt Karen's call. He went upstairs and saw Aunt Karen taking out a necklace from a box and handing it to Ronald.

"This is a relic of your uncle who died in Vietnam. I heard from Donna that your new film will include scenes from the Vietnam War. I hope you can let that character wear your uncle's ID card..."

"Oh, okay..." Ronald didn't expect Aunt Karen to give him this, so he quickly took it. It had his uncle's name and the unit number on it...

"I have been waiting for this day for a long time. Finally, I've waited for you to film a story about the Vietnam War..." Aunt hugged Ronald, overwhelmed with emotions, and burst into tears.

"Today is a good day..." Ronald put the ID card in his aunt's hand, as if Donna's father also attended his daughter's wedding.