Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1440 Celebrities Have No Friends
“This is great, it’s a very spectacular shot…”

The second crew finished filming the scenes of Forrest Gump running around America. Tom's brother Jim, after wearing a big beard, looked very similar to his brother in terms of face and body shape. In addition, the two spoke in similar accents. Under Jim's deliberate imitation, Ronald didn't react when he listened to the recording. It seems that Tom Hanks will not be needed to dub again in the later stage.

These scenes shot in various parts of the country have some very interesting plots. For example, someone came to ask A-Gump for advice, got a revelation unexpectedly, and made a best-selling product. Another example is that some people thought A-Gump was a person who had received divine revelation, so they followed him and looked forward to the moment of enlightenment.

But in the end, Ronald still kept the humor in the script. This kind of miracle-like story will eventually become a new religion. Ronald didn't want anyone to think that Forrest Gump was a psychic liar. So at the end of the run, he used a Forrest Gump-style humor, making him stop running just because he felt tired, leaving a group of followers on the side of the road.

These shots of Forrest Gump running are edited together to symbolize the changes in Forrest Gump's running over the years, accompanied by Bruce Springsteen's song "Born in America".

Ronald did not forget to put the shot of Forrest Gump wearing a blue and white plaid shirt in the first place. This is a metaphor he arranged in the film. Whenever Forrest Gump grows older and gains more experience, and enters a new stage in his life, he will let Forrest Gump wear a blue and white plaid shirt.

This is the image of an ordinary middle-class American. It also allows the audience to see familiar visual symbols in their subconscious mind, thereby recognizing the changes in Forrest Gump's life.

Ronald laughed happily when he saw the scene of Forrest Gump running across the central desert. This is Monument Valley, which was also John Ford's favorite filming location. His most classic films, including Flying Spurs, The Searchers, and The Grapes of Wrath, were all filmed here.

This is not the first time Ronald has filmed here. When he was filming The Karate Kid, there was a shot of Daniel's mother driving past the iconic red sandstone in the beginning of the film, where she was crossing America to live in Los Angeles.

Being able to pay tribute to the most famous filming location in the Midwest in this place is also a reflection of Forrest Gump's ordinary but hard-working spirit.

Ronald was still busy with the post-production of the film. Although not every day, he often went to the special effects studio to check on the progress of the work. Ed Bastian had returned to New York after finalizing the strategy with Ronald that day.

A few days later, Viacom formally made an offer to acquire Paramount. Ed Bastian's plan to integrate Ronald's television, newspaper, and film businesses also officially began. However, Ronald's main focus was still on making movies.

Although Ronald had a good understanding of business, he was limited to understanding and selecting a major strategic plan. He was not the right person to actually implement it. Ed Bastian had achieved solid results in running several different media in the past two years, so Ronald entrusted the integration operation to him and also decided that Ed Bastian would become the general manager of the media group.

The filming of Forrest Gump finally ended in Los Angeles. The wrap party for this movie was different from other movies. The crew members basically left the crew after finishing filming in South Carolina and Washington DC. Every iconic actor held a farewell party after filming all his scenes.

The special effects shots shot in Los Angeles were limited to a few main characters such as Forrest Gump and Lieutenant Dan. After the shooting was completed, Ronald simply invited them and their family members to his home for a family party.

The children of several main actors all played cameo roles in the film and this time they all came to Ronald's house to play. Tom Hanks' daughter Elizabeth and Goldie Hawn's daughter Kate, a large group of teenagers, had a lot of fun in the swimming pool.

Several boys took out the high-end Star Wars lightsabers that Ronald bought and chased and fought with each other in the yard, which attracted the scolding of their parents. Don't trick Ronald's son, Roger, into taking out his father's treasure and letting you play with it.

But Ronald let them play as much as they wanted, and even though they broke a lot of things, Uncle Ronald still had a lot of them. The props used in the actual filming of the movie, the hand-painted storyboards given by Kurosawa, and the original Mondrian paintings that he collected were all locked in the collection room.

Little Roger was very generous with the "toys" at home, and he took them out for his brothers and sisters to choose from, with only one condition: they played with him. Several girls liked this little boy very much, and coaxed many dolls out of him, from the CP of The Karate Kid to the Cruise and Val Kilmer dolls from Top Gun.

"Okay, okay... I'm very happy that you don't mind that little Roger is too young and I can play with him." Ronald was hosting a barbecue over there. All kinds of secret sauces airlifted from Japan were applied on the food as if they were free of charge. The guests were all very happy eating.

Those kids all have parents who work in Hollywood, and they know some of the rules of the industry since they were young. Whether it's for themselves, or for fun, or because of their parents' advice, little Roger is very happy to have so many brothers and sisters to play with him. In this way, Ronald is also very happy, and he took out a killer gift to reward these children.

"The pandas in China are very popular. I have some connections with the counselor, and I got some VIP invitation tickets. Anyone who wants to go can go with us to see the pandas. There is no need to queue, and you can take photos with them up close..."

"Yeah..." Now these kids were really happy. Uncle Ronald was shouting loudly, and they all wanted to ask for a ticket.

……

"Daddy, when can we get home..." Little Roger was very young after all, and after seeing the pandas, he was still energetic on the way home. But when he arrived in Los Angeles, he felt very tired and wanted to sleep.

"Soon, if you want to sleep, sleep next to Daddy in the car first..." Ronald hugged his son and signaled Little Bud to slow down. Soon the car drove into the Beverly Park home. After Ronald handed his son to the nanny Wang Ma, he had to go to the study to work.

"Here... is your coffee." Diane was very satisfied today. Ronald's care for the family made her feel happy from the bottom of her heart. She specially used the coffee machine to brew a cup of coffee as a reward for Ronald.

After waiting for half an hour, Diane saw that the light was still on in Ronald's study, and she walked into the study gracefully in a silk low-cut pajamas.

"You haven't finished your coffee yet? How long will it take you to work? I'll make you another cup." Diane leaned against Ronald's elbow from behind, hinting at Ronald.

"Oh, no, I'm going to bed right away..." Ronald turned around and saw Diane had put on light makeup and walked into the study barefoot like an elf. He immediately responded with a deep kiss.

"Hmm..." Diane was very satisfied with the kiss, but when she pulled Ronald back to the bedroom, she suddenly paused.

She took Ronald's remote control, turned up the volume of the TV, and saw a female guest in red talking about Michael Jackson's scandal. She commented: "This woman looks a bit like Janet Jackson, but she is prettier."

"This is LaToya, Michael and Janet's sister. She has the worst singing career in the Jackson family..."

Ronald knew this woman. She often appeared on TV to defend her brother MJ these days, but Ronald seemed to have never seen her around MJ. Now she was working so hard, maybe she wanted to impress MJ and gain some influence from the superstar's brother.

"What happened with MJ?" Diane held Ronald's hand and they walked through the dim corridor.

"I feel like there are two huge forces colliding with each other... In short, this matter is all about disgusting personalities. For the sake of some interests, they revealed their ugly side."

Although MJ tried his best to hide this incident from the public eye, the plaintiff dentist was not the only one who felt that way. The media kept creating a new hot topic around this scandal and it made the headlines.

In the media, the scandal did not fade away as MJ hoped, but became more and more popular. Even people who don't pay attention to entertainment news will talk about it in their daily lives.

Just like the Los Angeles riots, many people took a stance on this. They divided into camps based on whether they were black or fans of MJ. Some people even became enemies with their friends because of their different opinions on this matter.

As for the matter itself, it turned out to be a favorable situation for MJ. He hired the notorious Hollywood gossip, private investigator Pellicano, to attack the plaintiff Evan Chandler in a gossip media "hard copy".

The main point is that Evan Chandler relied on his son to blackmail Michael Jackson. He once proposed a settlement of 20 million US dollars to MJ. MJ had built a house for the child's mother and proposed to build one for Evan Chandler, but he refused due to greed. He found a group of lawyers who specialized in compensation lawsuits to dig a big piece of gold out of MJ.

For a time, the public's opinion of the plaintiff's father took a sharp turn for the worse, and everyone tended to believe that MJ was blackmailed by his scheming parents. As a result, Michael Jackson went back to continue his world tour.

Who would have thought that the next day, Ronald had just finished breakfast with Diane, and ABC's morning news revealed that there was new progress in the MJ case and the LAPD interviewed two new witnesses.

Later, Ronald found the hard copy of the newspapers and magazines that were sent in. It was the main battlefield for the two sides to expose the truth. Sure enough, it contained detailed revelations from the plaintiff.

LAPD sent people to the Philippines and interviewed two former employees of MJ. A security guard said that he was fired by MJ and kicked out of Neverland because he knew too much.

There were some things he didn't reveal to the LAPD, but told Hard Copy magazine, "Better Justice."

He said Michael Jackson ordered him to destroy a photo of a naked boy.

The next day, another person close to Jackson betrayed him again. His maid, Blanca Francia, claimed that she "quit out of disgust" after seeing Jackson taking a bath with a child.

Now, Michael Jackson could no longer pretend that the matter had been dealt with, and had to interrupt his tour again and hurried back to America.

"Is MJ okay? Do you need any help this time?" Ronald received a call from MJ's assistant at home.

According to him, MJ is now in very poor health and this incident has had a very negative impact on his reputation and psychology.

He didn't know how to face the media or answer reporters' questions. So he could only find a place to hide and not see anyone except his good friends. He left all the troubles to his lawyers.

Because MJ himself became the focus, all his schedules were watched by the paparazzi. This time he hoped that Ronald, who had never had many opportunities to appear in public with him, could borrow the plane.

"Hey, Ronald. Can you help me?"

Finally, Michael Jackson answered the phone himself. His voice was weak and a little trembling. Ronald felt that he was speaking incoherently and seemed to be on the verge of collapse at any time.

"Of course, I'll ask the pilot to be ready. Just call him whenever you need him. How are you doing?" Ronald couldn't help but asked about the health of the superstar who had once helped him.

"Oh, that's terrible. I'm being asked to pay back the debt I suffered from the Pepsi ad, with interest..."

MJ said a few words in a tearful voice, and sorted herself out a little, "I'm fine. With the help of you friends, I will get through this. That dentist father is a bad guy who doesn't care about children. I don't like him..."

The friends he mentioned were actually only a handful. In addition to Ronald, there was Elizabeth Taylor, and Elton John in London... People who had fame and wealth, and would not make friends with him for the sake of profit, except for one person...

That person is Elvis Presley's daughter, Lisa Presley. The two knew each other before, and because MJ was caught up in the scandal this time, Lisa was the only one among her acquaintances who stood by MJ without hesitation.

The two talked on the phone every day. As Elvis' daughter, Lisa Presley had no real career and had plenty of time to chat with MJ on the phone. Every time MJ's mentality improved from the brink of collapse, he had begun to rely on Lisa Presley for emotional support.

MJ took the private plane provided by Ronald and returned to the remote airport in Los Angeles, avoiding the paparazzi and returning to his home, Dream Manor, which is very large and the paparazzi cannot enter.

But his peace did not last long. A week later, Jordan Chandler and his parents filed a lawsuit against Jackson, accusing him of sexual assault, seduction, intentional misconduct, intentional infliction of emotional distress, fraud and negligence, and seeking astronomical damages as a civil lawsuit.

After this incident was exposed, Michael Jackson could no longer pretend that nothing had happened. Their legal team quickly asked the judge to postpone the civil lawsuit on the grounds that the LAPD was investigating a criminal case.

This was also tantamount to publicly acknowledging to the public that the LAPD was investigating his potential criminal case. This was the first time the media had received confirmed testimony from MJ.

"Wow..."

Public opinion exploded immediately, and people from all walks of life began to invite relevant people to discuss this matter on TV. The security guard who previously revealed MJ's privacy was also exposed and received a hard copy of $150,000 as an informant fee.

For a time, as long as you were a friend of MJ, had been to his Neverland Ranch, and had worked there, you could appear on TV and receive generous compensation.