Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1448 The Movie Was Attacked

"The president issued a don't ask, don't tell order. I know you helped. Although it didn't achieve the best result of overturning the blue dismissal legislation, it is already a good choice under the current circumstances."

After the President announced the new policy, the happiest person was David Geffen, who strongly supported William's campaign last year, with the main purpose of allowing his brothers to obtain a status without discrimination.

Most of the discrimination in America now comes from the general public, which can be changed gradually over time and through literary and artistic works, but discrimination within the military is established by law.

This policy of firing people with minority sexual orientations has not only been in place since World War II, but this year conservatives in the Democratic Party also initiated legislation in Congress to completely legislate that anyone who comes out can be fired.

This bill has been approved by the majority of members of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. If the President exercises his veto power, it is likely that both houses will vote again and veto the President again with a two-thirds majority.

Given that the people in most states (not the population proportion, because a large number of people are concentrated in the more open east and west coasts) still discriminate against these people, it is very smart for the President to use a workaround and an executive order to temporarily solve the problem without undermining the legislation.

"No, No, I didn't do anything. It was your long-term and unremitting efforts that enabled the President to face the pressure from Congress and make the right choice." Ronald didn't want to take credit for it. This matter actually started in the 1980s. Those hard-line groups continued to hype this issue in various elections and joined forces with the progressives of the Democratic Party to put such great political pressure on the President.

If Ronald has done anything, it is that he agreed to show the true face of some groups of people in some movies, such as the Philadelphia Story which is about to be released.

"I understand, but my gratitude is sincere. You gave the President the inspiration for this policy, and my friends have told me about it. Although I will not publicly admit my gratitude to the President, your idea is the best at this stage..."

David Geffen was well-informed, and some of the things that happened in the White House that night had reached his ears. However, as the spokesperson for this kind of people in Hollywood, Geffen had to continue to promote the work of completely repealing the blue veterans legislation from Congress, and on the surface he still had to say something bad about the president.

"I owe you a big favor. If there's anything I can do to help you, just ask..." David Geffen was in a very good mood. Ronald was not the kind of man who would force his friends to do things against their will, so he just made the promise.

"You're too polite, David..." Ronald laughed. Such Jewish words were just for listening.

"You must have gained something this time. The President watched the advance screening of Philadelphia at the White House. It must have had a lot of marketing effect. By the way, can you show it to me too? We all owe this movie a lot."

"Of course, I'll have someone prepare a copy. You may not believe this, David. The President did not mention this movie. The spokesman only mentioned it before asking reporters to ask questions. No reporters asked questions afterwards..."

Ronald was still a little disappointed. The man who now lived in the White House had a good demeanor, but he was not the kind of person who treated his friends well. Maybe he owed others too much and could not pay it back.

"It's pretty good. It's the first movie William specifically requested to watch after he took office. Ronald, I still say the same thing. Call me whenever you need anything, OK?"

……

Although the President did not publicly promote the Philadelphia Story, people in the Hollywood circle still got the news, especially Elizabeth Taylor and her friends. Because they were particularly moved by the film's performance and care for the crowd, they took the initiative to call Ronald and hoped that he could invite them to the premiere.

Ronald was also very moved by the actions of these people. Elizabeth Taylor had been working for these minority groups for a long time, just because some of her good friends had minority orientations or had unfortunately passed away. In order to raise funds, she even lowered her status to appear at some events, just to get more donations.

Ronald arranged a screening for her and her friends from the foundation, and he personally served there, serving coffee, listening to their opinions, etc. This touched Yu Po Taylor so much that she lovingly pinched his butt to express her gratitude.

"Ronald, my back has been giving me trouble again recently. I can't go to your premiere..."

Taylor sat on the sofa, and Ronald put a thick pillow behind her to make her more comfortable.

"Don't say that. If you can't go to the premiere, I'll bring a copy... Your statement in the newspaper is already a much-needed PR promotion for Jonathan and me..."

Ronald was talking about how Elizabeth Taylor, on behalf of her foundation, published comments in newspapers such as The Hollywood Reporter and The Los Angeles Times, saying that this was the first major studio film in Hollywood in which a movie star could play the leading role... and asked everyone to applaud it and be tolerant of any offensive aspects of the film.

The entire review does not contain any marketing elements. It is completely from the perspective of a Hollywood veteran, thanking the existence of such a movie and giving a very objective evaluation of the cause she cares about. She also thanked the audience who felt offended by it and thanked them for giving such a beloved movie a chance.

Most of her fans are middle-aged and elderly people, who are also the stronghold of conservative values. These people will more or less give her some face and not criticize Philadelphia Story. Some of them may even go to the cinema to watch the movie out of support for the popular Lady in the City when she was young.

Such an action is much more meaningful than the lip service support from President William and David Geffen. It is an action that only people who truly love the movie would do.

"I called some friends and invited them to the premiere, but most of my current friends are like me, with various health problems... If there are any important people you want to invite, I can help you call them and urge them..." Taylor appreciates the style of this movie. It does not blindly sell misery or make any moral defenses. It is just an impressive presentation throughout the film, and occasionally sensational.

"Thank you with all my heart..." Ronald was very grateful to such a sincere friend. Taylor had been suffering from spinal problems since he fell off a horse while filming the movie "The Maiden" when he was young. When the problem occurred, being able to sit here and watch the movie was already a breakthrough.

Elizabeth Taylor's foundation received donations from many celebrities, and those who had a close relationship with her also expressed their willingness to help, calling their relatives and friends and urging them to go see the movie.

Taylor told them that this film can make those who were originally afraid and terrified begin to understand and sympathize with them. This is a very good comfort for these people who were considered to be the embodiment of the devil in the past few years.

However, since there are people who are very kind to movies, there are also people who hate movies very much, and they are not those moralists. The most vicious attack on "Philadelphia Story" comes from a Hollywood practitioner with a different orientation.

This person is Larry Kramer, the founder of ACT UP, who was the radical protester Ronald encountered when he was directing "Other People's Money" and "The Silence of the Lambs".

As he is an openly gay minority in Hollywood and a member of ACT UP who advocates for government investment in research, he was naturally included in the preview list of Philadelphia Story.

Unexpectedly, a week before the premiere, when there was no traditional time for critics who had watched the advance screening to comment, an article full of criticism was published in the Los Angeles Times.

The article is titled "Why I Hate The Philadelphia Story": A playwright and minority activist watches Hollywood's first major...movie and is bitterly disappointed.

The first paragraph is full of energy and sprays this Philadelphia story with great enthusiasm.

"Philadelphia is a heartbreakingly mediocre film. It is dishonest, often legally, medically, and politically inaccurate, and it pains me to say that it is so bad that I would rather people not see it at all..."

Then the criticism began. The author Larry Kramer, like the anti-Vietnam War activists of that year, criticized The Philadelphia Story mainly because it was not radical enough.

He said that over the years, millions of minority people, patients and families have been desperately waiting for a film to make a statement on the subject.

Just like the Holocaust, the Vietnam War, and the Watergate scandal, they all had their own movies to tell the public how serious the events were, but the major studios have always said that there would be no audience for this subject matter, so they have turned a blind eye for the past twelve years.

We have been waiting for a long time for a movie on this subject, but it turns out to be a very mediocre work. After watching it, ordinary audiences will not be moved at all, just like those wooden-headed conservatives such as President Ronald Reagan, President George H.W., and Senator Helms.

Larry Kramer also criticized the studio, saying that The Philadelphia Story was distributed by TriStar Pictures, which is a part of Columbia, which is a subsidiary of Sony, which is a Japanese company.

As we all know, there are very few cases in Japan. They are persecuting two groups of people in America. They deliberately made a bad movie to shut these people up. They have been accusing the big studios of deliberately ignoring this subject. Now they are using a movie that is destined to be watched by no one, trying to tell these people, you see, no one really watches Philadelphia Story, don't make it in the future.

He also attacked the quality of the director and screenwriter, as well as Tom Hanks' performance, saying that he did little more than combine a noble white male minority hero (Tom Hanks) with an ambulance-chasing lawyer who hates black minorities (Denzel Washington) to tell a seemingly popular story.

Tom Hanks didn't act at all, it was his makeup and weight that acted. The life of minorities in the movie was completely fabricated. He was particularly disgusted by the plot where Hanks's character Andy told his family that his family was happy for him. He said that this was a very cheap flattery, as if minorities should be grateful for their family's support and stop resisting. It was like President William gave minorities in the army a policy of don't ask, don't tell, and they should shut up and stop pursuing complete liberation.

"Is this Larry Kramer mentally ill? Why doesn't he go to a mental hospital for treatment?" Ronald was furious. These people who do sports for nothing are really sick. I invested money to find a distributor because I found the plot of this movie touching. What's wrong with you? He scolded me and all the participating studios and distributors, from Sony to Daydream.

That's not all, he also criticized Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington, who I thought performed very well. He also criticized Mary Steenburgen, the supporting actress in the movie, saying that she played a white bitch who worked for the boss of the law firm who was terribly afraid of minorities.

Ronald was even more furious. Mary Steenburgen was an actress he respected very much. She played the professor's wife in Back to the Future Part 3. Jonathan Demme invited her to play the role. On the first day of filming her scene, she couldn't act because a relative of hers had died. She was in so much pain that she told Demme she wanted to quit.

It was Jonathan Demme who persuaded her that her performance was more accurate and could better reflect the status of these people because of this experience. In the end, Mary Steenburgen also performed the role very well.

It is simply inhumane for such a compassionate actress to be scolded like this by Larry Kramer.

"How did this guy get nominated for an Oscar for Best Screenplay?" Ronald really couldn't understand, so he asked his assistant to find his resume. Who else could he scold if he continued to read this shameless report.

"Pfft..."

Ronald started laughing before the resume was even brought.

This guy finally revealed his true colors in the last third of the film. What Larry Kramer was really dissatisfied with was Ronald's editing suggestion, which deleted the sex scene between Tom Hanks and the handsome Latino Anthony Banderas.

This guy shamelessly said that the studios said that no one would watch movies about minority groups, and that if the movie "Philadelphia" had Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise play a couple, hugging each other naked in bed, talking in an adult way, and doing what male and female couples do in every movie, TV show and commercial, it would make hundreds of millions of dollars.

"Oh, thank you..." Ronald got the resume of Larry Kramer from his assistant. It turned out that the movie he was nominated for was actually an adaptation of DH Lawrence's erotic novel "Women in Love". And the reason why he was able to make some money was that he shamelessly plagiarized Frank Capra's masterpiece "Lost Horizon" and invested in the movie, remaking it almost intact.

This guy is a typical person who has no talent and relies on cutting corners to gain fame and fortune. He just happens to be a minority.

"Ring ring ring ring..."

As he was talking, a phone call came in. When Ronald picked up the phone, it turned out to be Tom Cruise who had also seen the report and called to ask Ronald.

"What kind of garbage is this Larry Kramer? Why did he drag me into this? Is he targeting you or me?"

"It was probably aimed at me. I have a way to deal with him. You were accidentally injured."

"Well, I'm really angry. Why did they drag me into this for no reason? They even arranged a sex scene between me and Tom (Hanks)... and said that I could make a lot of money by having a sex scene with him..."

"That's not nonsense. I've already proven that you played volleyball topless in Top Gun, which helped the movie earn at least an extra 50 million."

"Hahaha, just tell me what you want me to do about it..." Cruise also calmed down and hung up the phone.

Afterwards, Michel Cannold, the production director of Daydream, Jonathan Demme, the director, and Medavoy, the CEO of TriStar Pictures, all called to ask for advice.

Ronald thought for a long time and decided to consult with PR consultant Michael Gray. Although this matter was ridiculous, maybe... it was an opportunity for publicity?