Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1452 Ethnic Conflicts Intensify

"Ronald, this is what happened. I have to withdraw my application. Please help me explain it to my friends in Berlin..."

"OK, I understand your idea, but I don't understand why they do this. I will convey your idea to my friends in Berlin..." Ronald hung up the phone with a snap.

"What's wrong? Is the coffee not tasty?" Diane was sitting next to Ronald. They were having lunch. Seeing Ronald so angry, she tried to persuade him kindly.

"Ha, you are my angel, dear. Steven was forced by those Jews to withdraw from the Berlin Film Festival, which made everyone very embarrassed."

Ronald smiled and explained what happened on the phone.

Although Spielberg's "Schindler's List" had good artistry and story, conservative Jews were still dissatisfied with him. They did not attend the premiere and did not give this Jewish epic of suffering the praise it deserved. Rumors began to spread among the Jewish community that Spielberg was not so pious, and some young Jews were even angry with him.

The biggest problem is that Spielberg tried to dispel ethnic hatred at the end of the film and attribute the tragedy to extreme ideas. In the end, not only Jewish actors, but also actors who played Germans put stones on Schindler's tombstone. This action was seen as disrespectful to Jewish customs, especially those Germans who believed in Catholicism also came to pay tribute.

"Sir... Richard is here," the nanny Wang Ma spoke in the living room, and Ronald's agent Richard walked in.

"Steven called. Please help me contact Moritz Dehadelden, the artistic director of the Berlin Film Festival." Ronald finished his coffee in one gulp and said to him, "You haven't eaten yet. I'll ask the chef to make you something."

"Sandwiches or sushi are fine..." Richard took out a stack of documents and showed them to Ronald.

These are some rumors he found out through inside information about the reasons why Spielberg was boycotted by the Jewish community.

Jewish agents throughout Hollywood have more or less received some orders to ask their clients not to attend the premiere. Putting this information together, a picture naturally emerges.

In addition to Spielberg's own thought that the reconciliation at the end of the film angered some Jews who escaped from concentration camps or whose relatives and friends died in concentration camps, the more important reason was that those powerful Jews did not want this hatred to be eliminated so easily.

With this horrific tragedy of six million deaths, Jews are now in the position of the biggest victims of World War II in the international community. Needless to say, there are still some benefits in Europe and America. For example, the World Jewish Committee is recovering the former Jewish property that was confiscated by the German Nazis during World War II and deposited in some Swiss banks.

"Is there another reason?" Ronald saw the title on the document and gave Richard a questioning look.

"At least Kate Capshaw is going to be interviewed about how she converted to Judaism because she fell in love with Steven..."

"Humph, it's better to say it's the other way around..." Ronald shook his head. The Jews have been displaced for thousands of years, and their nation is scattered all over Eastern Europe. In fact, it is not blood ties that maintain this national identity, but religious beliefs. The Jews in Israel now are immigrants from all over the world, including Britain, Eastern Europe, and the former Union. They look different, support different ideologies, and speak different languages. It's hard to believe that they all belong to the same nation.

Therefore, they attach great importance to believing in Judaism. Without Judaism, there would be no Jewish nation.

Spielberg just happened to violate this taboo. In Schindler's List, he used many German Catholics to play Jewish prisoners. This seemed normal in the eyes of film practitioners, but in the eyes of those orthodox Jews, it became an unforgivable act of digging into the Jewish roots.

Spielberg had no choice but to bow to the pressure of box office. Universal began to do public relations for this matter, and he, a nerd who likes to play games, had to play a devout Christian couple with his wife.

Fortunately, the industry's evaluation of this film is still very fair. Directors who have seen the film have paid the highest respect to Spielberg.

Martin Scorsese actually took over Schindler's List temporarily, but later returned the project to Spielberg because he was not Jewish. When Ronald talked to him on the phone, Marty said very honestly that his plan for the film would not be shot this way, and the current version is much better than his own.

Veteran director Billy Wilder also said through his agent that he believed this was the greatest film in history that portrayed Jews.

The most interesting thing is that Kubrick did not express his congratulations by calling directly as he usually does. Instead, he canceled a film project that he had been preparing for a long time and that also reflected the Jewish Holocaust. He took action to show that this subject had been filmed to perfection and there was no need to film it again.

"Ring ring ring ring..."

The phone call to Berlin Film Festival's artistic director Moritz de Haderden went through...

"Mr. De Haderden? Ronald is here...are you in Berlin?"

"Ahaha, it's my friend Ronald, you can call me Moritz, or you can call me Lao Mo like Yimou."

Moritz de Haderden is a Swiss who has long served as artistic director in Berlin. It was under his leadership that the mainland film and European film festivals began.

Ronald told Spielberg about the embarrassment and expressed Spielberg's personal apology. If Moritz de Haderden agreed, he would withdraw Schindler's List from the competition and screening of the next Berlin Film Festival.

"I don't understand why Mr. Spielberg doesn't come and tell me this himself?" Moritz was still a little unhappy.

"I am just a mutual friend of you and Steven, and I am here to communicate with you privately. The official documents will be handled by him and Universal and you..."

"Thank you, Ronald, I appreciate it. This is a big deal. If we wait until next year to notify you, there will be big problems with our awards. Did you know that another mutual friend of ours, Yimou, will also be a judge at the Berlin Film Festival this time?"

"Oh, then we must hire an interpreter for him... His foreign language is very poor..."

Once the conversation was over, Moritz no longer held a grudge against Spielberg. The various organizing committees for the Berlin Film Festival had moved back to Berlin from Bonn. Moritz also understood the sensitivity of showing a Holocaust film in this old capital.

Finally, Moritz asked Ronald to send more excellent works, as the Berlin Film Festival needed good films from all over the world.

Ronald was of course very happy and mentioned "The Wedding Banquet" which Ang Lee had just finished filming as an entry for the competition. Moritz de Haderden had the name of this movie in mind, and coupled with the fact that Ang Lee was very adept at filming this kind of film about cultural barriers and integration, it was estimated that there would be no problem in entering this year's main competition.

Thinking of Yimou who just won the Golden Bear Award at the "West Berlin" Film Festival a few years ago, it was natural for him to be invited back to be a judge, which is much faster than the average director. Mainland films are still very competitive in major film festivals recently. Crossing borders and appreciating completely different foreign cultures is still a major "hobby" of Western film festivals.

Next, Ronald wrote down the tasks of finding a translator for Yimou and adjusting the marketing budget and plan for Ang Lee's "wedding banquet" on slips of paper and placed them in a bamboo basket. In the afternoon, his assistant Yang Yanzi would come to take them away, and then contact each department to complete the tasks.

All matters related to Chinese-language films and international cooperation are handled by the Chinese-American Yang Yanzi, while the marketing is handled by Claudia Wells, the heroine of Back to the Future who was forced out of Hollywood by the Jews.

Ronald is now busy with the post-production of "Forrest Gump", and these assistants and consultants will help handle the company's affairs.

On Saturday, he only took an extra half day off and worked in the editing room in the afternoon and evening.

"Diane? Are you still awake?"

After finishing his work, Ronald returned home and unexpectedly found that Diane was still awake. She was sitting on the sofa in the living room watching TV with Wang Ma, Little Bud and his wife, bodyguards, maids and others.

"Sir, you're back. Little Roger has gone to bed. Do you want me to bring you some sweet soup?" Wang Ma stood up to prepare some drinks for Ronald. She knew that Ronald usually had to work for a while at night. As she spoke, Wang Ma stood up and walked to the kitchen, but her head kept turning to look at the TV.

"Don't go, hey, Aunt Wang, don't go. I see LAPD is about to go in. Come on, let's watch together. Ronnie, come quickly..." Diane seemed to be watching some very interesting TV show there, and she held Aunt Wang and wouldn't let her leave.

"what?"

"These bastards are going to destroy MJ. They've got a search warrant and are going to arrest our MJ." Little Bud couldn't stand it anymore. He pointed at the reporter reporting at the gate of Dream Ranch on TV and said to Ronald.

"No way?" Ronald was shocked and sat down to watch TV.

Generally, this type of search warrant is only issued after very solid evidence has been obtained. In addition, given Michael Jackson's fame, there is a great chance that something will be found. Otherwise, the judge who issues the warrant will be questioned by the news media about whether he has racial prejudice.

"Bud, don't be angry. I feel like MJ isn't completely one of ours anymore." Bud's wife was also an old acquaintance of Ronald. She used to be an extra. She looked at Ronald, afraid that he would be unhappy because he was white. Little Bud was able to buy a house and raise children, and the income from work for both her and Bud's families was all thanks to this kind employer.

"What's going on?" Ronald didn't understand, so he had to call Richard to ask about the situation.

"Oh, you're finally home. I knew you would be working late in the editing room, so I didn't disturb you. LAPD has solid evidence, and this time it's all in..."

Richard explained to Ronald on the phone where everything came from.

The breakthrough came from a big news last week. LaToya, the elder sister who had appeared on many TV shows in September to speak for her brother Michael and said that he would never be the kind of person who was slandered, suddenly changed her words and said that her brother Michael was the kind of person that Jordan Chandler's family accused.

La Toya said that Michael was abused by his father since he was a child. After he grew up and became famous, he wanted to regain the lost childhood happiness and turned from a victim of abuse into an abuser.

La Toya said she saw with her own eyes that Michael and his lawyers wrote checks to the parents of several children. She and her husband Jack Gordon appeared on the show and said that Michael Jackson tried to kidnap and kill her for trying to come out and tell the truth.

"I do know that he always had boys coming over, and they would stay in his room for days. Then they would come out... there would be another boy, and he would bring someone else, but never two at the same time."

This speech by the elder sister La Toya on TV immediately aroused a great response, and the situation that had been gradually calming down was once again pushed to the headlines.

Although Michael Jackson's side immediately denied the rumor, saying that La Toya Jackson was very estranged from other siblings in the family, and that she had liked lying since she was a child, and that after running away from home and living with her boyfriend, Michael had helped her out of trouble several times with money, but after some unreasonable demands were not met, La Toya threatened to fabricate some lies about Michael to destroy him.

But this is a red line in American society, and La Toya made it clear. The pressure on the LAPD and prosecutors increased instantly.

La Toya then said she was willing to sell the story and evidence for $500,000, and immediately tabloids in Britain and America began bidding fiercely.

But after a few days, La Toya had no evidence or stories to disclose to the media, and all she had to share were hearsay.

The tabloids in both places were very frustrated, thinking that either La Toya was deliberately making a mystery and trying to make money from her brother's scandal, or that MJ paid his sister a large sum of hush money and signed a confidentiality agreement so she would never speak out.

The farce between the siblings was a big deal, but the LAPD and prosecutors didn't think so. Their doubts were that La Toya's statements had such a big difference in a few days, and it was probably caused by MJ's intervention.

In addition, the dentist father of the suspected victim Jordan Chandler submitted another testimony at this time. It was a recording of his son after the tooth extraction, indicating that Michael Jackson was indeed in the Neverland Ranch and let him touch his private parts.

What was very unfavorable to MJ was that Jordan Chandler clearly pointed out some of MJ's characteristics, such as vitiligo on the private parts of his body and circumcision that was only practiced in certain religious beliefs.

With these testimonies, the LAPD and prosecutors felt that as long as they obtained a search warrant from the court to see whether the evidence was consistent with the testimonies, there would be a major breakthrough in the case.

This time, District Attorney Tom Sneddon personally went out and delivered the search warrant to MJ's home. This was a major signal that the prosecution and LAPD were very confident that the case had been settled.

"Ronald, what do you think? I never thought that these people would come again after the riots in Los Angeles? We black people have an idol, and they want to destroy him. Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and MJ were all like this, don't you think?"

Little Bud has deep feelings for MJ. After all, he has liked his music and street dance moves since he was very young. This feeling makes it difficult for him to rationalize this incident.

"Don't get excited, Bud. The search warrant is not necessarily against MJ. If the search conditions do not match the testimony, it is also evidence to prove his innocence. The evidence is the same for both parties..." Ronald comforted him. He was also shocked by this matter. No matter what the result is, MJ's image will change greatly. Is he still the outstanding singer, mature businessman, and friendly friend to children that he knows?
"Yes, yes, Ronald, you are right. I was just too stupid to realize that this was a good opportunity to clear MJ's name."

"Yeah, yeah..." Ronald muttered to himself. Whether it was the Jewish and German immigrants or the traditional conflicts between whites and blacks, they had recently intensified. His own Forrest Gump was a film that generally had the value of bridging conflicts, but under this trend, it would be better not to get innocently involved in the conflict like the Philadelphia Story.