Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1566: Chatting and Laughing with the Top Reporter

"Oh? You said Cameron also works at New World Studios?" Mike Wallace reacted in surprise, but Ronald knew he had known about this for a long time. This man had studied his own history, and maybe CBS had some of his own information, specially prepared for today's interview.

"Ah, yes. He was very capable back then. We worked together on a production called Rock 'n' Roll High School. He shot the point-of-view shot of the heroine on the motorcycle. If you've seen that movie and compared it to the shots of the T-2 driving a motorcycle and a truck racing in Terminator 800, you'll see the inheritance between the two."

"So what did you shoot in that movie?"

"Well, I was lucky. I shot some second-unit shots, which led to my recommendation from Roger Corman and Cameron to become a member of the Directors Guild."

"You were very young at that time. This seems unusual in the Hollywood industry?" Wallace was good at asking questions and simply presented the interesting points in Ronald's personal experience.

"Yes, Roger Corman's philosophy of film is to save money and make movies quickly. The second director of the crew at that time was the Zucker brothers who later made the unprecedented "Flying Man". They got the budget from Paramount to make a big production. Because I was young and earned the minimum wage, Mr. Corman entrusted me with the important task. Fortunately, I completed it well."

"What you said is very interesting. I find it very interesting. This Mr. Coleman seems to be the biggest talent scout in Hollywood. You and Cameron, two emerging directors who began to emerge in the 1980s, both worked for him."

"Not only that, in fact, in the early days, Francis Coppola, Marty Scorsese, and Jack Nicholson all made movies for him before they became famous."

"Hahaha, it seems that he is the biggest talent scout in Hollywood...then why so few audiences have heard of his name?" Mike Wallace acted as if he didn't believe what Ronald said.

"Why, Mike? You don't seem to believe what I say. Don't you trust me? Roger Corman is a producer who is very friendly to new directors, as long as you have a certain level and accept the minimum wage. I am very grateful to him in my heart. Without him, I might still enter the film and television industry, but it might be delayed for many years."

"I don't disbelieve you, I just find it strange. I found a video of Roger Corman being interviewed, and he said that no movie should be made for more than $1000 million..."

"Maybe this is why all the directors who worked for him, including me, left him? Hahahaha..."

"Hahaha, maybe. After all, the stars of the movies you direct now are paid more than 1000 million U.S. dollars."

Ronald and Wallace laughed together, but this made Roger Coleman seem a little misunderstood. Ronald explained:
"What he said has a certain context. Roger is an independent producer. He obtained funding through some second-run theaters and drive-in theaters, or pre-sales of videotapes. Now is not the golden age of Hollywood, and it is not easy for producers like him to obtain funding.

So he could only make low-budget films, which is why we have the opportunity to direct at a young age.”

"Roger Corman also said that there are many other more important things in the world that need money, such as public education and relief for the poor, and it is unnecessary to shoot a movie with a budget of more than 10 million.

The movies you're shooting now are all big productions, and the lead actors' salaries alone are over $2000 million. What do you think Coleman would think of this?"

Mike Wallace asked another question. He was very good at finding discord in the interviewee's words and then asking a straightforward question...

If you lied in any way, he would probably ask you about it and make you blush...

However, Ronald appreciated such provocative questions. After all, a reporter like Wallace who takes his job seriously and is not afraid of offending the interviewee but wants to please the audience is a model of being loyal to his profession.

Anyway, Ronald had no intention of making up his own history, so questions like these were just the right way to get into the topic he wanted to talk about.

"I think this interview was ten years ago? Right... In the past ten years or so, filmmaking has changed a lot. We've seen more and more expensive special effects used in film production, and movie stars have been paid more and more...

These prices are market prices, we did not deliberately raise them. Mr. Roger Corman once told me another of his criteria: All your production costs must be visible on the screen.

As long as the movies you make have expensive pay and expensive special effects, and the audience can exclaim in amazement when watching them in the cinema, knowing that a lot of money was invested here, our expenses cannot be considered fake.

I think Roger saw that the money I spent turned into the very real adventures of Forrest Gump on the screen, and he would probably pat me on the shoulder and say well done."

"I think you didn't answer my question directly. There must be other places in the world where money is needed. Why spend so much money on making a movie?"

Mike Wallace is indeed very straightforward. When he interviewed international politicians, he was often pushed around or even had the interview cancelled because of his straightforward questions. I'm afraid other CBS reporters would not be able to ask such questions.

"I think this is the wonderful thing about our country. In our lives, we need some miracle-like plots in movies to encourage ourselves. As Hollywood people often say, movies are bigger than life.

You know, the audience of this movie is not teenagers who often go to the cinema, but middle-aged people who have experienced the history of America in the past few decades. The fact that they can spend so much money to go to the cinema shows that they have gained strength from this movie. I firmly believe in this. "

“You mean, the movie Forrest Gump might be more valuable than those grants to public education?”

“I didn’t say that, but it’s not a simple question. Public education and assistance to the poor are the government’s responsibilities. But my films were not made with funding from the government or other public institutions like in some other countries.

The profits of Forrest Gump all come from the box office of the movie and the distribution of the video tape. I think this will not only not hinder those charities, but also promote them. Movie shooting and screening, taxes must be paid at all stages, and we have also contributed a lot of job opportunities to the society. In short, this is a good thing. "

"You mean, watching Forrest Gump is equivalent to doing charity?" Mike Wallace asked with a smile.

"I didn't say that, but it is true to some extent. I personally took out a portion of the box office revenue to set up a charity foundation to do some small help for the veterans group. For example, they have long-delayed surgeries due to the tight budget of veterans' institutions. Many of the veterans we helped were veterans of World War II. Being able to help them improve their quality of life, I think the veterans who have sacrificed for the country deserve some kindness."

Ronald cleverly avoided the controversy of the Vietnam War and turned the issue into veterans, thus including the group of World War II veterans who are highly respected in American society.

The more Mike Wallace talked, the more he appreciated Ronald. He didn't dwell on this detail. After all, he didn't like the malice towards Vietnam veterans. The view on the war is one thing, and the view on the veterans is another.

"I think this is a bit unfair. I asked a very simple question, but every time you answered it, you had a lot of explanations. It seemed to me that you were deliberately avoiding the question or looking for an angle that suits your own answer."

"You're so hard to please..." Ronald muttered in his heart.

"I think it's like this. Simple questions often require complex answers. For example, if you ask me how I view my career, I will definitely have to say a lot. If you ask me a complex question, listing all the difficulties I encountered while filming Forrest Gump, whether technical or controversial, and then ask me if I am satisfied with it, I can simply answer that I am very satisfied with Forrest Gump."

"That's a fair answer..."

Mike Wallace was rarely frustrated and suggested taking a break.

"Mike, be nice to my Ronnie..." Diane came over to greet them, then said to Wallace with a smile.

"Oh, I've always been very good to Ronald..."

"Yeah...you can't fool me. I've seen you interview Kirk Douglas. It was just like a fan facing a star." Diane stretched out her finger and shook it. She had watched the entire first half from the side. Those questions made her very nervous. She was afraid that Ronald would not be able to handle it well.

Now it was time for her to speak as the hostess...and put some pressure on Wallace.

"It's a fair question, but you know my age. When I was younger, I was a fan of Kirk. But I'm not going to torture your husband like I tortured Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Mousavi."

Diane smiled and made a "I'll be watching you" gesture. She was very protective of her husband Ronald, and if he saw someone being disrespectful to Ronnie, she would not just stand there and watch.

……

"Let's talk about your personal life and your wife, the famous Hollywood actress Diane Lane. You are a director and she is an actress, but there is not much cooperation between you."

At the start of the second half, Mike Wallace immediately changed the subject.

But this question is not easy to answer, and it is a difficult question that the audience is quite interested in. If you are not honest with yourself in life, such a question will easily expose your true colors.

But if you are an honest person in life, such questions will be very interesting. If the answers you give are wonderful, they can add points to the interviewee.

"That's a difficult question to answer. First of all, of course, I consider Diane to be my wife first and foremost.

I was very lucky to have her attention, you know, when I was still working as an assistant for Coppola, she was the natural heroine in Coppola's films.

Filming is a very challenging job, and as a director, the challenge is ten times greater than for the general public.

So I will cherish the harbor of family. Every time I am exhausted on the set, as soon as I return home and see Diane and the children, I am full of energy and fighting spirit again like magic.

Secondly, Diane is a very good actor. I did worry that directing her on set would affect our intimate relationship in real life. But I had a lot of fun directing the last movie that was paid for by others, and the acting skills of Diane and Tom Hanks made it a lot easier for me as a director. "

Sure enough, this answer not only satisfied Wallace, but also made Diane next to him very happy.

“You mentioned Tom Hanks, how important was he to the movie Forrest Gump?”

"It's very important. I can't think of another person in America who can interpret Forrest Gump so perfectly. Unlike what most people imagine, this role is very difficult to perform. Forrest Gump is not just a person with low intelligence, he is also an ordinary person, a person who ordinary Americans like us will have similar experiences.

His performance was very surprising, and he was able to hit many subtle points, which made me very excited. Of course, what I am most grateful for is his cooperation in the post-production special effects studio, where he performed boringly over and over again in front of an empty blue screen. This may be the biggest challenge for his performance this time. "

The subsequent topics mainly revolved around the summary review of Ronald's current career and the various negative comments on Forrest Gump.

Mike Wallace was very cooperative at this time, and the questions he asked were all the questions that Ronald wanted to answer and had prepared in advance. In response to the current criticism of Forrest Gump in the media, Ronald also responded positively.

First of all, a good box office is not an indicator of a film's low artistic quality. Some film critics now seem to hold the view that good films will not be liked by the general public. These people use the fact that The Shawshank Redemption and Pulp Fiction did not perform as well as Forrest Gump as evidence to highlight the low artistic level of Forrest Gump.

Ronald pointed out that in the golden age of Hollywood, the successful movies that won the Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Performance awards were often the ones with the highest box office in that year. This simple dichotomy is both boring and misleading.

Secondly, the quality of a film has nothing to do with whether it conforms to the public's values. As long as the story is well told and the performances are convincing, it doesn't matter what values ​​the protagonist upholds and the artistic quality of the film itself.

Some people now often attack Forrest Gump for not making a clear statement against the Vietnam War. Ronald tells them that the best literary works do not directly reflect the author's values. You have to experience their values ​​through the characters' actions and thus form your own opinions.

Wallace also brought some videos of Vietnam veterans he randomly interviewed before the show. In those videos, they were all happy with Ronald's film and thought it truly reflected the battlefield of that year.

There are also interviews with some anti-war activists at the time, who were also happy with Ronald's filming of the reunion of Forrest Gump and Jenny at the Washington Memorial Mall, and they despised the general's behavior of pulling the plug.

There were positive comments from both sides, and Ronald was very happy to see it.

"Speaking of this, I have another question, what exactly did Forrest Gump say on the stage?" Like an ordinary audience member, Mike Wallace was curious about what Forrest Gump said after he unplugged the microphone.

What he said was: "Sometimes when people go to Vietnam, they come back to their moms without legs. Sometimes they don't come home at all. That's a bad thing. That's all I want to say." Ronald replied with a smile. Many friends were also curious about this part, "How about it, isn't it very Forrest Gump?"

"I think it's not just that. Those who didn't return home include your uncle, right? And even if your father came back, he wouldn't have any good friends around him?"

"Oh……"

Ronald didn't expect Wallace to have such a trick, and he was stunned for a moment. Then he pinched his eyes with his fingers, trying hard not to let the tears flow out.

However, Wallace did not continue speaking. He just looked at Ronald happily, as if he was expressing his father's appreciation for his achievements.

Ronald couldn't hold back his tears. He wiped his eyes vigorously with his hands and shook his head at Wallace, "God, you still made me cry. I'm sorry..."

"It's okay. I think they must be very pleased with your achievement now, Ronald. They will be proud of you..."

The camera turned off, and Diane came over to hug Ronald and comfort him.

Mike Wallace couldn't help but say to the staff, "Daxmn, this interviewee is really great. The ratings will definitely be good this time. I really like interviewing such real people."

The 60 Minutes program was edited quickly and then released online at the fastest speed. This interview really received high ratings, with a total of 2500 million viewers watching this episode.

Among the public, the general reaction is that Ronald is the image of a director in their minds, speaking in an organized manner, having deep thoughts, being very emotional, and having a perfect family.

In turn, such comments have also affected Hollywood. Many people admire his performance on the 60 Minutes program, and such interviews mark that he has become a cultural figure beyond the entertainment industry.

Most actors are sentimental, and seeing Ronald crying in the end as he missed his late father made me feel good about him. For a moment, those critics who mocked Forrest Gump for being praised only because it catered to mainstream values ​​shut up, as no one wanted to criticize a popular person at this moment.