Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1608: The Irony of Starship Paratroopers

"Is this Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers?" Ronald flipped through the project plan. Because he had previously collected best-selling novels that could be adapted into movies, Ronald knew the name of this science fiction writer.

This person is not very famous today, but in the 1950s and 1960s, he was a best-selling novelist who was ranked alongside Arthur Clarke and Isaac Asimov and was known as one of the "Three Giants of Science Fiction."

"Yeah, I didn't expect you have also read his novels?" Van Hoeven is Dutch and speaks with a slight accent.

"I haven't finished it. Maybe it's not to my taste." Ronald shrugged. Robert Heinlein's novels are actually aimed at the youth market. In addition, he was fanatically opposed to his opponents in the Cold War. Such science fiction novels of a specific era seem to have too strong characteristics of the times today.

"Hehe, me too. I couldn't read on after reading only the first two chapters." Van Hoeven has the hearty laughter that is unique to the Dutch, and he seems to be very familiar with Ronald.

"That's a good sign. Generally speaking, second-rate novels adapted into movies have a chance to become classics, but first-rate novels are difficult to be adapted into good movies."

"Bingo, that's what I mean. They have a lot of opinions about you buying United Artists, but I think you must be a movie lover who wants to restore the tradition of United Artists. This movie would never have been made without an investor like you who loves movies."

Ronald burst out laughing. He didn't expect that Van Hoeven's ability to flatter was beyond comparison.

"However, I still have some questions. Why did you want to adapt such a movie? I remember that you spent your youth in the Netherlands during World War II?"

Ronald has a huge question. Everything else is easy to explain. The reason why Verhoeven's movie Showgirls failed at the box office was because his self-expression overwhelmed his compromise with the market. As long as he can return to the way of thinking in facing the market like Robocop or Basic Instinct, he will definitely be able to make a hit movie.

And there is no need to worry about him expressing his excessive desire again this time. Showgirls' box office fell 58% in its second week. This movie failed so badly that the next one must prioritize making money, otherwise he will have no chance in Hollywood.

In theory, when Verhoeven was preparing this film, his Showgirls had not yet been released, and he still had a lot of creative freedom at that time. It was only when the box office failed that he lost the investment and needed to find a new financier like Ronald.

But why would a director with creative autonomy make a film about Robert Heinlein?

Especially this movie "Star Troopers", which is set at the end of the 22nd century. The Earth is at war with a group of interstellar Zerg. The coalition government is controlled by a group of veterans. Everyone must serve in the military in order to obtain full citizenship.

The inhabitants of the entire planet all watch the same channel of media and are proud to wear military uniforms. All these descriptions give people the feeling that this so-called Earth Government is a cheap copy of Germany during World War II.

Considering that the Cold War was at its height at the time, this kind of novel had a sense of the necessary evil in order to defeat the opponent. Robert Heinlein himself promoted this idea in many of his novels and other occasions.

So in today's era, such a play would give people a weird feeling.

"That's right. I want to make a movie that satirizes this system..." Van Hoeven seemed to have met a close friend. This kind of understanding is not something an ordinary Hollywood producer can say.

There are many such metaphorical movies in the history of Hollywood, such as On the Waterfront starring Marlon Brando and directed by Elia Kazan.

Marlon Brando plays a dockworker named Calvin Hale in the film, who is involved in a corruption case at the docks that involves a life. The central suspense of the film is whether Hale will inform the government for the sake of his conscience, or abide by the gangster's ethics and keep silent.

In the end, Calvin Hale, a dock worker played by Marlon Brando, informed the government. Faced with the gang's beating, the people on the dock stood with him.

The movie looked quite normal, but the audience still felt it was weird, and when it was finally played, the ending was not liked by the audience. Moviegoers instead felt that the character was a "snitch" and that he was not a good person.

Hollywood insiders who know the inside story, of course, understand why this movie is so weird. This is a movie that director Elia Kazan made to whitewash himself, and he wanted to use this subtext to open up for himself.

Before filming this movie, Kazai was already a despised "informer" in Hollywood. When McCarthyism was prevalent in Hollywood, many people were blacklisted for their left-wing ideas.

Kazan himself had been close to many left-wing figures before, but he was not blacklisted. Instead, many people who were with him were attacked and persecuted, such as his friend, the famous playwright Arthur Miller.

In the end, the truth was revealed that Kazan was the one who informed the so-called Un-American Committee. He wanted to find a justification for his actions, so he made this movie. He wanted to tell the audience that informing is right, informing is good, and those corrupt and gangsters are the bad guys.

But ordinary moviegoers won't buy it at all. They won't read your dramatic analysis. They will still look down on whistleblowers like Kazan based on their intuition and simple sense of right and wrong.

So when Ronald heard Van Hoeven say he wanted to be ironic, he felt that this might backfire.

"I don't understand why you want to make a film about Robert Heinlein's novel when you want to satirize the system? If you want to satirize it, wouldn't it be better to make a film about 1984?"

"Here's what I think, you see, Ronald..." Van Hoeven explained his theory.

This is a paradox in modern society with developed media. If you want to criticize this right-wing system and tell the world directly that the way of doing things led by the military elite oligarchs will not work, then no one will listen to you.

But on the other hand, creating a perfect world where everyone is beautiful, everyone is shiny, everything has cannons and fancy ships, but in the end, all this so-called perfect system is only good for killing a few damn bugs.

"Only by showing the audience what our lives would be like if this were the case can they wake up. Heinlein sincerely and strongly supported the regime led by the military elite, but we will not be narrowly limited to criticizing him. We want to make this film a satire and exaggeration of contemporary American politics and culture..."

Seeing how passionately Verhoeven was creating, Ronald thought it would be nice to support him. Even if the box office didn't make a lot of money, it should be possible to break even. At least he could gain a reputation in the industry as a supporter of the director.

But Ronald was not very confident about the purpose of Verhoeven's satire. However, he quickly flipped through the entire script introduction and was not worried. Even if the teenagers did not see the director's satire, the whole movie was full of the kind of tone that boys like, cool armies, beautiful female characters, and battles against large insects. This kind of theme is still quite passionate, and it has science fiction elements. It's cool even if there is no irony.

However, in this way, these young audiences may even like the system of military elite oligarchic rule that the director originally wanted to criticize.

"Okay, but aren't these scenes of yours too explicit? I'm worried that it won't even get an R rating, and will become NC-17 instead."

The only thing that worries Ronald is the rating issue. United Artists is not a member of the MPAA board of directors and does not have much say in ratings. There is a very explicit plot in this script, and Ronald also feels that it is difficult to give it an R rating.

It's not the scenes of heavy casualties in the battle with insects, which Hollywood is not very sensitive about now. It's the scene of male and female soldiers taking a bath in a public bathhouse. Not only are they naked, but there is also an undisguised attitude towards exposing scenes.

"In fact, there is also a scene of men and women bathing together in Robocop, but it was cut very short and the audience might not notice it, so I want to emphasize it in this Starship Troopers. This erasure of gender differences is an important feature of this system.

I was there to show that the Union Army, despite its flaws, was completely gender and race neutral, with women, people of color, having no problem in the top ranks. Gender neutrality extended to the point where men and women showered together, most of whom were asexual fascists too absorbed in their military careers to take their own nudity for granted.”

"Hey, you know, the current rating system gives a higher score to full frontal nudity than a body riddled with bullet holes."

The score that Ronald mentioned is a scoring system in the rating. The raters will score various foul shots and divide them into multiple categories, such as pornography, violence, foul language, etc. Each category is divided into weak, medium, strong, etc. If a score does not exceed a certain value, it can pass. Otherwise, these foul clips must be marked and the producer will lower the total score.

"Yeah, I really don't know what they are afraid of..." Van Hoeven is from Europe, and the scale of the movies there is much larger than that in Hollywood.

"Just like that, as a producer, I welcome this kind of footage. I'll let our company's people who deal with MPAA ratings evaluate it... Don't go too far."

As a producer, Ronald knew that such a shot would be a great boon for the box office. As for whether it would satisfy Van Hoeven's desire to satirize America and the U.S. military, that was not something he could guarantee.

After all, it is your right to decide what to shoot, how to shoot, and how to edit it at the end, but you have no control over how the audience interprets it.

"I have only one requirement for this film, do what you like and what you are good at. I especially like the rough feeling of B-level movies like Robocop... I'm not saying that you shoot it like a B-level movie..."

Ronald evaluated the film and agreed to invest in it in principle. Whether the film would be a hit depended on whether Verhoeven would return to the style of Robocop and Basic Instinct, replacing the original B-movie content with more advanced artistic techniques, more famous actors, and more expensive computer special effects.

Roger Corman's cheap B-movies, especially those about science fiction, heroes saving beauties and fighting monsters, make sense. Roger Corman-style B-movies, which are fully upgraded in terms of technology and artistic level, are indeed the secret of Hollywood's box office success.

“Of course, I understand that you want a satirical film about the opposite sex, a Jurassic Park-style film under the skin…” Verhoeven replied, and there really aren’t many producers in Hollywood who can quickly capture the center of a film like this…

The two hit it off right away as directors, and talked a lot about each other's movies. Ronald found that Verhoeven also liked to watch his movies, such as Top Gun. They both had a common interest in restoring this huge machine on the screen.

"Would you like to have a quick meal at my place? We can talk more..." Ronald stood up and invited Van Hoeven to dinner as compensation for his deliberate lateness.

"Ha, I'm Dutch, I won't refuse if someone invites me to dinner."

The two chatted and laughed as they walked towards a small dining room. Ronald looked around but didn't see Diane.

"Diane, Diane... Director Verhoeven is here. Would you like to have dinner with us?"

"Stop arguing, the results will be announced soon..." Diane was in a small study, staring at the TV. She didn't turn her head when Ronald came. As for having dinner and meeting director Van Hoeven, none of them were as important as the news.

"What's the result?" Ronald walked into the study.

"The Simpson case, the result will be announced soon."

"what……"

Ronald was shocked and immediately sat down, pulling a chair for Van Hoven. "Didn't they say that the jury would have to deliberate for at least a few weeks?"

"Don't talk, the announcement will be made soon. Look, the jury is back." Diane was even more nervous than Ronald. This kind of live "reality show" trial was much more interesting than "Law and Order."

"Mr. Simpson, please stand and face the jury..."

OJ and his team of expensive lawyers stood up together. He kept fiddling with his tie, trying his best to hide his nervousness.

"I would like to warn everyone present that after the results are announced, you must remain silent and not make any noise..." Judge Ito announced some rules after reading the results. After all, this is a hot topic that Americans have been following for more than a year.

"We, the jury, find... Simpson not guilty of the murder of Nicole Brown..."

"Yes!" Before the result was announced, Cochrane, the black lawyer behind Simpson, clenched his fist, threw it down and shouted.

Simpson also looked happy and smiled.

The camera turns to the two prosecutors. Chris Dutton, the young black prosecutor, looks gloomy. Martha Clark, the female prosecutor, has also lost her edge. Even a hairstyle similar to Sigourney Weaver's can't save her career...

"We, the jury, find ... Simpson not guilty of the murder of Ron Goldman."

"Wow..." In the gallery, the victim's relatives could no longer bear the pain and burst into tears.

Everyone in the court was very surprised by such a quick not guilty verdict... After all, just now, Simpson's lawyers told the media that they would appeal if they were found guilty. Judge Ito did not let the jury listen to all the tapes of the police officer who discriminated against black people. And he was the discoverer and collector of all the blood evidence of Simpson...

The TV quickly cut to an exterior scene, where countless black people were cheering, while the white people looked very dejected, thinking that a guilty man had been let off.

"Did he do it?" Van Hoeven obviously didn't believe Simpson was innocent.

"The court has ruled..." Diane was also shocked. Such a clear acquittal was indeed unexpected.

"Did you guys notice Kardashian's expression?"

Ronald changed the channel and was replaying the moment of the acquittal. Ronald pointed at his lawyer friend, Robert Kardashian, who was standing next to Simpson on TV. When he heard the verdict, his face looked like he was about to faint.

When Cochran yelled "Yes", Kardashian looked at Simpson as if she was looking at a murderer...

"Oh, Shxt... This is better than the movies..."