Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1614: A Great Film That Can't Be Marketed

"Of course, I will definitely go to the premiere... After all, this is your first commercial production..."

Another month has passed, and the heat after Princess Diana's interview has not yet passed. Many people are still discussing how much abuse she suffered from the royal family, and some are talking about how lucky the equestrian coach was to be in love with the princess... Many American men want to put themselves in his shoes and imagine it. Isn't it just riding a horse? I can do it too.

However, Hollywood did not pay much attention to this. If you want to make this scene into a movie, you have to wait 20 or 30 years, and it will be possible only after the people involved have passed away.

As the awards season approaches, Ronald has begun to focus his attention on various award-winning films.

The first is "Sense and Sensibility", an adaptation of Jane Austen's masterpiece directed by Ang Lee. Ronald is quite satisfied with the editing version of this film. The special and restrained customs and practices of Britain during the Regency period, coupled with the rural images, have many similarities with the humanities and customs of China. The director's interpretation of this flavor is better than many British directors.

However, the film was produced by Sidney Pollack's Phantom Productions, and the distribution work was entrusted to Sony Columbia. The whole award-winning thing had nothing to do with Ronald.
But the two had a very good working relationship, and most of the films Ang Lee wanted to make in the future would be placed at New United Artists. As an old friend, it was appropriate for Ronald to attend the premiere. In addition, he liked the style of the film very much, so he agreed immediately.

This year's award-winning works are very interesting. First of all, they are the work of Sidney Pollack, the boss of Phantom Productions and their most famous director.

The content of this movie called Sabrina is also a type that the Oscars like - a remake of an old movie.

In 1954, the young Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart and William Holden filmed a romantic love story of two men and one woman. The Larrabee family is a wealthy family. The eldest son Linus supported the family business after his father's death, and the second son David was responsible for the romantic and passionate life of a rich man.

Sabina, played by Hepburn, was originally the daughter of the driver of the Larrabee family. She had a crush on David since childhood. His father saved up his income to send his daughter to Paris to attend a cooking school. When he confessed his love to David before leaving, he accidentally said all kinds of love words to Linus.

When Sabina returned from her studies in Paris, she had become a charming woman after being influenced by Paris. David fell in love with Sabina at first sight and wanted to marry her instead of his fiancée who was arranged by the family.

For the sake of his family business, Linus took the initiative to pursue Sabina. The two gradually got to know each other. Sabina discovered that she had never understood David and fell in love with Linus.

In the end, because Linus's deliberate pursuit was exposed, Sabina took a boat back to Paris. Linus realized true love, decisively gave up his business, and caught up with Sabina on a speedboat.

The casting for this remake is basically the same as the old one. Linus chose Harrison Ford, who has Bogart's tough guy temperament, and David chose Greg Kinnear, who looks quite similar to Holden.

The most important role of Sabina was played by British actress Julia Ormond, who had starred in several Hollywood films, including The First Samurai, Legends of the Fallen, and The Prisoner, and was considered a passenger on the international express train of Hollywood production.

She has collaborated with many Hollywood male stars including Tim Roth, Brad Pitt, Richard Gere, Harrison Ford, and her status has risen from second- or third-tier to first-tier.

Ronald was invited to watch the preview because of his good relationship with Pollack and his well-known love of movies.

It has to be said that Pollack had a deep understanding of the classic Wilder version of The Lovebirds. He identified several problems in the old version and improved them.

First, Bogart, who played the protagonist Linus, did not have the charm to attract female audiences and was too old, while Harrison Ford was tough and sexy.

Second, Audrey Hepburn's transformation into an ugly duckling is not very convincing. She looked very fresh and refined at home in the beginning. It does not make sense that being a chef can bring out the charm of a woman.

Julia Ormond's appearance was much better. At the beginning, she had the image of an ugly duckling with long unkempt curly hair. Later, after her experience working for a fashion magazine in Paris, her image of a short-haired beauty was very different. It was more in line with people's perception that she would dress up when working for a fashion magazine.

More importantly, he made many changes to the plot of the old version. The original Linus discovered the future of the rubber business, and the new version changed it to a new type of glass. It also gave the two protagonists more possibilities for love to develop.

In short, the new version of the movie is very good to see, and the director's control over various subtle details, such as Sabina's entire process of falling in love with someone else, is very convincing.

As an old movie lover, Ronald was very satisfied with this. This is one of the few masterpieces that is better than the original.

However, Ronald was very pessimistic about the film's box office.

In the 1950s, the average American believed that the rich got rich through hard work, intelligence, and luck. But now, the rich are considered bad guys who make money by breaking the law and insider trading in the financial market.

In addition, it happened to be the time when Princess Diana's royal scandal happened. For a woman, marrying such a wealthy and noble man no longer had much glory.

As for the male audience, they have no expectation of becoming rich overnight. It is difficult for them to have the same living standard as their parents by working step by step. For example, a blue-collar mechanic can buy a house and raise a large family with the salary of a blue-collar mechanic.

This makes them not feel enough empathy towards Linus, and instead they lament that all the beauties have been snatched away by these people.

This is why most of the popular romantic movies in the past decade have ordinary male protagonists. Even in movies like Pretty Woman, although the male protagonist gets rich in the financial market, he also has many ordinary people's troubles, such as not being accepted by his father and finally having to succumb to propose to a street prostitute.

The image of the classical "prince" like Linus, who comes from a noble family, is smarter than the average person, and has lived a wealthy life since childhood, is no longer popular with the audience.

When asked about his opinion on the movie, Ronald first expressed his love for the film as a fan, and then gave his own judgment on the audience's reaction. However, Sidney Pollack obviously did not agree with it. Maybe he still wanted to win an Oscar and did not care much about the box office.

Another movie aiming for awards is "Heat," which was invested and released by Warner Bros., directed by Michael Mann, and starred two Italian-American male stars, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino.

The film has several stars with excellent acting skills as the base, and a director like Michael Mann who is used to filming the inner dramas of even the police and criminals. This film seems to be another production aiming for awards.

However, due to the bad relationship with Warner, Ronald did not see the movie in advance, and did not know whether there would be such a big battle scene. After all, no matter how powerful your inner drama is, most of the audience still just want to watch the excitement. The scene must be powerful enough, with enough explosions, to be enjoyable.

Ronald, who originally thought that his New United Artists did not have any outstanding works that could win awards, was ready to take a rest after this year's Oscars.

Unexpectedly, Michelle Cannold, who was in charge of distribution, hurried to report to Ronald that among the projects taken over from MGM, there was actually a movie that could potentially win an Oscar.

"Ah? Starring Nicolas Cage and Elisabeth Shue? How come I haven't heard anything about it? Has this movie been marketed in Hollywood?"

Ronald took the project plan and took a look at the names of the two leading actors. He almost dropped his jaw.

These two are stars that he discovered himself. They directed their first feature films themselves. It can be said that Ronald is the one who gave him a union card in Hollywood.

How come I didn't know about the movie that these two collaborated on? Did they have a grudge against me and deliberately kept it a secret?
This is impossible. Even if they didn't say anything, movies that are officially released in the United States usually have various marketing campaigns. It's impossible for me not to get any news at all. Why is there no news about this movie called "Leaving Las Vegas"?
The director of this film is Mike Figgis, who was originally a composer and film score designer. Before that, the only big production in Hollywood that could be considered a big production was "Mr. Jones" starring Richard Gere, which was about the romance between a manic-depressive patient and a doctor, but it didn't receive much response...

"This movie is a super low-budget production. The original MGM/United Artists invested only $3 million, and the actual cost of production is estimated to be even less. However, the finished film is very good."

Cannold introduced the situation of "Leaving Las Vegas". With no money for domestic distribution, they had to go to the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain first, just like an independent producer with no money.

He won the Best Director and Best Actor awards and was nominated for the highest award, the Golden Shell. With this achievement, he returned to America and was finally able to enter the theaters, but it was only shown in a few theaters, and it was released quietly without causing any response.

"OK, let's check out the copy, and then ask Nick and Elizabeth. I need to ask them what they think. Also, please ask the director Mike Figgis to come and talk..."

Ronald still had great confidence in Michelle Cannold's vision, and he said he could invest two million US dollars to buy the distribution rights of the film in the Americas. Originally, the film had abandoned the distribution plan due to the collapse of MGM/United Artists. It was the two female producers of the film, Lila Cassese and Anne Stewart, two independent producers from Argentina and Italy, who were trying to support it.

"How did you end up making such a small-budget movie?" After seeing Nicolas Cage and Elizabeth Shue, Ronald chatted with them for a while and asked them about the movie.

"I think the script is good and the director is also very good. Liz and I have been talking about it for several weeks, not just the script. We started rehearsing only after we had a full understanding of it... But why are you interested in such a small production?" Cage seemed very confident in his performance. While waiting for the screening, he asked Ronald with a sly smile why he had asked them to talk about this movie.

"Now I can act in a production like this, and my agent said it's not bad... It was really enjoyable to perform, and the director is very good, allowing Nick and I to perform naturally..." Elizabeth Shue's situation was even worse. The competition among actresses was even more intense. She was able to get the role in this movie because she played Sarah, a streetwalker in Las Vegas.

"The director and two producers are here..." Michelle Cannold said, pointing at the three people at the door. They were all very excited. Ronald specifically asked to see their work. This was a godsend opportunity for them. They all hoped to impress Ronald.

Director Mike Figgis and two producers, Lila Cassese and Anne Stewart, all wanted to start selling Ronald.

However, Ronald raised his hand to stop their performance. "I know Nick and Elizabeth. They said they were having fun acting. So I just want to watch the movie. The movie will tell me what I need to know..."

The three of them remained silent. What Ronald said made sense. No matter how much they said, they still had to see the effect of the finished film.

The opening credits of United Artists flashed by, and then soothing music sounded, giving people a relaxed and happy mood. Then the screen lit up, and Nicolas Cage appeared wearing sunglasses. He pushed a supermarket shopping cart, and then kept putting all kinds of wine from the shelves into the cart, and danced very happily.

"Hey, why is this shot on 16mm film? Are you that poor? I see the budget is million?"

Ronald stopped the screening. Is this a joke? This movie is not shot on the usual 35mm film. It is shot on 16mm film, which gives a rough and grainy feeling. How can this movie win an award? If Cannold was not a reliable person, Ronald would have suspected that he had taken the wrong copy.

"Ahem, actually the money used for filming is very little, not even enough..." The director and producer were very embarrassed, they were questioned for spending money in the wrong place. But in fact, the main reason was the chaotic management of the original MGM/United Artists, and they really didn't get much money.

"In fact, using a 16mm film camera is beneficial to our performance. The camera is much smaller, and we can act more freely..." Cage began to speak well of them.

"This is..." Ronald suppressed his doubts. Indeed, the 16mm camera, the handheld style is about the same size as the ordinary Sony home camera. The 35mm film camera is very large for close-ups, and the actors are usually intimidated. It is a common problem for the performance to be unnatural. Only very experienced or talented actors can handle it naturally.

After screening the film again, Ronald found that what Cage said about the film being shot naturally was true. He played an alcoholic and bipolar male protagonist who took his last money to Las Vegas and planned to get drunk to death. Elizabeth Shue played a streetwalker. The two marginalized people fell in love under special circumstances.

The whole movie is very natural and smooth, and the distortion of the 16mm lens is relatively small, giving you a feeling of watching real life rather than a movie.

"I told you this movie is great, right? It's a pity that not many people can see it..." Cage was also very satisfied with his drunken performance, which was the result of his own personal experience of life. This guy really was drunk every day for two weeks, and the drunken scene was incredibly real.

"Play a street prostitute?" Ronald looked at Elizabeth Shue. She had always played the roles of a good girl, the girl next door, and the rich girl. This time, playing this role made Ronald, the director who discovered her from The Karate Kid, feel strange.

"I'm very satisfied with my performance... Do you know how difficult it is for an actress to find a good role?" Su now understands the reality of Hollywood. If there is a good role, will it be her turn?
"It's really good. Your performance in this movie has the potential to be nominated for an Oscar..."

As soon as Ronald started to praise him, everyone present was overjoyed.

"What about me?" Nicolas Cage suddenly became excited. If Elizabeth Shue has the potential to be nominated, doesn't that mean he can be nominated too?

"You have too... But it's a problem. No one knows how to promote a movie with an alcoholic protagonist who ends up drunk to death..."

Everyone's mood dropped again. Ronald's words hit the nail on the head. Moviegoers go to see a movie with expectations. Who wants to watch the love story between an alcoholic man who died of drunkenness in Las Vegas and an exploited street prostitute?