"I didn't tell David or Jean about this. This is Italian territory. You know their 'business' in Times Square. I thought Jean..."
"You mean Gene's mother Joan...?"
"Someone told me before that I saw her soliciting customers in a nearby neighborhood. At first, I paid no attention to her business. But then I got the exact information that her business scope was actually selling Coke, and she actually sold it to the extras and staff on the set. So yesterday I banned her from the set."
"Selling Coca-Cola?" Ronald raised the Coke in his hand.
"It's not that Coke, it's another Coke." Alan Parker pressed his finger on his nose and made a gesture.
"What the Fxck!" Ronald suddenly realized.
No wonder Joan wandered around the set and refused to watch her son rehearse, and no wonder the director wanted to drive her away. If she were selling goods here, there would be hundreds of children from middle-class families on the crew.
Ronald immediately turned to find Gene.
"Jean, tell me the truth, is your mother, Joan, a trafficker?"
"Yeah, she's very popular. Everyone knows her in my neighborhood in Harlem. Within two days of arriving here, I got in touch with the Italians and allowed her to sell goods in the Harlem High School area. Anyway, Harlan High School is closed, so this area It turns out there’s no one there anymore, and there were no dealers occupying it.”
Ronald covered his forehead. These black people in Harlem seemed to be very proud to talk about it.
But it's no wonder that under the influence of hippie culture, many people in the entertainment industry are not taboo about this. For black people, being able to make money is also something they can boast about.
"I need to talk to your mother."
"Okay, I'll take you to find him."
Ronald and Gene found Joan in a corner of the rundown playground at Harlan High School. She was looking around at the people passing by on the path ahead, looking for potential buyers.
Joan is a slender woman with a head of curly hair and a sense of strength. It can be seen that she also received ballet training when she was young.
"Mom, this is Ronald, the person who chose me to be in the crew."
"Oh, it turns out it's you Ronald. You are really good at recognizing Gene's dancing talent. I am only grateful to you. I was also a ballet dancer when I was young, and then I had Gene. He is very talented. Talent, right? Look at his leg muscles, he was born to dance ballet."
Jean's mother, Jean, hugged Ronald and started talking about her son's dancing talent.
"Jean, you go to rehearsal first. I want to talk to your mother alone."
Ronald quickly changed the subject.
"Did Director Allen not let you sell goods around the set?"
"Yes, he has no right to do this. Anyway, if I don't let me sell it, someone else will sell it. With Jean as the protagonist in this movie, I got through to the Italians. Do you know? They filmed against each other. There's a special affinity for movie stars, like John Travolta did with 'Saturday Night Fever.'"
Ronald felt that normal reasoning would not make sense. The values are two completely different people. I was worrying about how to convince Joan when I suddenly heard the name of John Travolta.
"Joan, let me take you somewhere."
Ronald and Joan walked to a shabby old movie theater next door to Harlan High School. With no money to renovate, we could only show popular movies from a few years ago and adult X-rated movies, and make money by renting copies at low prices. The hit musical "Grease" from two years ago is still playing here.
"Do you know who he is?" Ronald asked deliberately pointing to the worn "Grease" poster on the wall.
"Of course, he's John Travolta," Joan replied.
"What if I said your son Gene is the next Travolta? Do you believe it?"
"Really? But Travolta is the only leading actor in Grease. My Gene is only one of four leading actors." Joan couldn't believe it for a moment.
"Gene is also the protagonist. His character Leroy has a relationship with two of the most beautiful heroines in the film. He also made one of the heroines pregnant. This is how a protagonist is treated." Ronald began to describe Leroy The importance of this role cannot be overstated.
Joan's mouth opened wide: "Is this true? Can he really become the next Travolta?"
"The last film directed by Allen won an Oscar. (It was actually Oliver Stone, for Best Adapted Screenplay)"
"Ah! I want to apologize to him. He will make my son look like Travolta. I shouldn't contradict him."
"I have sent Gene to ballet classes since he was a child. He has completely inherited his father's strength and my body shape. He is the best ballet talent.
Oh, I don't know how to thank you, Ronald. It was you who discovered him. If he is the next Travolta, I will definitely let you be his agent. Those of us from Harlem recognize and are most loyal to old relationships. "
"But your current behavior is ruining him." Ronald couldn't keep up with Joan's divergent thoughts and quickly changed the topic back on track.
"What? How could I destroy him. I would never hurt Jean, he is my son."
"Before Travolta starred in 'Saturday Night Fever' and 'Grease,' he was also a small actor, not much different from Gene. But do you know how much money John Travolta earns from making a movie now?" Ronald pointed. asked Travolta, whose hair was slicked with gel on the poster.
"Over a million dollars." Ronald held up a finger.
Joan's eyes were focused. Look at Travolta's poster now, look at Ronald's finger now.
"His advertising revenue is even higher. More than three million US dollars." Ronald released the other two fingers and made a three sign.
"Well!"
Joan burped and held her chest, as if trying to tell whether she had heard the number Ronald said correctly.
"And now director Alan Parker wants to expel him from the crew because you were a dealer selling... to the crew members. Do you really want to continue selling goods on the crew and ruin your son Gene's future?"
"No, I won't... uh. God, I won't... uh! I won't sell on the set anymore, uh... I will only sell outside Harlan High School." Joan started to hiccup. Come.
"Not only can you not sell on the set, but you also have to guard the place to prevent other dealers from entering."
"Director Allen, uh... I will never sell on the set from now on, uh... don't worry, I made an agreement with the Italians, uh... this is my territory, uh... no one else will sell here in the future. Now, uh... please don't drive away my little Jean, uh..., he will be very obedient, uh..."
"Ronald, how did you do it? You have to stay on the crew. After the filming starts, there will be a lot of things on set. We need people like you." Producer David saw that the matter with Gene's mother was solved perfectly, Said to Ronald.
"David, you know, Alan wouldn't like me on set," Ronald whispered.
"Don't say that, that's how it is in Hollywood. As long as the movie can be completed with high quality, there is no such thing as whether you like it or not."
"Okay, how did you go about casting the teacher?" Ronald changed the subject.
"There is no progress yet. For the role of the teacher in the dance department, we interviewed many real dance teachers and middle-aged actors, but no one could play the role to Allen's satisfaction. They all lacked the meanness of a dance teacher.
It’s even harder to find teachers in the acting department. Many actors are resistant to playing acting teachers. They don’t want to be ridiculed by their peers, and we don’t have a big budget. "
"How about I recommend a candidate?"
"who?"
"Our casting director Joanna Melling."
"Remember the scene where Meg auditioned? I was worried that Meg would use emotional memory to cause a collapse, but in the end she didn't complete the retrieval of emotional memory. Joanna helped."
"I didn't realize it at the time, but after so many days, I figured it out. It was Joanna who interrupted Meg's emotional process with her cold humor, 'Do you use MasterCard or American Express?' In the end, Meg cried again. That’s why I laugh again.”
"Remember? Hillary's long monologue was actually the reason for the ignorant rich girl to convince herself to have an abortion. Joanna's words were just right, and they just dispelled the sadness."
"And her limbs are slender and she maintains her figure well. She is convincing as a dancer."
"But I can't dance ballet. Unless you agree, you won't let me do any dancing scenes." Joanna made the request after hearing the producer's invitation.
"No problem, I promise you, Joanna, you just need to coach the girls to dance, or comment on their dancing during the entrance interview."
Director Allen put aside his worries and turned to ask Ronald, "Do you have any other suggestions for acting teachers?"
"Acting teacher...how about that black teacher you had a great chat with when you first went to acting college? Let their teacher star in a movie and make that school director angry."
"Hmm, hahahaha... Let's do it, let him try it out." Allen was very happy.
"And the teachers in other departments are all white actors. We just need a quota." Producer David was also happy.
