Both Broadway actors really wanted to make the switch to movies, but they didn't want to make a TV series.
This is an interesting consensus within the acting industry. Generally speaking, TV screens are very small. The average size of TVs in American households is still far from 20 inches.
Therefore, in order to ensure that the audience understands the plot, the TV station will not miss the details of the performance because the TV is too small to see the actors' expressions clearly. Therefore, dialogues are always shown in close-up.
It's very different from a movie screen. Even the smallest 1.85:1 ordinary cinema screen is enough to accommodate a close-up view of the upper bodies of the two protagonists, while also allowing the audience to clearly see the expressions on their faces.
Therefore, the performances of TV actors are relatively very stylized, and when making facial expressions, the actors do not have to worry about the postures of other parts of the body and the interaction with the opposite actors.
Many television actors, such as Bruce Willis and Sybil Shepard, performed dialogue scenes to stand-ins. If there is a conflict between the two of them (in fact, there is quite a bit of conflict), then there is no need to meet during the filming.
But that's not the case with movies. Over-the-shoulder shots of dialogue inevitably include part of the actor's opposite actor in the shot. Therefore, actors generally have to stand behind the camera and act opposite the actor who is mainly filming.
Therefore, movie actors need to have body posture training to hone their body and line reactions after hearing the other party's lines, stimulate each other, and get into the state better.
This method is closer to that of a stage actor. The main difference between the two is that movies can be reshot many times to find the best shots, while stage performances only have one chance. Movies can have different scenes, but the audience of a drama can only watch the whole scene from a fixed angle.
In contrast, stage actors have higher requirements on acting skills and lines, and lower requirements on appearance and body posture.
Actors Alec Baldwin and Kevin Spacey are certainly more willing to enter the film industry where transition is easier.
The next day, Joel Silver and director John McTiernan returned to Los Angeles with an agreement to recruit the villain actor. They were going to start scouting locations in Hollywood and find a suitable building for filming.
Ronald stayed in New York, and he would stay here for a few more days.
In the middle of Staten Island, the interior decoration and furniture of the house used for filming "The Godfather" have been recreated into the interior scenes from when the movie was shot.
The current exterior courtyard is fenced off and preparations for new renovations are to begin.
"Ronald, the Chinese style you mentioned...is...called..."
Helping him with the errands was his agent Richard. After working with Ronald for so many years, Richard's income has grown along with Ronald's. Now he has spent most of his time doing various business and personal services for Ronald. .
"Garden!" Ronald pronounced it in Chinese, "It probably means landscape garden."
"Yes, Yuan Lin" Richard said in awkward Chinese. There was no corresponding word for "lin" in English, so he had to use the first half of "Linda" to remind himself, but the sound of "round" is pronounced by most native English speakers. It’s hard to say.
"I searched all over the east and west coast designers, no one can do it. They can't even understand the meaning of your style. Is it the kind of neatly trimmed plants in the Palace of Versailles? If so, this yard will It’s definitely not big enough…”
"No, the garden doesn't have to be big. It's a small style from southeast China. Let's put it this way, just this small courtyard can create the scenery of the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter within a 10-minute walk."
Ronald thought about the beautiful gardens he visited while filming Spielberg's "Children of the Sun" in Jiading.
"This..." Richard was sweating after hearing this. It seemed a bit difficult to build spring, summer, autumn and winter within walking distance. It may not be possible to set up a movie set, at least if it snows in winter, large equipment will be needed to blow soap bubbles to pretend.
"Forget it, you don't have to worry about it for now. I'll look for my connections in China to see if they have any suitable designers."
Ronald didn't know how to explain to these old Americans who had never seen Jiangnan gardens. For this kind of thing, they still had to ask experts to build one so that they could appreciate the ingenuity of Chinese culture. The kind of Versailles that relied purely on local beauty , the neat and tidy style of plants is not in line with my own intention.
And it is impossible for him to buy such a large piece of land suitable for Versailles.
"What other plans do I have in New York?" Ronald asked Richard, who was now becoming more and more like his assistant.
For Richard, this was actually a responsibility outside the scope of his work. It was only because Richard was very dedicated and had a good relationship with Ronald that he helped him solve a very troublesome matter.
However, as Ronald became more and more busy, this method of asking him to use it for free was no longer suitable. Ronald considered finding another capable assistant.
"You have made an appointment with Tom Cruise to visit the crew of his new movie 'Cocktail'. The heroine is also your friend Elizabeth Shue."
"Okay, how many days will they be filming in New York?"
"In just one week, we will do some landmark outdoor scenes and some basketball court scenes. At the end of the weekend, we will go to Jamaica to shoot the beach, and other scenes will go to Canada."
"The day after tomorrow," Ronald decided on the time. Touchstone Pictures, a subsidiary of Disney, invested in the filming of the movie, pursuing star power. One of the most popular male stars now, Tom Cruise wants to try romance movies, and Elizabeth Shue is also a famous female star because of "Adventures in Babysitter".
After the two revealed their intention to participate in the film, they immediately squeezed out the original male and female protagonists, preparing to take advantage of the star's success to make another box-office hit movie.
Since Ronald rejected Tom Cruise's "Rain Man" script, he is not interested in directing this "Cocktail" because the script of this movie is too nonsense.
Brian, a college student played by Cruise, works as a bartender in a New York bar to earn money for tuition. After falling out with his master Doug over a woman, he dropped out of school and went to Jamaica alone to work as a beach bartender.
Two years later, he met rich girl Jordan Mooney, played by Elizabeth Shue. The love ignited between the two. At the same time, Doug, the master who went to Jamaica, made a bet with Brian to see who could pick up a wealthy old woman. Jordan saw Brian and the old woman together and returned to New York sadly.
Brian, who returned to New York and continued to pursue Jordan, discovered that Jordan's family was extremely wealthy. Jordan's father forbids him from coming in to see his daughter. After a struggle, he finally met Jordan, and when her father threatened to cut off his daughter's inheritance, Brian and Jordan agreed not to support her father.
With funding from Brian's uncle, the two opened their own bar in New York, and the business was so successful that they wanted to open a chain store.
Regarding this kind of plot, Ronald felt that the entire characters and story were untenable. How can anyone not go to college, work as a bartender, and finally marry a rich girl? Nowadays, young people in America want to go to financial companies on Wall Street most, which require academic qualifications from prestigious schools.
And by relying on fancy bartending, you can succeed in New York. This probability is about the same as that of ordinary people winning the Powerball lottery. So I declined the idea of collaborating with the two male and female protagonists again.
On the other hand, both Tom Cruise and Elizabeth Shue's salaries have been rising due to the success of their last movie.
Cruise's salary, according to Niceta, is close to the $5 million earned by top stars. Elizabeth Shue, Richard also heard some rumors, is close to the top female star's salary of 1 million US dollars.
This had high requirements for the box office, so Ronald declined the invitation from Touchstone boss Michael Eisner and did not invest in the film as a producer.
However, the friendship between the two of them was good, and Ronald agreed to visit the set as a promotional feature.
After enjoying some family fun with Aunt Karen, Ronald went to the streets of Manhattan, New York, to watch the filming of "Cocktail" the next day.
The film's director, Roger Donaldson, is an Australian-born director who was naturalized in New Zealand. He was able to get Touchstone's $20 million big-budget project this year because his last movie, "Spirit", sold a respectable $35 million at the box office.
That "Spirit" starring Kevin Costner and actress Sean Young. The scene where the two had a "hand-to-hand" fight in the back seat of a luxury car was voted as one of the top five erotic scenes after Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger in "9 and a Half Weeks."
"Hi, Tom, Elizabeth." Under the flashlight of the photographer who specializes in taking behind-the-scenes photos, Ronald stepped forward and hugged and exchanged greetings with the two leading actors.
"This is director Roger Donaldson, this is..."
"Hahaha, Ronald Lee needs no introduction. Although I am a New Zealander, I also know your reputation."
Director Donaldson was very polite. Anyway, today was mainly about a few outdoor scenes and the filming was not troublesome, so there was nothing annoying about Ronald's visit.
"What are you filming today?" Ronald spent ten minutes waiting for the photographer to take enough footage before getting ready to leave. Time is scarce during film shooting, so it is the etiquette of any colleague not to hinder the director's dictatorship on the set.
"Today there was a helicopter aerial filming scene. The producer thought of many ways before applying for 10 minutes of shooting time. New York has very strict management of helicopters." Director Donaldson said.
"Oh, can I watch it from the side?" After saying this, Ronald became interested. There were many aerial shots in the movie he dreamed about. Aerial photography from a helicopter was something I had never experienced before, but it was a way to complete the images in my dreams.
"Of course, please stay behind the camera. When the helicopter landed, the wind was very strong..." Director Donaldson said a few words, then ignored Ronald and went to contact the helicopter.
"Ronald", a beautiful woman poked Ronald's shoulder from behind.
"Rachel! Why are you here?" Ronald recognized that the person who greeted him was Rachel Ward, an Australian female star with whom he had a relationship.
Ward came up, hugged Ronald, and then pointed to Doug, an older actor on the set who plays the mentor of Tom Cruise's character Brian.
"That's it?" Ronald looked at the old-looking Australian actor. Wasn't this the leading actor in Ward's movie at the Tokyo Film Festival?
"My husband Brian Brown," Ward said, smiling.
"Aha..."
Ronald was about to say hello to Mr. Brown when director Donaldson started to pick up the loudspeaker to clear the scene.
"Everyone, pay attention. The helicopter is coming soon. Everyone, prepare. We only have two shooting times. Everyone, pay attention."
Seeing this, Ronald took a few steps back and looked at the sky with Rachel Ward.
Today's weather is clear and visibility is good. After a while, a helicopter slowly arrived from the sea in Lower Manhattan.
The closer you drive, the louder the noise becomes. When it was time to land, the cameras and recording microphones started working to capture the landing.
The huge engine sound, the rotating propeller, and the illusion of inversion are very powerful. In terms of the intimidation power against people alone, helicopters are actually more powerful than fighter jets.
Ronald couldn't help but think of the actress in his movie, Jennifer Jason Leigh, whose father, Vic Morrow, was decapitated and died by a helicopter propeller on the set. Onade couldn't help but take two steps back.
"Stuck!" Director Donaldson stopped filming after the helicopter came to a complete stop. This one is reserved by the helicopter company and is not included in the time of the two.
At the director's urging, Tom Cruise and Elisabeth Shue boarded the helicopter before filming the takeoff.
During the whole process, the director said that action does not count and it still depends on the helicopter pilot's judgment. Because this kind of big machine, like the locomotive, is shot in one shot and takes a long time to restore.
The venue in Manhattan, New York, has complex airflow, and it only counts if the pilot says it's okay to take off.
There is a problem with this one. When taking off, the helicopter shakes a bit. Director Donaldson watched the scene on the camera monitor for a long time, and then discussed with the director of photography whether to reshoot.
"How's it going?" Elizabeth Sue and Tom Cruise also got off the helicopter and came around to ask about the situation.
"One more shot..." Director Donaldson announced, "Everyone is ready for one more shot. Let's hurry up, maybe we can shoot the third one, hurry up, hurry up!"
"Oh," Elizabeth Su immediately started walking towards the helicopter.
The helicopter had just stopped, the propellers had stopped, but the tail rotor had not stopped yet.
For civilian helicopters, the tail rotor rotates very quietly and makes almost no noise.
This helicopter model for aerial photography has its tail rotor very close to the ground. This shape has no advantages other than good looks. If you are a professional driver, you will mark the tail rotor as a restricted area. No one is allowed to come near until it comes to a complete stop.
"Oh, Shxt!" In addition to getting a propeller aircraft license, Tom Cruise is also taking the helicopter license. His face turned pale when he found out. Elizabeth Sue did not notice the vertical tail rotor that was still rotating at high speed. If she continued forward, it would cause another helicopter accident, the second decapitation accident in the history of film shooting.
Tom Cruise hesitated for a moment, whether to call Elizabeth or run over and pull her.
Ronald was seen rushing over quickly. Cruise also rushed over.
Ronald, who had been thinking about the Vic Morrow beheading accident, discovered that the tail rotor was still spinning before all the staff. He rushed behind Elizabeth and shouted "Elizabeth!"
Elizabeth Sue was startled. She turned back and walked forward at the same time, in order to save shooting time.
Ronald had no choice but to slide and tackle Elizabeth Su's legs with his legs, and put her down in a standard wrestling move. Then he held up his hands to act as a buffer for Su who fell to the ground, and then hugged her tightly.
"Bah bang bang..." Elizabeth Su, who was beaten to a pulp, hit Ronald, "
what are you doing? Say hello to me with karate? "As she said that, she also performed a karate move she learned in "Longwei Boy".
Ronald slowly stood up, and the two of them were only a few steps away from the tail rotor.
"Look over there," Tom Cruise, who arrived, pointed to the helicopter's tail rotor.
"Oh, my God... Oh, my God..." Elizabeth Su's face immediately turned pale, and she screamed loudly in fright.
"It's okay, it's okay." Ronald quickly held her in his arms and patted her back gently.
"Who the hell is in charge of the helicopter?" Director Donaldson discovered the danger and was so angry that he rushed towards the assistant in charge of the helicopter and kicked his butt several times.
"Elizabeth, are you okay? We still have 5 minutes..."
The rental time of the helicopter was precious, and although Donaldson was unkind, the situation dictated that he had to continue filming.
"Your karate is very good. I plan to take some shots of this in the future." Donaldson's eyes lit up when he saw Elizabeth Sue's last move to fight.
"Oh, that's what I learned when Ronald and I were filming Longwei Boy..." Elizabeth turned back to look at Ronald, her eyes full of gratitude and frightened reply.
"Damn it, these helicopter pilots are all veterans, they don't pay attention to production safety at all." Ronald and Elizabeth nodded and looked at the helicopter pilot.
The driver wore sunglasses and chewed gum nonchalantly. These people relied on their special license to fly helicopters in Manhattan, but they did a terrible job of safety.
"If I take aerial photography in the future, I have to be more careful."
(End of chapter)
