"I accidentally saw the statement from his American Express credit card yesterday."
"What do you mean accidentally?"
In a bookstore in New York, cameras are quietly capturing the conversation between Meg Ryan and Carrie Fisher.
Sally, played by Meg Ryan, has changed her hairstyle to easy-to-manage curly hair. Another five years have passed, and the time in the movie's plot has come to 1987, which is very close to the present. Sally, who is five years older, has lost many of her fantasies and turned them into reality.
Her clothes no longer blindly follow the styles in popular magazines like when she was young, but are practical and have her own style. A red turtleneck hollow woven floral sweater, with a dark brown suede jacket on top, and the pair of glasses that she finally found were also placed on the bridge of Sally's nose.
Carrie Fisher plays Sally's best friend, Mary. With short hair and a loose brown and green patterned sweater jacket, she looks like an ordinary middle-aged woman. No one could tell that a few years ago she was the sex idol of all American high school students, the Princess Leia who danced in front of Jabba in a bikini.
With Ronald sitting behind the camera, Carrie Fisher seems to have written all of her personal emotional experiences with Paul Simon over the past few years into the character of Mary. Paul Simon also maintained a relationship with her for a period of time without proposing, allowing Fisher to interpret Mary's pain well.
"I saw it in his briefcase when he was taking a shower," Mary wanted to confide in Sally.
"Are you crazy? What would he think if he came out and saw you looking through his bag?" Sally felt bad about her friend's behavior.
"It's not important... I just want to tell you what I found. He spent one hundred and twenty dollars to buy a silk nightgown for his wife. I don't think he will leave her..."
"No one thought he would leave his wife..."
"You're right, you're right..." Mary walked aside. Her friend's true words were still irritating. She picked up a book and read it, hoping to escape this discomfort.
An extra walked past, and Carrie Fisher raised her head and looked in the direction of the camera.
"Cut! Very good, very good..." Ronald praised Carrie Fisher. The expression that told him that his lover would not leave his wife to give him an explanation was full of pain and disappointment. Ronald didn't know that Princess Leia was so good at acting.
"Will I be nominated for an Oscar?" Carrie Fisher pretended to be happy and asked Ronald hopefully. The chances of an actress playing Ronald in a film receiving various awards and critical acclaim are very high.
"I don't know, maybe you can tell me?", Ronald thought to himself, how do I know this?
"Hahaha..." Carrie Fisher is actually a straightforward person. She didn't ask any questions and went to enjoy the snacks and coffee provided by the crew.
"It's not completely impossible, maybe not an Oscar, but there is still a chance for a star-hungry award like the Golden Globe." Ronald thought this way.
He handled the filming of this film and deliberately used some innovative techniques and lens language to deliberately distinguish it from traditional Hollywood commercial films. For example, Carrie Fisher looked directly into the camera just now, which is a taboo in traditional Hollywood.
Hollywood's lens language theory believes that the camera is a tool for objectively recording drama, and looking directly at the camera is equivalent to acting out the drama. While Mary was reading, she discovered a man peeking at Sally, Harry, whom she hadn't seen in five years.
Using traditional lens language, it must be a 45-degree over-the-shoulder shot to explain Harry's voyeurism. But Ronald feels that the technique is for expression and service, looking directly at the camera. As long as the editing is done properly, the audience can also feel Mary's emotions when she discovers Harry, and this discomfort will also be caused by facing the camera directly. Picture, amplify and resonate.
This method of showing character communication in a positive way is relatively common in Japanese movies. For example, Kurosawa Akira and Ozu Yasujiro did not care about the scheduling of the axis law in their films, and the audience did not see any difficulty in understanding it.
"Billy... I want a comedy version of Jack Nicholson from The Shining...", Ronald asked Billy Crystal.
For a comedian with such skillful acting skills, the director only needs to propose the desired effect and give him a reference.
"Comedy version, The Shining, got it." Billy Crystal covered his face with a book, then half-hidden behind the bookshelf in a creepy manner.
"That's the smell..."
Soon, the filming continued. More than five years later, Harry met Sally again. This time Mary thought he was a bit handsome. She heard about his career as a political consultant and was very interested in getting to know him.
Sally said that Harry was married, but after Mary's questioning, she confessed that Harry had said that he was about to get married more than five years ago, and in America, it is common to be divorced after five years.
Sally continued to evade, not wanting to meet Harry again, so she refuted that Harry must not recognize her.
Unexpectedly, at this time, Harry had already walked up to her and said, "Hi, Sally Albright, I thought it was you..."
Carrie Fisher will disappear quickly and automatically...
"Cut!"
Mary has realized that Harry has a special bond with her friend Sally, and she has no hope of competing with her, so Harry simply leaves.
The camera pans to film Harry and Sally's reunion from another direction.
"How are you?"
"Very good, I'm fine..."
"How's Joe?"
"He's not bad either, I heard he's good."
"You and Joe broke up?"
"We just broke up..."
"Cut!" Ronald directed the camera to turn 180 degrees and continue filming the conversation from behind Harry.
"I'm sorry to hear that... it's terrible."
"Yeah...yeah..." Sally smiled bitterly, looking sad, but she didn't want to show too much sadness in front of Harry, "So, how are you?"
"I'm fine, fine..."
"How is married life?"
"..." Harry's expression also became sad, "It's not good, I'm getting a divorce."
"I'm sorry, that's too bad".
"Yeah...so, what's going on with you?"
"Cut!"
Ten years after their first meeting, both Harry and Sally have become very practical and have been tempered and matured by life. During the difficult moments in their lives, both of them found an old friend who they could confide in. They immediately became familiar with each other and made an appointment to have dinner to talk about the failures of their respective love lives.
"That's it for today..." Ronald once again announced the end of work on time. The filming ended at the weekend, and I had to go back to spend time with my family, as did the two leading actors.
"Great, I have to catch a flight and go back to be with Dennis (Quaid). Bye..." Meg Ryan didn't want to leave her boyfriend for too long, so in the contract, the crew reimbursed the business class air tickets for the weekends.
"Bye..." Billy Crystal also rushed home to spend time with his family.
After Ronald said goodbye to them, he returned to Staten Island with Little Bud. The plot of this movie unfolds in New York, and most of the scenes are indoors. Ronald entrusts all trivial matters to the assistant director, and he is like a white-collar worker who can go home and rest on weekends.
This kind of movie shooting schedule makes Ronald very comfortable. Of course, this is a treatment only given to great directors, otherwise they would not have the ability to equip such a capable crew.
…
"Ronald, you are becoming more and more like a family man now." The family gathered for dinner on Friday night, and little Douglas came to join in the fun.
"Doug, you are treating this place more and more as your own home..." Ronald lightly hit little Douglas with his fist. This guy would not go back to his own home, so he liked to come to his aunt's house for dinner.
"Hey, you know, it's not fun for a big family to eat together, but the atmosphere in your family is better, don't you think so, Donna?"
"Who wants dessert?" Aunt Karen went to get the pudding.
"How's the campaign going now?" As the week went by, there was an endless stream of ads attacking Dukakis from George Sr. In addition to attacking him for ruining the water quality of Boston Harbor, he also brought him personally.
Some newspapers began to attack Dukakis as being mentally unstable and having been admitted to a mental hospital before. Including his wife Kitty, who burned the American flag to protest the Vietnam War.
These rumors are not groundless. The source is Idaho Elephant Party Senator Steve Sims. Because these attacks were so vicious and despicable, George Sr. did not speak out himself. Instead, the approach often used in campaigns is to have another person speak out, and then run an ad through an action committee quoting that person's statement.
"The attack on George Jr.'s side has had little effect. On the contrary, some middle-of-the-road voters think this statement is too bizarre. Kitty Dukakis is not Jane Fonda and will not burn the flag to protest the war." Little Douglas and Ronald lowered their voices to whispers.
"Why don't you go to the study room to chat later? We are still having dinner." Donna protested. After finally being reunited as a family, the two of them were still chatting.
"Okay..." Ronald raised his hands in surrender. After finishing the dessert and hugging Aunt Karen to thank her for the dinner, Ronald went to the study to chat with little Doug.
"Little George estimates that in about two weeks, Barbara will no longer stick to the attack strategy and switch to your communication strategy."
"It's not mine, it's Roger Ailes's." Ronald didn't want to get too involved in the campaign.
"As long as little George thinks so..."
The two of them still adhere to the original strategy. After winning the election, they will be just two donors. It will be difficult to meet the commander-in-chief by then. It is more important to have a good relationship with George.
"Ronald...your assistant director is looking for you...", Donna came over and knocked on the door, gesturing for Ronald to pick up the phone.
"I told them that I was going to spend the weekend. There might be something urgent." Ronald picked up the phone receiver.
"Let's go, this is the director's private matter..." Douglas Jr. stood up and motioned for Donna to go with him. All kinds of things in the crew were also very gossipy, so Ronald was asked to resolve such matters within the confines of the crew.
"I heard you did a good job in the fund?" Douglas Jr. chatted with Donna.
"Mr. Simmons' formula still has some room for fine-tuning, but our operation is still good..."
“Can mathematics really be used to trade stocks?”
"Yes, this is using the hidden Markov chain method of probability theory to remove the noise in the market data and leave the signal..."
Little Douglas tried hard to pretend to understand Donna's explanation...
"What happened? Didn't the Giants agree? Why did they go back on their word again?"
Ronald's voice came from behind the door, full of anger.
"Ronald, what's wrong?" Donna asked outside the door.
"Wait until I get back..." Ronald hung up the phone with a bang and came out of the door.
"The crew was going to shoot in the New York Giants' stadium. We were told well, but suddenly we were informed that we couldn't shoot. Doesn't this mean I'll look good?"
Ronald was very angry. The biggest fear when making a movie was that the plan would be disrupted. This scene introduces Harry's male friend Jess, and the two talk about divorce while watching a New York Giants football game. It not only introduces the audience to Harry's current state, but also introduces a very important character in the second half of the movie, Jace.
The Giants have suddenly informed us that they will not be filming a scene that will start next week. In such a hurry, where can we find another available professional team? How could Ronald not be angry?
"Tell my aunt that I'm going to Manhattan right away to talk to the owner of the Giants about what's going on."
"Are you going alone?" Donna asked, this cousin was working too hard.
"Little Bud sent me to Manhattan..."
"Huh?" It was Donna who nudged little Douglas with her elbow, and the latter said.
"I'll go with you. I'm familiar with the heir to the Mara family of the Giants."
…
"It just so happens that Mara's family members are having a meeting today..."
When they arrived at the huge box above Giants Stadium, the public relations manager blocked Ronald and Douglas Jr. from the box door.
"Is Tim here? Tell him it's Douglas Hansen Jr." Little Doug is now familiar with wealthy families in all districts of New York because he has helped with many fund-raising meetings for the George family.
The Tim Mara he was talking about is the current owner of the New York Giants and the cousin of Tim and Wellington, the two talking heads of the Mara family. He is the third generation descendant of the founder. Wellington is Tim's uncle, and brothers Jack, Tim's father who unfortunately passed away, are managers of the Giants.
"I'll go report it."
Not long after, Ronald and little Doug were invited into the big box.
"Doug, this must be Director Ronald. I'm glad you can come to visit our Giants stadium..." Tim Mara, a middle-aged man in his forties, introduced Ronald to A member of the young family. Today may be a day for internal discussion within their family, and many people from the Mara family are present.
"My reason for coming is very simple. I hope to be allowed to film in the Giants. I don't know why my original application was cancelled."
Ronald finally sat next to Tim and expressed his intention.
"This is something my uncle Wellington decided. Why don't you ask him himself," Tim said calmly.
"Their uncle and nephew haven't spoken to each other for many years," little Doug came over to explain. The two had long disliked each other because of their differences on the choice of general manager, and never spoke in public. The Giants have performed very well in recent years, and Tim has a greater say in the team because of the effective players he has introduced.
Wellington, on the other hand, only received some less important powers, such as processing the application of Ronald who wanted to come to film.
Ronald and Douglas Jr. went over there to find Wellington. Wellington, who was already in his sixties, was chatting with another young man.
"Mr. Mara," little Douglas, who was familiar with people, came out to say hello.
"Haha, look who's here? The country bumpkins from Staten Island." The young man raised his head and laughed at Ronald and Doug.
"Haha, it turns out it's you..." Ronald recognized the person who spoke. It was the independent producer who had competed with him for the filming rights of the "Dirty Dancing" movie at that time, the eldest son of the Tisch family, Steve Wen·Dishi.
"Uncle Duke (Wellington is named after Duke Wellington), never cooperate with such people, they will only steal things that originally belong to you... Huh..." Steven Dishi was very dissatisfied. , not only the box office of "Dirty Dancing", but the income from the video tape gradually spread in Hollywood, which made him regret it to death.
"I remember that we were in a normal competition. You can't slander my reputation just because the bid is not high enough. I defeated you in a fair competition, Loser."
Ronald figured out who was causing the trouble and fought back forcefully.
The Tisch family is also a sponsor of the Giants. In the past two years, their family has donated a lot of money in order to buy players for the Super Bowl.
"Is that so? Little Steven?" Wellington Mara asked Steven Tishi, who looked like he couldn't afford to lose. If this is really fair competition as Ronald said, then it can only be blamed on your lack of ability and you can only watch others make big money.
"Huh..." Xiao Dishi stood up and left without saying a word.
"Mr. Mara", Ronald found the real owner, Wellington Mara.
"I understand you, but this is the decision of the Giants and it has nothing to do with Little Steven. My nephew Tim doesn't know football. Giants games are the largest broadcasts on American TV. We are not one of those small ball clubs. , it’s okay to open some empty venues for you to shoot, but shooting in full venues will hinder TV broadcasts..."
Ronald glanced sideways at Tim Mara over there. The uncle and nephew had a deep grudge. One project is agreed upon, and another is destroyed, regardless of whether it is big or small, or whether it is good or bad for the team.
"I hope to get permission to film some exterior shots of the stadium." Ronald didn't know how to convince the other party, so he could only talk empty words stipulated in the agreement. If the other party really doesn't agree, I'm afraid there's nothing I can do against this old money family. The liquidated damages will be paid, and you cannot force the other party to perform the contract.
"Papa, papa..."
While Wellington and Ronald were arguing, a little girl of several years old stumbled over and asked Grandpa Wellington for a hug.
When the little girl passed Ronald, she lost her balance and fell to the ground.
"Little cutie, don't fall..." Ronald, with quick eyesight and quick hands, bent down and reached out to pick her up.
"I want papa..." The little girl was held by Ronald, but she still stretched out her hand to reach for Wellington.
"Oh, my little Kate." Wellington stretched out his hands to take little Kate and put it on his knees.
"Papa", the little girl squirmed restlessly, looked at Ronald in turn, became interested again, and giggled at him.
"What a cute little girl, is this your granddaughter?"
"Yes, she is Chris's child, little princess Kate, right? Kate?"
The two people's views on each other are interestingly improved because of a little girl.
"Well, Ronald, little Kate rarely smiles at strangers. It seems you are an upright person. I agree to let your camera crew come to Giants Stadium to shoot, but you can only shoot during the TV break. , I don’t want to hinder the television broadcast, which is our largest source of funds. You also want the Giants to win another Super Bowl, right?"
"Thank you, Mr. Mara, for the convenience of shooting for us. However, I am actually a fan of the San Francisco 49ers." Ronald replied.
"Ha, if we meet in the Super Bowl, I will give you tickets." Wellington Mara ignored the two young men and concentrated on teasing her granddaughter Kate.
(End of chapter)
