Exploiting Hollywood 1980 - Chapter 957

Chapter 957 Find someone to mediate the Silence of the Lambs

“Where is Lone Dove filmed?” Ronald called Paula Wagner and asked her where the mini-series that Diane was a part of was filmed.

In this TV series, Diane is the heroine, a “salon girl” Lorena in a small Texas town. There are two leading actors, one is Gus played by Robert Duvall, and the other is Woodrow played by Tommy Lee Jones. Both characters are retired Texas light cavalry war heroes and are now cowboys.

“Are you going to visit Diane in the wilderness around the town near Bastrop State Park in Texas?” Paula was a little surprised.

“Yes, tell me how to get there, contact their crew, I’ll go see Diane.”

“You have to fly to Austin, Texas, and then transfer from there to a place called Alamo Village near Bastrop State Park on Highway 674. You will know you are here as soon as you get to a dusty place. Forget it, I will accompany you. You go, that place is too hard to find. Before we go, I’ll call the producer Susan…”

Paula Wagner was halfway through her speech, but after she figured it out, she had to be more positive about Diane’s affairs. Ronald seldom visited so far away.

“That’s great, I won’t get lost with you here. How are the shooting conditions there? Should I bring something?”

In fact, Ronald went to Lone Pigeon Town to visit the crew. In addition to watching Diane, another purpose was to chat with Robert Duvall, who played Gus. When Ronald approached him, he also consulted his agent Nisita. He was more familiar with the network of these veteran actors than himself.

Before becoming an actor, Duvall had a steady job at the post office. After quitting his job to pursue his dream of acting, he found another up-and-coming actor in New York, Duval, who had no money, and rented it at his home at a very cheap price.

This actor also introduced him to audition for Arthur Miller’s play. In the end, the two were cast at the same time and starred in the new play together. As a result, they became famous on Broadway, and were later selected by Coppola to play the godfather and the adopted son of the godfather. , the role of military strategist Tom Harkin became popular.

The actor who helped him also found his own world in Hollywood, played many tough guy roles, and finally became an Oscar winner because of “Hair Country Network”.

This actor is Gene Hackman, the dude who got the right to adapt the script of “The Silence of the Lambs”.

…

“Isn’t it here yet?” Ronald looked at his watch and got off the business jet. The group of them had been driving along Highway 674 for two hours, and then turned onto a dirt road in the countryside, and proceeded on the bumpy road at a low speed. .

“It’s coming soon, haven’t you noticed that the dust here is getting bigger and bigger?” Paula Wagner picked up the radio communicator and asked the vehicle ahead, “Rick, when can we arrive?”

“It’s almost there. The driver said that he has walked several times, which means the journey takes more than ten minutes.”

“Let’s work harder and take a good shower when we get there.” Paula Wagner turned on the public channel and shouted to the trucks and off-road vehicles in front and behind the convoy.

“Lone Pigeon Town” is a project promoted by CAA, and one of the producers is Suzanne De Passe, a rare female producer in the TV industry. For her career dream, she put everything into filming.

She not only lobbied the TV station and CAA, but also persuaded Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones to join the two acting stars. Diane also put forward an audition request to Paula after she took a fancy to it.

But despite his ambition and ability to act, De Pass still doesn’t know anything about TV production, so the crew has no experience in guaranteeing, many necessary things are not prepared, and the budget is estimated to be hundreds of thousands less. To fill the gap, Susan even took a job at Motown Records, producing their company Christmas special.

Knowing all this, Ronald wanted to show his favor to Duval first, and by the way, let Diane have a better life during the few months of filming. Through his good relationship with the navy, he rented a mobile toilet from the nearby military division base, purchased a large amount of supplies in Austin, gathered several large trucks, and drove all the way to comfort the crew.

“Didi…” The convoy arrived at Alamo Village, the filming location, and the convoy stopped one by one. A naughty truck driver blew his whistle, and the sound was heard far in the wilderness.

“Who the **** are you guys? Who told you to blow the whistle here? We’re filming, don’t you know? Where’s the mayor of Alamo Village? This **** took our money and never showed up. Every time someone interferes with the filming.”

A dark-skinned woman who spoke loudly and directly walked over quickly, pointed at the convoy and cursed away. The live radio mini-series was most afraid of the interference of this modern sound. At that time, there were only horses and cows neighing in Texas. As soon as the whistle sounded, today’s scene was shot in vain, at least there was a re-dubbing afterwards.

“Susan, it’s me.” Paula jumped out of the car and hugged producer Susan.

“Oh, you are finally here, we finally don’t have to deal with it in the bushes.” Susan de Pass immediately changed her face, walked to the trailer behind, and looked at the two portable toilets. Produced by the military, it really is very good.

“This is Ronald, he is the one who funded you to add some equipment and supplies.” Paula introduced to Susan the benefactor of all this, Ronald.

“Aha, it’s you. I really like you. The women in your movies are so independent and strong.” Susan, who is of Jamaican descent, burst out her Latino nature and embraced Ronald enthusiastically.

“The crew’s filming went smoothly today, except for just now…Anyway, the director said that he can get off work after another one.” Susan said, leading everyone in front to the real shooting location.

It was a wild land, and the land was golden yellow under the setting sun. It looked beautiful, but it was actually very dirty. There is a creek next to it, and there are several tents beside the creek. Several people are standing beside the tents, and the camera is not far from the other side.

“Simon, Simon, our things are here…” Susan shouted at the director Simon Wenzel behind the camera.

“what?”

“That’s what I told you, someone sent us a batch of things, mobile toilets, refrigerators, mobile grills, and a lot of food and Coke.”

“Ronald…”

Susan was explaining to the director and the crew that a girl wearing a long skirt like that of the westward march came running towards here with a scream.

Diane had red hair, braided into two braids and coiled around her head. Her whole body was covered tightly, but she still showed a great figure through the waistband. She rushed over happily and jumped on the ground. on ronald

“Hahaha…” Ronald put his right hand under her knee, hugged her horizontally, and turned her around twice. Diane’s joy also infected him, and everyone laughed inexplicably.

Ronald is at the trailer camp, and invites everyone to have a warm pizza and Coke. The filming looked grueling, and even big-name actors like Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones were enjoying themselves.

“It was 1958, not long after I retired from the Marine Corps, sleeping in the guest room, Gene was married at that time, he and Fay lived in the master bedroom, and later there was a guy from California who slept on the living room floor, that is Darth Tin Hoffman.”

Robert Duval knew about Ronald’s purpose, and chatted with Ronald in the trailer. He, Hackman, and Hoffman were all friends before they succeeded. Gene Hackman paid great attention to privacy, so he didn’t make any real friends after he became famous, but kept in touch with two old friends.

“Later, he and Fee couldn’t take it anymore, so they paid Dustin and me to find a youth apartment with a walk-up on the sixth floor at the intersection of 109th Street and Broadway. Not long after we moved there, Fee conceived, his son Chris, and later two daughters.”

Duval talked about the past many years ago, a bit nostalgic, which is very different from the tough guy Gus he played in Lone Pigeon Town.

Duval is in a good mood today. Thanks to the mobile refrigerator and mobile toilet sent by Ronald, the conditions for shooting in the wild have been enhanced a lot. He agreed to help Ronald’s idea and said that he would give Gene Ha Kerman called.

…

“It’s great that you’re here. I can leave work early and take a break. The filming here is really intense. It’s my first time filming a TV series, and they shoot so fast.”

Back to the hotel in the small town, Ronald and Diane stayed together, and after taking a bath, Diane was lying in Ronald’s arms talking, smelling delicious.

“Is it because you haven’t made low-budget movies?” Ronald laughed. Since Diane’s debut, she has made regular Hollywood productions, and she has never tried movies like Roger Coleman.

“We have to shoot eleven pages of the script a day, and we don’t have time to think about the characters by ourselves. Many parts are based on experience. Fortunately, I got the original novel to read before shooting, otherwise the behavior of the characters in many places in the script is not very appropriate. logic.”

“Eleven pages? That’s too fast, aren’t you too tired? I see your hair is split.” Ronald combed Diane’s red hair with his hands.

Diane’s hair was originally dark brown. This time, in order to play the role well, she specially made red hair. This hair color represents passion and impulsiveness in American culture.

“The environment is too bad. We live in the dust every day, and our food is often visited by ants and bees. Sometimes we have to deal with it in the bushes…”

“Are you a little regretful?” Ronald thought to himself, it seems that the pressure of filming TV series is greater than that of movies. There are eleven pages of scripts every day, and the shooting is fast. Now I am making a movie, and the progress is only one or two pages a day.

“Fortunately, they have a good vision. They chose Duval and Tommy Lee Jones to play the two protagonists, especially Duval. His personality seems to be exactly the same as the protagonist Gus…”

Diane plays a womanizer who runs a skin business in town and ends up falling in love with Gus, an old cowboy who respects her. Finally, with the old cowboy, drive the cattle to sell in Montana, and return home with Gus’s ashes after his death.

“Hey…” Ronald laughed. Obviously, Robert Duvall’s personality is not like this. Some experienced actors, when filming such tight-scheduled film and television dramas, will always stay in the state of the character and not come out, which will improve a lot of efficiency.

“What are you laughing at? Is he and I acting as a couple, are you jealous?” Diane buried her head in Ronald’s chest, it was very warm here, and she didn’t want to come out. Today Ronald specially escorted the things and rushed to visit the class for himself, which moved her very much.

“I just find it strange, why would your character be tempted by an old man like Gus? Why did you give up your comfortable life and go drive cattle? I haven’t read the novel, so the audience won’t find it strange? There are obviously young and handsome cowboys.” Ronald saw several handsome young actors in cowboy costumes on the set.

“This novel is really good to read. At that time, girls wanted to get rid of rural life, and the only option was to be a prostitute. They had the opportunity to go out of their hometowns and visit big cities.

But this life is nothing to envy.

Like my Lorena, the men in town talk to her for one reason… except for Gus, this war veteran who comes to the saloon to play cards with her, talk to her, Treat it like a respectful woman. ”

“So it’s like this… Do you have any difficulties here? Need something? I’ll have someone deliver it for you. By the way, cowboy show, can you ride a horse?”

“I will. I have made westerns since I was fourteen years old, but that film is very traditional. I was very excited to shoot with Burt Lancaster.”

Diane’s filming is very hard, and he often has to shoot night scenes continuously. In rural Texas, there are no Screen Actors Guild people to claim power. Under the comfortable feeling brought by Ronald’s warm hands combing her hair, Diane gradually slowed down her breathing and calmed down from the intense shooting.

Finally she fell asleep with a smile on her face. Ronald hugged her gently, moved her to the bed, and covered her with a blanket.

It was very helpless to film in such a remote place. America’s national logistics network is supported by road trucks and aircraft. So no matter the country in that state, it’s easy to see roads, trucks, and airplane trails in the sky.

As soon as there is a truck horn, or an airplane track, the scene is ruined and needs to be reshot. So the crew can only come to this place to shoot. This is near the Austin military base, and civil aviation will not come if there is nothing to do. The village is in the opposite direction of the air force training base, and there are usually no aircraft tracks.

…

Early the next morning, Diane woke up and saw the breakfast that Ronald found again. After eating in a hurry, I was about to start filming the morning scene. Diane kissed Ronald several times in embarrassment, “When I finish filming, I will spend a few days with you and make it up to you.”

When he got to the set, Robert Duvall was already there waiting for him.

“I talked to Gene (Hackman) on the phone last night, and he promised to meet with you once to consider the production rights of ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ and let you do it.”

“Thank you very much.” When Ronald heard that the old friend’s words were useful, he immediately thanked him.

“The things you brought us are of great help…” Duval pointed to the mobile toilet, “We go to the toilet here, and we have to be careful with ants and bees…”

“Eh…”, Ronald didn’t expect the actor to be so happy with his impromptu idea. Is it possible for your own company to build a batch of such equipment in the future for those big crews to use?

“He and Fei divorced the year before last, and now they live in Santa Fe, New Mexico. This is the address.” Duval smiled for a while, and handed over a note.

“Santa Fe…” Ronald looked at the address. Hackman doesn’t live in Los Angeles. He lives in this kind of place. It seems that Nisita’s hard-to-cooperate character is not a lie.

“Gene likes to inspect the directors and actors who work with him, don’t be intimidated by him.” Duval also smiled, patted Ronald on the shoulder, and turned around to prepare.

“Ronnie…” Diane came up to bid farewell to Ronald.

Looking at the leaving convoy, Diane stroked her hair, a little unconfident. Did Ronald not like it when he dyed his hair red? He seems to prefer blondes?

(end of this chapter)