Chapter 132 New Youth Exploitation Movie Casting

   "Your performance is very natural, very good." Ronald said to Helen Slater.

   "It's just too short. After two afternoons of shooting, it disappeared in 15 seconds."

  Helen pressed the tape eject button of the video recorder and picked up the video tape of her advertisement.

   "There is another version here, which is your version of Carpenter's song, but your father thought it was inappropriate to buy the copyright of the cover song for an advertisement, so he finally used your jazz version."

  Ronald handed over another video tape, "I'll give you this copy as a souvenir." Then he picked up a book on the table and continued to watch.

  Helen Slater called Ronald after Thanksgiving. Her mother also wanted to see the copy of the advertisement that her daughter played, and made an appointment to come to Ronald's house today to get it.

  She took the Carpenter version of the video tape, happily put it into the video recorder, and began to enjoy it.

   Played her own performance a few times, and Helen was very satisfied. Seeing that Ronald was looking down at the book and didn't see his advertisement, he felt a little lost for no reason. The director didn't seem to care much about his film and television debut, and was more interested in the book with a black cover and a soft cover in his hand.

  My performance looks perfect. The young director must be editing it every day, so I don’t feel like watching too many good performances. Or is his book too captivating?

   "What book are you reading?" Helen Slater looked at Ronald with big blue eyes.

"Endless love, I gave my cousin Donna a Thanksgiving gift, but she said that Aunt Karen would not let her read this kind of novel, let me not tell my aunt that I gave it to her, temporarily put it in my place, and wait for her next year Go to Stuyvesant High, then take it to see."

  Ronald answered Helen while reading a book with his head down. There are some very explicit descriptions and deviant plots in Endless Love. No wonder Aunt Karen didn’t like it. Ronald began to quickly flip through the novel in his hand, skipping and reading.

   "Your cousin is admitted to Stuyvesant, she is amazing."

   "Yeah, it's a purely IQ test, and Donna is pretty good."

   Ronald remembered the day after Thanksgiving when he, Aunt Karen, and Donna visited Stuyvesant together.

  Donna's grades have already exceeded the admission threshold of Stuyvesant High School in the past by nearly 40 points, and she will definitely be admitted. The three of them first went to high school to visit Donna's future school.

   This is a high school that asks nothing but IQ tests (math, reading, logic). Jews have always been the majority of the students, but they see a lot of Chinese in the school, and I heard that the proportion of Chinese enrollment has been increasing rapidly recently. There are basically no Latinos and blacks.

  The school also offers more than 50 pre-university courses, and you can get college credits in high school. In addition to increasing the probability of admission to Ivy League universities, it can also be deducted from the hours spent in the university, which can save a lot of tuition fees.

   In addition to mathematics, science, and English, students also need to study three foreign languages, art, music, and other courses.

  In addition to academic courses, there are also skill courses such as gymnastics, fencing, equestrianism, health management, speech and so on. Basically, it is a public school that cultivates social elite talents according to the curriculum of private preparatory high schools, and residents of New York State can attend for free.

  In short, Aunt Karen and Donna are very satisfied, and Ronald is also very happy.

"Your performance is perfect, I actually prefer this version of Carpenter's song." Ronald finally finished the novel, looking at Helen who was rewinding, "Is there any new role for you from Gerald? "

   "No, Daddy said that I will wait until I take more acting classes." Helen already has her own acting career plan, "Stop talking, I'm going to my mother's place."

   "I'll see you off." Ronald got up and picked up his coat.

  Sent off Helen, Ronald went to the casting studio, routinely took pictures every Saturday, and returned the old script that was borrowed last time. The studio's Julia Taylor saw him reading old scripts last time, and promised to take one home every time and return it next time.

"Ronnie, you're here, we're going to get busy soon, and there's another youth film that needs to be cast across the country. Be prepared, there will be a large number of young girls coming to take pictures." Julia Taylor saw him, Assign him a job immediately.

   "Like the blue coral reef last time?" Ronald asked.

   "The scope of casting is wider than that time. This time it may need to be aimed at ordinary people who have no acting experience." Julia Taylor said.

   "What movie, such a big battle? Romeo and Juliet?" Ronald couldn't think of any movie that required national auditions for teenagers.

   "Basically, it's an adaptation of a love story." Julia Taylor replied, "Because the producer Casablanca Records is the first time involved in filming, this is also part of the film's marketing plan."

"So are you really looking for an ordinary person who has no acting experience and has an outstanding appearance?" Ronald felt a little unbelievable. Helen Slater, his own director, had already worked very hard. Finding an inexperienced person was really difficult. .

   "This possibility is very small, but it has not happened in the history of movies, and there are many girls who have reached the sky in one step."

   "So which novel is it? Jane Austen, or Dickens?" Ronald became curious.

   "Neither, it's the latest best-selling romance novel, Endless Love." Julia Taylor replied.

   "Is this the novel?" Ronald waved the book in his hand, "This can't be called a romance novel. The author's writing is very controversial, more like a novel about world affairs."

  In Endless Love, in addition to minors eating forbidden fruit, there are also very controversial plots such as arson, teenagers committing felonies and being sentenced to psychiatric hospitals, mothers seducing their daughters lovers, etc. Ronald doesn't believe that this novel can be adapted into a pure love movie.

"Sometimes the adaptation is like this, only the name and protagonist setting of the novel are borrowed, and the rest can be rewritten. But I can't say for sure, it depends on what the people at Casablanca Records decide." Julia Taylor has not seen The script, also not sure.

"Casablanca Records prepared a budget of 8 million, and they got a quota of 100 million US dollars from Polygram for filming. So they will definitely do a big job in this film. I heard that they invited Martin Scorsese Seth's regular screenwriter, Paul Schrader, is directing the film."

  Julia Taylor told Ronald about the background of the producer, "If the casting of this film can be successful, we will be indispensable to the films invested by Casablanca in the future."

   "Don't worry, I will work hard. I have completed the four courses in the first semester well. Christmas will be the winter and Christmas holidays soon. I can spend more time on this matter."

"Very good, this is another youth exploitation film, it is expected that there will be a lot of **** scenes, you are a well-known screenwriter, if you have time, please help us to check the audition candidates, the intuition of peers is the most accurate. "

  Ronald became interested in Scorsese's screenwriter and being invited to direct the film, and he was prepared to take this path himself. Paul Schrader, who wrote the screenplay for Scorsese's critically acclaimed film "Taxi Driver," is also the screenwriter for the new film that Scorsese is currently working on in post-editing.

  Ronald intends to have the opportunity to ask Scorsese how to become a film screenwriter and turn from screenwriter to director.

  …

"Mr. Paul Schrader, I'm Keith Barish, the producer of Casablanca, our invitation is very sincere, how to spend the budget of 8 million US dollars, how to decide the male and female lead in the national audition, it's all up to you to decide."

   Keith Barish was the main mover behind Casablanca Records' entry into the film industry. Seeing the "Saturday Night Fever" invested by Robert Stigwood, the two musicals "Grease" were sold well, and his RSO record company sold tens of millions of records.

   Especially the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack album by the BeeGees band, from January to July 1978, ranked first for 28 consecutive weeks. The 5 singles in the album won the first place in the singles chart. The entire album has sold 16 platinum in North America alone, selling 16 million copies.

   This movie also brought about the re-popularity of disco, and became popular with a large number of disco singers such as Donna Summer.

  Casablanca, like other record companies, was very jealous, thinking that they had found the wealth code, and they joined the film industry one after another. This is the real reason why Hollywood began to invest in musicals again in 1979.

  Even has been out of acting for many years. The Hollywood dancer of the 1940s and 1950s, Gene Kelly, was also summoned by the film company to come back.

   "Keith, may I call you Keith?" Paul Schrader has several blockbuster screenwriter films, Bodyguards, and now is the time when film companies are begging him to direct.

   "You know, I just finished the post-production of my movie American Gigolo, and I'm waiting for it to be released in February next year. I also want to participate in the promotion of the movie, why don't we talk about your new movie then."

  If it sells well after it is released, Paul Schrader's net worth will not be what it is now. Producer Keith Barish is a newcomer in the film industry, but he is well aware of the calculations of these directors, and they are no different from negotiating contract renewals with singers.

  "Mr. Schrader, this is our first film in Casablanca, we will attach great importance to it, which is why I am here and ask you to cooperate, we believe in your artistic expression..."

  Paul Schrader has actually read the novel "Endless Love" before. Although it is very controversial and critical of American society, in his opinion, it is not powerful enough. At least compared to his own director, "American Gigolo" which will be released soon is much worse.

  So despite Keith's hype, I just don't let go. We still have to wait for the news from Universal. They have approached the bankrupt RKO film department to discuss buying the remake rights of the classic movie "Catpeople".

  Global 12 million investment, and fledgling Casablanca 8 million investment, he still knows how to choose.

   "Okay then, Mr. Schrader, we will keep you up-to-date with the latest news. We will visit you when the updated version of the script comes out."

  (end of this chapter)