Exploiting Hollywood 1980

The main event of the dance department and the music department, the cafeteria dance was finished, and the crew began to film the drama of the performance department. Today is a scene of Latino student Ralph Garcia.

The actor who played Ralph was named Barry Miller. He is a veteran, 21 years old this year. In 1977, he played a suicidal high school student in John Travolta's "Saturday Night Fever". Later, he played a villain in the CBS TV series "Wonder Woman". It is one of the few faces in the movie that the audience is already familiar with.

Barry told others that he was a graduate of the Stella Adler acting training class, and Ronald was also looking forward to his acting skills.

"Li Zi said, Li doesn't understand that I'm grinding with an oar, what's wrong with Li's position?"

Ronald looked at Jim, the black teacher who was playing against Barry. Jim put his hand on the bare forehead and lowered his head helplessly.

"Cut!"

"Barry, what the hell are you doing? How did you say your lines? Why is it not clear at all." The director called off in dissatisfaction. Today's shooting has seen many instances of Barry improvising on the spot, and the shooting progress has been greatly affected by the dragged down.

"Ellen, I feel like Ralph Garcia is someone who likes to dig into acting, just like me. He's learning the way Marlon Brando speaks."

"Can't you read the lines according to the script?"

"Ellen, I think you are a director who strives for excellence and should not be limited by the script. I feel that the role of Ralph is better expressed in this way."

With a buzzing sound, the extras sitting in the teacher's seat began to whisper. This is the first time someone on the crew has publicly challenged the director's authority.

The cast members' dissatisfaction with Allen accumulated over time, and today someone finally pierced the window paper. The dancers were dissatisfied with his disregarding the safety risks of filming, and the local technicians in America also complained that the director favored the fellows of the British Isles.

But those are all conflicts accumulated for the sake of work, in the final analysis, to make better movies. As long as the filming continues to move forward, everyone will forget about the old problems.

Today is the first time anyone has questioned the director's decision from an artistic point of view. After all, the other leading actors are mainly newcomers, and only Barry Miller feels that he is qualified to "discuss" the role's performance with the director.

Before everyone was frightened by Allen Parker's knife on Jim, a black teacher, someone raised his head, and a lot of dissatisfaction came out from the bottom of their hearts. For the first time, everyone felt that what Allen said was not all right. .

"You..." Alan Parker blushed a little, but now was not the time to lose his temper.

Allen announced the suspension of filming, and dragged Barry to have a heart-to-heart chat. Everyone was talking outside, venting their grievances about the director's rude attitude towards him.

Ronald watched from the sidelines, and this was a big challenge to the director's authority. If it is not resolved, it may cause a lot of trouble in the future shooting.

With a "pop", the door in the inner room was opened, and Barry Miller came out first triumphantly. Allen announced that the scene would be changed.

The recorder hurriedly picked up the pen and changed the script according to Allen's request. She would then have to type it again, copy and replace the corresponding parts of the script.

"Recording, camera, start!"

"Li Zi said, Li doesn't understand that I'm grinding with an oar, what's wrong with Li's position?"

"Ralph, Ralph, you're slurring again." Jim was showing Barry Miller.

"I don't get it," Barry replied in a clear voice. "That's how the great Marlon Brando read his lines, and so did James Dean. They're the greatest actors in the world, but no one Can understand what they're saying."

"Puchi" extras contributed to the laughter.

These two are really Stella Adler's disciples, plus Robert De Niro, is slurring the secret of Stella's school? Ronald began to think wildly.

"Cut! This print" the director explained the scene.

"Next, we will go to the No. 122 performing arts space in the East Village. The address is... , and we will meet at No. 122 performing arts space at two o'clock in the afternoon. The camera crew will follow the truck. There are two buses for the group performance. …”

The first assistant director started arranging transportation for all kinds of people, and everyone went to the assistant to get an address.

Ronald drove into the car and drove Gene and Antonia to the new filming location. Along the way, I was thinking about the aftermath of Barry Miller's morning challenge to the director.

Jean and Antonia were also chatting about the director.

"We're not afraid of him at all," Gene said. "What's up with us when he's having trouble with Jim? The teachers at the public high school have nothing to do with us."

"Of course you're not afraid of him, but he's a little bit afraid of you. Everything will be conveyed through Ronnie." Antonia laughed.

Ronald overheard the conversation between the two in the driving position and glanced at Gene through the rearview mirror.

It does make sense. Alan is English after all, and he is more than 15 years older than himself. Don't understand the mentality of American high school students at all. After the Vietnam War, the hippies, and the civil rights movement, today's young people don't take public high school teachers seriously.

If the teacher dares to control their words, he is afraid that he will not be killed by a thorn like Gene on the spot.

Trying to establish authority in the minds of student actors by scaring teachers is a bit of a misstep.

A new generation of American teenagers, not so much obey the authority of their elders, but obey their teenage heroes, such as the Ramones of punk rock.

The car arrived at the 122 performing arts space, and Ronald and the two got out of the car to take a look. The so-called performing arts space is also an abandoned high school. However, it was occupied by New York artists and transformed into a theater rehearsal space and a small theater, serving as the center of avant-garde theater.

Producer David Da Silva greeted him, "Ronnie, you also go to the filming site in the afternoon to keep an eye on it, I heard what happened in the morning, you go to the scene to keep an eye on it, and Barry Miller will come to every move. tell me."

Ronald nodded. It was supposed to be a love scene between Ralph Garcia and Doris, and he didn't need to be there. But now, David, the man who pays his own salary, has told him to listen.

"I have a lot of dads who come to my house and some pay rent,..." Barry Miller was reading.

The character of Ralph Garcia is a Latino in Harlem, in a way worse than a black person because a lot of charitable donations don't go to Latinos. There are 5 brothers and sisters in the whole family, mainly relying on the relief of the church, and a single mother from time to time on the list of a man.

"Cut!" for a close-up shot of Barry's monologue.

The main camera shot just now is completed, followed by Barry's monologue. Allen's style is not to use over-the-shoulder shots, but to use close-up shots to express the characters' dialogue, which is different from the traditional Hollywood method.

The advantage of this is probably that the emotions of the characters can be more clearly expressed, but the disadvantage is that the audience sometimes does not understand who the characters are talking to. Especially when there are more than two characters present. But Alan Parker is a famous British director after all, so there will be no problem in thinking about it.

"You have to understand that Puerto Rican women are looking for men not for love, but to feed their children."

"Cut, Cut, Cut" Allen called off the filming in exasperation.

"Barry, Barry, you have to follow the lines, dear." Allen pressed Barry Miller's shoulders, squeezed his face, and threatened.

Ronald also felt that Barry Miller was going a little too far. Roger Coleman once said that if actors can improvise, give them the chance. But this never includes changing the lines at will between the main shot and the dialogue shot.

You can improvise in certain strips of the main shot where you shoot the panorama, or you can improvise in some strips of the dialogue shot where you are close-up.

But it's best not to say A in the main shot, and say an irrelevant B in the dialogue shot. Because doing so would make editing difficult. There is no connection between the main shot and the dialogue shot.

This Barry Miller pays too much attention to his own acting skills, as if he wants to give full play to all his talents and show it to someone.

"No no, Ellen. My performance is situational, and at this time, in this setting, Ralph Garcia should have said this. It wasn't my intention, it was a natural revelation. You You can't limit an actor's natural play."

"Barry, Barry, what should I do with you? You are a talented actor, but you need to distinguish between the primary and secondary when shooting. You will seriously slow down the progress of the shooting, and we are only a small production." Allen tried Reason with Barry Miller.

"Barry, can you limit the improvisation part to each scene? Otherwise, it will be edited later..." Ronald tried to help, so that Barry's improvisation would not interfere too much with the shooting and post-editing .

"Hey, who are you? Don't interfere with the conversation of a great actor and director."

Ronald raised his hands in a gesture of surrender, and stepped back to Maureen Tiffey as Doris.

"Barry is always like this. My opponent starts to play extra. I'm a little tired of it. He keeps making Allen work overtime." Maureen complained to Ronald in a low voice.

Ronald turned his head in surprise and glanced at Maureen, "Maybe he has his own ideas."

Allen and Barry finally reached a tentative agreement, and the director called for the third item.

"Recording? Camera? Go!"

Barry Miller walks to the window with his glass of wine and stops for two seconds with his back to the camera. Then turned around: "My mom has a spare house, and she always rents it to a man so I have a new dad."

"Okay!" Ronald thought to himself, this performance was quite smooth.

"Most new dads will only be one day."

He began to improvise again, Ronald covering his face.

"Cut!"

Allen stepped forward and slapped Barry Miller.

"Snapped!"

"Stop fooling around! Say your lines, in the order of the script. Be honest with me and stop picking girls around!"

The next scene was unexpectedly good. Barry honestly finished the lines in the script, and the last crying scene was very real.

Maureen Tiffie also ended her own shot, saying "Bye!" to Ronald and the others, pulling Alan into the car together.

The director has a new car.