"Hey, okay, I'll take the radio to my room later." Little Bud spent a long time with his girlfriend during this vacation, and he smiled when he saw Ronald.

"When will you propose to Lucy?" Ronald knew that his extended family had close contacts with Lucy, and Lucy was very satisfied with this boyfriend who could have a serious job.

"Come on, I'm asking a real estate agent to find a suitable rental house in the surrounding area. I plan to bring Lucy over and we will settle down near your apartment. Lucy has learned some typing work and is looking for a word processor here.

The secretarial job is not difficult, but the rent of the surrounding houses is a bit expensive."

"Don't worry about it, I'll take care of it." Ronald was very happy when he heard that little Bud and his fiancée were so motivated, and planned to rent a small apartment for them to live in. Anyway, he couldn't live without this person who knew everything.

Driver and assistant.

Little Bud was very different from his out-of-the-box personality when I first met him. His years in the Marine Corps had made him less talkative, and he also had some habits of saving money.

Ronald never asked him about his experience. Anyway, every time his mother saw him, she would repeatedly say that it was lucky that Ronald saved little Bud back then and allowed him to complete his high school education in the Marine Corps.

Ronald picked up the phone, called his agent Richard, and asked him to look for apartments not far away.

"Ring ring ring ring..."

Another phone in the apartment rang in the living room, and Ronald motioned to Little Bud to answer it. This phone was mainly his work phone number at Daydream, and only people from Daydream Pictures would call it.

"Just stay close to me. Yes, it's for little Bud and his girlfriend." Ronald told Richard.

Then, he said to Bud, who had also answered the phone, "Let's make an appointment. The real estate agent that CAA cooperates with will give you a call and let's go look at houses together. CAA often finds cheap houses with good conditions for actors who are just starting out in the industry."

, have long-term partners.”

"Ronald, I don't know how to thank you." Bud was very happy to be separated from his girlfriend.

"It's a trivial matter. Our fathers were brothers, and so are we." Ronald waved his hand to let him ignore it, "Who was looking for me just now?"

"Oh, it's your general manager Ed. He said that there is a man named Bannon who claims to be your friend and said that he has a movie project that he wants to talk to you about." Bud replied, referring to the phone call he just answered in the living room.

.

Ronald frowned. Now he is well-known. Some people know that he is the boss behind Daydream, and many people claim to be their friends. Daydream will communicate with Ronald to eliminate scammers and people who come to try their luck.

.

"Bannon? I don't know him. Let him go."

Ronald didn't expect to have such a friend, "I have to go to CAA, please call Ed back and explain."

After speaking, Ronald drove his Ferrari to the CAA office.

Tom Cruise thought about it for two days and felt that Ronald's suggestion that he would be more likely to win Oscar favors by playing the mentally retarded character made sense, so he proposed his idea to CAA President Michael Ovitz.

conveyed.

But Ovitz tried his best to persuade him to consider the role of the younger brother with normal intelligence. He also said that if Cruise played the mentally retarded character, it would damage the star's image. And Dustin Hoffman often plays some abnormal roles, so

The audience is more receptive.

In short, Ovitz's point of view is that whether the character is mentally retarded has little to do with winning the award.

After learning that Ronald was the mastermind behind the scenes that persuaded Cruise to grab the role, Ovitz invited Ronald and Tom Cruise to go to CAA for an interview.

Outside Ovitz's huge office, his secretary quickly stood up and guided Ronald and Cruise through the aisle. The secretary knocked on the door and led them in.

"Aha, my favorite director client and my favorite male star client are here."

Michael Ovitz is very low-key to the outside world and never accepts interviews, but in the kingdom of CAA, he is undoubtedly the king.

Ronald had not seen the king for a long time. He was impressed by his debut script before he could sign the contract. At that time, Ovitz was full of passion and was very dedicated to his work.

CAA has developed very rapidly in the past few years, signing many actors and directors in succession. In addition to screenwriters, Ovitz's scripts have taken the lead, and the project packaging strategy has also been a great success.

For several years, the top three box-office movies can be said to be his role as a producer. From the script, to the director, to the actors, it was all handled by CAA. However, in the opening subtitles, Ovitz was mentioned due to legal reasons.

I can't sign it.

Movies such as "Ghostbusters" have made CAA a lot of money, and Ovitz has gradually become more and more popular, which can be seen from the increase in the area of ​​​​his office. Now his renovated office takes up almost

A quarter of the first floor is much larger than the other partners.

"I don't know why you would think that, Ronald."

Ovitz was very vocal about his dislike of the idea of ​​Cruise playing a mentally retarded character.

"He is a star, a big star! Letting such a beautiful boy play a fool is simply a crime against all the female audiences in America. Besides, Tom is young, so he doesn't look good playing Dustin's brother."

"But, Mr. Ovitz, the fool played by Tom is also a beautiful fool. Don't you think this is very interesting? And it will help him get an Oscar nomination. As for age, we just change the script and let Tom play

It would be nice if the fool was the younger one."

Ronald insisted that if he wanted Cruise to be nominated for an Oscar, it would be best to play a role that was completely different from his image.

"God, he's a star, and a star is someone who has the same qualities in every movie he plays. We're talking about Tom, perhaps the most beautiful star in Hollywood since Paul Newman."

This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! Ronald agrees with this classification method.

The existence of a movie star is the kind of person who makes the audience want to watch his movies when they hear his name.

If celebrities, like ordinary actors, perform roles with different personalities so that no one can tell that it is the actor who plays them, then why should the audience be attracted to the stars and buy tickets?

Many stars, such as Harrison Ford, always have a sense of cynicism no matter what they are playing. Although the earlier James Stewart has superb acting skills, his role also has strong characteristics of a typical small-town American hero.

.

It is difficult for Ronald to refute this statement. Cruise's management team also hopes that he will continue to develop under the image of a beautiful boy full of male impulses.

"But what we are talking about is winning awards. As for the problem of retardation affecting Tom's image, I also have a solution. How about we change the character of Raymond from retardation to autism. Autism has normal and even

Beyond the talents of ordinary people.

I also heard that there is another type of autism. In addition to having difficulty communicating with others, people also have amazing talents in other areas. For example, they are very good at mathematics and can calculate the number of toothpicks in a box in one second."

Ronald clings to what Cruise wants most - the award:

"Tom's image is fixed as a handsome guy with mainstream American values. If he doesn't break through this shackles, what's the point of talking about an Oscar?"

"What do you mean by that?" Ovitz knew that Tom Cruise wanted to win an Oscar when he entered the industry. The first thing he did when he signed with CAA was to make a list of big-name directors he wanted to work with.

"What I mean is that if an actor has his own star quality in this kind of role, if he wants to win an Oscar, he must break through his inherent image."

Ronald stretched out his hand and counted them one by one.

"Bogart, Humphrey Bogart, has played ruthless tough guys all his life, but when he got the best actor role, he played an incompetent, foul-mouthed boatman in 'The African Queen' with no initiative at all.

No, he was eaten to death by the missionary played by Katharine Hepburn. He would do whatever he was asked to do. In order to please the old maid, he must have the courage to do something serious.

Henry Fonda played a lifelong left-wing hero who was wronged and misunderstood, but was able to endure the humiliation and lead the people to resist exploitation. But his role as the best actor was really that of an old and frail father in the golden pond.

Faced with my daughter’s liberating and progressive values, I instead embraced conservative family values. I broke through the shackles I had always had.”

"Ronald, you are overgeneralizing. What about John Wayne? His film 'True Grit', which won the Best Actor, still won the award with the image of a typical western hero?"

Ovitz waved his hand. He had done this trick of positioning a star and balancing commercial value and critical awards countless times, and he also knew how to refute Ronald's point of view.

He began to talk endlessly about his understanding of winning awards, how actors should choose at different career stages, how to plan their career optimally, etc.

Ovitz is strong and eloquent, speaks very quickly, sounds logical and very confusing.

Ronald clearly felt that the balance in Tom Cruise's heart had shifted towards playing the normal younger brother.

"Steven (Spielberg) and Sidney (Pollack) are both very optimistic about your acting skills. You will perform very well in this movie. Coupled with the operation of our CAA, we will get

Nomination is very possible."

"What do you think, Ronald? What Mr. Ovitz said makes sense. John Wayne did not break through his star image and also won the Best Actor. Maybe breaking his image is not necessarily necessary."

Listening to Cruise say this, Ronald knew that his heart was already leaning towards playing the normal younger brother Charlie.

"If you insist..." Ronald shrugged, indicating that he had no intention of continuing the debate.

Then he whispered in a low voice that he could only hear, "True Grit, John Wayne plays a one-eyed dragon."

Paula Wagner could already tell that she was pregnant. She whispered to Cruise next to her, and the two reached an agreement.

Niceta was behind Ronald and whispered in Ronald's ear, "You just said that Wayne played a one-eyed dragon, which can be regarded as damaging his image. But Tom is not as smart as you. If Tom doesn't want to

He’s acting mentally retarded, why don’t we give up on this project?”

"Go out and talk." Ronald whispered back.

"I will carefully consider your opinion, Ronald. In fact, this role of Charlie is also very difficult to play. I feel that it is no less challenging than my brother's acting skills. When the time comes, I will exchange ideas with Dustin during rehearsals.

Let’s try the role. It’s a good challenge for my acting skills.”

Tom came over and chatted with Ronald about his thoughts sincerely.

Ronald looked at Cruise, who looked forward to it, and thought, "Poor Tom, you missed this role, and you don't know how long you have to wait to get nominated."

Obviously Ovitz, the president of CAA, wants to make him a big star. The more roles he plays, the more he will be stereotyped. It will not be easy to break through in the future. I wonder if he can still be like Henry Fonda, Humphrey...

Bogart was so lucky that he could make a breakthrough in the twilight years of his star career, win the Best Actor, and get what he wanted?

"I don't want to direct anymore. Tom doesn't play mentally retarded people. I'm not sure that his acting skills can meet the standards of the Oscar judges. Besides, I haven't been nominated for best director yet, so I'm not convincing enough now." Ronald

After leaving Ovitz's office with Niceta, we went to his office to continue chatting.

"I'll pass on your comments to Paula. But I have to consider your interests first. Dustin Hoffman is a big problem. All the directors and actors who have worked with him say he is a big ass."

sore."
To be continued...