King of Hollywood -
Chapter 646 - 54 The Influence of Movies
Chapter 646: Chapter 54 The Influence of Movies
"You think Junior Bush has a shot?" Claude looked surprised.
The United States elections took place in two stages. The first round of voting was held on the first Tuesday of November when voters in each state selected the electors who represented their state. Then, on the third Monday of December, these electors voted in their state capitals to elect the next President of the United States. Generally, if a candidate received more than half of the popular votes in a state—since electing an elector is tantamount to casting a vote for one’s preferred presidential candidate—then all of that state’s electoral votes would go to them, even if half of the electors didn’t support that candidate.
This is known as winner-takes-all. Except for Maine and the State of Nebraska, the other 48 states and Washington D.C. operated this way. That’s why, although Claude thought Gore currently didn’t have much of an advantage, he was somewhat surprised that Adrian was optimistic about Junior Bush, especially since Gore had higher support among the general populace than Junior Bush. The allocation of electoral votes was typically clear after Election Day, with the December vote mostly being a formality.
"You know, I don’t understand many things thoroughly," Adrian spread his hands. "But precisely because of this, I often look at problems from a different perspective and notice things that others don’t see—tell me, dear Claude, how much campaign funding have Gore and Junior Bush each raised? Or just tell me directly, who raised more?"
"It should be Junior Bush." Claude recalled briefly and then gave the answer.
"Have you noticed, Claude, that since the late ’70s, with Jimmy Carter starting, the presidential campaign has turned into a battle of who spends more money, who wins," Adrian said earnestly.
"Oh?" Claude raised an eyebrow.
"Carter, Reagan, Senior Bush, Clinton, it’s all been the same, although there are only four of them, it’s enough to illustrate some problems." Adrian stood up. "Of course, if it’s just this one point, we could see it as a coincidence, but if we look back at history, except for Franklin Roosevelt, the Democratic Party has never had more than 12 consecutive years in power after the Civil War, while the Republican Party has done so more than once."
"Clinton has already served two terms; so you’re suggesting that the odds of Gore, a Democrat, getting elected are slim to none, right?" Claude asked.
Adrian raised his hands, "It’s true that Gore has higher support among the public than Junior Bush, but it’s never been the voters who decide who gets to sit in the presidential seat. Senior Bush has been a congressman, the director of the CIA, the President of the United States. We discussed before that if the Soviet Union had collapsed two or three months earlier, it would have been very difficult for Clinton to defeat him. The political capital and connections that Senior Bush has now amassed are enough to push his son to the presidency, which is why I suggested you send a personal representative to meet with him, not the Junior Bush who is currently busy campaigning."
"Isn’t it a bit late now?" Claude furrowed his brow. "There’s less than a month left until Election Day, and swinging our support to them now might not make much of a difference, especially since we’re supporters of the Democratic Party."
"Come on, Claude, can’t you stop being like this?" Adrian couldn’t help but roll his eyes.
Indeed, by tradition, the Ronris family had always been supporters of the Democratic Party—of course, Uncle Anderson was a Republican supporter; he was Conservative. But for major groups, betting on both sides had become the norm, just like in this year’s elections, whether it was Gore’s team or Junior Bush’s team, AC Media had made a sizable contribution to both.
"Well, well," Claude laughed heartily, "after all, Junior Bush only needs to win over half of the electoral votes. From the first Tuesday of November to the third Monday of December, there’s more than a month of possibilities—so anything could happen. I’ll arrange it right away, but some things take time."
"Don’t worry, who knows, the political donation cap might even be abolished in ten years," Adrian, knowing exactly what he was talking about, replied with a smile.
Despite American laws stipulating a limit on the amount of political donations a campaign team could receive from an individual or company, circumventing this limit was a piece of cake—simply by setting up several more funds. Since the laws were basically empty words, it’s no wonder that the political donation cap would be gone outright ten years later.
This outcome didn’t surprise Adrian. Claude was steadfast but also enjoyed doing some challenging tasks; that’s why he had initially helped him rob Japan, rob the Black Empire, and that’s why they had founded AC Media together at his urging, and that’s why he would do everything he could to acquire TBS, ABC, and so on. But the achievements were tremendous, after all. The phrase "young and promising" now seemed tailor-made for him. How many could commandeer an empire with five or six hundred million in assets in their early thirties, not to mention a company he’d built from scratch with his buddies?
Therefore, as long as the acquisition of AT&T Broadband could succeed, Claude wouldn’t mind taking a gamble, and the chances of winning were high. Although investing in senators was more cost-effective than investing in a president, sometimes backing a president could also yield significant benefits, like now. Making a favor at a crucial moment, as long as Junior Bush could ascend to the presidency of the United States, coupled with the cooperation from people like McDonald, they should be able to settle this matter shortly—old foxes remain old foxes, after taking the money, they’ve got to get things done. American politicians were still relatively credible in this respect.
Moreover, AC Media wasn’t without a backup, the plans of the other media conglomerates weren’t hard to guess. The best outcome would be if the antitrust authorities intervened and prohibited this transaction on grounds of suspected monopoly, but even if they couldn’t prohibit it, that’s okay—they could all use their government connections, and each had their scheming.
If the deal couldn’t be stopped, then dragging it out would do. The informal deadline for FCC review could be up to 180 days, and the formal wouldn’t be much less. Dragging it for a year, the funds required for acquiring AT&T Broadband would greatly increase. The media moguls trying to block them did not foresee AT&T Broadband’s prospects; they simply couldn’t or weren’t willing to acquire it for one reason or another. With a slightly longer timeline, AT&T Broadband’s performance would skyrocket, and what could have been acquired for 10 billion a year ago might cost 20 or even 30 billion a year later, not to mention Comcast driving up the competition price.
Their plan wasn’t bad; under normal circumstances, indeed, such a long delay might lead to failure, but with an oversight in critical intelligence, no matter how they calculated, it wouldn’t work out. If it got to that point, AC Media’s funds might be insufficient, but Adrian and Claude had plenty, and Adrian had already decided that it wouldn’t matter if they had to put it all in at that time.
As the saying from his previous life went, in the face of absolute power, all stratagems are useless. Without government intervention, what ultimately determines the outcome of acquisition is the amount of corporate capital. Nevertheless, if that indeed was the outcome, it would be somewhat Pyrrhic, so investing in Junior Bush was still necessary.
So the decision was made. As before, Adrian made the decisions, and Claude executed them, which meant Adrian did as he typically did, such as accompanying Jessica to the movie theater to watch "Save the Last Dance."
As a musical-type film, it was already a niche in the current movie market. Although musicals remained an indispensable film genre in Hollywood, there were hardly any memorable musical films in the entire ’90s, even Woody Allen took a fall in this genre.
Therefore, "Save the Last Dance" did not have any premiere event. Of course, the promotion was still extensive—relative to a low-budget film—so Adrian took Jessica in disguise to sit among the crowd in the cinema.
Actually, this was Jessica’s second time watching her debut as a lead actress. The first time was on the opening day with her family, since she hadn’t been home in a long time. Fortunately, her figure had begun to recover, enough so that her parents couldn’t see the flaws, and if her mother was suspicious, she fobbed it off with the excuse of having to put on weight for a pregnant scene in "Dark Angel."
Adrian didn’t stop her from getting back into shape immediately after giving birth. After all, Jessica was still very young, and given her childhood insecurities, she took her appearance and body very seriously—it was completely understandable. It was enough that Mary got the most basic breastfeeding.
The theater was far from empty, with a youthful crowd most enthusiastic, as if they were brimming with interest in the film. No wonder, as it was the second week since "Save the Last Dance" hit the screens, and due to being offseason, it managed to secure nearly 2000 theaters and grossed $25 million at the North American box office in its first week, with many people giving it quite favorable reviews.
"Full of youthful vitality and imbued with an inspirational power," wrote a critic in a column for the Chicago Tribune.
Indeed, most musical films portrayed the world of adults—either glamorously lavish or refreshingly innocent. Youth musicals that were completely headlined by young people did exist but were usually mediocre with very small audiences. However, "Save the Last Dance" incorporated elements of aspiration and romance into the story and then blended ballet with blues in the dance scenes, resulting in a youth musical that was somewhat unique.
"Look, you’re so charming, aren’t you?" said Adrian on the big screen, breathing ambiguously into Jessica’s ear.
Though Jessica didn’t speak, a hint of a proud smile appeared on her lips—obviously, her family and friends had frequently praised her. Even if Jessica’s acting was relatively weak, she became quite magnetic through those lively authentic or exquisite dances. It has to be said that the choreographer did a splendid job.
One of the biggest draws of a musical film is the elaborately arranged dances. For "Save the Last Dance," the plot of the movie was rather cliched and simple: the female protagonist moved in with her father following her mother’s death, then met the male lead, and gradually, through dance, they came together, facing various trials along the way.
Without the dances, this would merely have been a very popular romantic movie, but the dances made it different. The choreographer had put in a lot of effort to merge blues with ballet, using different dance styles to highlight the differences in skin color and identity between the two main characters. No doubt, regardless of what ballet had represented in the past or how much time it had taken to evolve, it currently stood as a symbol of high art. On the other hand, blues had been popular among African Americans for decades and was often referred to as common or even vulgar, which matched the identities of the male and female leads quite closely.
The director also had a good grasp of the plot arrangement and worked well with the choreographer. For instance, the initial meeting of the female lead was like ballet meeting blues—jarringly different yet fundamentally attractive to each other. As they interacted, they started to feel connected, and the choreographer arranged for the blues to first attempt to merge with the ballet, although not without bumps. As the romance between the male and female leads heated up, the integration of the two dances went smoothly. As they exchanged knowledge of their dances, their affections for each other warmed, until various difficulties began to surface.
Later on, the pair had to separate, and the dance integration stalled, the female lead was unable to practice wholeheartedly, while the male lead couldn’t face himself. Finally, the male lead made up his mind to break away from his past life and went in search of his love, who at that moment was preparing for a performance in a theater before dance school teachers. Without the male lead by her side, the female protagonist practiced the dance they created together, but still encountered significant issues during her first performance.
"Are you really ready?" asked a male teacher with glasses, a ponytail, and a goatee.
The female lead took several deep breaths and couldn’t respond until the male lead’s voice came from the doorway, "Yes, she’s ready."
As mentioned before, the plot was cliched; the next scene that unfolded is one seen in all romantic and inspirational films: the male lead storms onto the stage to encourage his love – "You can do it, you surely can." Finally, the female lead performed flawlessly. Here, the director and choreographer did an excellent job. Although the film featured ballet or blues dances from time to time, and they were all well executed and emotive, and there were dances that integrated both ballet and blues which were quite eye-catching, they never fully showcased an entire dance until this final moment.
In the rapid cuts, the female lead used her body to fully bring the dance to life, with the grace of ballet and the rhythm of blues, integrating everything flawlessly and transitioning without barriers, at times delicate and at times sensual, so passionate and full of energy that even the teachers in the audience couldn’t help but nod to the rhythm. The entire movie’s buildup was leading up to these few climactic minutes, all the accumulated emotion of the film released in this moment, and when the dance ended, the young crowd in the theater couldn’t help but cheer loudly and applaud.
"Perfect," Adrian couldn’t help but applaud.
Sitting next to him, Jessica, despite having heard such praise many times, couldn’t help but beam with joy. Yet, as they were leaving the theater after the movie, she sighed, something on her mind.
"What’s wrong?" Adrian asked curiously.
"It’s nothing, just..." Jessica pursed her lips, "How great it would be if all those dances had really been performed by me."
Adrian could not help but chuckle, gently scratching her nose, "Don’t think too much about it. You’re not a professional dancer after all. To have trained to that level in such a short time is quite remarkable."
As mentioned before, ballet is different from the normal dances. With enough practice time, actors can perform most of the movements nearly as good as professionals. This is one of the reasons why Adrian had Nicole practice a lot of dancing for that movie. But ballet is different. Usually, ballet dancers start from a young age, and there are strict requirements for the body type. This means shaping the body before the skeleton is fully developed. An adult can practice ballet for fun, but it is nearly impossible to perform on a professional stage.
Ballet troupes are also one of the most competitive environments in the entertainment industry, even more so than modeling. Many excellent ballet dancers spend their whole lives as backup dancers. The idea that someone could train for only half a year to a year and dance nearly as well as a professional ballet dancer is simply not possible. So, in all ballet-related movies, unless the actor is young or already a ballet dancer, most of the dancing will be done by a stand-in, without exception.
Even though "Save the Last Dance" didn’t feature much ballet, Jessica still used a number of stand-ins, especially for that final, wonderfully executed dance. Therefore, every time there was a frontal shot of Jessica spinning on the movie screen, it would never include her feet in the shot. And when there was a full-body spin, the shot was very quick and the face wasn’t clear, soon to be cut to a close-up of the upper body.
"Wait here for me, okay?" Adrian said as they went outside. He patted Jessica’s arm and went to get his car. However, when he came back, an unexpected scene unfolded.
Fans lingering outside the cinema were converging toward Jessica, with those at the front scrambling to get her signature, urgently looking for something for her to sign. Jessica, whose hat had been knocked off, wore a bitter smile and found herself unable to refuse. Needless to say, while she had been waiting, fans recognized her inadvertently. They had just watched her star in a film and naturally thronged around her in excitement.
Adrian shook his head with a smile, pulled his hat down, and steered the car in front of the theater. Leaning out the window, he called out loudly: "Jessica! Over here!"
Upon hearing him, Jessica looked around, hurried over, jumped into the car, and, as the vehicle roared away, she didn’t forget to apologetically shout to the fans: "Sorry!"
"You’re really popular," Adrian teased as he drove onto the street.
Jessica giggled sheepishly, but the look of satisfaction and pride on her face couldn’t be hidden. Although "Dark Angel" had already made her somewhat famous, when had she ever experienced a scene like this? That’s the influence of movies for you. (To be continued. If you like this work, I welcome you to visit Qidian.com to cast your recommendation votes, and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
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