Chapter 213 Hollywood Party (1/2)

The short visit to Disney Studios ended.

That night, Colin, dressed in formal attire, came to Hollywood near the coast of San Pedro Bay under the leadership of Howard Hughes and participated in a party.

When he entered the scene, he was first attracted by the cheerful music.

The gorgeous crystal chandeliers in the hall emitted soft light and illuminated the entire party scene. Following the sound of music, Colin saw the band playing on the stage and the guests in the hall dressed in gorgeous clothes. Most of them were celebrities in Hollywood.

Among them, women's dresses were mainly evening gowns, with simple and smooth shapes, slender styles, widened shoulders with padded shoulders, and tight and slender waists. After wearing them, women's graceful temperament is more prominent. At the same time, most of the hairstyles are the most popular curly hair, matched with curled eyelashes and cute red lips, showing the charming characteristics of women.

Compared with women's dress, men's clothes are much simpler, and suits have become their mainstream dress.

"Hughes, I haven't seen you for a while..."

Stepping into the hall, someone familiar came up to greet Howard Hughes.

"I thought you didn't make movies anymore?"

"I did have this plan, and in fact I put it into action."

There was no secret about Howard Hughes building an aircraft repair shed in Hollywood. He expressed it bluntly. Then, Hughes changed the subject and directed the topic to Colin on the side, saying: "However, I was finally moved by the new script and decided to make a decision after finishing the film."

Following Hughes' explanation, the man's eyes fell on Colin on the side.

At the same time, Howard Hughes also introduced him at the right time: "William, this is Colin Looper, the screenwriter of my new movie, and the owner of the New York Daily Courier."

"Colin, this is William Wheeler, a well-known Hollywood director."

"I dare not admit this title, there are many directors more famous than me here."

Shaking his head, rejecting Hughes' introduction, William Wheeler stretched out his hand and shook hands with Colin in front of him.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Colin Looper."

"Me too, William Wheeler."

As William Wheeler said, he was not a very famous director at the party. He had not been involved in film production for a long time. He studied violin at the music school in Paris, France in the early days. He did not come to work in New York until after World War I. He also worked in the New York office at first, and then went to the studio to serve as an assistant in some film production processes and gradually became an assistant director.

It was not until 1925, a few years ago, that he officially became a film director, most of which were westerns. So far, the most famous representative work he has shot is only the movie "Hellraiser" a few years ago.

The reason why he was able to be at the party and get acquainted with Howard Hughes was actually due to his other identity.

William Wheeler's uncle, Carl Rahnmueller, was the founder and chairman of Universal Studios, which was the main reason why he came to participate in the work of the studio.

Of course, this is just the life trajectory of William Wheeler at this stage.

In fact, after that, William Wheeler did become a well-known director in the true sense as Hughes introduced.

He shot a series of classic films including "Wuthering Heights", "The House of Brave", "The Golden Age", "Roman Holiday", "Ben-Hur", etc. Among them, "Roman Holiday" is regarded as a classic of Hollywood black-and-white movies, but in fact, "Ben-Hur" is William Wheeler's most famous masterpiece.

Because of this movie, William Wheeler received 12 nominations and eventually won 11 awards including the Best Picture Award, setting a record for the most awards at the Academy Awards.

Although Colin is not a loyal fan of many movies, it is also quite interesting to meet such a famous director in film history.

Moreover, there are many celebrities like William Wheeler throughout the party.

"So, Hughes, what kind of movie are you going to shoot this time?"

After greeting Colin, William Wheeler turned the topic to Hughes' new movie. However, a script that can impress Howard Hughes is obviously not an ordinary existence.

"I can only say that the movie will definitely shock you."

Without revealing too many details about the new movie, Hughes just raised his eyebrows and said.

Seeing that he couldn't get much useful content from Hughes, William Wheeler turned his attention to Colin on the side.

The latter shrugged his shoulders and said innocently: "I am only the screenwriter of the script, and Hughes is the one who is actually responsible for the filming."

If it were someone else, William Wyler would think that all this was just a trick of the other party, but Howard Hughes, a maverick in Hollywood, could not even guess what kind of movie he could make with his personality.

"Then I look forward to the release of your movie."

"Let's wait and see."

After expressing his expectations for the movie to Hughes, William Wyler turned around and left to talk with other guests at the party.

The other one, watching William Wheeler leave, Hughes also casually explained to Colin on the side: "Although William is a good guy, the financial situation of Universal behind him has been average in recent times, so , for a long time to come, William should only be responsible for shooting some simple movies."

Colin was convinced of this.

As Hughes said, although William Wyler produced some films during the Great Depression, most of them were not well-known and were mostly low-cost western films.

This is also related to Universal's strategy. Due to the impact of the Great Recession, the film industry is generally not profitable, so low-cost films can avoid losses to the greatest extent and ensure box office value.

Looking away from the direction of William Wyler, Hughes glanced at a crowded place in the party and said in a low voice: "In fact, not only Universal, the current situation in major Hollywood studios is generally very... Oops, that’s one of the reasons why I hate the movie industry.”

Hollywood believes that Hughes's aircraft repair shed is a complete absurdity, but from another perspective, if Hollywood is still making money, why would he put so much energy into the production of aircraft.

In addition to directing and producing, he also owns the operating rights to hundreds of movie theaters in Los Angeles. He is more keen on the context of Hollywood movies than some people present. Movie ticket prices have been declining since the beginning of this year. trend, the income of movie theaters has also plummeted rapidly. It is precisely because Hughes saw this clearly that he devoted more energy to the aviation industry.

"Of course, our Titanic will be an exception."

Although the environment was harsh, it did not affect Hughes' confidence in his film.

It can also be seen from this point that he is a very conceited existence.

Immediately afterwards, during Hughes' introduction, Colin saw Gloria Swanson at the party. This Hollywood actress in the silent film era seems to have been eliminated by talkies. Although there was still a smile on his face, there was a hint of sadness.

As an actress, Gloria Swanson is extremely talented and is very good at figuring out and catering to public psychology and values. Therefore, the clothes he wears, whether on the screen or in daily life, are often printed in fashion magazines, and his every move is widely reported.

However, the emergence of talkies brought an end to Gloria Swanson's glory. Although she appeared in several talkies, her transformation was not smooth and she had to quietly retire from the film industry. .

Later, Gloria Swanson came back and played the line of a has-been actress in "Sunset Boulevard", which also well explained the impact of talkies on silent films: "We don't need dialogue. We have expressions."

However, Greta Garbo, an actress who also came from the silent film era, was relatively lucky.

Colin and Walt once watched Greta Garbo's major talkie "Grand Hotel", in which Greta Garbo gave her wonderful performance and also completed the transition from the queen of silent films to talkies.

At the party, Greta Garbo had a sweet smile on her face, which was in sharp contrast to the sadness in Gloria Swanson's eyes not far away.

Of course, in addition to these female stars from the silent film era, there were also many male stars at the party. However, Colin did not pay much attention to these stars. He could only roughly recognize a few famous ones, including those who had also appeared in "Grand Hotel" before. John Barrymore and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. who starred in "Snow White" are the sons of Douglas Fairbanks, the prince prototype in "Snow White" that Colin had seen at the Disney studio before. However, according to Hugh Si revealed that the relationship between father and son is not good, and they have even remained hostile.

Besides these dazzling Hollywood stars, the person Colin had the most contact with was the director at the party.

As William Wyler said, there were many directors better known than him at the party.

During this period, Colin met John Ford, the only filmmaker in the history of Hollywood to win the Best Director four times. He is famous for his western films. However, none of the four Oscars he won came from in Western movies.

It is worth mentioning that the background of "The Grapes of Wrath", which John Ford won the Academy Award for Director, was based on the economic crisis of the Great Depression.

However, during this period, the films shot by John Ford were still mainly Westerns. At the same time, the great director was also adapting to the change from the silent film era to sound films, and did not win the favor of the Oscar.

When Colin saw him, the other party was discussing the difficulties of western films in the era of sound films with Frank Capra. Frank Capra was a director contracted by Columbia Studios and had been producing sound films since 1928. Ten talkies were produced in just four years, almost all of which were comedies.

Also participating in the discussion was director George Fitzmaurice. Although he is not as famous as the other two, he has also participated in the production of many films and once had a brief relationship with Alfred Hitchcock. mentor-disciple relationship.

The reason why Colin contacted the director so actively was because he had his own purpose.

During his visit to Disney Studios, Colin also asked Luo Yin about Paramount's situation. He learned that Paramount's internal operating problems were already quite serious, with losses exceeding 20 million and on the verge of bankruptcy. It was said that the New York Federal District Court had already intervened in the investigation and would declare Paramount bankrupt once it was confirmed that it was unable to operate.

Once Paramount was declared bankrupt by the court, it would face a long restructuring process, and this was also Colin's opportunity.

As far as we know, it took Paramount two years to complete the bankruptcy restructuring.

During this period, there was plenty of time for Colin to prepare. At the same time, once he decided to accept the bankrupt Paramount, he naturally needed enough directors and actors to support the operation of the film company. Therefore, the party in front of him became an important occasion for him to build connections.

This was also one of the reasons why he agreed to take Hughes' plane to travel to Los Angeles.

It was not realistic to gain a foothold in Hollywood alone.

Even Howard Hughes, his uncle Rupert Hughes, was a famous screenwriter in Hollywood.

"Colin, I think I have found the heroine of Titanic!"

On this side, while Colin was getting to know the director through the party and building his Hollywood connections, Hughes came to him on the other side and said with a somewhat excited expression.

"Where?"

Sensing the change in Hughes's expression, Colin apologized to the director Robert Z. Leonard in front of him.

Following the direction pointed by Hughes, Colin saw a maverick actress in the crowd. She did not gather together like others, but stood alone quietly. She has a rather straight nose, giving people a heroic feeling.

"Katharine Hepburn, I have asked her. She is currently signed to RKO and does not have much experience in filming movies. She has only performed in Broadway theaters."

Katharine Hepburn.

Hearing this name, Colin glanced at Hughes beside him, and the look in his eyes flickered slightly.

When it comes to Hepburn, many people will subconsciously think of Audrey Hepburn in "Roman Holiday", but in fact, Hollywood already had its own queen before that, that is Katharine Hepburn.

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