Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Welcome to the 60th Academy Awards live broadcast..."

At their house in Staten Island, New York, Ronald's aunt Karen was watching live television with her boyfriend. She had prepared snacks and black tea early, tuned to ABC TV station, and was just waiting for the live broadcast to start.

"The 60th Academy Awards were star-studded, including the beautiful 'Dirty Dancing' heroine Jennifer Grey, Best Supporting Actor nominee Sean Connery, the most popular actor Michael Douglas, and his winning Beautiful female producer Shirley Lansing of the nominated film 'Fatal Attraction'…

The two people holding leather bags are accountants from PricewaterhouseCoopers. In the bag is tonight's list of winners, which ensures the confidentiality and professionalism of tonight's list of winners..."

Aunt Karen saw the leather bag containing the results, picked up the latest issue of Vanity Fair magazine, turned to the Oscar prediction column, and said to her boyfriend:

"Look at this, the probability of winning is analyzed above. Ronald's Best Director ranking is only ranked third after The Last Emperor and Famous Attraction. Isn't there a lot of hope?"

"I'm rooting for Ronald. But, dear, if you care so much about whether Ronald wins the award, why are you unwilling to go when he invites you to the awards ceremony?"

Aunt Karen hit her boyfriend, "I'm sorry..." It turned out that Aunt Karen had long suspected that Ronald wanted to film the story of a widow who found love again, which was somewhat related to her. The protagonist played by Cher is quite similar to her own situation.

"Look, is that Ronald?" Aunt Karen and her boyfriend chatted affectionately for a while, and the live TV camera captured Ronald and Diane...

"Ronald Lee, who won the best director for Moonstruck...and Louis Malle and his beautiful girlfriend Candace Bergen, the big star Mel Gibson, the actor of The Last Emperor and Today The presenter of the award is johnlone..."

The scenes of Ronald and Diane flashed by. Aunt Karen was still very happy and shed tears of excitement, "Oh, it would be great if my sister could see today..."

…

Outside the Temple Theater in Los Angeles, this Moorish-style building is the venue for the new Hollywood Academy Awards gala.

Ronald and Diane had just passed the TV cameraman when they were blocked in the sermon between the place where they got off the bus and the gate. The guests in front stopped moving, and the flow of people kept coming from behind. Ronald had to let Diane walk in front of him to prevent the new dress from getting stained.

The new venue is larger than the old venue, Dorothy Chandler Hall,

It turned out to be the location of the temple of the Temple Brotherhood, the largest branch of Freemasonry in America. Ronald looked at the domed spires on the four corners of the building, which were full of Middle Eastern Arabian style. When this organization was established, it was deliberately made in a Middle Eastern style in order to attract members.

However, its current religious use is completely different from its original use. Now it is mainly used for rock concerts and large-scale events.

Ordinarily, the entrance here is very wide, so it wouldn't be crowded in the first place. It's all caused by Chevy Chase, the host of this year's Oscars ceremony, the comedian who is full of bad taste.

"Hello, hello, how do you feel?" Chevy Chase didn't know whose hand he shook. He was mainly doing it to make jokes. "Dear audience friends, don't be fooled by these people wearing tuxedos and sitting in the seats. The people who arrived in luxury cars were deceived. Although they are famous actors, directors, screenwriters, and producers, they are all very nervous today. They are just...well, just a nominee..."

"I'm not nervous, just let us in right now." Ronald cursed secretly, what's going on with such a crappy talk show at the gate?

"Didn't you prepare an acceptance speech?" Diane exposed him mercilessly from the side.

"What if?" Ronald smiled... and greeted Olympia Dukakis who was also blocked in the back. She also dressed up today and came with her husband.

The flow of people in front finally began to loosen, and Ronald and his team were able to move forward. When passing Chevy Chase, I saw that he had taken off the microphone and was checking the time with his assistant, "Did I say it was a full minute? Did I say it was a full minute?"

Ronald also shook his head and smiled bitterly. It was really difficult for this old man who could only make some dirty jokes to host the Oscars for the second consecutive year.

However, Samuel Goldwyn Jr., the producer of the awards ceremony, is also unavailable. During this year’s writers’ strike, the Writers Guild refused to grant a special license to the Oscars Awards Show. There was no screenwriter to write scenes and jokes, so last year’s host could only be used. Chevy Chase continued, those bad words just now were all performed by him on the spot, which is really a headache.

Ronald might win, so he sat in the front row, aisle-side. In the front is Cher, the heroine of "Moonlight" and her boyfriend, behind is Dukakis and her husband, on the left is Diane, on the right is Donna, and beyond are the screenwriters Shanley and Nicolas Cage, separated by the left Down the aisle were Patrick Schwytz and Jennifer Gray from "Dirty Dancing."

The person who arranged the seats was careful, Ronald unbuttoned his dress and sat down. In this solemn occasion, everyone said little, waiting for the ceremony to begin.

After the lights in the hall dimmed, the lights on the stage came on, and the small white grids like the windows of the buildings represented the work of each type of work in the film. The actors in it acted poorly, and their actions were wrong in many places...

Ronald wanted to facepalm, that's what acting without a script is like.

Finally, a dozen dancers wrapped in golden tights, holding a big sword in their hands, began to dance to the music. The laser in the center of the stage shone on them and reflected golden light on them. Finally, they boarded the small On the stage, the big sword is placed on the ground and transformed into little golden figures.

"Good evening, Hollywood hypocrites..." Chevy Chase came up and started tonight's awards ceremony. "As you may know, the Writers Guild is on strike, so they hired me, a comedian, to be the host. We won't follow the script tonight, so I'll hurry up and save time."

As he said this, he took out a handful of envelopes from his pocket, "Bertolucci, Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep," and then flew the envelopes one by one to the audience.

"Oh, shxt", Ronald cursed in his mind and kept calm on face. This host simply has no taste. The Oscars show under strike was disastrous from the start.

"Just kidding, just kidding, none of what I just said is a winner. …"

Ronald was stunned. A joke of this level is so bad. You might as well not say the last sentence. Nicholson and Streep were both nominated for a romantic tragedy. Is this a curse for them not to win?

Most of the audience did not laugh, and the few who laughed quickly realized something was wrong and stopped laughing. There was a rare silence at the scene.

Idiots like Chevy Chase also realized something was wrong and had to forcefully say, "The Writers Guild is still on strike, so all my lines tonight were neither written by me nor by members of the Writers Guild. They were actually written by Several college students at the University of Southern California donated it to me..."

Ronald turned his head and looked around, and found that the supporting actress in "Gone with the Wind", Mrs. Olivia de Havilland, seemed to have the same feeling as him. She had a straight face and looked at Chevy Chevy. Very dissatisfied with the vulgar jokes.

Then Chevy Chase half-jokingly asked the audience to forgive possible errors during the live broadcast, because there was really no script, and also introduced that there would be other comedians to be responsible for the transition between different award stages...

Ronald could only smile bitterly. There was really no other way. Let the comedians delay the time. They told some jokes to delay the lack of live performances.

Sean Connery first presented the award for the best special effects. He went up and said a bunch of clichés about how special effects can create volcanoes, avalanches, and explosions in movies, and then read out the list of nominees. The final winner was The Amazing Flight. Apart from it only one other "Predator" was nominated.

Posters for the award-winning movie were displayed on the big screen. This movie stars Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan. Since Quaid broke up with Leigh Thompson, he hooked up with Ronald's co-star Meg Ryan. Ryan.

The screen was quickly removed, allowing the team, each with two acceptance speeches, to exit, followed by the first acting award of the night, Best Supporting Actress.

"The awards presented to us are the leading actors and actresses of a blockbuster film. The plot is very interesting. A professional woman had a one-night stand with her colleague. She didn't want to stay together all night, so she took a knife to break up the colleague's family... Fatal Attraction force……"

After Chevy Chase finished speaking, the big poster of Fatal Attraction was raised on the stage, and the award guests, Michael Douglas and Glenn Gross, came out from behind.

"I'm so happy that we can do this together..." Glenn Gross, who was already pregnant, said a line from the movie...and the guests laughed after the pun.

"Um..." Michael Douglas paused deliberately. More viewers understood, and the laughter became louder again, "This lady is really capable... Let's hurry up and award the award..."

"Great idea...the nominee for Best Supporting Actress is..." Glenn Gross began reading the list of nominees.

"Norma Alandro, 'Gaby: A True Story'"

The camera captured her, an Argentinian Latina actress. The movie is a co-production between America and Mexico.

"Ann Sassen - The Whale of August", this is an old lady, everyone applauded warmly. It's not because of Ann Sassen herself, but there is something very unbelievable about this movie. The heroine is Lillian Gish, the first female star of the silent film period, who collaborated with Bette Davis.

The actress, who made a movie with director DW Griffiths, is already in her nineties. Many people don't know that she is still alive and can make movies and be the heroine. She was unable to come to the event because she was too old, but some elderly people present still applauded because of her.

"Olympia Dukakis - Moonlight Sultry" The big screen on stage showed Dukakis speaking to Cher... and then cut to Dukakis himself sitting in the audience.

The audience's applause and cheers suddenly increased in volume, and some people whistled loudly at the scene.

Ronald was shocked. Why was Dukakis so popular? It seemed like the whole crowd was cheering for her.

“Anne Archer—Fatal Attraction,” announces Glenn Gross, the supporting actress who plays Mrs. Douglas in Fatal Attraction, who ends up gunning down Gross’ character.

The cheers and applause suddenly dropped a little. Ronald looked to his left, and Diane also looked at him in surprise. I don’t understand why “Moonlight Sultry” is so popular with the audience.

"Anne Ramsay - Throw Mummy from the Train, and the winner is..." Michael Douglas raised his voice...

Ronald drove past Diane. Across the aisle, Olympia Dukakis was too nervous to speak. She just sat there blankly, watching Glenn Gross on the stage. envelope.

A drum beat sounded, and Glenn Gross finally opened the envelope:

"Olympia Dukakis!"

Olympia Dukakis next to her breathed a sigh of relief. She kissed her husband, then stood up and stepped forward very steadily. Ronald saw a sparkle in her eyes.

The scene began to play a variation of the theme song of Dean Martin's "Moonlight". Leading the new Best Supporting Actress to the stage to receive the award.

The applause at the scene began to get louder again. Dukakis walked very steadily. When she passed Cher's row, she even shook hands with Cher. She didn't stay for too long. After finally taking the stage, she took the hand from the guest. won the trophy.

"Well, I'm very honored," Dukakis paused before launching into his speech.

"Thank you to the members of the academy..."

Dukakis was obviously very excited, her eyes sparkling, but as a stage actress, she tried her best to contain her excitement, "I've said it many times, and I still want to say,

Thanks to Ronald Lee…

Thanks to John Patrick Shanley

Thanks to my husband for being my partner in life and work over the years...

Thanks to my friends and colleagues…

Finally, Michael—let’go!”

Olympia Dukakis controlled it very well. She knew that she didn’t have much time to give her supporting actress acceptance speech. After a round of thanking her, she finally showed her true excitement for her cousin Michael Dukakis, the leader of the Donkey Party. Lead the candidates to shout and let them work as hard as themselves to win in the upcoming Super Tuesday primaries!

Dean Martin's "That's Love" played again. The host of this year's Oscars was poor, but the coordination of various details was very good. The sound equipment in the new venue is much better than that in the old venue, and the winner's theme music can be switched at any time.

The screen, which can be raised and lowered at any time, is wrapped like an oil painting frame. As the winners, award presenters and other guests come on stage, they have stills of their masterpieces as background introductions to familiarize the audience.

The stills of the mother played by Dukakis in her pajamas in the breakfast scene slowly rose as she came off, and the audience kept applauding to express their congratulations.

Ronald stood up, waited for Dukakis to come down, gave her a hug, and kissed her on the cheek.

"Congratulations!" Thousands of words can be said in this sentence.

"Thank you, Ronald." Olympia Dukakis couldn't help it anymore and hugged her husband's shoulders tightly. Her husband was also a stage actor. The two of them worked hard to play the supporting actress role in "Moonlight" , it was a decision that changed her destiny.

Seeing that the audience was still applauding, Ronald looked at the crew around him, and Nicolas Cage also looked over. He also noticed the abnormality in the applause for Dukakis.

Then there was screenwriter John Patrick Shanley, who was attending the Oscars for the first time and had no idea that Dukakis's unexpectedly loud ovation was particularly rare.

"What happened?"

With a big question mark in his heart, Ronald put away his doubts and sat down.

"The next award is for the best art direction..." Chevy Chase didn't tell his bad jokes this time.

Dongdongdongdong... The drumbeat started to sound, this time not after the winner was announced, but before the award winner was announced.

"Ladies and gentlemen, our presenter is...five-time Oscar nominee, two-time winner, Olivia de Havilland..."

On top of the frame was a still of de Havilland's Gone with the Wind, rising slowly. The theme song of "Gone with the Wind" began to play on the scene. After the last note stopped, the stills rose to the highest level and the lights hit the back...

Olivia de Havilland walked to the podium wearing an all-red dress and a large sapphire necklace.

Oops...

This scene was bigger than the winner. All the audience stood up to pay tribute to this Hollywood legend. The applause was comparable to that of Dukakis just now.

what's up? This is the second abnormal applause today.

Ronald also slowly sat down.

The old lady's line skills are excellent, her speech is cadenced, and she has the charm of a classical actor. It's reminiscent of the Melanie she played decades ago.

"I have played eight centuries of stories on the screen, from Robin Hood to the Civil War. Actors need the help of artistic directors to get into the roles..."

"The winner is..." Olivia de Havilland paused with an accent, "Ferdinand Scafioti, the Last Emperor"

The graceful theme song of "The Last Emperor", with silk and bamboo tunes and full of oriental charm, sounded, and the winners began to come on stage to receive their awards.

But this time the applause was much smaller, and even the theme song was not changed. The soft orchestration in it could be heard clearly.

Ronald, who felt strange, looked at Donna on his right. I saw that she didn't clap hard.

Today is the first time the awards ceremony will be held in the new venue. Because there are a lot more seats, nominees can bring their family members to attend, and Donna also came to attend.

"Why don't you applaud? I saw you applauded Dukakis very enthusiastically just now?" Ronald asked his cousin in a low voice.

"I've seen Moonlight and Seductive. Olympia was so great. I haven't watched The Last Emperor yet. I don't know if it's good or not..."

Donna's words seemed to give Ronald an inspiration.

De Havilland's Gone with the Wind is the most-watched Hollywood film of all time. Many of the audience at the scene were outsiders like Donna. They didn't know what movies like "The Last Emperor" and "Moonlight" were their favorites.

Ronald took out the list of all the nominated films prepared by his agent and scanned them casually. Sure enough, his guess was right.

Many movies that are very successful at the box office, such as their own "Dirty Dancing", "Beverly Cop 2", "Lethal Weapon", "Predator", "RoboCop", "The Show", etc. There are no nominations, or only one or two minor awards.

Among the films that have been nominated for major awards such as Best Picture, Director, Acting, Screenplay, etc., except for "Moonlight", which has a box office number of 25 million after the nomination, and "Fatal Attraction", which has a box office number of 140 million, "Broadcast News" was 35 million, and none of the films nominated for the other major awards exceeded 20 million.

The best-performing "The Last Emperor" only earned over 10 million after a long run. There are also several films nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Screenplay, which are one or two million more. , less than a few hundred thousand, and apart from insiders, there are very few viewers who have watched it.

"No wonder they applauded Olympia Dukakis. She acted well and impressed people on the one hand. Anne Archer in Fatal Attraction, the supporting role of the wife, was not as impressive to the audience compared to the leading actor and actress. Other nominations People, the audience didn’t even watch it, how could they applaud.”