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, Michael Douglas, the most popular actor, and his winner 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 Award presenter John Lone..."

The scene 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 Shre Auditorium 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.

This new venue is larger than the old venue, Dorothy Chandler Hall, and was originally the site of the Temple of the 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.

It is said that the entrance here is very wide, so it would not be crowded. 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 came 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 by 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 the heroine Cher and her boyfriend in "Moonlight", behind is Dukakis and her husband, on the left is Diane, on the right is Donna, and then on the left are screenwriters Shanley and Nicolas Cage. 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.

The last dozen dancers, wrapped in golden tights, held a big sword in their hands and 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 stationed 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 not winning the award?

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 Che. 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 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 ( Innerspace), 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 is already pregnant, said a line from the movie...a 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 Aleandro, '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 (who made her first feature film and invented many editing techniques), 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 Seductive" The big screen on the 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 place 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 again. Ronald looked to the left, and Diane also looked at him in surprise. I don’t understand why “Moonlight” is so popular with the audience.

“Anne Ramsay—throwing her mother off the train, the final winner is…” Michael Douglas raised his voice…

Ronald drove past Diane. Olympia Dukakis, who was across the aisle, was so nervous that she couldn’t speak. She just sat there blankly, watching Glenn Gross on the stage opening the envelope.

A drumbeat 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 steadily. Ronald saw a glimmer in her eyes.

Dean Martin’s song, a variation of the theme song of “Moonlight”, began to play on the scene. The new best supporting actress came on stage to receive the award.

The applause at the scene began to grow louder again. Dukakis walked steadily. When she walked past Cher's row, she shook hands with Cher and did not stay for too long. Finally, she took the trophy from the guest after she went on stage.

"Well, I feel very honored," Dukakis paused and began to speak.

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

Dukakis was obviously very excited, with sparkling eyes, but she was an actor in a stage play, so she tried to put away her excitement. "I have said it many times, and I still want to say,

Thank you Ronald Lee...

Thank you John Patrick Shanley

Thank you my husband, for so many years... as my partner in life and work to support me

Thank you my friends and colleagues...

Finally, Michael - Let'GO!"

Olympia Dukakis controlled herself well. She knew that there was not much time for the acceptance speech for the supporting actress. After thanking her all, she finally showed her real excitement and called for her cousin Michael Dukakis, the presidential candidate of the Donkey Party, to work as hard as she did to win the upcoming Super Tuesday primary!

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

The screen can be raised and lowered at any time, and the outside is wrapped in a painting frame. As the winners, award presenters and other guests came on stage, there were stills of their representative works as background introductions to make the audience familiar.

The stills of Dukakis' mother in pajamas in the breakfast scene slowly rose as she left the stage, and the audience applauded and congratulated her.

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

"Congratulations!" Thousands of words are in this sentence.

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

Seeing the audience still clapping, Ronald looked at the crew around him. Nicolas Cage also looked over and noticed the abnormality of the applause for Dukakis.

Then came screenwriter John Patrick Shanley. He was participating in the Oscars for the first time and didn't know that the unexpectedly loud applause for Dukakis was particularly rare.

"What happened?"

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

"Next is the Best Art Direction..." Chevy Chase didn't tell his cliché jokes this time.

Boom boom boom... The drumbeats began to sound, not after the winners were announced, but before the award presenters were announced.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the award presenter is... Olivia de Havilland, who has been nominated for five Oscars and won twice..."

The frame showed a still of de Havilland playing Gone with the Wind, which slowly rose. The theme song of "Gone with the Wind" began to play at the scene. After the last note stopped, the stills rose to the highest point, and the lights were on the back...

Olivia de Havilland walked to the podium in a full red dress and a big sapphire necklace.

Wow...

This show was even 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 going on? This abnormal applause is the second time today.

Ronald also sat down slowly.

The old lady's line skills are excellent, and her speech is ups and downs, which has the charm of a classical actor. People can't help but recall the Melanie she played decades ago.

"I played a story of eight centuries on the screen, from Robin Hood to the Civil War. The actors need the help of artistic directors to get into the role..."

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

The graceful, stringed and oriental theme song of "The Last Emperor" sounded, and the winners began to go on stage to receive their awards.

However, the applause was much smaller this time, and even the theme song was not changed. The soft orchestrations in it were heard clearly.

Ronald, feeling strange, looked at Donna on his right again. She didn't applaud hard.

Today is the first awards ceremony held in the new venue. Because there are many 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 have seen Moonlight, and Olympia is so good. I haven't seen The Last Emperor yet. I don't know if it is good..."

Donna's words seemed to give Ronald an inspiration.

De Havilland's Gone with the Wind is the most watched Hollywood movie in history. Many of the audiences are outsiders like Donna. They don't know what movies like "The Last Emperor" and "Moonlight" are that they like.

Ronald took out the list of all the nominated films prepared by his agent today, and just glanced at it. Sure enough, his guess was right.

Many very successful movies at the box office, such as his own "Dirty Dancing", "Beverly Cop 2", "Lethal Weapon", "Predator", "Robocop", "Swimming", etc., were not nominated, or only had one or two small awards.

As for the movies nominated for the best picture, director, performance, screenplay, etc., except for "Moonlight" which has reached 25 million box office figures after being nominated, "Fatal Attraction" 140 million, and "News on the Road" 35 million, the other nominated movies for the major awards did not exceed 20 million.

The best performing "The Last Emperor" only earned a little over 10 million after a long period of screening. There are also several movies nominated for best picture, best director, best actor and actress, and best screenplay, with the most earning 1-2 million, and the least earning hundreds of thousands. Except for people in the industry, few audiences have watched them.

"No wonder they applauded Olympia Dukakis. She acted well and impressed people on the one hand. Anne Archer in Fatal Attraction, the wife supporting role, left little impression on the audience compared to the male and female protagonists. The audience has not seen much of the other nominees, so how can they applaud."