From Flower Vase to Film Emperor in Hollywood

On December 26th, the nominations for the 60th Golden Globe Awards were announced.

The fiercely competitive landscape of this year's awards season was hailed as a chaotic "bumper year" by many film critics, attracting countless eyes, and naturally, the attention on the Golden Globe nominations soared.

Which works were nominated and which were left behind in the Best Motion Picture – Drama category? Did any new developments arise in the intense competition for Best Actor and Actress? Which films managed to break through and secure a nomination in the screenplay category?

And so on and so forth.

As soon as this year's nominations were released, controversy immediately dominated the headlines of major media outlets—

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association had once again made a laughingstock of themselves.

For Best Director, there are generally five nomination slots; that's the rule.

However, this year the competition was so fierce that the association struggled to decide, and in the end, the Golden Globe nominations list featured a full six names:

"Gangs of New York", Martin Scorsese.

"The Hours", Stephen Daldry.

"Adaptation.", Spike Jonze.

"About Schmidt", Alexander Payne.

"Chicago", Rob Marshall.

"The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers", Peter Jackson.

This…

Controversy erupted instantly.

Professionals expressed their opinions one after another, questioning whether they knew this year was a bumper year, whether they knew that masterpieces were emerging frequently and comprehensively.

Even with a list of six nominations, a series of overlooked gems could still be seen: Steven Spielberg for "Catch Me If You Can," Roman Polanski for "The Pianist," Todd Haynes for "Far from Heaven," and so on and so forth.

People inevitably discussed "who should be kicked out if there were only five nominations," "who got a nomination through back channels," and "who broke the rules."

And so on and so forth.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association tried to reward the work of more directors, and their intention was good; but their method was foolish.

This once again proved that the Golden Globes are simply a joke.

A complete uproar!

After the nominations were announced, the arguments and heated discussions simply couldn't stop.

This wasn't the social media era yet; otherwise, it would have 100% topped the trending searches, and with keywords like "behind the scenes," "insider deals," and "overrated," it could have stayed on the trending list for even longer.

It was precisely because of this that Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks didn't spend time and energy on the busy awards season, which was praised by many movie fans as wise.

And then.

After the first wave of discussion, people finally discovered a key point:

Anson Wood!

Anson's name actually appeared on the Golden Globe nominations list!

Things suddenly became interesting.

Anson's shining name could be seen on the nomination list for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy.

Richard Gere, "Chicago"; Hugh Grant, "About a Boy"; Nicolas Cage, "Adaptation."; Adam Sandler, "Punch-Drunk Love".

And, Anson Wood, "Catch Me If You Can".

Wow. Wow!

Each and every one of them was a big name, a well-known superstar, and seeing Anson's name among them was like a breath of fresh air.

Regarding this, everyone from Anson to DreamWorks had not anticipated it at all.

When Edgar called, Anson was resting in the car with his eyes closed, drowsy and almost asleep, his brain a mess—

The flash mob event, on the surface, looked glamorous and boundless, igniting a heatwave as if the naked eye could see the traffic and popularity sweeping across the entire North American continent; but behind it was Anson's tireless journey day and night, with almost not enough sleep every day, constantly switching between moving, changing appearances, and meeting fans.

Even though Anson was only twenty years old, he felt a sense of overdraft after just a few days.

No wonder when watching film crews promote their movies in the past, the more it went on, the more it exuded a sense of hopeless perfunctoriness; doing business is indeed not an easy thing.

As a result, Anson could barely open his eyes when he answered the phone.

On the other end of the phone, Edgar was extremely excited, sharing the joy with great enthusiasm.

"Surprise. A 100% surprise."

"I originally had no hope, even though Steven and Tom were in charge this time, the competition in this year's awards season exceeded expectations."

"I didn't expect it."

"Haha, I didn't expect it!"

"This is a good thing. It doesn't matter if we don't get nominated for the Oscars. Even if it's just a nomination in the Musical or Comedy category, the fact that we've appeared in the awards season's field of vision means that you've broken into this field."

"Of course, they can continue to say that you're an idol, just like Hugh Grant and Richard Gere, but the entire industry's situation is different, and we have more possibilities."

"And this is still Steven and Tom's work."

"Haha, now I need to start publicity, not for Oscar public relations, but to get people to go to the cinema to watch this movie and plant a thought in people's minds: Anson is an actor, Anson is an actor, Anson is an actor."

"Maybe we should create controversy and say that you should join the competition in the drama category instead of the musical or comedy category. The bigger the controversy, the better."

"Ah, Anson, I need to give Eve a call. I'll talk to you later."

Blah blah blah.

After "Catch Me If You Can" confirmed the collaboration last year, Edgar had been planning and laying out the strategy. He didn't expect Anson to transform from an idol to an acting powerhouse overnight. Looking at how Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt hadn't succeeded in their transformation after ten years, he knew how serious Hollywood's prejudice against idol vases was; moreover, being an idol was also pretty good—

At least there was a constant stream of work and the pay was considerable.

What Edgar was really aiming for was to broaden his acting range and create more possibilities. Even among idols, there were Matthew McConaughey and Hugh Grant, who specialized in romantic roles, Adam Sandler, who specialized in comedy roles, and Keanu Reeves, who was a versatile handsome guy who could fight and be romantic. He didn't want Anson's job opportunities to be trapped in youth superhero roles like "Spider-Man".

Planning, laying out, and promoting.

Now, it was finally paying off—

What nomination? It wasn't important. What was important was opening a window through the nomination.

Especially since DreamWorks didn't spend too much energy and investment in public relations this time, and Anson still got a nomination, which could be seen from the side that Anson's influence in Hollywood was steadily increasing.

This was the real good thing.

No wonder Edgar, who was always calm and collected, revealed a side he had never shown before.

The entire call was basically Edgar talking by himself, with inspiration erupting in full force. His joy and cheerfulness could be felt through the receiver.

And Anson, on the other end of the phone, was confused throughout, vaguely understanding what had happened between being half-asleep and half-awake, but ultimately had no real feeling. After hanging up the phone, he fell asleep, just like that… he fell asleep directly.

It wasn't until a few days later that the sense of reality slowly squeezed into Anson's stomach—

From the flash mob event site.

The audience members kept congratulating him, sincerely rejoicing for him as if they had received the nomination, one, two, three, four, five.

Then, Anson finally had a sense of reality.

Ah, Golden Globe nomination.