Made in Hollywood

"Best Feature Film Winner is..."

On the stage, Keanu Reeves opened the envelope and glanced at it, with an incredible look on his face, as if he couldn't believe the result. He adjusted for two seconds before slowly reading the result. , "The winner of the Best Feature Film at the 61st Golden Globe Awards is..."Cold Mountain"!"

In the banquet hall of the Hilton Hotel, the atmosphere froze for a while, and monotonous applause sounded first from a corner. Duke glanced sideways, and there were several film critics sitting there.

In any case, applause is bound to sound, and the situation in the hall has been broadcast live to the United States through TV. Even if the result is unexpected, the applause cannot be sparse with the preparation of the organizer.

Everyone clapped their palms one after another, but the accident only lasted for a short period of time. After all, the shady story of the Golden Globe Awards, not to mention those in the industry, even the public heard about it.

If there is no cramp and no controversy, is the Golden Globe still the Golden Globe?

Sitting at the banquet table, Duke was also applauding softly. In front of him was a Golden Globe Award trophy. This was the best director trophy he had just won. The meaning of the Golden Globe Award is more clear than Oscar. In the case of less than 100 judges, the award must always take into account the interests of all parties.

"I didn't expect it to be Cold Mountain."

On Duke's left, Nancy Josephson couldn't help looking at another table, where sat Harvey Weinstein from Miramax Films, "Duke, our attention is on In "Fighting on the Furious Sea", some ignored the other party's double insurance."

"It's okay." Duke shook his head indifferently, "Nancy, this is just the Golden Globe Award."

I don't know since when, the world has been rumored that the Golden Globes are the best bellwether for the Oscars, but Duke has been in Hollywood for more than a decade. It is very clear that this statement is very unreliable. There is no overlap between the Golden Globes judges and the Oscar judges - the members of the Academy. The judges of the Globes, because the Golden Globes judges have such a bad reputation.

Compared with the Golden Globe Awards, which have little to do with the Oscars, the Producers League Award, the Directors Guild Award, and the Screen Actors Guild Award are the true vane of the Oscars. The reason is very simple. The judges of these Hollywood industry union awards are basically members of the film academy...

Not to mention these union awards, throughout the history of the Oscars, it is not difficult to find that even the three major Film Critics Association awards have more influence on the Oscars than the Golden Globe Awards.

Duke didn't spend his energy on the Golden Globes at all, and he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Director, but he was a little surprised.

As expected, this awards season. The competition between Duke and "The Return of the King" in terms of awards comes from Miramax. In order to ensure the heavyweight Oscar award, the Weinstein brothers used the double insurance strategy of "Cold Mountain" and "Raging Sea". .

After the award ceremony, Duke did not attend the subsequent celebration party and left the Hilton Hotel directly.

Time is slowly approaching February, and the announcement of the Oscar nominations is getting closer and closer, and the global box office of "The Return of the King" has slowly surpassed 1.55 billion US dollars. For the upcoming Oscars, that's both an advantage. Also a disadvantage.

When the commercial explosion of commercial films reaches a certain level, many judges cannot ignore it; but "The Return of the King" is not a commercial film based on real events like "Titanic", and there are inherent deficiencies.

Film critics, in particular, published commentary articles in their columns one after another, constantly reminding Oscar judges, veteran film critics like Roger Ebert. He also used the network of relationships he had made over the years to frequently visit the residences and gatherings of some senior members of the academy, striving to influence more people.

"The return of the king is the biggest compliment to be nominated for the Oscars."

In an office, Roger Albert said to the woman in her fifties with a resolute expression. "Cheryl, "The Return of the King" is a purely non-realistic commercial film, shouldn't the academy maintain the rigor of art? The Oscars have always been the last frontier of Hollywood art films, and you want to see the last front. Invaded by business?"

"No one wants to see a commercial film become an Oscar winner." Cheryl Isaacs said slowly, "Roger, I see what you mean."

Roger Albert looked at this woman. The other party was not well-known in the United States, but he was famous in Hollywood, especially in the Oscars. As a member of the executive committee, he could easily influence the choices of many people, but those actors and directors thought It's not easy to get her to do it. The most famous point is the 'stamp collecting' hobby.

Every time before the Oscars, there are always men who want to make a difference at the Oscars and come to them.

Even, in Roger Albert's view, the number of Hollywood male stars the other party has played with should be able to rank at the forefront of the entire Hollywood.

Cheryl Isaacs is not easy to impress, and Roger Albert also knows that he does not have such beauty, but the two have been in friendship for decades, and as early as 1995, the other party has passed some channels. , released some information to Duke Rosenberg, but was rejected by the young director without hesitation.

And for Cheryl Isaacs, who likes to collect celebrities, she wouldn't want to see Duke Rosenberg as the winner.

Not only Roger Albert, David Demby, Todd McCarthy and many other well-known film critics are running around Los Angeles, frequently meeting with members of the Academy, showing 120,000 points of spirit, wanting to Stop the one they dislike from being the Oscar winner.

There are external attacks by professional film critic groups, and internal competition from Miramax Films. Duke is very sure that the situation he faces is far more difficult than that of Peter Jackson. The defeat of "The Return of the King" at the Oscars also Not impossible.

Starting from "Independence Day", the conflicts between him and film critics that have been accumulating for many years have come to the last moment of eruption.

But Duke has never regretted it. If there is another chance to come back, he will still take the initiative to fight back on "Independence Day" to create hot news and maintain the film income that is impossible to give up.

Of course, Duke's enemies are far more than professional film critics.

However, another group of people has no time to take care of Duke and Oscar for the time being, and they have more important projects to execute.

"A film critic created by the media really thinks he is the god of the film industry."

In the spacious office, Michael Ovitz's face was full of disdain, "Roger Albert is too arrogant, does he still think it's the 1980s and 1990s?"

"Could it be..." Martin Bob said unwillingly, "are we just watching him become the best director at the Oscars?"

He then turned to the young man in the room, "David, do you want to see Duke Rosenberg win an Oscar?"

David Ellison replied without hesitation, "Of course not! If a person rejects your offer of friendship and cooperation several times in a row, will you like him?"

Although the original proposal was rejected, he still had certain expectations. While discussing cooperation with the artist management company, he did not give up the contact with the Duke studio. The result was very unsatisfactory, no matter what kind of cooperation he proposed. , and all the replies that come are refusal.

For a proud man who can get what he wants since he was a child, this has already hurt his face and self-esteem.

Maybe the old foxes in Hollywood won't take this seriously, but a rich and powerful young man in his early twenties can't swallow this breath.

David Ellison didn't even think about it and just laughed it off.

"Michael, don't we really do nothing?" He looked at Ovitz, his arrogance and arrogance, like his father, "Just watching Duke Rosenberg get the little gold people?"

"You don't know what's going on, David." Michael Ovitz kept his composure, "Even if we do something, it's hard to stop Duke Rosenberg, the academy is no one's academy, it doesn't belong Owned by Harvey Weinstein and not the puppet of a professional film critic..."

Having said this, he paused for a while, sighed, and then said, "Duke Rosenberg is indeed not the type of director the Academy likes, but his trilogy has accumulated too many advantages, even if No matter how high-level the academy is and how shady it is, it must ensure the most basic level of fairness and justice. Although this level of fairness and justice is extremely limited, it is enough..."

He shrugged, didn't continue talking, but turned to other aspects, "Even if we let Duke Rosenberg lose the statue, will it have a substantial impact on him?"

Martin Bob and David Ellison sat, lost in thought.

Michael Ovitz didn't ask them to wait and gave the answer directly, "Even if he loses the Oscar, it will have little impact on Duke Rosenberg. He is based on business, and commercial movies are his foundation, as long as his The movie continues to maintain high returns, and his status in Hollywood will continue to rise, so high that everyone can only look up!"

"Then we will target his commercial films and destroy his foundation in Hollywood!" David Ellison said confidently.

"I got a piece of news." Michael Ovitz suddenly laughed. "Duke and Warner plan to restart the Batman series. How difficult is it to regenerate this series? You should know very well."

"You mean..." David Ellison understood immediately, "Our project is for the new Batman?"

"That's right!" Michael Ovitz's eyes lit up, "Batman is our best chance, the reputation of this series has been ruined, and Duke Rosenberg wants to turn it around by himself. , it's not that simple."

"And our air combat program..."

David Ellison laughed, as if he had turned into an aerial hero and shot down the big bat from the sky. (To be continued..)

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