Chapter 208 Nine Out of Ten

Obviously, this is when competitors started to find fault with Wu Yuchen.

Wu Yuchen's record-breaking double nomination for Best Director is an undisputed advantage. No one can deny this. If that's the case, let's pick on him in other ways.

And Wu Yuchen has two weaknesses.

First, his skin color, or his race. The current international situation is not as tense as it was 20 years ago. Hollywood will not do anything specifically targeting Chinese people. They simply look down on people of any color, including black people, because Hollywood now is completely dominated by white people!

For example, 94% of the current Oscar judges are white. If racial discrimination occurs, there will be no room for other races in the Oscars. It’s just that white people are now divided. More and more white leftists are siding with people of color. Hollywood is a gathering place for white leftists. These people support the affirmative action. Therefore, more and more awards have been awarded in recent years. Begins to be obtained by black people.

Compared with black people, yellow people actually have less say in Hollywood. However, although everyone is well aware of the topic of race and skin color, no one dares to openly attack the other party with these things, otherwise they will first be labeled as racist.

Wu Yuchen is not worried about the issue of skin color, because there are previous examples here. Li An won the Oscar in 2001, and he was also nominated for Best Director. Basically at the same time period, if there is no problem with Li An, Wu Yuchen will not worry about this.

And this second point is the biggest weakness that Wu Yuchen was pointed out, he is too young!

The Oscars also pay attention to seniority. This phenomenon is especially obvious among actors. Young actors represented by Xiao Xianrou basically have no chance of winning the Oscar for Best Actor. Because directors are not on stage, they are not as conspicuous as actors, but there is also a phenomenon of seniority.

Wu Yuchen's age is obvious here, so he will naturally be used as a breakthrough by the enemy.

In fact, this is what Wu Yuchen himself is most worried about. To a certain extent, being young means making way for the old guys. Anyway, you young people still have plenty of time. We old guys have already stepped into the coffin with half a foot, how can we be so ignorant? ?

Therefore, even though he received two nominations at the same time, Wu Yuchen did not dare to say that he had an advantage, and he did not have much confidence in his heart.

Of course, Wu Yuchen's public relations team was not just idle. They immediately came up with a response plan, directly asked the relevant media to speak on their behalf, and went through Wu Yuchen's past film resume and listed it item by item:

From the initial Best Short Film Golden Bear for "Che 44", to the Best Film at the Sydney Film Festival for "The Night the Comet Came", to the Best Director at the Tokyo Film Festival for "The Two of Us", and then the Best Director in Berlin for "Run Lola Run", "Don't Get Water" Berlin Golden Bear, "Love" Venice Golden Lion, and three commercial films that have been widely circulated in the United States in recent years, "Black Hole Frequency", "Sniper Phone Booth" and "The Sixth Sense", among which "Black Hole Frequency" It also won the most prestigious award for American science fiction films, the Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film, and "My Sassy Girl" and "If Love Has a Will", which caused a wave of trends in Asia, were also mentioned.

Judging from Wu Yuchen's film resume and glory, as well as box office, it is better than many directors who have been making movies for a lifetime. Shouldn't the award be based on watching the movie itself? Even if it's a comparison of qualifications, shouldn't the comparison be based on past film results and resume, but rather age? If this is the case, the Best Director Award might as well be renamed the Oldest Director Award!

At the same time, Wu Yuchen and the others also dragged their opponent into the water. It was none other than Sam Mendes, the director of "American Beauty."

Sam Mendes is actually only 34 years old this year, and he used to be a stage play and musical director in the UK. "American Beauty" is his first solo film. His previous film resume is zero, blank! From this perspective, in fact, his qualifications are far worse than Wu Yuchen, and he is even the weakest director among the four best director candidates!

In addition to Sam Mendes and Wu Yuchen, the other two directors are Swedish director Lese Hallstrom, 55 years old, of "Always Sunshine", and Michael Mann, director of "The Insider" , 57 years old this year. To be honest, Sam Mendes is more than 20 years older than these two directors, and he is too young!

At this point, things get interesting.

Because judging from the situation at the Outpost, everyone is more optimistic about Sam Mendes and Wu Yuchen from the movie itself. However, both of them are relatively young, and Sam Mendes is the first one. Just a newbie in filmmaking. As for the other two old guys' movies, they seem to be weaker than the young ones.

So now, should we choose old guys based on seniority, or should we choose young people?

If Sam Mendes is chosen, then why not Justin Wu? Although he is young, double nominations and a much richer resume than Sam Mendes, a newbie, are Wu Yuchen's real advantages!

This is Wu Yuchen's coping strategy. Since my weakness is here and I can't change it, I will simply drag you into the water!

He remembers clearly that in his previous Oscars, Sam Mendes, a novice directing a film for the first time, won the Best Director, so now he wants to label him as a young man and bring him to the same starting line as himself. Let’s see how you guys choose!

This action made Sam Mendes a little anxious. The news accusing Wu Yuchen of his age was not issued by them, but now he has been dragged into the water. His weak resume was thrust into the spotlight, as if a loudspeaker was telling everyone that this guy is a newcomer making a movie for the first time! Why can he win best director? !

At this time, Spielberg, a great director in the Hollywood industry, stood up and spoke directly publicly: "Hollywood and the Oscars should never use the age of the director as the criterion for judging, and the awards should return to the film itself. "

After Spielberg opened his mouth, his friend George Lucas also followed suit. At the same time, many people also supported this argument, stating that the creativity of young people will make Hollywood and the Oscars more dynamic.

Wu Yuchen laughed after seeing Spielberg's move, not because he was grateful to Spielberg. This time Spielberg stood up not for him, but for Sam Mendes and "American Beauty", because the producer of "American Beauty" is DreamWorks!

Don’t underestimate DreamWorks. It is weaker than the Big Seven because of its channels and review issues. But if you combine Oscar’s network resources, DreamWorks, composed of the three giants, is actually very powerful. It has won awards continuously in recent years.

This is Hollywood. DreamWorks, which previously came to win over Justin Wu, is now his biggest enemy when it comes to competing for Oscars. Hollywood always puts profit first!

With Spielberg's recent statements, although it is impossible to eliminate everyone's prejudice against age, Wu Yuchen feels that it must have played a certain role. At the very least, when he and Sam Mendes are put together and their qualifications are compared, they will definitely not be said to be at a disadvantage. After all, his long resume can make up for the 10-year age difference between the two.

But even so, Wu Yuchen did not dare to take it lightly or feel that he was ahead. The best he could do now was to patch this weakness and muddy the water. It was still unclear who would win in the end.

There is no need to relax at this critical juncture. It is not that it has never happened that we took a lead in the first stage, but were overturned in the second stage, and the example is right before our eyes.

Last year's Oscar outpost, "Saving Private Ryan" basically swept the first stage of the outpost, with a huge lead, while "Shawwain" performed mediocrely, and the basic public opinion was one-sided in predicting "Saving Private Ryan" 》This Oscar is going to win big.

As a result, at the final Oscar ceremony, "Saving Private Ryan" only retained Spielberg's important award of Best Director, while "Shawwain" won the Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, and It has won 7 Oscar statuettes including Best Original Screenplay, which is astonishing.

This is also the battle of the fat man Harvey Weinstein to become a god. He suddenly turned the parallel import "Shawwain" into an Oscar winner, and personally directed a dramatic reversal using public relations.

Therefore, Wu Yuchen is also running around every day, running around in different movie theaters during the day, and visiting various banquets in Hollywood at night.

There was quite a commotion among the various parties going back and forth.

At this time, in the Disney President Office, a man in his late 60s read the report in his hand and asked Miles standing in front of him:

"How about this "Love"?"

Myers, who had dealt with John Woo before, immediately said: "Mr. Eisner, this is an Asian story, a completely literary movie."

After hearing this, Eisner understood that Asian-American and artistic films were basically not profitable. As for whether Wu Yuchen would win the best director, he didn't even ask, he was too young!

Eisner frowned: "Let them focus more on "The Sixth Sense". We paid so much money to this young director, not to serve him!"

Disney bought out the follow-up rights to "The Sixth Sense" from Justin Wu, but it paid a lot of money. Naturally, it wanted to take advantage of this wave of Oscar traffic to make as much money as possible. Director Wu Yuchen also had an obligation to cooperate with the promotion of "The Sixth Sense". In Eisner's eyes, winning prizes and so on are just means. They are all for profit, and making money is the primary purpose.

Wu Yuchen also felt tired after receiving the call from Miles. He wants to use "Love" to win the best director, so now when he attends various occasions, he naturally talks about "Love" and mentions "The Sixth Sense" a lot less. This can't be helped. However, he also promised verbally that he would cooperate with Disney's publicity department to speak out for "The Sixth Sense".

After all, he still has to rely on Disney's public relations team. He doesn't have the energy to handle so many judges alone. It is indispensable for his public relations team to visit and lobby the judges one by one in private, such as sending a copy of the latest Sony player. The last movie of Wu Yuchen was played to the judges on site to deepen the judges' impression.

If it is a bit far-fetched to say that the Golden Globe Awards are the Oscars' weathervane, then the Guild Awards are the most genuine Oscars weathervane. Because the judges of the Guild Awards have the highest degree of overlap with the Oscar judges!

Various unions in Hollywood only evaluate awards related to their own types of work. For example, the Screen Actors Guild awards various actors awards, while the Directors Guild Awards include annual comprehensive evaluations of directors in multiple fields such as movies, TV series, dramas, and broadcasts. , can be regarded as a combination of the Oscars, the Emmy Awards for television, and the Tony Awards for drama.

The economic strength of the Directors Guild far exceeds that of various film critics associations. It has its own dedicated home base. The National Directors Guild Building located at 7920 Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles is the venue where the union holds large-scale events every year.

There is no doubt that Best Film Director is the most important award at the Directors Guild Awards every year and is also the highlight and climax of the awards ceremony.

The Directors Guild Award has five nominations like the Oscars, but its nomination list is not necessarily the same as the Oscars. For example, among the five Oscar films this year, "Always Sunshine" was not shortlisted for the Directors Guild Award, and was replaced by Big Tom. Director of "The Green Mile" starring Tom Hanks.

"This year's best film director is..."

At this moment, the four candidates are very nervous. After all, the Directors Guild Award is a very recognized and high-status award in the Hollywood industry, and for the three nominees at the same time, Wu Yuchen, Sam Mendes and Michael Mann For a candidate for the Oscar for Best Director, it is even more uneasy. Because he won the Directors Guild Award for Best Director, he could almost announce in advance that he had received the Oscar for Best Director!

Why do you say that? Because from the Directors Guild Awards to the present, in the past 51 times, only 4 times the Directors Guild Best Director was not the Oscar Best Director, which means that after winning this award, the probability of winning the Oscar statuette is more than 90%! It’s truly a sure thing!

Therefore, forget about the Golden Globe Awards. Everyone in Hollywood knows that the Guild Awards are a preview of the Oscars. So you see why directors usually behave very calmly at every Oscar ceremony, because they basically already know the ending in advance!

Seeing the award-winning guests on the stage taking out the note from the envelope, Wu Yuchen couldn't help but cross his hands tightly. Sam Mendes' hands on his lap also involuntarily clenched his thighs, and Wu Yuchen couldn't help but cross his hands tightly. The teenage Michael Mann stretched his neck and stared straight at the stage, obviously eager for this award.

""Love", Wu Yuchen!"

In an instant, Wu Yuchen felt the blood rushing to his brain, and he couldn't help but wave his arms and roar. I can't control my emotions at this time!

Next to Wu Yuchen, Richard was also very excited and shouted to Wu Yuchen:

"You did it! You really did it! You are creating a miracle! You will win this year's Oscar! The youngest, double-nominated Oscar for Best Director, you are a miracle! A miracle that no one can surpass!"

Wu Yuchen hugged Richard heavily and said from the bottom of his heart: "Thank you, man, thank you for everything you have done for me! I will never forget it!"

In the past four months, Wu Yuchen knew that without Richard, he would not have achieved today's results, and he had a share of credit for everything.

Richard patted Wu Yuchen on the shoulder: "Wu, it's time for you to go up and receive the award!"

Wu Yuchen let go of Richard, straightened his collar, then showed a sincere and bright smile, and confidently walked up to the podium amidst the applause of the directors:

"It's really hard to believe! Here I feel the openness and tolerance of America. For a young person like me to win the best director, it is inseparable from the support and recognition of all the seniors here. Thank you very much!"

Wu Yuchen paused, then smiled and said: "Actually, I still have a lot to say, but I think it's better to leave it on another occasion. Thank you again!"

Everyone below burst into laughter upon hearing this. Everyone knew that the other occasion Wu Yuchen was talking about was the Oscars.

Michael Mann, who is in his fifties, looked at the high-spirited Wu Yuchen on the stage and couldn't help showing a somewhat lonely expression. Did the judges of this year choose young people after all?

Sam Mendes looked at Wu Yuchen on the stage and sighed. He had no hope of winning the Best Director award. His film career has had a dream start. The performance of "American Beauty" in the past few months has made him fall into a dream. The best director is so close to him, but now his dream has been shattered by Wu Yuchen.

You say he is not convinced, but there is nothing to be unconvinced about. He is indeed a new director. Compared with Wu Yuchen's long list of film achievements, his resume is not comparable at all, so he can be considered a loser.

However, Sam Mendes quickly calmed down. Even if there is no best director, he can still fight for the best picture. Today's "American Beauty" is still the biggest favorite for the best picture. As long as he wins this Oscar is the most important award, so his start is still dreamy, at most it has faded a little bit.

As the award ceremony ended, everyone moved directly to the banquet hall prepared next door. There was no doubt that Wu Yuchen was the focus of the entire banquet, and everyone came over to have a friendly chat with him. Wu Yuchen, who was in a very good mood, refused to refuse anyone who came and gave appropriate replies to everyone.

Everyone present, including Wu Yuchen himself, felt that the Oscar for Best Director was already secured. After all, in the past 51 years, there have been only four unlucky ones who won the Directors Guild's Best Director but failed to win the Oscar's Best Director statuette. Is it possible that he can become the fifth this year?

Wu Yuchen smiled inwardly and shook his head. In fact, the fifth unlucky guy in his previous life was none other than Li An, who won the Directors Guild Award for Best Director next year for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."

But Li An was really unlucky, because next year he happened to meet Steven Soderbergh, who was nominated for Best Director at the same time. Now Wu Yuchen will not be as unlucky as Li An, he himself is a double nominee!

Speaking of Cao Cao, Cao Cao arrived. Wu Yuchen saw a gentle bald man wearing glasses walking towards him with a wine glass in his hands. It was Soderbergh!

Steven Soderbergh is not an unknown person. As early as ten years ago, his debut film "Sex, Lies and Videotape" directly won the Cannes Palme d'Or. He was only 26 years old at the time, and he became famous in one fell swoop. .

But there is also a rumor about this film. It is said that after the film was made, it was not taken seriously at all. Then he met Harvey Weinstein, a fat guy, and was taken by him at a glance. Then Harvey came on the stage in person and made major changes to the film. It was edited and sent to Cannes, where it won the Palme d'Or in one fell swoop.

Harvey did have a nickname in Hollywood, called Scissorhands, which refers to the fact that he often wielded his big scissors on the films purchased by the company. So many people say that this movie can win awards. In fact, at least half of the credit goes to Harvey Weinstein, which makes Soderbergh extremely unhappy.

Wu Yuchen didn't know whether this rumor was true or not, but the two people indeed never collaborated again after that. A director who won the Palme d'Or with his debut film, and Harvey let him go so easily? There must be some tricks in the middle.

"Wu, congratulations! I really appreciate your documentary-style shooting method in "Love". In fact, I also plan to make a similar semi-documentary style film recently."

Wu Yuchen's heart moved and he couldn't help but ask: "Thank you, Steven, can I ask what subject you want to shoot? I'm more interested in it~"

Soderbergh didn't hide anything: "For a movie about drug addiction, I don't want to focus on drug addicts. I want to focus on its channels. Unfortunately, it's not going well at the moment."

"Oh? Are you facing financial difficulties?"

Soderbergh showed a helpless expression: "After I established the project, I searched all major companies. Harrison Ford was originally willing to star, but last month he suddenly regretted it, feeling that it would affect the heroic image he established to the outside world. Fox This project was also stopped..."

Wu Yuchen couldn't help but his eyes lit up when he heard this. This should be Soderbergh's peak box office and artistic masterpiece, "Online", which was nominated for various major awards and helped him win the Oscar for Best Director, with a global box office of 2.5 One hundred million U.S. dollars.

Since I had won his double nomination for Best Director in advance, why not help him now? He smiled and said:

"Steven, I am very interested in your project about exclusive channels. If Fox is not willing to give the green light, my company Miracle Pictures is willing to provide you with filming funds."

Soderbergh was stunned for a moment, and then immediately showed a look of surprise: "Wu, are you serious?"

"Of course, come to my company tomorrow with the script and project plan, and we will discuss it in detail."

Now that he has booked the Oscar for Best Director in advance, Wu Yuchen's public relations schedule has become much easier. He has a lot of free time to talk about this project with Soderbergh. This kind of money-making and fame-making It’s a good project, and Wu Yuchen doesn’t mind investing in it. The officials like Mengchang Wu and others must also display their internationalist spirit!

Like Wu Yuchen, although he is still presiding over the team's public relations activities, Richard's mood is much more relaxed. This time, he was able to help Wu Yuchen successfully win double nominations, and then successfully win the Best Director statuette. This is another important addition to his resume. This is all the qualifications for promotion!

But when Richard answered the phone, his expression changed, he put away his things and hurried back.

The design of the Disney headquarters building is very interesting. It is supported by 7 dwarfs. Various childlike designs are also arranged around the office areas and conference rooms in the office building, which constantly implies that our entire company is serving children.

But now Richard is standing at the door of an office, feeling extremely uneasy and not feeling relaxed or happy at all. Whenever he comes here, his heart beats up involuntarily, even if he has done a good job. results. Because the person he was about to meet was the emperor of Disney, the "tyrant" Michael Eisner.