Chapter 209 Fortresses Often Collapse From Within

Richard took a deep breath, then knocked on the door. When he saw the secretary who opened the door, he immediately smiled and walked in cautiously.

In the room, Michael Eisner sat firmly on his office chair. Already standing in the room was Miles, the executive who had been in contact with Wu Yuchen before. He lowered his head slightly and did not dare to express his anger. appearance.

After seeing this, Richard felt bad. He quickly stood next to Miles and then smiled: "Mr. Eisner."

Michael Eisner raised his eyelids and glanced at him: "Richard, are you in charge of Wu Yuchen's public relations this time?"

Even though he just asked a question in a calm tone, Richard could feel a pressure from it and immediately nodded: "Yes, sir."

"I heard that Wu Yuchen won the best director at the Directors Guild Awards yesterday?"

"Yes."

Richard felt that this should be considered good news, so he couldn't help but introduce a few more words:

"Director Wu Yuchen will create history by winning Best Director this time..."

But before he finished speaking, he was directly interrupted by Michael Eisner: "Why not "The Sixth Sense"?"

Richard's body stiffened immediately, his throat seemed to be strangled, and no sound came out of his mouth.

"Let me ask you? Why didn't The Sixth Sense win this award?!"

As Michael Eisner's voice rose in pitch, Richard's calves began to tremble. He deliberately wanted to explain that this was Wu Yuchen's choice, and it was also the best choice. The hope of "The Sixth Sense" was much smaller, and the current results had proved everything, but he did not dare to contradict the one in front of him. A tyrant.

Michael Eisner knocked on the table and shouted to the two of them: "You must understand that you are Disney employees and you must put Disney's interests first at all times!"

Richard's Adam's apple rolled nervously, his head was sweating, and he lowered his head and dared not say anything. Miles beside him quickly said: "Mr. Eisner, this is our work error this time, but it's still too late now." Remedy, the second round of voting for the Oscars has not yet started..."

"Do it, now!"

Amid the tyrant's roar, Miles hurriedly took Richard to escape from the cave.

When he returned to his office, Miles breathed a sigh of relief, then tugged on his collar and unbuttoned his shirt to make his breathing easier.

Then he said to Richard: "Richard, did you hear it? Mr. Eisner just ordered."

Richard looked embarrassed: "However, now that the Directors Guild has awarded the award, our public relations work for the Best Director award has been stopped. And if we do this, we will let the Best Director who has already received it Prize students bring many variables..."

Miles interrupted him directly:

"Hey! Richard, don't you understand what Mr. Eisner means? So what if "Love" won an award? Does it belong to us at Disney?"

"Isn't it distributed by us? And Wu paid a lot of public relations fees..."

Miles waved his hand:

"So what? Didn't we at Disney pay for the public relations of "The Sixth Sense"?

At the end of the day, how much do we, Disney, make when Love won the Oscar for Best Director? It's just an Asian movie, and it's a literary movie. How much box office can it earn in North America? Ten million? Twenty million?

But "The Sixth Sense" is different. Since the Oscar nomination list was released, the box office of "The Sixth Sense" has bucked the trend in the past two weeks, and most importantly, if "The Sixth Sense" has the best director award, Blessings, do you know how much its disc sales can increase? At least 50 million! "

Richard could naturally understand this truth, but he still couldn't help complaining at this time:

"Why didn't you say it from the beginning? There is too little time left, and now I can't tell Wu about it at all, and he can't agree to the decision. If it is decided from the beginning, then I will work with Wu and The entire team has devoted resources and energy to "The Sixth Sense"..."

Miles waved his hand and said:

"Who would have thought that you could really win the Best Director from the Directors Guild? For a best director in his twenties, you told me before, and I would just think it was a fantasy!"

Richard couldn't help but slap his forehead in pain: "In other words, it was because we won the Directors Guild Award that Mr. Eisner had the idea he has now?"

Miles spread his hands and said: "Of course, Mr. Eisner saw that since Justin Wu could win the best director with a foreign language film and an Asian film, why can't it be "The Sixth Sense"? "

Originally, according to Disney's own evaluation, "The Sixth Sense" was already a victory if it received so many nominations, and it received a wave of Oscar traffic. But after seeing that Wu Yuchen actually won the union's best director for "Love", more desires arose. "Love" works, why not "The Sixth Sense"? They are all about Wu Yuchen, so why do you favor one over the other?

"But, but this is completely different..."

"Richard, there is nothing wrong with it. You have also seen Mr. Eisner's attitude. No one in Disney can disobey him. I don't care what method you use, whether you bring people to visit or call the judges one by one."

Then, Miles put his arm around Richard's shoulders and said:

"As for Wu Yuchen, I don't think you need to tell him. Anyway, "The Sixth Sense" and "Love" are his movies, and he is also obliged to contribute to the public relations of "The Sixth Sense". The Sixth Sense has better results. , which also brings glory to him as a director.

If "The Sixth Sense" can win the Best Director statuette, everyone will be happy. He will be the one to receive the award anyway, right? "

When Richard heard this, he couldn't help but let out a long sigh, could this be the same thing? ! This kind of decision made by the people above at the drop of a hat is really infuriating and upsetting.

He had a premonition that if he really did such a thing, Disney would definitely fall out with Wu Yuchen in the future. No director could tolerate such a thing happening.

But this is an order from His Majesty the Emperor. In the past few years, even the founder of CAA, Michael Ovitz, a powerful person, would be fired as soon as he said he was fired. He would rather pay 120 million in liquidated damages. How could it really happen? Do you take the demands of a director seriously?

…

A few days later, at DreamWorks, Sam Mendes entered the office and saw Spielberg and David Geffen there.

Seeing him come in, Spielberg smiled and said: "Hey, Sam, your PR content needs to be adjusted again."

"Huh?" Sam Mendes was a little confused.

"Reentering the race for best director."

"What?!"

Sam Mendes was stunned on the spot when he heard this, and then asked: "But, hasn't this award been reserved by Wu Yuchen?"

David Geffen smiled and came over to pat Sam Mendes on the shoulder: "I can only say that you are really lucky and something interesting happened~"

"Interesting thing?" Sam Mendes was curious.

Spielberg shook his head and chuckled: "The strongest fortresses often collapse from within. You don't need to know too much for now, just work hard on public relations. Every effort you put in now may win you an award." Maybe a point added.”

Sam Mendes was a little confused, but he knew that something must have happened, otherwise the two bosses would not let him do useless work for no reason.

Looking at the back of Sam Mendes leaving with great energy, David Geffen smiled and said: "I didn't expect such a thing to happen."

Spielberg said calmly: "Isn't this exactly what Eisner would do?"

Then David Geffen said about Wu Yuchen again: "He's still a little young!"

Spielberg said with a smile: "Young people always need some experience to grow up~ When I was in my twenties, I was still learning how to shoot movies, and he was already much better than us. After this incident, I will look for him again He talks about it once.”

Miracle Film and Television, Wu Yuchen and Soderbergh held their hands together:

"Wu, thank you very much. It's really much better to communicate with you than those executives who only ask you about the cast and funding! I can't wait to restart this project now!"

"Steven, you will make a great movie. I believe in my vision~"

Watching Soderbergh leave, Wu Yuchen was in a good mood. This opportunity to pick up a high-quality project should not be missed now that it happened.

After these days of negotiations, the two parties reached an agreement that this film will be shot to take the Oscar route. Wu Yuchen invested 45 million and will not interfere with the filming of the film, but the lineup must be justified.

Wu Yuchen would not be very worried about this. After Soderbergh was abandoned by Fox in his previous life, he finally found investment from a small independent production company. He made the entire film by himself from beginning to end. This time, he It won't be much worse if he invests in it.

Now that March has arrived, the Nasdaq index reached its highest point of 5,132 yesterday, but fortunately, all his US stocks have been cleared, so he can just sit back and watch the show.

In the past few days, Wu Yuchen discovered that Richard had arranged a lot of promotions for "The Sixth Sense" for him, but Wu Yuchen could understand it. After all, "Love" had already won the Directors Guild's Best Director, which was equivalent to booking it in advance. Little Golden Man, then the next goal of the public relations team is to focus on the best original script of "The Sixth Sense", so it is natural for resources to be tilted.

It's just that Richard, who has always been with him in the past few months, rarely sees him, which makes him a little uncomfortable. Wu Yuchen smiled and shook his head. What's wrong with not having a grown man beside you? Wouldn’t it be nice to have Jennifer Connelly, a beauty, by her side?

The next day, after Jennifer Connelly tried her best to plead last night, Justin Wu accompanied her to the Screen Actors Guild Awards. The Screen Actors Guild Awards are not as old as the Directors Guild Awards. This year is only the 6th one, but they have quickly developed into an important award in Hollywood.

This year, Jennifer Connelly was also shortlisted for the Best Supporting Actress competition with "The Sixth Sense". She roped in Wu Yuchen to help her, but it was a pity that it was useless and still lost to Angelina Jolie in "The Girl Who Moved." .

Wu Yuchen was very relaxed, and the whole audience watched the show. This time, Haley Joel Osment, who played the little boy, was also nominated for "The Sixth Sense", but unfortunately he did not win the award. This is normal, after all, they didn’t devote any public relations resources to this little boy’s Best Supporting Actor award!

The big winner of this year's Screen Actors Guild Awards is still "American Beauty", which won the best actor and actress, which is in line with everyone's predictions.

This year's Oscars will be held on March 26 at the Temple Auditorium in Los Angeles. Both sides of the red carpet were crowded with screaming fans and media reporters who kept taking photos, going crazy for the big stars who passed by one after another.

This is not the first time that Wu Yuchen has participated in the Oscars. This time, Jennifer Connelly, who is wearing a beautiful dress, looks calm and relaxed. However, after Wu Yuchen walked the red carpet with the crew of "The Sixth Sense", he turned back and got into a car again.

After the car stopped, Wu Yuchen got out of the car first, then opened the car door and carefully helped the two old people out of the car. Surprisingly, they were the two actors from "Love", Ge Cunzhuang and Wang Danfeng. Not only them, but Gong Li and Huang Lei who played supporting roles also came, as well as the producers, photographers and others from the crew, who all followed them on the Oscar red carpet with great joy.

This time, Wu Yuchen has a better grasp of the best foreign language film for "Love", so he specially invited the entire crew to participate in and witness the first Oscar moment for a Chinese-language film, especially the two veteran actors.

Ge Cunzhuang and Wang Danfeng, who are in their 70s, are still in their prime, not at an age where they can't walk anymore. They followed Wu Yuchen on the red carpet and kept waving to both sides.

Huang Lei, who came to the red carpet, looked even more joyful. He didn't expect that he could also walk on the Oscar red carpet, but he had no experience before. As soon as he got off the car, he was a little dazzled by the cheers and flashing lights outside the car. Well, He is not the object of everyone's attention.

The biggest star of the "Love" crew is Wu Yuchen. Even Gong Huang's reputation in the United States is far behind that of Wu Yuchen. The fans on both sides of the red carpet were very considerate of Wu Yuchen and kept shouting his name.

"Wu, congratulations! You are a favorite for the Oscar today. How do you feel?"

The host of ABC TV station invited Wu Yuchen for an interview.

"Thank you! Although this is not my first time attending the Oscars, my mood is very different. After all, I was just an audience before, but today I am honored to participate in the selection. I am a little nervous, but also excited and excited!"

No matter what Wu Yuchen thinks in his heart, he has to show this state on the surface anyway to please the American audience. If you look aloof and don't care, then half of your popularity with the audience will be lost.

"Wu, two films were selected for multiple Oscar awards at the same time, and you also received double nominations for Best Director. This is a very remarkable achievement. If you were allowed to choose, which film would you like to win? director?"

Wu Yuchen thought to himself, "Isn't this obvious? The Directors Guild Awards have already told you the answer. However, he also knew that this was a topic that the host specially picked to interest the audience, so he smiled and said:

"Although I received double nominations, my opponents are all very good. It is difficult for me to win the statuette. In fact, as long as I can win this award, no matter which movie it is, I will be very happy~"

This time the organizer was very considerate and arranged the two crews of "Love" and "The Sixth Sense" together. Naturally, Wu Yuchen sat in the middle, so he could take care of both sides.

After Wu Yuchen sat down in his seat, he looked at the crew of "The Sixth Sense" on his left, a child of seven or eight years old, and then looked at the "Love" on his right, a pair of old men and women in their seventies and eighties, too. It made him laugh. The protagonists of his two movies are really two extremes!

The host is Billy Criss, who has hosted the Oscars seven times before. He is a talk show actor and has a strong ability to enliven the atmosphere on the spot.

After a period of interaction with the celebrities present, the award ceremony officially began. The first item that comes up is the more important Best Supporting Actress award, which is used to warm up the scene.

Jennifer Connelly, who was next to Wu Yuchen, immediately tensed up and stared at the stage and the big screen. Although she was defeated at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the Screen Actors Guild Awards were still very young and the Directors Guild Awards were not as predictable. It was so accurate, so she still had hope for the statuette.

However, Jennifer Connelly was doomed to be disappointed. After a lot of suspense, the award was finally won by Angelina Jolie of "The Girl Who Moved." When the camera was focused on Jennifer, she quickly squeezed out an elegant smile, and then gently clapped to celebrate her opponent.

Looking at the somewhat disappointed Jennifer Connelly, Wu Yuchen knew that the big bear beauty next to him had probably cursed Julie a hundred times in his heart, so he smiled and comforted softly:

"Jenny, it doesn't matter, just save your points this year. I just invested in a movie, and the heroine in it is very suitable for you. Come again next year~"

"Wu, it's great to have you here~"

Jennifer Connelly, who was still a little sad, immediately became excited when she heard this. If it weren't for the public, she couldn't help but kiss Wu Yuchen. In fact, this time "The Sixth Sense" was a leap forward for her career. It not only achieved a high box office, but also helped her get nominated for an Oscar for the first time. Now, as long as Wu Yuchen says it, she will believe it!

Wu Yuchen smiled and invested 45 million. There was no problem in arranging a female role, and Jennifer Connelly was suitable and her acting skills were not bad.

Next, naturally, there are several technical awards such as visual effects, costume design, etc. Among them, the first award related to Wu Yuchen also appeared, the Best Film Editing Award.

"Best Film Editing...The Matrix!"

Wu Yuchen was not disappointed at all. He did not attach much importance to the editing award and did not invest any public relations resources at all. Moreover, "The Matrix" deserved this award, and Wu Yuchen applauded.

After a song and dance performance, the Best Supporting Actor Award nomination for "The Sixth Sense" began. However, at this time, the live screen almost gave the camera to Tom Cruise. There was no way, who made him a superstar?

However, no matter how big a star Tom is, he is still not favored by the old men at the Oscar Academy.

“This year’s winner for Best Supporting Actor is… Michael Caine from “There’s Always a Sun!”

Wu Yuchen ignored the frustrated Tom Cruise on the screen, turned his head, stretched out his hand to rub the little boy's hair and comforted: "Hailey, your performance is great, it is already a victory to be here~"

In fact, if it really comes down to acting, Wu Yuchen really feels that the Best Supporting Actor this time should be awarded to the young actor Hailey. However, the award is not just about acting. The world of adults is very complicated.

After two or three more technical awards, it finally came to the Best Foreign Language Film award for "Love". Wu Yuchen immediately became energetic and straightened his body.

It can be said that Wu Yuchen values ​​​​the Best Foreign Language Film Award as much as the Best Director. And although "Love" has been in the leading position all the way, there is no similar Directors Guild Award that has been booked in advance, so it is still somewhat felt It was a bit unstable, and Wu Yuchen was naturally a little uneasy when things came to a close.

At this time, not only Wu Yuchen, but everyone in the "Love" crew was staring at the stage intently.

Following the introduction by host Billy Criss, a male and female pair walked onto the stage. Generally, the Best Foreign Language Film award invites foreign filmmakers to serve as award guests, and this time the female guest is Spanish actress Penélope Cruz. Her 1994 film "The Lover" won the Best Foreign Language Film. . And the male guest...

The crew of "Love" couldn't help but feel happy after seeing him, because it turned out to be Cheng Long!

Wu Yuchen also smiled after seeing Cheng Long, thinking that the organizer was really a thief.

Among the best foreign language films this year, "Love" has the biggest advantage. Among the other four competitors, only one Spanish film "All About My Mother" is somewhat competitive, and the other three are not a threat.

As a result, the organizer arranged for a Spanish actress and a Chinese actor. Whether "Love" wins or "All About My Mother" wins, this arrangement will not go wrong.

At this time, Huang Lei suddenly asked: "Which one of Penelope Cruz or Cheng Long is more famous and has a higher status in Hollywood?"

Wu Yuchen affirmed: "Of course it's Cheng Long!"

Huang Lei looked happy: "Hahaha, then we have the advantage!"

Gong Li couldn't help but turn to look at Huang Lei: "Can it still be compared like this?"

"Sister Li, this is a good sign!" Huang Lei's words made everyone laugh.

Penelope Cruz spoke first: "Movies speak to us in various languages. The smiles of babies, the tears of old people, this is true everywhere."

Cheng Long then continued: "The five candidates for the best foreign language film prove that movies all over the world have their own styles and are becoming more and more popular with audiences. They are..."

A very standard line, and then clips from five candidate movies were played one after another on the big screen.

After the clip finished playing, Penelope Cruz didn't stop inking and directly picked up the envelope in her hand and opened it. Seeing that the person opening the envelope was the Spanish actress, Huang Lei's heart was in his throat again. This was not a good sign! I thought to myself, Cheng Long, you are usually so stubborn, why don’t you grab it and tear it down yourself now?

Not to mention Huang Lei, even Gong Li became nervous. Although she was not the starring role, she was still involved. This is the closest opportunity for a Chinese-language film to get an Oscar!

Two seniors, Ge Cunzhuang and Wang Danfeng, were staring at the envelope without blinking...

Penelope Cruz took out a piece of paper, looked down, and handed it directly to Cheng Long's hand without any expression on her face. A smile appeared on Cheng Long's eyebrows, but he glanced at it immediately, and then he could no longer hold back his expression. He smiled until only a big nose was left on his face, and he shouted excitedly:

"Best Foreign Language Film: China, "Love", director Wu Yuchen!"