Chapter 286 The War Comes

"Sister Li, what's the situation in China now?" Wu Yuchen asked with concern.

"Are you talking about SARS? I heard that it's quite serious in Guangdong Province. In Beijing, I think everyone should still eat and drink, but I heard that the cinema seems to be closed. Is it so serious?"

Wu Yuchen shook his head after hearing this. SARS was discovered in Guangdong in December last year, but it was not taken seriously, and the prevention and control level has not been raised until now. To really cause panic, we have to wait for large-scale transmission and death cases in Beijing and Hong Kong Island, which is in the next two months.

However, Wu Yuchen couldn't predict these things and could only remind people around him now:

"Sister Li, let the family pay more attention, stock up more food and drink supplies and go out less. This kind of infectious disease can't be taken lightly!"

Seeing Wu Yuchen like this, Gong Li nodded and agreed, and kept it in mind.

Then Gong Li smiled and said, "Director Wu, the discussion about this Oscar is very high in China now. Especially when everyone knows that our movie reflects the history of the War of Resistance Against Japan, it is even more exciting!"

To be honest, since Wu Yuchen's "Love" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" have won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film twice before, many people's Oscar complex is not as strong as the first time. Human nature is like this. When you can't get it, you will always be in turmoil. Once you have it, it seems that it is not so precious, and it is impossible to be as enthusiastic as before you have not won it.

But this time, the theme of "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" is anti-war and exposes the crimes of Japan. This directly ignited everyone's passion!

Although everyone has been tested by anti-Japanese war films and TV series for a long time, this kind of anti-Japanese film has made it to the international stage, especially to the Oscars. How can it not make the masses excited?

Although "Hero" also made it to the Oscars this time, its attention to the Oscars is really incomparable to "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas". After all, the themes of the two are different in the hearts of the vast majority of Chinese people, and the significance is completely incomparable.

Wu Yuchen smiled and said, "So, Sister Li, we have to do our best this time and bring as many surprises as possible to the people across the country!"

Gong Li also smiled and responded, "Then I will follow you, Director Wu, and do a great job this time!"

To be fair, Wu Yuchen naturally hopes that Gong Li can win the Best Supporting Actress this time, but Gong Li also has a strong opponent this time, Meryl Streep, who is called Aunt Mei by Chinese movie fans. She won double nominations for Best Supporting Actress this time with "Adapted Screenplay" and "The Hours". "The Hours" is also Wu Yuchen's work, so he really can't be too biased in public.

Fortunately, the public relations teams of "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" and "The Hours" are separate. For this award, it depends on who is more capable.

Wu Yuchen can't interfere too much in the competition between Gong Li and Meryl Streep for the Best Supporting Actress, but he can still make the decision when it comes to his own award.

"Wu, are you sure you want us to give up the Best Director award?" Fox's PR team asked Wu Yuchen again.

"Yes, Hans, although I'm a little sorry to say this, I have to make a choice between the two movies. "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" is more likely, after all, the current social trend is anti-war."

For Wu Yuchen, no matter which movie helps him win the Best Director award, he can accept it, but it's different for the two crews. Winning the Best Director honor can obviously bring better publicity effects to the crew, and the subsequent box office will be higher.

And Wu Yuchen must give up one side, and he can't appear to fight himself and split the votes. And it is obvious that "The Hours" is the one that was abandoned.

Now Wu Yuchen's choice, Fox's PR team is naturally a little disappointed, but they can only accept it helplessly. Then, under Wu Yuchen's suggestion, all public relations forces were put on the two valuable awards of Best Picture and Best Actress.

However, this caused a problem. Wu Yuchen and the Fox team had to decide who to put the main public relations resources on. Because both Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Connelly were nominated for the Best Actress award for "The Hours".

If the PR resources were really shared between the two, it would be very likely that neither of them would get any, and the other would benefit in the end.

At night, Jennifer Connelly threw herself into Wu Yuchen's arms, looking like a tearful woman.

Wu Yuchen hugged her and comforted her, saying, "Hey, Jenny, didn't we agree on this a long time ago? Whoever performs better will get the resources in the end."

In the movie "The Hours", Jennifer Connelly and Nicole Kidman had similar roles. When she applied, Wu Yuchen also asked her whether she would choose Best Actress or Best Supporting Actress. Jennifer Connelly, who had already won the Best Supporting Actress award last year, naturally chose Best Actress.

At that time, Wu Yuchen had an agreement with the two women that he would support whoever was nominated. If both were nominated, it would depend on who performed better and had a greater chance of getting the resources.

Nicole Kidman, who had a good performance in "Moulin Rouge" last year but lost to the blacks, obviously has a lot of sympathy points. She has a high voice in many Oscar outposts this year, so Wu Yuchen and the Fox team will naturally choose Nicole Kidman.

Although Jennifer Connelly knew it, she was very unwilling at this time. The opportunity was right in front of her. She cried and begged: "But, Wu, I may not have no hope. If..."

At this time, Nicole Kidman next to her interrupted her with a smile: "Come on, Jenny, this is the rule of the game. Since you made the choice at the beginning, you have to be able to play it!"

"Nicole! Damn it! Don't get carried away. You only have a 20% chance. Maybe you will get nothing in the end!" Jennifer Connelly cursed a loser.

Nicole Kidman wanted to show off a few more words as a winner, but Wu Yuchen pinched her butt lightly and told her to shut up and not to provoke Jennifer Connelly at this time. She stopped talking in a huff.

Wu Yuchen comforted Jennifer Connelly, "Jennifer, let's leave it at that for now. It's an honor to be nominated for the best actress, and it will earn you points in the hearts of many judges. There will be more opportunities in the future~"

Jennifer Connelly hugged Wu Yuchen's arm and asked with a misty look in her eyes, "Wu, you will help me in the future, right?"

Wu Yuchen gently wiped the tears from her eyes and smiled, "Of course~"

But at this time Nicole Kidman also squeezed into Wu Yuchen's arms, hooked his neck, and her eyes were full of charm: "Wu, the person who needs your help now is me~"

But soon, she was pushed down by Jennifer Connelly: "Damn it, Nicole, you bitch, I must teach you a lesson tonight!"

Wu Yuchen watched a big beauty tear off the clothes of another big beauty, and then the spring scenery in the house was full of spring. This scene made him very happy and he couldn't help but join in.

...

A few days later, Spielberg rubbed his brows a little tiredly, and then asked Wu Yuchen: "Wu, is it really not you? We are on the same side, you don't have to hide anything from me."

Wu Yuchen frowned and said: "Steven, do you think I need to do this? I have already asked you to be the middleman, why should I do this?"

What the two talked about was the sudden and large-scale outbreak of negative news about the director of "The Pianist" Polanski in the past few days. Many media and reports have the same view: "The Pianist is a good movie, but a scum like Polanski doesn't deserve the award!"

Then Wu Yuchen spread his hands to Spielberg and said, "Steven, I'm not the only one who nominated the best director. There's also old Martin who doesn't want Polanski to win the award!"

"Okay, okay, Wu, I shouldn't doubt you, but now some compatriots have come to me to deal with this matter, which makes me a little distressed."

Wu Yuchen calmed down and said, "I'll be frank. When the big list was announced, you should have expected this to happen. After all, Polanski himself did this kind of thing, and he was inevitably caught in the whirlpool of public opinion, which also proved the will of the people. He really shouldn't participate in the competition for the best director~"

"I know what you mean, Wu, I will convince them."

After Spielberg left, Wu Yuchen raised his mouth. He didn't know if other best director candidates, such as old Martin, had done something, but he did it anyway. But he didn't use people from DreamWorks, but asked people from Disney to do it, so Spielberg didn't know yet.

Just as he said, Polanski himself has a big stain, and he is still a criminal. He dare not set foot in America. As long as there is a sign, a group of media will follow and criticize him.

Although Spielberg is asked to divide the Jewish forces, Wu Yuchen will not pin all his hopes on Spielberg's persuasion. That would be too naive. He must use all means to weaken his competitors!

…

After the Oscar nomination list came out, Hollywood became more lively and disturbed. After Gong Li, Wu Yuchen saw Zhang Yimou coming to Hollywood again.

In the previous life, Miramax did not take "Hero" to heart at all, and all its energy was used on "Chicago". At that time, "Hero" had no voice in North America, and the scope of public screening was not expanded. Zhang Yimou did not go to Hollywood for any public relations at all, and only came at the awards ceremony.

This time, Sony's public relations were more reliable. Not only did they help "Hero" be nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film, but they also received nominations for Best Costume Design, Best Visual Effects, Best Cinematography, etc. Therefore, Zhang Yimou simply came to participate in the public relations activities arranged by Sony. He made "Hero" for the purpose of winning an Oscar!

From this perspective, Wu Yuchen and Zhang Yimou are actually competitors, after all, they are both aiming for the Best Foreign Language Film. However, Wu Yuchen is very confident in himself. If he can't beat Zhang Yimou at the Oscars, then he has been in Hollywood for nothing in the past few years!

…

The moment he stepped off the plane, Huang Xiaoming was very happy. As a member of F4, this is naturally not his first time to come to America, but this time is different, he is here to attend the Oscars!

Huang Xiaoming is also going to step onto the red carpet of Oscars and walk the Avenue of Stars. How many peers in China can compare with him? He is far ahead!

As soon as he arrived at the hotel, Huang Xiaoming couldn't wait to visit his mentor Wu Yuchen. But when he went over, he saw Wu Yuchen and a group of people standing together, staring at the big screen of the TV.

Huang Xiaoming looked over and saw that on TV, the US President Bush was giving a speech. The content was not complicated, and he officially started military operations against Iraq.

Huang Xiaoming was stunned. He was in America, and he had just got off the plane, and he was going to start a war?

A group of people around Wu Yuchen couldn't help but talk at once:

"Damn it, the war is really coming!"

"In fact, we should have known that we can't stop these politicians at all!"

"The Oscars are coming soon, will it be affected?"

In fact, everyone is mentally prepared for the outbreak of this war. After all, it has been brewing for so long. The United States has even issued an ultimatum to Iraq, and it is bound to fight. But when it really broke out, many people couldn't help but curse.

What everyone is most concerned about is whether the Oscars, which is closely related to them, will be cancelled or postponed.

You know, the schedules of celebrities are usually set in advance. If it is postponed, it will be very troublesome to reschedule. It is really difficult for thousands of people to get together again at a different time. If it is postponed, it will definitely cause many people to be unable to participate, and the starlight will be much dimmer.

However, there are indeed precedents for postponement in the history of the Oscars: in 1937, Los Angeles suffered a flood and heavy rains, and the Oscars ceremony was forced to be postponed for a week; in 1968, black leader Martin Luther King was assassinated and the Oscars ceremony was postponed; in 1981, President Reagan was assassinated and the Oscars ceremony was postponed.

However, some people believe that as long as the war does not reach the American mainland, the Oscars ceremony will not be affected. After all, hasn't the United States fought a few wars in the past 70 years? When has the Oscars been postponed because of war?

After a while, Wu Yuchen's phone rang. After answering it for a while, he said to the people around him: "The Academy just announced that this year's Oscars ceremony will not be canceled or postponed due to the Iraq War..."

Everyone was relieved when they heard this. Although most people shouted against the war, they were actually most concerned about whether their own interests would be affected.

For example, Huang Xiaoming at this time was relieved that he had not come in vain after all.

However, Wu Yuchen then added: "However, due to the outbreak of war, the Oscar red carpet segment was cancelled."

Huang Xiaoming was stunned again after hearing this. His Oscar red carpet was gone?

…