America gains both fame and fortune

Chapter 324 I am pursuing art
Windsor Castle Restaurant, Beverly Hills.

At the booth, the waiter brought a variety of exquisite dishes and placed them in front of the two customers.

Kenneth Turan, the most famous critic in Los Angeles, tied his napkin and looked across at Martin: "A meal here costs a lot of money."

Martin also tied his napkin and said, "When old friends get together, they always have to eat something different."

In fact, Kenneth Turan was very satisfied that Martin chose this restaurant where the single-person consumption was nearly a thousand dollars. At least it was a sign of respect.

If you go to any random street restaurant to eat barbecue, where is the style of Los Angeles' No. 1 film critic?

Martin specially invited Kenneth to dinner, the purpose was very clear, and he did his homework: "I have always remembered your guidance and help to me."

Kenneth waved his hand: "It's not really guidance, just a few film reviews."

Martin is a man who, when he is shameless, can have a skin as thick as mantle rock: "When I first came to Hollywood, I was like a headless fly. I had no criteria for choosing films. Fortunately, I was lucky. Both House of Wax and The Hills Have Eyes were successful, allowing me to gain a foothold in Hollywood. I was even luckier because I met you."

Kenneth recalled carefully that he seemed to have talked with Martin after the premiere of The Hills Have Eyes.

This is what Martin said: "Your words made me understand the future path I should take. Actors should have artistic pursuits, but at that time I didn't even have a place to stand, so I could only make money first."

Kenneth nodded: "That's understandable. Prioritize your life. If you live a worry-free life, you can focus more on art."

Martin said: "I have never forgotten the artistic pursuit of an actor, so even in the face of many difficulties, I still worked hard to fight for the role of Director Scorsese. I spent half a year practicing Boston accent, spent nearly a month experiencing life in the Boston Police Department, and followed the detectives to arrest gangsters and dealers, and finally impressed Director Scorsese."

Kenneth affirmed what Martin did: "This is what an actor should be like. You did a great job. The role in the film can be so outstanding because you are well prepared."

"Yes, it was an extraordinary experience." Martin has let people get to know Kenneth Turan in depth in the past two years and has a good understanding of his personality and preferences: "Director Scorsese and Jack Nicholson gave me a lot of guidance on the set, which took my performance to a higher level and improved my acting skills a lot..."

Kenneth watched the film and said, "Your role in The Departed is better than any of your previous films. It's a huge improvement, even better than Leonardo DiCaprio."

At this moment, Martin is even more proactive than when facing a beautiful woman: "I can feel the progress and rise, so I don't want to stop. I took on the leading role in a purely literary film, The Reader, directed by Sam Mendes and starring Kate Winslet."

Kenneth had noticed relevant information before and said, "Sam is one of the best mainstream art directors. Kate has not taken on any commercial films since Titanic. She is devoted to honing herself in the art field. Sooner or later, she will be recognized."

"They are all outstanding artists." Martin also said what he could say: "My role in The Reader spans from 16 to over 50 years old, which is too difficult to interpret. Sam and Kate helped me complete this process."

Kenneth was somewhat surprised: "The role span is so wide?"

Martin nodded: "Yes, thanks to the guidance and help of two outstanding artists, I can master this role."

His face was full of admiration: "Being with Sam and Kate on the crew made me understand what an artist is, what performing arts is, and what efforts and prices outstanding artists can make for the art of film."

Kenneth heard Martin's desire to further improve his acting skills and his pursuit of film art, and said, "Martin, you are not doing badly. One day you will catch up with them."

Martin said honestly: "Compared to Sam and Kate, I am really far behind. I feel like I will never catch up."

Kenneth felt that he had to give some encouragement to this aspiring young man: "But you have been working hard and making progress!"

Martin just nodded vigorously and didn't say anything like he would definitely do what Sam and Kate could do.

Because of those, he couldn't do it no matter what.

Too focused and too fanatical.

Being an artist is not something that ordinary people can do.

During the meal, the two of them chatted and laughed, and had a particularly pleasant conversation.

After Martin paid the bill, he did not see Kenneth Turan off. The latter was very careful about his reputation and did not want to be photographed having dinner with celebrities during the awards season.

After Kenneth Turan left for more than ten minutes, Martin entered the mall from another door of the restaurant and went down to the underground parking lot. Bruce drove Thomas and arrived on time.

After getting in the car, Martin asked, "Have you eaten?"

"I finished eating a long time ago." Thomas asked with concern, "How was the talk?" Martin said directly, "I am an actor with artistic pursuits, and Kenneth Turan appreciates this very much."

Thomas breathed a sigh of relief. "Among all the Film Critics Association Awards, the most important ones are the Los Angeles and New York Film Critics Association Awards. More than 70% of the Oscar judges live in Los Angeles and New York, and they pay attention to news from these two cities first. We can't do anything about New York, but we have to take the initiative here in Los Angeles."

Martin said: "You have already talked to Todd McCarthy, the columnist of The Hollywood Reporter. My reputation in the mainstream media in Los Angeles is at least not bad."

Bruce participated in the award-winning competition for the first time and couldn't help but sigh: "It's really troublesome. Before coming to Los Angeles, I thought the Oscar selection was simply decided by voting based on the role and quality of the film, but it turned out to be completely different."

Thomas said: "Almost everyone who is interested in Oscars or even nominated for them is working hard on PR and marketing. We don't do what others do, so we can't even get the nomination qualification, let alone get on the nomination list."

Martin simply gave a more intuitive metaphor: "Old Bull, you can think of it as a Hollywood-style campaign for the Oval Office in Washington."

Bruce nodded slightly: "Fortunately, we did the work in advance."

Thomas lowered his voice and said, "We have dealt with them a lot in the past two years and have expressed our gratitude to them many times. Now that the work and the role are excellent, of course they will express their gratitude. The credibility of critics is much more important than that of stars."

On the other side, Kenneth Turan came to the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.

As a columnist for the largest print media in the City of Angels and a close friend of veteran film critics such as Todd McCarthy, he is the most influential critic in the association.

The awards season has already begun, and it is also the time when critics like them have the most room to show their talents.

Six heavyweight film critics from various media outlets in Los Angeles gathered together to discuss the Film Critics Society Awards, which will be announced next month.

Someone suggested: "Little Miss Sunshine is a good movie..."

Todd McCarthy countered: "But a movie like this can't win the Best Picture award."

Others nodded, saying that although Little Miss Sunshine was good, it seemed to be missing something for the awards season.

Another said: "Both The Departed and Queen are good, The Departed is better, Scorsese hasn't made a film this good since Goodfellas."

Todd McCarthy said: "Both Martin Davis and Jack Nicholson played their roles brilliantly. The latter took the initiative to declare that he would not participate in the awards season competition, while the former was too inexperienced and chose to avoid the fiercely competitive Best Actor and compete for Supporting Actor."

A young film critic named Justin said: "It's a very wise choice. Strictly speaking, he has only been in the industry for three years. The actors who came to Los Angeles at the same time are still working as extras. He is not from an acting family, does not have the support of a godfather, and is not Jewish..."

Kenneth Turan coughed, reminding him that there were some things he couldn't say in person.

Justin immediately changed his words: "He is very lucky to be where he is today. He is still clear-headed and knows that he has to do things step by step."

Kenneth Turan said: "As far as I know, Martin Davis took over an art film directed by Sam Mendes called "The Reader", in which he played a role from 16 to over 50 years old, the time span is amazing. I called Sam today and Sam thought his performance was amazing!"

Todd McCarthy continued, "Sam is a director with artistic aspirations. He has won an Oscar for Best Director and has worked with many actors with outstanding acting skills. He has a very high vision. For him to give such an evaluation, Martin Davis must have given a convincing performance again."

Another older film critic said: "Martin Davis has achieved success in commercial films many times, but he has not lost himself in the business, which is very rare for young people."

Kenneth Turan said something that sums it up: "It's a good thing for young people to pursue art. We have been holding back Hollywood and related practitioners to prevent them from being overly commercialized. Young people with such aspirations should be encouraged."

Todd McCarthy said: "I agree."

The two big guys spoke, and no one else had any objections.

The Film Critics Society Awards are different from others. There is not so much public content. The results are decided by internal voting and then announced.

Kenneth Turan said: "The tickets are sent to all members of the association. You should communicate well and try to come up with results next week. We have always been ahead of other film critics associations and we can't let the New York guys get the upper hand."

There are three major film critics association awards in the United States. Only the third place is certain in the ranking, and there is still no consensus on the first and second places.

In late November, after the Gotham Independent Awards were presented, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association announced the results of the Guild Awards in the Los Angeles Times.

The Departed won two awards, Scorsese won Best Director and Martin won Best Supporting Actor.

(End of this chapter)