Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 218 Influence

After ending the call with President Han, Cao Yang began to seriously consider the possibility of winning the Oscar for Best Director.

Cao Yang’s biggest disadvantage is not whether his films conform to Oscar values, but his identity as a pure Chinese.

The Oscars are not like the three major European organizations.

Although the three major European studios also, to a certain extent, slightly favor their own or even European directors and actors, they value direct lineage more and don't care so much about nationality.

The Oscars are different.

Relatively speaking, the Oscars are just an award in the old United States, which prefers to give the award to actors who develop in Hollywood, or more specifically, to white people.

If it weren't for political correctness considerations, other ethnic groups would have little chance of winning the award.

Of course, in order to show that they do not discriminate against other ethnic groups, Americans will occasionally give awards to black people.

In fact, with Cao Yang's current fame and influence, if he showed any intention of changing his nationality, he would definitely win the Oscar for Best Director this time, and no matter who his opponent was, he would not be able to stop him from winning the award.

Columbia's top executives and Berman once raised this issue to Cao Yang when "Mean Milk" was a huge success, but Cao Yang rejected it without hesitation.

This is a matter of principle and there is no room for negotiation.

With less than ten days to go until the Oscars, Han called, but Columbia and Tom Rothman hadn’t called yet.

This made Cao Yang think deeply.

As for the so-called surprise, for Mr. Han, even if he failed to win Cao Yang's Best Director award in the end, he just felt a little regretful. However, the fact that "District 9" received seven Oscar nominations was already a great success and surprise.

However, for Columbia and Tom Rothman, they are now eager to work with Cao Yang on the next movie. If Cao Yang fails to become the best director, it will not be a surprise.

Columbia and Tom Rossman would only call Cao Yang when they saw hope and had a little confidence.

Cao Yang checked the information on the Internet.

The competition for this Oscar is still very lively.

"The Aviator", directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leo DiCaprio, is currently the biggest hit.

"The Aviator" received ten Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor.

Million Dollar Baby, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, received seven Oscar nominations.

These include nominations for major awards such as Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress, and it is also one of the biggest favorites at the moment.

Speaking of Eastwood, there was also an interesting story reported online, which can be regarded as the influence brought by Cao Yang.

Just after the Oscar nominations were announced, The Hollywood Reporter interviewed him and asked him how he could direct and act in a film himself and still be nominated for Best Director and Best Actor.

Eastwood was silent for a moment, then said:
"I have a shelved project called Mystic River. Ever since this project, which I value very much, was shelved, I realized that as a director, instead of looking for some unreliable actors, it would be better for me to do it myself..."

Well, Eastwood is onto something.

Anyone who paid attention to the sensational incident of the actor beating the director at that time would know what the joke he mentioned is about.

When they first started filming Mystic River, Sean Penn and Tim Robbins acted too gay, and Eastwood told them many times, but they just wouldn't change.

Eastwood has some beautiful things to say, mostly about the topic of "fencing" between two male animals...

Who is Sean Penn?
He was a famous bad boy throughout Hollywood, and with his violent temper, how could he withstand such verbal attacks?

The most important thing is that as soon as the filming started, he felt that Tim Robbins had a handsome face and looked quite pleasing to the eye, and he even had an impulse deep in his heart...

Sean Penn was so angry that he taught Eastwood a lesson on the spot. It is said that the beating was so severe that Eastwood stayed in the "VIP room" of the hospital for two months.

Of course, this may be an exaggeration by the media at the time. With so many staff members on the scene, how could they watch the director get beaten?

However, it is absolutely true that Eastwood was beaten, and it can be seen that he still feels aggrieved about the beating.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have been talking about this matter during the interview.

Cao Yang's "District 9" also received seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor, making it one of the favorites.

In addition, there is a biographical film called "Finding Neverland", which tells the story of a Scottish writer. It has received six Oscar nominations and is also one of the favorites.

It is worth mentioning that this movie, which was shot in 2002, was not released until November 04 for some reason. The starring actor was Depp, the Oscar-winning actor promoted by Cao Yang.

According to news from the Oscars, the film could have received seven nominations, but the one it missed was Best Actor.

When the nomination list was released, Depp had been a strong contender for the Best Actor nomination for "Finding Neverland", and was at the top of the list.

Unfortunately, the movie "District 9" starring him was also nominated for Best Actor, and was even ranked higher, which resulted in him alone receiving two of the five nominations.

After consideration, the Oscars felt that it was inappropriate to give Depp two Best Actor nominations.

So, the Best Actor nomination for "Finding Neverland" was removed, and Eastwood, who was ranked lower, was moved up to replace Depp's nomination.

There is another popular movie, which is still a biographical movie. It tells the glorious life story of Ray Charles, an American jazz and rock figure.

The film also received six nominations, including major awards such as Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor.

Is it true that the Oscars are determined to promote biographical films this year?

Well, maybe it’s because biographical films are indeed easier to win awards, which is why so many directors flock to make biographical films.

Cao Yang no longer remembers the winner of the 77th Academy Award for Best Director, but if nothing unexpected happens, it will most likely be between Eastwood and Martin Scorsese.

Now that Colombia has taken action, Cao Yang has become the accident.

On the domestic Internet, especially in the "Cao Yang Bar", everyone discussed that the biggest obstacles for Cao Yang to win the Oscar for Best Director are Eastwood and Martin Scorsese.

Of course, there are also many "authoritative" media who think that Eastwood and Martin Scorsese are more "high-end", and seem to think that they are more impressive than Cao Yang and more "worthy" of winning the Oscar for Best Director.

This is the way it is in this era and in the next ten years or so. Any foreigner will automatically be looked up to and praised in every way possible.

Just like a well-known film review website "Dou Mou", all foreign movies are automatically rated one point higher or even more than one point, and domestic movies are automatically rated one point lower.

However, it is not so easy to step on Cao Yang now.

"Caoyang Bar" is the largest bar in China and also the most active forum. Under the intentional guidance of the upper echelons of Baidu, Cao Yang has long been "deified".

All the interpretations of his movies from various angles, the awards he won, the praises from foreign media, etc., are all pinned to the top of the bar, and most members and visitors of the "Cao Yang Bar" will see them. Therefore, when some websites and online media intentionally use Eastwood and Martin Scorsese to suppress Cao Yang, they are mercilessly mocked and attacked by the comments below.

"There are idiots in this world, and I'm talking about you, the editor. You actually think that Eastwood and Martin Scorsese are cool because of Cao Yang. You are so ignorant, shameless and fearless.

I won’t talk about anything else, just the grand prize.

Cao Yang has won the Oscar for Best Picture, Venice Golden Lion, Cannes Golden Palm, Venice Best Director, Cannes Best Director, Berlin Jury Grand Prix...

It has also won Oscars for Best Actor, Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival, Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival, and Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival.

Stupid editor, go check again, what awards have your so-called more high-end Eastwood and Martin Scorsese won! "

"I'll complete the above post to prevent the stupid editor from pretending to be dead.

In terms of major awards.

Eastwood won the 93th Academy Award for Best Director in 65 and the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Venice Film Festival in 00. Those are the only two he won.

Martin Scorsese won the Best Director Award at the 90th Venice Film Festival in late 47, and he was also awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 95nd Venice Film Festival in 52.

He has also won the Palme d'Or and Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival, but no other major awards with a great influence.

So, you stupid editor, how do you have the courage to say that Eastwood and Martin Scorsese are more impressive than Cao Yang?
Is it just because they are older than Cao Yang and in their sixties that they won the Lifetime Achievement Award in Venice?
Don’t you know that just because Cao Yang has won the Venice Golden Lion, when Cao Yang is over 60 years old, Venice will definitely give Cao Yang a Lifetime Achievement Award? "

“I studied abroad in Los Angeles, USA, and I know more about the situation here.

I am sure that I have never been abroad.

In terms of artistic achievement, neither Eastwood nor Martin Scorsese himself dares to say that they can compare with Cao Yang.

In terms of box office and influence, Cao Yang is definitely one of the directors that Hollywood film companies most want to work with, and can even be ranked in the top three.

I certainly don't know that Cao Yang is a best-selling author in the United States, right? Haha, he holds the copyrights of many novels, which are said to be easily adapted into movies.

In addition, in the United States, if you interview any Hollywood actor, whether male or female, Cao Yang will definitely be among the top five directors they want to work with."

……

With a week to go before the Oscars, Cao Yang received a call from Columbia Executive Director Tom Rothman.

This time, Tom Rothman did not talk to Cao Yang about cooperating on a movie. Instead, he invited Cao Yang to the United States, saying that "District 9" might win something at the Oscars, and it would be best for him, the director, to be present.

On February 2, everyone set out from Beijing and headed for the United States.

Many people went to the United States this time.

"District 9" was nominated for Best Picture, and Mr. Han, as one of the producers, also went to the United States.

Gu Changwei will definitely go, as he was once again nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for "District 9".

This is the third time that Gu Changwei has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography.

He was nominated for the Best Cinematography Oscar for the first time for "Farewell My Concubine", but unfortunately he did not win the award, which brought him several years of frustration.

However, due to his unsuccessful ventures into Hollywood during those years, he did not become a regular member of a major domestic director's team, but instead became Cao Yang's regular photographer.

Last year, Gu Changwei was once again nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for Cao Yang's "Despicable Me" and finally got his wish and won the Best Cinematography.

Gu Changwei did not expect that he would be nominated for the Best Cinematography Oscar again this year.

In the past, he boasted that he was the best photographer in the country, which might have been a little controversial. After all, there were only one or two photographers as famous as him, and there were also very good photographers in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

But that's all in the past!

Now Gu Changwei doesn’t care much about being the best photographer in the country, and there is no need for him to brag about it.

Because even if we look at the world, after being nominated for the Oscar for Best Cinematography again, he is still one of the few great photographers, not to mention in China.

Even the story that Cao Yang remembered, in which Lao Gu changed his career to be a director and filmed "The Peacock", and therefore had to be told with a young actress named Zhang, did not happen.

According to the historical trajectory of the previous life, Lao Gu's "Peacock" was released during this period, but now, Lao Gu has never mentioned changing his career to become a director.

Maybe he had been living too comfortably with Cao Yang. Now that he has both fame and fortune, there is no need for him to change careers.

Duan Yihong is also going to the United States. He was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for "District 9".

In the past, this would have been an absolutely remarkable event for a pure Chinese person.

But the appearance of Cao Yang made this seemingly incredible thing not so surprising.

In fact, Duan Yihong's nomination for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar was a bit beyond Cao Yang's expectations.

When Cao Yang first learned that "District 9" was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, he thought it was Samuel L. Jackson, who played the gangster boss, or Ian McKellen, who played the protagonist's father-in-law.

After analysis, Cao Yang felt that there were three reasons.

First, the character of the commander played by Duan Yihong was slightly modified by Cao Yang, who added a lot of plots that could highlight his personality, making the character more "three-dimensional" and more popular.

Secondly, Cao Yang added immersive experience to several main characters. At least in terms of performance, several of them performed above their level. The more "three-dimensional" the character, the more impressive it is.

Third, Columbia and President Han must have done some work on the Oscar nominations.

The combination of these three points led to Duan Yihong's nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

This is an "achievement" that Zhang Ziyi could not achieve even if she tried her best.

On the plane, Cao Yang chatted with Mr. Han and talked about the strange phenomenon of this year's Oscars - the sudden increase in biographical films.

President Han had noticed this matter before, and he had talked to Tom Rossman, so he knew something about it.

He told Cao Yang that so many directors made biographical films because they were influenced by his "Mean Milk" last year.

Being able to "grab" the Best Picture award from the popular "Lord of the Rings 3" has made many directors feel that biographical films are very promising.

That’s why there are so many biographical films this year.

President Han once again sighed in his heart at Cao Yang's influence.

(End of this chapter)