Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 407 Making History is Hard

Before the official start of the Oscars ceremony, the time allotted for celebrities on the red carpet and for interviews is actually quite long.

From 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Los Angeles time, it's red carpet time for two hours.

The red carpet event ended at 5 p.m., and apart from a few big-name stars or award favorites who were still being interviewed by various media outlets, most guests and their families had already entered the awards hall.

The half hour from 5:00 to 5:30 is for rest or touch-ups, and the awards ceremony will officially begin at 5:30.

Some celebrities will take advantage of this half-hour break to grab a bite to eat, because the Oscars ceremony is so long, three and a half hours is really hard to endure.

Of course, it's almost always male celebrities who eat at this time; female celebrities would rather go hungry than eat at this time.

Going to the toilet is too troublesome for them. First, their clothes are hard to put on and take off, and second, they definitely need to touch up their makeup after using the toilet. They don't have that much time.

For these female celebrities, every second of the occasional camera shot during the Oscars is extremely precious, as it's a chance to appear in front of a global audience, and no one would miss it because they need to use the restroom.

Therefore, this is why many female celebrities not only stop eating and drinking from the day before, but also wear diapers on the day of the awards ceremony in order to cope with special circumstances.

Oscar is also very savvy in interpersonal relationships.

Cao Yang promised Academy President Sid Garnier that he would present the Best Director award together with last year's Best Director winner, Martin Scorsese.

Then, the "Pirates of the Caribbean" crew was seated next to the "The Fault in Our Stars" crew, which saved Cao Yang the trouble of deciding which crew to sit in.

After all, if "The Fault in Our Stars" wins Best Picture or Best Adapted Screenplay, it wouldn't be appropriate for Cao Yang to stand up and accept the award from "Pirates of the Caribbean."

However, it is estimated that Disney CEO Robert Iger would be happy to see this situation, and will most likely have ABC "unintentionally" provide a few more candid shots.

He's now willing to use any means necessary to get "Pirates of the Caribbean" to gross over $10 billion.

At 9:30 a.m. Beijing time (5:30 p.m. Los Angeles time), the main lights of the Kodak Theatre went out, and amidst the applause of the guests, some ambient lights gradually lit up, officially beginning the 80th Academy Awards ceremony.

Host Jon Stewart was quite straightforward, immediately launching into jokes about the writers' strike.

"I can't believe you're all here."

The theater guests all knew what he was talking about, so they gave him a round of applause.

Jon Stewart continued, "The past three and a half months have been tough, with the bitter writers' strike tearing Hollywood apart. I'm glad that the fight is over."

As he spoke, he tossed the note in his hand away, shrugged, and continued, "But unfortunately, the Writers Guild members refused to write scripts for the Golden Globes and Oscars during their strike."

So, before the Oscars opened, the chairman personally begged me to host this Oscars without a script, because as everyone knows, I am also a member of the Writers Guild, and a particularly eloquent and witty person.

Oh crap, where's my note? What's my next step?

Jon Stewart pretended to be panicked and paced back and forth, which made the guests in the audience burst into laughter.

Then, as if giving up, Jon Stewart said, "Never mind, if I don't know what to do next, I'll just introduce the movie."

After Jon Stewart rambled on for a while, Jennifer Garner, the presenter for the first award of the evening, took to the stage to present the first award, Best Costume Design.

The order of Oscar awards changes frequently. Specifically, except for Best Picture, which is awarded last, the order of other awards can change. Sometimes, even Best Director isn't necessarily awarded second to last.

However, generally speaking, the most important awards are Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Director, plus the Best Film award, which are the final major awards presented.

Penny Rose, sitting to Cao Yang's left and behind, was visibly nervous. She was the costume designer for "Pirates of the Caribbean" and was nominated for Best Costume Design.

Five films were nominated for Best Costume Design. Jennifer Garner briefly mentioned the importance of costumes in films before speaking into the microphone:

"The winner of the 80th Academy Award for Best Costume Design is..."

She opened the envelope, glanced at it, and said softly, "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Penny Rose, congratulations."

Penny Rose covered the lower half of her face in disbelief, looking around until the applause broke out, at which point she stood up excitedly.

Cao Yang turned around and looked at Penny Rose, clapping softly.

He didn't expect that "Pirates of the Caribbean" would get off to such a good start, winning its first award.

But thinking about it, it makes sense.
When Disney was running the awards, Robert Iger was the CEO of Disney, and he also made the decision to reboot Pirates of the Caribbean. It was a matter of his authority and even his position. Within his authority, he must have used a lot of personal connections.

He previously served as CEO of ABC, a subsidiary of Disney, which is also the broadcaster of the Oscars and thus has considerable influence over some key members.

After her initial excitement subsided, Penny Rose didn't rush to the stage to accept the award. Instead, she bent down and hugged Cao Yang, who was still seated, and said with a big smile, "Thank you, thank you for giving me this opportunity."

For most people, technical awards certainly can't compare to major awards like Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Director, or Best Film.

Many people don't even care much about who wins technical awards, feeling that these awards are dispensable.

But for those working behind the scenes, winning an Oscar in a technical category would be a "leap forward," instantly making them top talents in the industry.

This means that in the future, they will have the right to choose movies, will be able to work with more big directors and big stars, and most importantly, their salary will also "skyrocket".

In her acceptance speech, Penny Rose first thanked Cao Yang.

This year's Oscars didn't deliberately present any major awards at the beginning to attract attention, perhaps because they felt the Oscars were already "unbeatable" and didn't need such gimmicks?

First came Best Costume Design, followed by Best Animated Feature, Best Makeup, Best Visual Effects, and Best Art Direction. These first five awards are not the major awards that the average viewer would recognize.

Even though Best Visual Effects and Best Art Direction are considered important awards, only the Oscars have the confidence to retain audiences with these less "universally applicable" awards.

This definitely wouldn't work at one of the three major European film festivals.

In recent years, the three major European awards have started to place a traditional major award at the beginning of their award presentations in order to keep the audience engaged.

It's worth mentioning that although "Pirates of the Caribbean" didn't win the Best Makeup award, losing to "La Vie en Rose," it did win the Best Visual Effects award again.

Of the three nominations already awarded, two have been accepted, which seems like a good omen.

Finally, a significant award was presented: Best Supporting Actor, which went to Javier Bardem for "No Country for Old Men".

Among the four other candidates he beat was Casey Affleck, who played Norrington in "Pirates of the Caribbean".

However, Casey Affleck did not receive the nomination for "Pirates of the Caribbean," but rather for "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford."

The film "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" was produced by Warner Bros. and was greenlit as early as the beginning of 2005. Filming began in August 2005 and wrapped up in December.

However, the release of this film was repeatedly postponed. According to Warner Bros.' statement, the reason for the two-year delay was that the company had high hopes for the film from the very beginning of its production.

After the initial cut, the film was screened multiple times and repeatedly returned for re-editing based on audience requests, striving to ensure that the final version released was the most perfect one. As a result, the delay lasted for nearly two years... Cao Yang knew some of the inside story. It was true that Warner Bros. was not satisfied with the film, but the so-called repeated re-editing in pursuit of perfection was just self-praise.

After the film was completed, Warner Bros. was not satisfied with the internal test screenings. Then, market research showed that audiences, especially young audiences, seemed uninterested in the subject matter, so it was temporarily shelved.

Why is it being released again?
With Brad Pitt's films "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," "Babel," and "Ocean's Thirteen" all becoming box office hits in the past two years, Warner Bros. suddenly felt that "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" might not be a bad idea after all.

So, when this movie, also starring Brad Pitt, was released two years later in September 2007, it indeed proved the accuracy of Warner Bros.' market research.

Even the then-hot star Brad Pitt couldn't save the box office; "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" grossed a total of $400 million in North America!
Yes, this is not the box office for one day, nor for one week, but the total box office for the film after its release in North America.

They rushed to their maternal grandma's house.

Then, something very interesting happened.

This film, which had a Rotten Tomatoes score of only 64% when it was first released, suddenly became a classic masterpiece after its theatrical run ended.

Finally, there are the awards from various North American associations.

He even received nominations for Best Cinematography and Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars.

Cao Yang wasn't sure whether the film would become a classic, or whether it would be a hit in DVD rentals and new media streaming.

But what he was certain of was that Warner Bros. must have spent a lot of money on this movie, which was already a huge box office loss.

After several more awards were presented, James McAvoy and Josh Brolin went on stage to present the Best Adapted Screenplay award.

Cao Yang began to feel a sense of anticipation.

"The Fault in Our Stars" received a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.

This award is meaningful to Cao Yang.

To date, Cao Yang has won two Best Adapted Screenplay awards for District 9 and Inception. If he wins another one, he will have won three Best Adapted Screenplay awards.

In the history of the Oscars, renowned director Woody Allen has won the Best Original Screenplay award three times.

If Cao Yang wins the Best Adapted Screenplay award this time, his name will be linked with Woody Allen.

Woody Allen holds a special place in the American film industry; he is considered the only intellectual in the industry and a recognized master.

In fact, if Cao Yang could win another Best Adapted Screenplay award, he would not only have three Best Adapted Screenplay awards, but also a Best Original Screenplay award for "The Dirty Milk".

Not to mention he also has an Oscar for Best Director and two Best Picture awards.

All these awards combined make him more of a "master" than Woody Allen, no matter how you look at it.

So... the Oscars gave the Best Adapted Screenplay to "No Country for Old Men," instead of letting Cao Yang win three Best Adapted Screenplay awards.

Since there aren't three, it's impossible to compare him to Woody Allen.

It's worth noting the huge buzz "The Fault in Our Stars" caused across the US, even attracting the attention of the White House. Winning it the Best Adapted Screenplay award isn't unreasonable.

Unfortunately, just like the three major European sports organizations, they don't want a Chinese person to win the triple crown. Similarly, the Oscars don't want anyone to surpass Woody Allen's special status.

After all, you're not qualified to be compared to Woody Allen if you don't have three Best Original Screenplay awards or three Best Adapted Screenplay awards.

The awards for Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing that followed went to *The Bourne Ultimatum*, but *Pirates of the Caribbean* didn't win either.

This year, Lao Tian was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film with "Pieta", but he lost. The award was won by "The Bernard Action".

Actually, Lao Tian's loss was not unjustified; just look at the content of "Operation Bernard" to see why.

In short, this film is based on a true historical event and tells the story of a group of Jews with special skills who were forced to print counterfeit money for the Nazis in a concentration camp.

Seeing the Jews and Nazi concentration camps, you know it would be a shame if this movie didn't win Best Foreign Language Film. Is there anything more politically correct than this?

The Oscars are a place where political correctness is even more pronounced than in the three major European film festivals.

This is especially true given that many prominent directors, film company executives, and academic leaders are Jewish.

After a few more awards were presented, Amy Adams went on stage to present the Best Original Score award.

Interestingly, both "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "The Fault in Our Stars" received nominations for Best Original Score. This is also the last of the six technical nominations for "Pirates of the Caribbean" besides Best Actor.

Amy Adams opened the envelope, glanced at it, and then looked towards where Cao Yang was sitting. She smiled and said, "The winner of the 80th Academy Award for Best Original Score is Hans Zimmer for Pirates of the Caribbean."

Hans Zimmer wasn't too excited. He simply straightened his clothes, bent down and leaned against the back of Cao Yang's chair, and said "thank you" to Cao Yang.

He is arguably the most famous film score composer in Hollywood, and he no longer needs an award for Best Original Score to prove himself.

But then again, who would complain about having too many awards?

"I feel a little guilty about receiving this award."

Hans Zimmer glanced at the Oscar statuette, smiled, and shook his head.

"Some people may think I'm being modest, but I'm not."

I remember when we were working on the post-production soundtrack, Director Cao Yang hummed a very powerful melody in front of me and told me to make some slight modifications to it.

He looked up at the audience and said with a smile, "That's right, the exciting music you heard in 'New Pirates of the Caribbean' was a slightly modified version of the melody hummed by director Cao Yang."

When I was applying for this award, I strongly suggested that director Cao Yang's name be added, but he did not do so. Although his name is on the copyright, I am the sole recipient of the award.

Thank you, thank you Director Cao Yang, for the inspiration. Thank you for creating such a beautiful melody. Finally, I want to say that you are a genius, you are an all-around genius, and you will surely become the greatest director.

"Hua Hua Hua..."

A round of enthusiastic applause erupted.

At this point, there are four awards remaining: Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Picture.

Johnny Depp received his fourth Best Actor nomination for "Pirates of the Caribbean," but his chances of winning this year are slim.

"The Fault in Our Stars" has already missed two of its four nominations, leaving only nominations for Best Director and Best Picture.

(End of this chapter)