Hollywood Domination Chapter 2010: Oscar of the Year (Part 1)

"Are you sure you can do it, Elizabeth?" Taking the wheelchair out of the trunk, Conrad and his **** supported the grandmother one by one, and after she sat on the wheelchair, he opened the Lock the wheelchair, signal the **** to push the old man forward, and at the same time bent down with some concern and asked, "No one here needs you to be brave—and no one wants you to go to the hospital again."

Although she has always refused to accept the old age, Elizabeth Taylor's health has indeed been deteriorating in recent years. The year before last, she basically lived a healthy old life. However, since last year, she has been frequently hospitalized until January this year. Only in the first ten days of the month did he barely regain his health, but his body also weakened. He can still walk around at home, but he can no longer do without a wheelchair when he goes out for a long time. Just like today, the drive from the residence to the cinema made the old man feel a little uncomfortable, and he asked the **** to take out the wheelchair without even trying to walk around.

"I'm not so old that I can't even last a movie." ——Although the body is weakened, but the temper is still so hot and stubborn, Elizabeth doesn't seem to plan to change her movie watching plan, This also made Conrad shake his head helplessly, and complained in a low voice, "Damn Fox, **** Jennifer Jefferson, they are completely crazy because of Oscar."

"What did you say?" Like all deaf old people in the world, Elizabeth raised her voice, "Conrad?"

"It's nothing, Grandma." Conrad also had to turn up the volume, took out his phone to check the time, he sighed again, and walked into the mall with his escort, "Do you want some ice cream? I remember you were fond of basket robbins, there was one there."

"Don't treat me like a child, Conrad." Elizabeth glared at her grandson, suddenly with some old shrewdness, she adjusted the blanket covering her lap, "Tell me about the box office— — It’s been a long time since Avatar broke through Titanic, has it?”

That was only three weeks ago... Your concept of time seems to be a little confused, Elizabeth...

Silently complained in his heart, Conrad knew what his grandmother cared about—in fact, to be fair, this movie viewing had nothing to do with Fox’s Oscar promotion, when she was still in the hospital When I heard that there was such a movie that could even surpass "Titanic" and push the box office into the 2 billion club, Elizabeth kept clamoring to see it, but she was not so determined to see the theater version at that time. It wasn't until I was bored on the hospital bed after reading a bunch of gossip magazines and TV news, and learned about Fox and Jennifer's comments on the Olympic awards, that I became interested in imax. After I was discharged from the hospital, I asked to see the imax screening. You know, she hasn't seen a movie theater for many years before this.

If Conrad were to make an objective comment, he would agree with the view that "you are not qualified to judge if you don't go to the cinema". No matter how you look at it, this idea is irritating and headache-just because Conrad is very clear that Fox's public relations did not call home, and the older generation who used to like to form cliques were also very quiet this time. Knowing that Elizabeth is in the hospital, it is impossible to pay attention to Oscar. Elizabeth's interest is completely spontaneous, so he can only vent his anger on Jennifer Jefferson - if it weren't for the remarks she made in the media, he would not need to On such a good Sunday morning, I gave up my date and accompanied an old lady to the cinema to watch a movie... which he had already seen several times.

"Hi, James," it's already late February. According to general movies, the screening cycle is already at the end. However, there is no second movie to compete for. , "Avatar" still has plenty of imax screenings, and the ticket source is of course many times more relaxed than when it was first released. With Taylor's relationship, Imax special screenings can be arranged with just a phone call, and the theater manager has been waiting at the elevator door for a long time. , ran back and forth for the legendary actress with a look of admiration, and Conrad also found a gap and pulled him aside, "I know Elizabeth said that she wants to see the original movie, but you Can you turn down the volume a little bit, especially the subwoofer, you know, Elizabeth's heart has always been a problem, and she was admitted to the hospital some time ago..."

"Of course, of course," James rubbed his hands excitedly, "wait for three minutes, let's debug it-Conrad, you know, I'm a long-time fan, and if it's convenient for Elizabeth later- —”

"She doesn't want to be photographed with anyone right now," Conrad said apologetically, "but the autograph will certainly be fine—"

"What are you talking about with him?" Elizabeth asked sensitively as soon as Conrad walked back, "You must have asked him to turn down the sound effects, right? You must have asked him to turn down the sound effects - Conrad!"

"But you may really not be able to stand the subwoofer, grandma, if you continue like this, I'll just have to call Dr. Manson." Conrad said frantically, but he looked at his lips Squirming, the grandmother who was taken aback by him soon regretted, "Are you sure you really don't want some ice cream?"

Elizabeth shook her head, and her **** said, "Conrad, after the last operation, Dr. Manson has banned her from eating non-special food. Her blood sugar can't stand it."

Conrad nodded, and gave a few vague responses. He took out his phone and opened the application page, but he didn't click on K to complain about his Sunday schedule, but swipe the screen awkwardly.

"So," Elizabeth asked after a while, "has the box office exceeded 2 billion?"

"It's 2.4 billion now," Conrad stuffed his phone into his trouser pocket and straightened up. "The box office in North America is approaching 700 million...maybe we can set another record before the Oscars."

"What about the final box office estimate? It hasn't come out yet?" When it comes to the movie, Elizabeth's mental boss seems to be back again, "Isn't 3 billion impossible?"

"Now it is estimated that by the time when the global market finally goes down in June, there will still be a surplus of about 300 million in the entire global market," Conrad said in a low voice, "if it is ideal enough, it may reach 2.8 billion." , but 3 billion is still difficult—from this point of view, Jennifer’s estimate is very accurate, she said between 2 billion and 3 billion, that is, it cannot break through 3 billion, haha.”

"2.8 billion..." Elizabeth whispered the number softly, then shook her head again, "As long as you live long enough, you can really see anything. 2.8 billion... tell me again, it How many Oscar nominations did you get?"

To be honest, when young people get along with old people, impatience is indeed unavoidable. Elizabeth has asked this question several times, and she can't always remember the detailed data. However, this time Conrad did not Not impatient, but softly said. "9, Elizabeth, Best Film, Director, Art Direction, Cinematography, Special Effects, Editing, Film Music, Sound Effects, Sound Editing - "The Hurt Locker" and "Millionaire" are also 9. This year's Oscars are indeed very impressive. Evenly matched, but the hero and heroine should not be given to any of these three."

"What are the overlapping nominations?"

"Best Film, Director, Cinematography, Editing, Sound Effects, Sound Effect Editing, Soundtrack, the three films completely overlap in these seven categories. In addition, "The Hurt Locker" also has Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay, And "Millionaire" is the best original soundtrack and the best adapted screenplay." Conrad shrugged, "It's basically the standard package of the best movie, so it's really hard to say who wins and who loses."

"Jennifer didn't even get a leading actress nomination?"

"No, but no one in the industry seems to care about this, they are all distracted by the 2 billion box office - she didn't show up for the entire awards season this year, and she didn't even go to the Oscar nomination luncheon, but No one said she was arrogant, but she was about to be promoted to the altar." Conrad said sourly, "Of course, as long as there is a box office, who cares about it? In the original words of those newspapers and magazines, 'she He has already surpassed the actor and became an important figure in the film industry'——it is almost an important figure in the film investment industry..."

"But I noticed that you seem to say that she doesn't deserve her name much less often than before." Elizabeth said, she looked up at her grandson innocently.

Thinking of his childish remarks more than a year ago, Conrad's face was a little hot. Of course, he would never admit this anyway-but, in "Avatar", Elizabeth is about to see it with her own eyes. Now, he can't say anything to criticize the movie, but he just said bluntly, "No matter what her investment vision is, I still have one opinion. Her acting skills are far from as good as the awards she won."

Before the grandmother could answer, he changed the subject and took the armrest of the wheelchair from the attendant, "We are entering, Elizabeth. Here, here are your 3D glasses, your reading glasses and myopia glasses It's all here with me, push me if you need..."

Although I went to see this most expensive movie in history in the first week of its release, I watched it again and again for various purposes in the next few weeks-I had a date with my girlfriend, purely to accompany Look, I also went to watch it with my classmates with the homework assigned by the teacher, and I went to watch it purely for the appreciation of special effects. This is the first time I watch it. When I saw the Pandora planet purely made by special effects appear on the big screen, Conrad still couldn't help sighing: He has left his identity as a junior, and this year he started to try to make experimental short films. Handing in homework, if it was easy to give advice to "A Week with Monroe" a year ago, then now that he has truly transformed from an audience to a director and truly understands how the profession of director works , Conrad finally understands how far he is from a blockbuster film like "Avatar" - don't look at him now as if he still doesn't like Jennifer Jefferson, but the fact is that even if he is worse than Jennifer 10 times or 100 times actors are not within his reach. As the grandson of Elizabeth, he may be able to chat with many celebrities (if he is lucky enough), which makes him somewhat underestimate the abilities of celebrities. Because of the familiarity, "they are human beings, and they're not that great", and it wasn't until he really got started that he realized how far he was from "A Week with Marilyn Monroe" and Jennifer Jefferson. One day he can also export works like "Avatar"? Even if he had the unreserved support of the capital, Conrad was sure that he would not even have such a bold idea as "Avatar", and really rely on stunts to create such a wild alien planet.

For their peers, films like "Avatar", which are superior to their peers at the industrial level, have a greater impact on them than ordinary audiences. Film critics may prefer a good story, but for the director , a good story is only a foundation, the most indispensable thing in this industry is a good story, how to turn a good story into a good movie - good details, good execution, good special effects support, this is what really shocks people Things like "Avatar" are enough to make a rookie like Conrad despair. The more he tries to analyze the shooting process behind the lens, the more he realizes how far he is from such a top level In the end, he simply gave up thinking at all, and simply immersed himself in the beautiful scenery that can be seen everywhere. As for the old-fashioned plot of "Avatar", he has completely blocked it. The performances of Jennifer Jefferson and Anthony Ryan , he still chose to ignore it with some awkwardness.

In watching the movie this time, Conrad felt better. He didn't have to be so careful to avoid the question that has become more and more important recently: 'Am I not suitable for this line of work? ’ ‘Am I not as talented as Cameron? ’ ‘Am I stupid for laughing at Jennifer before? ’ ‘Is that how grandma looked at me at the time? ’—and, of course, ‘Isn’t Elizabeth very poor? ''Are her children (including Conrad's father, of course) all selfish' and 'Am I myself selfish and stupid'... When he feels these questions start to stir, he can focus on Focus on the movie or Elizabeth respectively-more than 2 hours, for the old man, it means at least several toilets, and he also hopes that his grandmother (Conrad can't call her w) will not fall asleep during the movie , to be able to enjoy the fun of watching movies this time as much as possible.

To his surprise, Elizabeth was very energetic today. Except for going to the bathroom halfway, she did not fall asleep halfway, nor did she feel uncomfortable with the sound effects that came from time to time, just like a healthy 60-year-old Like his wife, she put on her black-framed 3D glasses and watched the whole scene with full concentration. After the subtitles appeared and the lights were brightened, she even nodded her head vigorously a few times, as if expressing some complicated emotions.

"Oh, this is indeed a wonderful movie." Even the professional **** whose job is to take care of Elizabeth enthusiastically expressed his opinion, "Should we go to the bathroom? No? OK? , Conrad, maybe your grandmother needs some fresh air—"

"Don't say 'we', I don't like this word." Elizabeth said a little irritably, "Marianna, put me in the wheelchair——"

Leaving a signature for the theater manager, and asking Mariana to push her around the atrium garden near the shopping mall a few times, and taking a nap in the middle, Elizabeth finally recovered a lot of energy, and motioned for a group of people to follow Boarded the nanny van. After Conrad helped his **** settle down with grandma, seeing that she seemed to be still sane, he seized the opportunity, "What do you think of this movie? Of course, there is also an imax hall. Do you like these changes, Elizabeth ?”

Elizabeth nodded wordlessly, her lips were tightly pressed together, and she didn't seem to have much interest in talking, and Conrad didn't dare to provoke his grandmother anymore——after he gradually entered the movie world Now, the awe of his grandmother is much higher than before. This is a very subtle change of mentality. Of course, he used to like to brag about his grandmother's achievements, but that was more to put gold on his face , 'Even my old and grumpy grandmother is a legend, so there is nothing great about legends', and now, Conrad gradually realized that this old, frail, grumpy old woman and his professional ability After walking across the gap that seemed like a chasm, he was not so willing to take the initiative to talk about movies with Elizabeth.

The nanny car left the urban area at a slow speed that would not cause Elizabeth any discomfort. After half an hour of driving, Elizabeth finally returned to her mansion. The next thing was of course a series of injections and pills. Mariana insisted that Elizabeth stay in bed Rest while Conrad is free to go on dates with friends.

"Well, how did Elizabeth react to the movie?—bet she thinks it's a terrible movie."

They are all students of USC, and Conrad's classmates are also very curious about Elizabeth's reaction - she is the only veteran judge of the Olympic awards they can get in touch with, almost as soon as they meet, people can't wait After questioning, "Fox's trick is too cheap, it will definitely have the opposite effect."

"Not necessarily, my grandpa went to see "Avatar", and he said it was the most shocking movie he had ever seen—why, in your mind, the elderly are completely incapable of accepting new things?"

"Conrad, how is it? Elizabeth fell asleep while watching it, right?"

"No, I stayed sober throughout the movie." Conrad sat down on the lawn, grabbed a whiskey bottle wrapped in a paper bag and took a sip. It's not easy...I think she might vote for "Avatar."

"What?"

"what the hell?"

"Are you kidding—"

Judging from the exclamation, there were not many people who were optimistic about Fox's public relations strategy before this, but Conrad didn't have much sense of superiority. Shut up—if I could hold it back then, I could have avoided this terrible embarrassment now, and at least it would not have been so difficult to admit that Jennifer was right.

"Seriously," he said listlessly, "if Elizabeth really felt bad, she'd say it as soon as the movie was over, and if she thought it was good, she'd admit it—"

Swallowed 'and made fun of me for being childish before,' Conrad said, "but Elizabeth didn't say anything, she didn't look like she wanted to talk about imax and Avatar, so I thought, If she was honest enough, she should have voted for it."

"wait, wait, you have confused me."

"Maybe she didn't say anything, just because the movie is so monotonous that there is really nothing to say."

Even these young talents from USC couldn't keep up with Conrad's thinking. They protested one after another, and Conrad shook his head stubbornly, denying everyone's objections.

"You don't know her, because this movie and what it represents really shocked her and made her feel her age, so Elizabeth didn't want to talk about it," he suddenly felt a little depressed, "For her For example, the world has stopped changing since the 1980s, and she has experienced the best of the world in the best years of her life—if you want her to admit that the world has seen many new and good changes, but she There's no chance of being trendy anymore, it's cruel and hard, at least for Elizabeth, she's never liked getting old, so I don't think she'll admit it to anyone, Of course, I don’t want to discuss the movie itself and its significance—as for whether she will admit to the votes, it’s hard to say.”

Discussing aging with a group of young people led to a brief, sympathetic silence in the crowd, before someone said, "Well, it's cruel to say that, but I can understand Jennifer now -- if If you don’t have the courage to admit this, then maybe you are no longer suitable to be an Oscar judge, which is cruel, but the rules are like this, isn’t it? Otherwise, at least for me, the gold content of this award will be greatly reduced.”

"So I guess, she's going to admit it eventually—at least in the golden generation, when the generation of Oscar judges is getting older, and visual effects start to take off, but they start to go less, or even not. Over the past ten years in the cinema, the judges have indeed been unfair to blockbuster visual effects—Elizabeth is not too cowardly to admit her mistakes," Conrad shrugged, defending his grandmother's image somewhat defensively, This won him a few dubious compliments, "However, I'm not sure if this kind of compensatory mentality can make her vote for "Avatar."

Actually, in Conrad's view, the possibility of Elizabeth voting for "Avatar" is quite high, because she has not watched "The Hurt Locker" and "Millionaire". If she doesn't find the time, there's a good chance she'll end up with Avatar at No. 1 and fiddle around with the rest of the rankings. ——However, it doesn’t seem like a good idea to disclose too much inside information to the students. After all, it’s the same sentence. Objectively speaking, Conrad also agrees that a large number of Oscar judges are too old to be competent. However, as a crony of the criticism committee, he still doesn't want to see them being criticized emotionally, and he is not so happy to see their authority being reduced in terms of interests.

"If you think about it carefully, Fox's public relations strategy is actually very smart," he could only express his emotion in another way, "As long as 100 judges are really motivated and enter the IMAX hall, "Avatar" It is equivalent to borrowing the potential of these 100 judges "watching imax for the first time". Under this kind of shock, the possibility of them changing their evaluation of "Avatar" will be greatly increased. It is already a success that "Avatar", which cannot be listed as a real candidate, has operated to this extent."

"Yeah, who knows who the Oscar will award to - really anything can happen these days, even a box office of 2.4 billion can come true," one of his classmates shrugged, "maybe we really How about seeing a commercial blockbuster win an Oscar for Best Picture?"

His tone was a bit sarcastic, but as he spoke, even he himself became serious: "When you really say this idea, it doesn't sound so absurd, does it? ..."

Indeed, it was found that this idea was not so absurd. It was not just such a person. It's just a joke, but with Fox's strong public relations and fierce discussions among film critics, the impossible seems to be slowly becoming possible. Oscar's originally clear battle between the two heroes has gradually become a three-legged situation. "Avatar" "The voice of winning is no smaller than that of "Millionaire" and "The Hurt Locker". In February 2010, when they were just slapped in the face by 2 billion, everyone's attitude became unprecedentedly cautious and open ——Film is a young art, and Hollywood is also a land of miracles. Here, anything can happen. If Oscar changes its inherent direction from this session and moves closer to a more popular aesthetic, then... ...What's wrong with this?

Will this be a collapse of faith, a collapse of Hollywood? Obviously not, in fact, when you really say this idea, it doesn't sound so ridiculous, does it...