One Hundred and Eighty-Eight - Oscar's Taste

Wayne is a no-nonsense person who has adapted to the warm sunshine of Los Angeles, and he has no fondness for the cold weather here.

"Call it, we'll go home tomorrow."

Everyone packed their things neatly, not wanting to stay here any longer even for a second. Port Hope is a beautiful place with picturesque scenery and pleasant environment.

But that refers to seasons other than winter. When winter comes, not to mention the spectacle of salmon migration, once it snows, even going out becomes a torture.

The crew packed up the props and equipment as quickly as possible and returned to the hotel. The next day, Wayne flew back to Los Angeles with most of the others.

"Be careful with the film!"

After leaving the airport lobby, Wayne emphasized to Zack Snyder again before getting in the car. "Zach, put one in the bank's vault and one in Warner Bros.'s vault, and you have to be present for both!"

"No problem, I will follow the whole process and see the film being sealed before going back." Zack Snyder nodded in agreement.

Reaching out and patting the other person's shoulder, Wayne lowered his head and got into the car.

This film is basically not difficult to shoot, but it is definitely qualified as his transitional work in 1994. Now that the filming is over, he is also preparing to take a vacation and start post-production work in a week.

After the car started to drive smoothly, Nina put down the phone, opened her notebook, and said: "Just now, Mr. Thomas Mendes, the distribution director of Warner Bros., called and asked if you are interested in attending. Oscar Nominees Luncheon.”

Wayne thought about it for a moment and then said: "Remember to reply to him and just say that I am not going to participate."

Rather than getting involved in such a fruitless thing prematurely, it is better to spend time on post-production and understand the situation on "Batman". Wayne does not lack this kind of exposure.

"Did he say anything else?"

The assistant lady glanced at the book and then said: ""Joker" may receive more than 5 nominations, including best screenwriter, best picture, best director, best..."

"None of this matters!"

Wayne interrupted his assistant's script. The fact that so many nominations were received through public relations shows that Warner Bros. has indeed put in a lot of effort, but some nominations are just nominations.

If he was sure that the award could be publicized, Thomas Mendes would not call him to inquire. He would definitely tell him clearly how to cooperate, which would increase the chance of winning.

Under Nina's doubtful gaze, Wayne's voice was full of casualness. "Those heavyweight awards you mentioned have nothing to do with me! Warner Bros. didn't ask me to participate in the "Joker" canvassing receptions, parties, film screenings, and public relations activities for film critics. This has already happened. It sent a very clear signal.”

"We're not going to win?"

"Yes." Wayne replied in the affirmative. "Despite the lively discussion among film critics and the excitement among the media, as soon as the nominees luncheon is over, Warner Bros. will immediately stop all resources and public relations investment."

This is the purpose of Warner Bros. before the arrival of the awards season. It invests heavily in public relations resources to hype "Joker" into a confident look, and then has professional word-of-mouth blessings from various film critics, so that it can get as many award nominations as possible.

And Wayne is sure that without waiting for the Oscars to start, Warner Bros. will immediately release the "Joker" video tape and start a global auction for television broadcast rights and various peripheral authorizations after receiving the nominations.

There is almost a consensus among people in the industry that Oscars are just a kind of business. Since you know that you will not get a statuette, you might as well start making money in advance with the help of multiple nominations for this authoritative award.

Smiling softly, he joked: "Maybe Best Adapted Screenplay is a possibility, but I already have one award for this award. It doesn't mean much to me, and it's not worth investing resources in public relations. And those old men may also I feel that since young people already have one, there is no need to give them another one.”

Wayne was fascinated by the scenery passing by on both sides of the car. In Los Angeles, a place where people are entertained to death, the public is still very interested in awards, but he himself is unwilling to take that road.

The most efficient way to win awards is, of course, to choose some nostalgic themes, preferably with a protagonist who is mentally ill or behaviorally deficient, and shoot two or three films in a row. As long as the first two films can guarantee a Best Director nomination, it will be enough. .

This method can be called accumulating qualifications or collecting points. When you see yourself nominated for Best Director every time for two or three years in a row, the effects of this process begin to show.

By then, his age will no longer be a problem, and the points that should be harvested will be almost laid, and then he can carefully choose an Oscar-style "homework" to shoot. At the same time, through strict prize planning and a large amount of resources invested in public relations, the chance of winning should be more than 50%.

If this process is supported by a large company, this probability should increase by 10% to 20%.

But this is definitely not Wayne's wish. He doesn't have the time to play this game, which may last for many years. It is better to put the award aside for now, do the work of your own plan, and when the time comes, try in your own way to see if you can shake those senile college committee members.

"Boss, your shooting style and films obviously have a good professional reputation. A director like you should be favored by the academy, right?"

Nina has also been in Hollywood for more than a day or two. She understands some basic common sense. She even learns more about the industry every day than her boss Wayne. This is a work requirement.

From the information she learned, the professional reputation of every one of her boss's films was not a problem. With a dark style, each film touches on social issues or digs into the character's heart. It should be a natural winner for awards.

"Box office." Wayne shrugged to his assistant. "Because my films have such high box office, the Oscars naturally exclude films with high box office. They feel that this sacred honor should not be overly affected by commercialization. This is the consensus of all Academy members."

Having said this, he shook his head slightly, showed a sarcastic smile, and continued: "There is also a very important point. Almost all of my films are not realism. The only one that has a borderline with realism is "Death Town". It is also filled with a lot of absurd plots.

In the future, my works will be further away from realism. You should know what I am preparing for every day. A comic book universe and superhero comic book movie will not meet the requirements of the Oscars, so don’t think too much about it now. "

Seeing the car turning into Mulholland Drive, Nina asked curiously. "You really don't care about that statuette? That's every director's dream! Boss, maybe you can try making a realistic film."

"Don't be stupid, Nina."

Wayne simply shook his head. "I can't change my career plan just to please those old guys. Look, even if they don't give me that honor in another ten years, I won't do anything that meets Oscar tastes.

Or do you think an Oscar-winning director would have a higher status in the industry than I do now? "

Nina blurted out: "Isn't it? No!"

After saying this, she immediately denied this sentence herself. It seems that in people's shallow consciousness, the Oscar-winning director is a big shot and a sacred artist. But thinking about it carefully, it seems that this is not the case.

A director who has been working hard in the independent film industry for ten years, who had been unknown for the previous ten years, suddenly made a film that suited the taste of the academy. If there were the influence of social environment, political correctness, etc., he won the statuette.

Can such a director compare to Wayne's current status? Just think about it and you know it's absolutely impossible.

"Right!"

Seeing that his assistant was deep in thought, Wayne was willing to chat more with her, and continued cheerfully: "Art is actually not as high-end as the public thinks. Directors with higher status in the industry are generally A director who can create benefits for production companies and capital is also a director that everyone is willing to cooperate with.”

The path Wayne wants to take is special after all, but one thing is that his films in the next few years will definitely involve more special effects and bigger scenes. What's this? These are the various elements of commercial movies that popular movie fans like.

Film critics and professionals have never looked down on vulgar movies in the summer season, but these bad movies they call are popular among movie fans, often achieving high box office and earning huge profits for the production companies.

Just like the later film "Bang Bang", not only did film critics think his films were bad, but even a small number of senior movie fans thought they were vulgar.

Every film simply wants to destroy everything, constantly explode and explode, sensational and sensational. It is simply a collection of all the vulgar elements of the summer movie.

But this is popular among movie fans. Everyone comes to the theater to watch a movie on weekends. Isn’t it just to have fun and enjoy watching it? If they see such a big scene with special effects, they will naturally feel that their tickets are worth the money.

Explosive Shell is a guy whose narratives in almost every film are weak and whose logic cannot even withstand scrutiny. However, he is indeed the darling of the production company and the director that all actors want to work with.

To put it bluntly, if it weren’t because the box office was high enough, who could say that his status in the industry is not as good as that of an Oscar-winning director who makes literary films?

"Hey, hey, two little bastards!" As soon as Wayne's car stopped by the fountain, the two golden retrievers who were walking with Hela in the garden broke away from the butler's control and rushed over.

After he got off the car, they kept circling around him, and kept rubbing their big heads against his legs. They hadn't seen each other for nearly three months, and the two dogs were going crazy and burrowed into his arms.

"They are all old, boss."

Hela sighed. "When the pet doctor came for a checkup last week, he said that these two dogs have entered old age. Maybe you should spend more time with them. Now these two big guys have less and less time to move."