Five Hundred and Four - 1 Point of Caution Is Enough

Over the past few years, although Wayne is not a social person, due to his work, he has also built a wide enough network of relationships in Hollywood. Even some of the core members of the academy have more or less fought with each other. Communicate.

Although it is said that this is the first time that he has officially participated in the Oscar competition, he still achieved quite good results by relying on the first-mover advantage and imitating the rough method of the fat man in his memory. It’s unclear whether it can officially win the award, and it’s also unclear how many and which statuettes it will receive in the end. But at least “The Departed” has been a great success in the nominations.

When the official list of nominations was announced, Wayne's personal phone rang in Nina's hands for almost a whole day. From the core team members to Zack Snyder and others who are filming "The Matrix" in Australia, even those relatively familiar actors in the industry sent congratulations and blessings in a short period of time.

Also on the day when the nomination list was announced, he temporarily took back his energy from competing for awards. According to the rules, some subsequent public relations and lobbying work will also be carried out underground. It is impossible to be as blatant as before. Bruce Rosen While Bloom's team focused on this part, he began to recuperate his energy and began to focus more energy on the post-production work of "The Dark Knight."

While staring at the post-production work in Warner Studio, Wayne's eyes did not completely leave Hollywood, which was as chaotic as a pot of porridge at this time. The public relations team continuously summarized the information, and then communicated frequently with the assistant lady, almost every other time. For a day or two, Bruce Rosenblum would have a phone call or two with him in person.

"Bruce, if necessary, can give up all the acting awards for "The Departed" and give up all the technical awards for "The Departed". We will do our best to pile up all resources on the best picture and best director."

As time progressed slowly, one afternoon in late February, Bruce Rosenblum and Jeff Robinoff, as well as Naomi Watts and others, who were holding their children, finished watching " After the second edited version of "The Dark Knight", Wayne talked about the getting closer and closer to the Oscars, and did not shy away from talking to the Warner Bros. distribution executive who is responsible for his public relations work.

This statement may seem a bit ruthless, but as we all know, even a media group like Warner Bros. cannot guarantee all nominated heavyweight awards, and public relations and media resources must be tilted.

Being able to say such words also represents Wayne's attitude towards winning the Best Director statuette. Obviously, he does not want any surprises to occur.

"No, Bruce."

Naomi Watts on the side did not wait for the other party to respond, and said beforehand: "I think if necessary, we can even give up the best picture to ensure that we have the greatest confidence and competition in the votes for best director. force."

This woman's face was serious at this time, and it was obvious that her thoughts were more extreme than those of the rightful owner beside her.

"Hey, relax, Nami."

Reaching out and gently squeezing one of the woman's hands, Wayne shook his head in amusement. "We are pretty sure. You've made me feel in danger."

"God! How can you let me relax."

Naomi Watts let go of his hand, raised her arm and patted her white forehead. She didn't care about the curious eyes of little Fendi in her arms, nor did she care about the two Warner Brothers senior executives beside her. Guan said directly: "We all know your work plan. This year is the best time for you to get the statuette. Otherwise, we don't know how many years it will have to wait until such an opportunity appears again.

Do you really want to be like those old men who want to wait until you are 70 or 80 years old and rely on the college's debt mentality to you to be compensated by the college? "

Needless to say, this situation is actually not uncommon in the industry. Some directors have already shot their own masterpieces when they were young, but missed it due to age and other reasons. After all, the old men in the academy don't like young people, and everyone knows this.

In their eyes, they always feel that such a director will produce more outstanding works in the following years, and then the opposite will often be true. Take the old Martin Scorsese for example. No one can deny the greatness of his early films such as "Taxi Driver" and "Raging Bull", but when he finally won the statuette, it was nearly thirty years later. .

"Don't worry, once the situation changes, the best director is our bottom line, and we will definitely invest all our resources." Bruce Rosenblum smiled and shook his head, leaned on the sofa and said:

"Nami, the last thing you need to worry about is the Best Director option. Except for being a little too young, Wayne has advantages in all other aspects. Well, it seems that his points of praise in the past few years have already been That's enough."

He has been nominated for Best Director three times, which has provided the greatest help to make up for Wayne's lack of age. Another thing that is easily overlooked is that he once won a statuette, although it was for Best Adaptation. script, this can also guarantee in some respects that at least this time the academy will not use such a consolation prize to deal with him.

Bruce Rosenblum has deep knowledge of public relations and marketing. As the director of Warner Bros.'s publicity and distribution department, all kinds of publicity and marketing methods are almost engraved in his blood. In fact, regardless of the publicity and marketing for the film market or the Oscars, The publicity of winning prizes, in fact, apart from some slight differences in game rules, the two have a lot in common.

In particular, the very important common points among them are the collection of competitor information and how to calmly face the various methods of competitors.

"Okay, let's get down to business." The Warner Bros. distribution executive stopped talking and laughing, and his eyes gradually became sharper. "During this period, based on the various information I have collected and the above analysis of the research efforts of each nominated company, there are actually only two competitors that we need to take seriously." In the rest area of ​​the temporary director's office in the studio, as After his words, the expressions of several people became formal. Everyone knows that the more critical the moment comes, the more likely those competitors who hope to win the prize will jump over the wall and use some unconventional means.

"The English Patient is produced and released by Miramax. Don't underestimate that fat pig Harvey. He has been tortured a lot by me during this period. Although on the surface he is running around putting out fires and dealing with the crew. He encountered various problems, but who knows if he has any actions secretly?

In terms of the type of film, this film can be said to be a custom-made film for Oscars. The extremely retro shooting techniques, the tireless long-shot narrative, and the story expressed in the film can be said to be all... A favorite among the aging judges.

Compared with your "The Departed", the biggest advantage of "The English Patient" is not these, but the low enough box office results, which completely distance the film from the commercial attributes that are taboo at the Oscars. Sometimes people say that the public cannot appreciate it. film, the Academy judges favored its artistry more. Listen, this is not a joke, especially at this point in time. "

In fact, from this point of view, there is nothing wrong in the old-school European film circles saying that Oscar is just a name. The entire Oscar is full of commercial attributes. Even the exclusive rights to broadcast the awards show have been sold, and even the gift packages given when attending the Oscar ceremony also receive large amounts of advertising fees.

However, most members of the academy like to flaunt their artistry, and the films they like are the ones that the audience says they don't understand. Although the Oscar organizing committee shouts for reform every year, the reality is that it is becoming more conservative. The Oscar Awards ceremony's ratings have been declining year by year since the turn of the century, which is the biggest proof.

In this grand event that attracted the attention of all North America, the audience saw award-winning films that they had never heard of. Just because of this, it was difficult for them to watch.

Wayne curled his lips and said: "But overall, it is still difficult for "The British Patient" to pose a threat to us in heavyweight awards due to factors such as public relations funds and Harvey Weinstein's troubles. Just keep an eye on them."

He is actually quite afraid that the fat man will give up this Oscar because of Warner Bros.'s ubiquitous squeeze. If he can win the award with his own eyes, it will be the best ending to this game. Moreover, when he frees up his hands, he will definitely do something to Miramax. Of course he is happy that Warner Bros. squeezes the opponent, but it does not mean that he will let the opponent go easily.

"That's right." Bruce Rosenblum raised his eyebrows. Of course he knew how much trouble the fat man had encountered. The same method was used by the Big Six on DreamWorks. DreamWorks relied on the capital accumulated by the Big Three over the years. It's very uncomfortable, and using it on Miramax will only make it even more unbearable.

"In fact, if we have an overturn on Oscar night, it goes without saying that it must be the Coen brothers. Their "Fargo" the year before last had very terrible reviews among the film critics circle and a large number of Academy members, and the two of them Brother also has an advantage over you in terms of qualifications."

"Do we need to do something in advance?" Wayne folded his arms on his chest, squinting his eyes and murmuring to himself. He kept rubbing his chin with one hand. He was considering whether to vote before the vote results came out. Manipulate the media to release some dirty information about the other party.

Just as he learned before, no one can guarantee the ownership of those heavyweight statuettes, not even Warner Brothers, who have the advantage at the moment. The Coen Brothers, just for this name, no one dares to underestimate them. influence at the Oscars.

"better not."

Bruce Rosenblum responded with some helplessness. During this period, the gold and dollar offensive and other methods they have used have actually been constantly challenging everyone's endurance and bottom line. As the dominant party, they are discrediting the competition. The opponent's despicable methods actually have a very limited effect, and can easily arouse the hatred of a large number of people in the circle.

"Our advantage is so great that a little caution is enough."