Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1293: Oscar Nomination Battle
"Hey, Steven, have you finished filming the Doraemon scenes with the green screen? Okay, do you want to come and see? Can I? Of course I want to see it... You want to use my special effects team to help with the keying work, no problem, I'll let them go. I understand, I understand, there are not many directors in Hollywood who shoot special effects, so it's only natural for us to help each other..."

Ronald and George were talking halfway when Richard called. Spielberg wanted to talk to him about special effects.

When visiting the set, Ronald expressed his desire to learn about the post-production process. Due to Julia Roberts' delay, the special effects of "Hook" were about to miss the screening time, so Ronald joined the special effects team to help with some basic work in exchange for the opportunity to learn from Spielberg's special effects process.

"How is Julia doing? Is she doing okay? If she's okay, then that's good..."

Although Julia Roberts used mahjong to get through the breakdown, her sudden fame still caused a lot of trouble in the crew. If a person becomes famous too quickly, the crew will criticize him a lot.

Two years ago you were a lowly actor like us, but now you are ordering us around and asking us to give you special privileges. Various problems still arise. Fortunately, Spielberg is a veteran, and as long as he doesn't throw shoes, it is under his control.

"That woman threw her shoes at you?"

After the call, George laughed on the sofa. He listened to Ronald's brief account of the accident on the set and expressed his disbelief. "She must not be able to throw a baseball. If I did that, how would you dodge it?"

As he said this, he picked up a piece of newspaper, crumpled it up, and pretended to throw it over.

Ronald also laughed. These high-ranking officials' children were actually quite "innocent" and often behaved like children. He said to little George,
"Let me tell you, I'm actually not very good at playing baseball. Besides, it's just a shoe, and its flight path is even more unpredictable. At this time, I can only squat and hide. Anyway, it's not like baseball that I have to catch..." Ronald gestured twice.

"I see, your idea is good..." Little George also imitated the action of squatting and dodging twice. This is what he will do next time he is attacked.

After giving little George some tickets to Disney's "Beauty and the Beast," Ronald sent him away and continued to busy himself with his own business.

The producer of "Raise the Red Lantern", Mr. Qiu from Era International, also came to New York. This film, which represented Hong Kong in the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, also got a chance to be screened at the New York Film Festival.

Of course, what is more important is to have a long-term screening in the cinemas in Chinatown, Manhattan, New York. The Chinese culture here is more well-known than in other places. Many Jews like to go to Chinese restaurants for dinner on Christmas, and many blacks and Latinos also like to watch Hong Kong martial arts films.

Coupled with the most educated audience, more people can understand Yimou's film than anywhere else in the country.

"Why do many of the audience members for this show not need to buy tickets? Just show their ID when they come in?" Mr. Qiu asked his translator Xiao Yan while standing at the door of the "Raise the Red Lantern" film festival screening room.

"This is the rule in the American film industry. As long as you are a film critic, whether you are a film critic for a major newspaper like the New York Times or a film critic for a university magazine, you can watch movies for free. The ticket price is exchanged for the free promotion of the movie by the film critic." Xiao Yan felt very familiar with Mr. Xiao Qiu's ignorance. When he came to America that year, he was also curious about everything.

"Oh, then why don't you give them travel expenses? What if they say bad things? How can we guarantee that they will say good things about the movie when we invite the media?" Mr. Xiao Qiu was surprised by this rule.

"This is America. The media is protected by the First Amendment and can freely publish film reviews." Xiao Yan was speechless about such country folk. "Of course, you have to have confidence in the film to invite film critics on a large scale. The key is to select the media to invite."

"Well... I'll ask Director Luo when the time comes..." Mr. Qiu didn't believe what Xiao Yan said. However, this method of selecting the media to be invited is still a good one. Only those who have a good relationship with the media and like this kind of movie will be invited to watch, and those who make trouble will be kicked out.

Ronald, unaware of their thoughts, was introducing Yimou to several film critics from well-known media in New York and Washington, D.C. They were very interested in the director and asked a lot about the original novel and the use of color to express the film's mood and characters.

Although his films have subtitles, there are still many parts that are difficult for critics to understand. Fortunately, the strong colors always reveal who is the good guy and who is the bad guy at the right time. When the protagonist is about to suffer and when he is about to fight back, it looks quite interesting.

"My goodness, answering questions from film critics here makes me more nervous than filming a movie..." Yimou said to Yang Yanzi, who was translating for him. Under his ill-fitting suit, there was a layer of white sweat.

"Yimou..." Ronald couldn't bear to watch it any longer. "After we finish in New York, let Yan Zi take you to the Red Gang tailor in Chinatown to make two sets of handmade suits..."

Ronald gave Yang Yanzi a secret signal and drew a circle up and down, meaning that everything, from underwear, shirts, socks and shoes, had to be changed. And then a neat hairstyle was added. He would pay for it all.

"Well, I get nervous when I wear a suit... Can I not wear it?" Yimou wiped the sweat off his face with a handkerchief.

"You must wear it. You'll have to wear a tuxedo at the Oscars..." Ronald looked at Miss Gong next to him. This time, he invited them all to participate in the promotion of the film just to make the critics familiar with them.

There are actually big differences between the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and domestic awards. First of all, the nominations require a lot of votes from film critics and film festival curators. And their tastes are also different from other domestic film awards.

If Hollywood movies want to win awards, they must conform to mainstream film narratives and American values. Overall, they must respect individual struggles, allow small town youth to succeed, and give people hope for the American dream.

The story of the movie itself can lash out at the dark side of society, from politicians and bureaucrats to capitalist business owners, all can be bad guys. Only those simple young people from small towns cannot be stereotyped.

But the situation is just the opposite for foreign films. The judges prefer films that are warm and reflect human nature. There can't be too many cultural metaphors that American audiences can't understand. For example, the "Chinese New Year" selected by the mainland, although the audience knows that it is a reunion festival similar to Christmas, they really can't understand the story of a family having all kinds of conflicts erupt during the Chinese New Year. Why do we have to talk about these conflicts during the reunion festival? Shouldn't there be conflicts but also reconciliation?
Therefore, it is difficult for extroverted Americans to understand the difficulty that Chinese people have in expressing their emotions directly among their family members.

"Raise the Red Lantern" is much better. The oppression and confinement of women by patriarchy is a subject that Yimou has shot again and again, so it is not that difficult for everyone to understand. Including his previous works "Red Sorghum" and "Chrysanthemum Bean", in fact, he did not encounter much communication difficulties in Europe and America.

"Hey, the rules in Hollywood are very strict. You see, they don't even do this during the Chinese New Year..."

"Ha, kid, Director Luo is flattering you. You'll understand next spring..." Next to him was Director Wu, who had come specially to meet his old friend. Seeing Yimou's honest face, he was speechless.

"You don't know, Director Luo's company also invested in a Chinese-language film. The director is called Ang Lee. He is traveling all over the world. He will go to the Golden Horse Awards soon and will go to Europe at the beginning of the year. There are more than a dozen film festivals waiting to be held. Don't complain..."

"That's not what I meant, Director Luo. I don't know how to do that, and I'm afraid of embarrassing you..." Yimou quickly explained. He could tell who was really good to him. Although he couldn't say why this Oscar was better than the Berlin Golden Bear, he always felt that it was a bit of an exaggeration.

"You'll get used to it after a few times...hahaha..." Ronald looked at Yimou with a bitter face and told him to relax. Just follow the script prepared by Yang Yanzi. It doesn't matter if you make mistakes. Yang Yanzi can make up for it when translating.

Apart from a small effort in the Best Foreign Language Film category, Ronald did not make as much noise as his competitors in other Oscar awards.

MGM, which was acquired by EMI-Cannon, only released "Thelma & Louise" this year, and is now fully promoting the two leading actresses and director Ridley Scott.

Titles like "America's first road movie told from a female perspective" and "the culmination of female consciousness in Hollywood films" are being pinned on "Thelma and Louise" recklessly.

Someone even PR’d Roger Ebert to make him categorize this movie as a great road movie in his weekly film review. “Easy Rider,” “Bonnie and Clyde,” and “Rain Man” are classic Hollywood road movies, and this type of movie can easily break new ground that has never been reached before. It’s just that in this “Thelma & Louise,” the protagonist is replaced by a woman…

However, MGM's public relations offensive also encountered a backlash from an unknown competitor. Some people believed that it was biased against men and severely criticized the portrayal of men as too negative.

The main point is that there is no good guy in the whole film, and their deaths are not sympathetic at all. However, in male-dominated films, female characters have never been regarded as villains.

This attack was well received by the audience and judges. Indeed, is this movie trying to be different, so it deliberately promotes gender conflicts between men and women? How can all male characters be villains?
This accusation was particularly easy to understand, simple to comprehend, and spread, so it spread widely in the Hollywood circle. It caused tension among MGM and the producers. There was no other way, as most of the judges were men...

They quickly came out to clarify that the men in this story are not really important... they are seen as scenery that the two heroines see on the road. This is how the female characters are treated in male road movies.

The film's female screenwriter, Carly Curry, also had to come out to explain that she wrote the script in a conscious effort to counter Hollywood's tendency to portray women as "nymphomaniacs, streetwalkers and nagging wives."

If those critics feel threatened, it speaks volumes about their outdated values…

Another film that launched a PR offensive at this time was "Rambling Rose," starring Diane's friend Laura Dern.

Laura Dern plays a slutty nanny in the movie. After failing to seduce the male owner of the Hillier family, she turns to the young Hillier who is in adolescence. Later, she becomes a famous slut in the town, and young men from all over the town come to the Hillier house to meet her.

In Ronald's opinion, the most powerful part of this movie is the hostess, Mrs. Hillier, played by Diane Ladd, the mother of Laura Dern.

The film's producer, Seven Arts, and distributor, New Line, are not American companies. They also invested a lot of resources in publicizing the Oscars. The biggest gimmick is the uncomfortable part that mother and daughter play rivals.

Roger Ebert obviously benefited from this, praising the film in his weekly film review, but the lackluster acting meant he could only praise the film conceptually.

For example, "This movie is all character and plot, and contains some of the best performances of the year, especially the collective performance of the four main characters... It's very impressive..."

Ronald, who had already returned to his home in Los Angeles, burst into laughter after reading this film review.

Is there any movie without characters and plots? This year's movie can't be the outstanding performance of last year or next year, right? And now in Hollywood, no one shoots a one-man show anymore, it must be a group performance, right?

Albert also praised Laura Dern's performance: "No young actress today can play the role of the emotionally hungry late adolescent with such purity and desire as she does."

This makes people feel even more uncomfortable. Although Laura Dern is smaller than Diane, she is very tall. On the screen, she and the male protagonist Robert Duvall who plays the opposite role need to use angles to complete their roles.

However, seeing how hard these two movies work, perhaps it is these two movies that are slandering each other?
However, Ronald's "The Silence of the Lambs" and "Other People's Money" were ignored by the two distributors in the Oscar review war that started early. The two films were released at a time when there was no increase in public relations budgets, and no one knew or understood the new trick of sending videotapes, so the war did not affect Ronald.

However, Diane became a little nervous when she saw this situation, and secretly called her good friend Laura Dunn to inquire about the situation.

"The crew will nominate me for the Best Actress award. This year, the competition is actually very fierce, with Bette Midler in 'For Boys' and Annette Bening in 'Push'. It all depends on how these two movies perform in the next few weeks. Oh, and there are also 'Salma' and 'Louise' (the two heroines in Thelma and Louise, played by Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon respectively)..."

"It's quite intense..." Dai An breathed a sigh of relief. Her good friend was so highly regarded by film critics. Fortunately, she applied for the role of supporting actress.

"Why do you care so much? Have you applied as well?" Laura Dunn was indeed sensitive and could immediately tell that something was wrong with Diane's tone.

"I didn't. Ronnie only nominated me for Best Supporting Actress. I didn't have enough roles...ah..."

“Hahaha…” Laura Dern also laughed nervously, “Supporting Actress, you have to face my mom. They nominated her for the Best Supporting Actress award.”

"Uh..." Ronald was a little scratching his head after hearing the news that Diane came to tell him.

On Diane's sixteenth birthday, she was on Johnny Carson's talk show and because of Carson's carelessness, he changed her name to Diane Ladd.

The incident on the girl's important birthday must have left a deep impression. Ronald believed that even if he didn't win the award this time, he must not lose to this actor. Otherwise, he would have a hard time in the future.

(End of this chapter)