Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1395 Foreign Countries VS Domestic Countries
"Moon River..."

As the music of Moon River sounded, clips from several of Audrey Hepburn's representative works were played on the big screen.

"I'm like reaching for the moon. I'm too thin, my ears are too prominent, my teeth are crooked and my neck is too long." Hepburn's original voice also appeared. This was the line she used to describe her appearance in "Sabrina", a romantic comedy in 1957.

"Maybe so, but I like the way they look together." This was the answer from Humphrey Bogart, who acted with her at the time, and it also describes Hepburn's own temperament very well.

"Throughout her career, she was considered a symbol of elegance and beauty..." Gregory Peck's iconic voice appeared in the voice-over narration. The screen showed scenes of Hepburn's later works such as Breakfast at Tiffany's, and then everything turned to scenes of Audrey Hepburn doing various charity activities for UNICEF and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

The audience was silent. The hungry African black children in the picture were all cared for by Hepburn. It was quite unexpected to see such a shocking picture at the highest award ceremony in Hollywood.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Gregory Peck."

"If there was anyone who met the criteria for the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, which is given by the Academy to those who have made significant achievements in the humanitarian field, it was Audrey Hepburn.

She sadly passed away a little while ago, and to accept this award on her behalf, I have the honor of presenting to you her son, Sean Hepburn Farrell."

This is a posthumous award specially arranged because of Hepburn's sudden death. This kind of thing is not common in the Oscars, probably because her death was too sudden. This year's theme is the power of women in Hollywood, and anyone who has made some contributions in various aspects must be recognized.

Hepburn's son Sean came up to the stage to accept the award and gave a speech on behalf of his mother. The producer and philanthropist Sean Hepburn Farrell did not inherit his mother's beauty and gained a lot of weight. It may be like the lines in the movie "Sabrina", his facial features are 80% similar to Hepburn, but combined, he looks like an ordinary obese middle-aged man.

Perhaps the images of starving people in Africa were too powerful, or perhaps the acceptance speeches were too lengthy, so the applause ended in a short time. Next, the Best Short Film Award was presented.

The male guest who presented the award was David Paymer, who had been nominated for Best Supporting Actor for two consecutive years but had not won. Billy Crystal introduced him enthusiastically because he played the role of Billy's brother in City Bumpkins.

However, everyone's eyes were focused on the face of the female guest. This was Sarah Jessica Parker. Ronald, like everyone else, stared at Sarah's face.

"Did she have plastic surgery?" Diane was not jealous, because she was also watching the film with great interest. Sarah Jessica Parker's long face was notoriously ugly among Hollywood actresses. However, with her new hairstyle covering her forehead and her newly reshaped nose and chin, the overall length of her face was much more harmonious.

"Definitely. But she's smarter, much smarter than Jennifer Grey," Ronald commented.

Knowing that she can't get rid of the typical Jewish features, Sarah Jessica Parker's plastic surgery was very restrained. The hump on her nose was not completely removed, but a little bit of the trend was retained. While it is much straighter than before, it is still a little curved when viewed from the side.

This way the audience thinks she's better looking without losing the typical facial curves of the characters she's played before. The audience still recognizes who you are, just a better-looking version of you.

The next presenter is the tragedy of the Oscars, Glenn Gross, who has not won in five nominations. She will present the Best Foreign Language Film Award.

This year's Best Foreign Language Film was very strange, with only four films nominated, whereas earlier when Diane went to announce the nominations, there were five.

The film that was nominated and then disappeared was the Uruguayan film "A Place in the World". The Academy was disqualified from the award after receiving a report that only a few Uruguayan filmmakers participated in the film, and the investment and artistic decisions were controlled by Argentine filmmakers.

The director is Adolfo Aristalán, a famous Argentine screenwriter and director. He was very angry and filed a lawsuit in a California court.

The reason why the film was nominated and then cancelled is actually very simple. When the Argentine Film Association submitted the film for review, it voted and chose another film. Adolfo Aristalán was furious and contacted the Uruguayan Film Association, hoping to use their nomination to send the film to the Oscars.

In the end, the Argentine film was not shortlisted for the five nominated films, but the film that used Uruguay's quota was nominated. Afterwards, it was said in the industry that the Argentine Film Association instigated someone to do it. This kind of thing is very common in a magical country like Argentina.

Although Adolf Aristalan cited many previous films that used similar methods to judge awards in court, the judge still believed that the Academy did nothing wrong in following the rules. In this way, the very rare four-choice situation appeared in this year's foreign language film.

The last winner was the Korean film "Indochina". The director and producer who came on stage to receive the award thanked many Hollywood male stars who inspired their films, including Gregory Peck who just came on stage. After saying a long list of names, the two went down.

The director on the scene found the problem and had to ask the photographer to give a five-second close-up of Catherine Deneuve in the front row. This was the heroine of the film and also the key star for the film to obtain financing.

The two winners actually forgot to thank her! The host Billy Crystal had to make up for it by saying, "Just curious, how many of them were female celebrities?"

"The Year of Women's Power..." Ronald looked amused. It seemed that many people did not take this theme seriously.

"The next guest is the heroine of Basic Instinct, Sharon Stone. She is also the only one who knows the meaning of the ending..."

The movie Basic Instinct has caused a great deal of excitement in America. In addition to the well-known scene of Sharon Stone crossing her legs, the ending has also been a focus of discussion among the audience. No one can understand what the ending means. Is the heroine played by Sharon Stone the murderer of the murder at the beginning? What happened to the detective played by Michael Douglas in the end?

The American audience is actually divided into two groups. One group believes that Sharon Stone, the beautiful woman, is not the murderer, the icicle on the ground is just a coincidence, and he truly loves the detective. The other group believes that Sharon Stone is just a femme fatale, and in the end, they just let him go temporarily because they didn't have enough of the detective played by Michael Douglas.

Of course, in this search for the "truth" of the ending, American men were able to watch the videotapes over and over again, looking for "details" to prove their theories. The key shots in many of the copies of this instinctive videotape in the video rental store were worn out due to repeated playback, and had to be replaced at a high price.

The award was finally given to several technicians who improved the camera. Because this award does not have the traditional golden statue, it was not presented on the spot. Sharon Stone just reviewed the highlights of the previous award video.

"I have to find Steven (Spielberg) and Francis (Coppola)..." Ronald thought as he clapped his hands. His lightning lamp has gained some fame due to the congressional hearing. Why not let these famous directors who have tried Lao Yan's invention nominate him together with him next year? If he can win the Oscar Technical Award, it will be good news for Xujiahui Film Studio and will also have considerable benefits.

The Best Foreign Language Film that Yimou won previously caused some controversy in China because it was submitted by Hong Kong. Several film studios that had cooperated with Yimou, such as Northwest and Guangxi, all wanted to compete for this honor. In the end, the honor was shared equally by two studios, which had some influence on personnel relations and filming locations.

Another honorary award tonight was quite touching. Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni, two of the most familiar Italian actors in Hollywood, jointly presented the Honorary Oscar to Federico Fellini, the greatest Italian director.

Fellini knew how to give a speech. He thanked the American audience and Hollywood for their love for him, and said that he had too many people to thank, but due to time constraints he only thanked one great actress, his wife Giulietta Masina.

"Please don't cry, Giulietta..."

Fellini blew a kiss to his wife in the audience, and the camera quickly cut to Giulietta Masina, who was crying because of excitement.

It has to be said that a great director like Fellini can mobilize the emotions of the actors and the guests at the scene with just a few words at the right time. This director, who has made nine films, received 16 Oscar nominations, and won the Best Foreign Language Film Golden Man four times, is really amazing. He can show his extraordinary skills with just a few simple moves. Or he has integrated directing into his life...

Next, Raúl Julio, who played the villain of Street Fighter, presented the Best Original Score Award to Disney's "Aladdin." The Best Original Song was also taken away by the theme song "A Whole New World" from "Aladdin."

Ronald looked back at the "Bodyguard" crew. Both of their episodes were nominated for Best Original Song and lost to Aladdin. Unfortunately, the cover version of "I Will Always Love You" could not be nominated. This song topped the charts in January and February. In 1993, new songs did not top the charts until March, setting a record.

Ronald had to admire the rigidity of the old Oscar executives. Because of technical details in the text, they refused to allow such a famous song sung all over the United States to appear at the Oscars ceremony, and also refused to allow Whitney Houston to sing it. What good would it do for the Oscars?

Just like the Argentine film that was nominated but then disqualified, these people rejected a good commercial gimmick because of a few technical details. I'm afraid they are just trying to defend their so-called "tradition (power)".

The awards ceremony entered the final stage of the important awards. The Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Screenplay were both presented at the New York branch venue. This seems to have become an Oscar "tradition". In order to show ABC's broadcasting capabilities, there is always an award that will be presented in a different place.

The award presenters this time were two stars of that year's "graduates", Dustin Hoffman and Ann Bancroft.

There was only one woman among the ten nominees for two awards. She was the screenwriter of "The Love That Can Ask the Heaven", British novelist Ruth Ball Jawara. As expected, she won the Best Adapted Screenplay Award.

The Best Original Screenplay award also went to Neil Jordan, the writer of the British-set "The Crying Game."

I don't know if it was because of the transmission time difference between the two venues, but the applause for these two awards at the award ceremony in Los Angeles was sparse. Neil Jordan's acceptance speech didn't get much response either. The entire award ceremony hall seemed to have reached a point where everyone was tired and couldn't muster the energy to applaud them.

Ronald felt a little strange and turned his head to look around. Only Melissa Tomei, who won the Best Supporting Actress award, received louder applause. The crew of "My Cousin Vinny" still maintained their vigorous energy.

"Hmm?" Ronald remembered something. He took out the program list and flipped through it. Along with Melissa Tomei, the other four actresses nominated were all foreigners.

"We welcome Anthony Hopkins, who won an Oscar last year and a knighthood this year. This means he will have dinner with the royal family..."

"Hahaha……"

Fortunately, Billy Crystal came to the rescue at the right time, "Have a drink, Sir Hannibal Lecter himself, Sir Anthony Hopkins."

Anthony Hopkins announced the nominations directly without any fanfare.

Catherine Deneuve - Indochina, this is the Chinese film that won the Best Foreign Language Film.

Mary McDonnell - Passion Fish, Mary McDonnell is the actress who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for Dances with Wolves two years ago.

Michelle Pfeiffer - Spark of Love and Susan Sarandon - Lorenzo's Oil, both of them are actresses who have been nominated multiple times.

There are two foreign actresses and three American actresses. Ronald gradually realized that what the Oscar guests and judges really care about this year is foreign vs. domestic, rather than this year's theme of Hollywood female power... or the Native American plot of the previous year.

Sometimes, you try your best and spend a lot of resources, but you still don’t understand what the judges are thinking.

After the end of the Cold War, the European film industry and Hollywood have tended to merge gradually. A large number of Eastern European directors and Western European actors have become direct competitors to Hollywood's local talents. I am afraid that they will not be as harmonious as they were in the past decade when everyone complemented each other.

"The Oscar goes to Emma Thompson..."

The camera was focused on Emma Thompson, who won the award for "The Love That Can Be Asked by Heaven". Her voice could not be heard, but the expression on her face was undoubtedly confused, and she lip-synced like a star and said "Oh My God!"

Although the actresses' acting skills were superb, Ronald was inclined to believe that she really didn't expect it because of her unprepared reaction in such a short period of time.

Two Best Supporting Actress awards went to American actors, two Best Screenplay awards went to foreigners, and now the Best Actress award went to Emma Thompson.

Looking at the sparse applause at the scene, Ronald smiled. Who could have known that this year's Oscars would have the theme of foreign countries vs. domestic ones?