hollywood melon man

Chapter 404 Different paths

Unlike ordinary commercial film directors, Gilbert Jr. is actually very popular among professional film critics.

Don’t think that with the development of the Internet and the emergence of movie rating websites such as IMDB, everyone can become a film critic.

But during awards season, these professional film critics can still play a significant role.

Roger Ebert, as Gilbert's number one fan and one of the most famous film critics in the United States, cheered for Gilbert on his own show.

“Throughout the history of Hollywood, there has never been a director as special as Gilbert Jr. Over more than a decade, he has presented countless wonderful films to the audience.

Gilbert Jr.'s contribution to Hollywood has destined him to go down in Hollywood history."

Another film critic who co-hosted the show with Roger Ebert asked, "Do you mean that the Academy must recognize Gilbert Jr. at this Oscars?"

"Of course," Roger Ebert said as a matter of course, "Although Gilbert Jr. has won the Oscar for Best Director before, it is far from enough.

We must know that in addition to its outstanding commercial performance, The Lord of the Rings series also has great artistic achievements and influence.

It can be said that the impact of this film series around the world is enormous.

I heard that in a certain ancient country far away in the East, many people also like this movie series and are crazy about The Lord of the Rings. "

In the minds of many people in North America, China is actually a film culture desert.

Although there are many well-known filmmakers, such as Zhang Yimou, John Wu, Jack Cheng, etc. But in the eyes of most North American audiences, it is still an unknown and mysterious land.

North American moviegoers are not at all surprised that Gilbert's films have conquered fans in that land.

Roger Ebert listed a series of figures: "1 million people in North America watched The Return of the King, and IMDB, which counts the general audience rating, has 4500 fans rating it, with an average score of 46.

The film is currently ranked second on IMDB, second only to "The Shawshank Redemption".

Many Hollywood celebrities, including professional film critics, and hundreds of media outlets have given the film positive reviews.

Coupled with the commercial success, if the Oscars ignore The Return of the King, it will be the biggest crisis in Oscar history..."

In fact, after Gilbert Jr. launched the Oscar public relations, the current rotating president of the Academy called the judges he was familiar with and asked them to vote for Gilbert Jr.

"Arthur, are you still unwilling to vote for little Gilbert?" Frank Felson, the rotating president of the academy, personally visited the former rotating president Arthur Joel.

This Jewish judge named Arthur Joel was the rotating chairman of the Academy in his early years. Although he has faded out of the film industry and the Oscars in the past two years, he still has a certain influence.

Arthur Joel hesitated: "'The Return of the King' is not my type of movie. I don't want to vote for him. Besides, he is too obsessed with commercial films. He is not my favorite Hollywood director."

Frank Felson nodded: “Indeed, Gilbert Jr. is not a traditional Hollywood director.

But there are reports that if Gilbert doesn't win any awards at this year's Oscars, he will withdraw from the Oscars. We can't ignore this situation."

Traditional Hollywood directors are those like Spielberg, who started out with commercial films and after achieving success worked hard to move towards Oscars and art films.

More traditional directors avoid commercial films altogether and focus on independent films.

Of course, this is just wishful thinking on the part of the academy judges.

However, in Hollywood, there are a few people who are not greatly influenced by this traditional concept. They are going further and further on the road of commercial films and blockbusters and are becoming more and more successful.

Little Gilbert is one of them. If nothing else, it would be fine if Little Gilbert had not been successful, but the problem is that Little Gilbert is now constantly successful.

The more successful he is, the more it proves that the truths upheld by the Oscars and the Academy are wrong, but the Academy still has to recognize him.

If a director as prestigious as Gilbert Jr. withdraws from or even boycotts the Oscars because of the award, what negative impact will it have on the Academy and even on these old men?

Frank Felson, considering the Academy and the Oscars, has been running around for a long time, persuading the conservatives in the Academy to vote for Gilbert Jr.

Arthur Joel obviously understood Frank Felson's concerns. He handed his envelope to Frank Felson and said:

"Frank, I'm old now and can't influence the situation anymore. Just do what you want!"

Frank Felson took the envelope and left Arthur Joel's residence.

When getting in the car, Frank Felson was still thinking that perhaps this was an opportunity to show the outside world the Oscars' determination to reform and rejuvenate.

Of course, the reforms were only superficial.

If we really get younger, the old guys in these academies will lose their value.

Young people can continue to make progress in the film industry, and these old men can only rely on the Oscars to tell young people what to do.

After visiting Arthur Joel, Frank Felson visited several conservative judges in succession and used these judges to convince others.

However, except for Arthur Joel, the other judges were basically easy to deal with, and they all agreed to vote for Gilbert Jr.

Everyone understands that this year "The Return of the King" must win big at the Oscars, otherwise it will be a major event that shocks Hollywood.

If they don't want to make the Oscars and the Academy explode, they have to vote for Gilbert Jr. No matter what. They can't just vote for Gilbert Jr. because someone else voted for him, so they can vote according to their own ideas.

If one person thinks this way, then countless people will think this way.

So the best way is to not have any ideas and just vote according to the predetermined plan.

At the Cantaloupe Manor in Malibu, little Gilbert returned home after a day's work and the housekeeper Xingzi prepared dinner for him.

Naomi Watts sat next to little Gilbert with her big belly, listening to him talk about work while he ate.

"The trailer at the Super Bowl received a good response, which shows that our pirate story is still very attractive," said Gilbert Jr.

Naomi Watts pointed to the newspaper report and said: "The newspaper said that at first they thought Pirates of the Caribbean was a historical film.

But they didn’t expect that it actually had a bit of a fantasy element, which surprised them.”

Little Gilbert wiped his mouth after finishing his meal, and waited for Xingzi to take the food away, and then served him another pot of tea.

The two moved to the living room to chat, and when faced with this question, Little Gilbert said, “Pure pirate stories are not really that attractive.

When we mention pirates, we always think of treasure, robbery, treasure hunting and other topics. In fact, in a sense, this is the 16th century's "Indiana Jones".

"Indeed," Naomi Watts said, moving on to another topic: "I have filled out my Oscar selection list and mailed it out."

"Did you vote for Sally?"

"Of course, Sally has been doing public relations activities recently, and you have to help out."

Gilbert Jr. said this was necessary: ​​"I have called the judges I know well, and they all expressed their willingness to support Sally."

Neither of them mentioned the situation of "The Return of the King". According to the current trend, it is impossible for the academy to risk the world's disapproval and not recognize "The Return of the King".

Naomi Watts laughed happily: "I guess the Academy didn't expect you to be such a director. You put them in a dilemma."

Gilbert Jr. didn’t find the academy difficult: “In fact, the outside world has always had a filter on me, saying that I am a representative of commercial film directors.

But have they forgotten "The Sixth Sense" and "Chicago"?
Just because a movie does well at the box office, it doesn’t mean that my movie is not artistically good, right?”

"The conservative judges in the Academy may really think so. Generally speaking, the higher the box office, the lower the artistic content." Naomi Watts is very disdainful of this and believes that this is a bad habit of the Oscars.

Yes, the Academy usually favors independent films that don't make big box office or high budget movies.

But the essence of Hollywood and what makes it dominate the world are high-investment commercial films.

Naomi Watts was interested in filling out the Oscars list and asked, "Dear, have you filled out yours?"

"It has been filled out. Scarlett helped me fill it out." Little Gilbert said with a smile, "Scarlett wants to see the Oscar judges."

"I think Scarlett has great potential. Maybe she will become a movie queen in the future!" Naomi Watts also laughed.

There are two ways to become an Oscar judge. One is to be invited by the Academy, and the other is to automatically qualify as a judge by being nominated for an Oscar.

Of course, if you do not participate in the selection work for several consecutive sessions, your qualification as a judge may be revoked by the college.

Gilbert Jr. and Naomi Watts both automatically qualified as judges because they won Oscars, and they are the targets of public relations every award season.

A few days ago, Charlize Theron pressed little Gilbert on the bed and did public relations for the whole night. In the end, Charlize Theron fell asleep with a satisfied and contented smile.

In fact, quite a lot of judges vote casually. To put it simply, they vote for a movie they have heard of.

In this regard, "The Return of the King" undoubtedly has a great advantage, because everyone knows the name of "The Return of the King" this summer.

For this year's Oscars, voting begins when the nomination list is announced and ends one week before the awards ceremony.

After the judges' votes are mailed back to the college, they are counted by PwC accountants, who then put the results in an envelope and seal it.

These envelopes are kept confidential and kept by the insurance company, which makes people full of suspense and expectation.

It isn't until the night of the Oscars that the envelopes are opened one by one and the winners are announced.

All the work that could be done was done. Sheena Boone assured Gilbert Jr.: "The Return of the King has a great chance of winning. We are 70% sure that the film will win at least seven to nine awards."

Gilbert Jr. said he was relieved: "Thank you for your hard work during this period. After the Oscars, come to my house as a guest."

Sheena Boone's face was full of smiles: "This is what I should do. No one will be our opponent this year."

While the outside world is speculating about who will be the winner of this year's Oscars, the Oscars ceremony is finally about to reveal the final answer.

We will soon find out who the biggest winner this year is.

　There is another chapter tonight

　　
　
(End of this chapter)