The literary era since 1979

"The Best Original Screenplay Award goes to, Deep in My Heart!"

The award ceremony announced a number of small prizes one after another, such as Best Sound, Best Sound Effects, etc.

"Saving Private Ryan" also won the Best Film Editing and Best Sound Editing awards, and then other major awards of sufficient weight were announced.

At this time, when the guests announced the "Best Adapted Screenplay Award", "Amadeus", "Saving Private Ryan", "A Passage to India", "Prince Tarzan" and "The Killing Fields" appeared on the huge screen in turn.

Peter Shaffer, sitting in the audience, held his chin high, full of confidence.

His own play "Amadeus" is both artistic and has been performed at the National Theatre of Britain and Broadway in the United States, receiving unprecedented response.

There is a market for it, and the adapted film grossed US$5197 million in North America and US$1.2 million worldwide. In terms of box office performance alone, among the five nominated works, it is only inferior to "Saving Private Ryan," which grossed US$5 million worldwide.

But so what?
Even if the novel "Saving Private Ryan" won the National Book Award, it cannot compare with the artistic value of "Amadeus"!
However, the result was beyond my expectation. The guests opened the envelopes and announced the list of winners into the microphone:

"The winner of the Best Adapted Screenplay Award is Saving Private Ryan!"

"Wow!"

In an instant, bursts of exclamations broke out at the scene.

Peter Shaffer's face immediately fell. He couldn't believe his ears. He actually lost the game of "Amadeus"?
At the same time, applause and cheers rang out around the "Saving Private Ryan" crew, and pairs of eyes were staring at Fang Yan and others.

Li Zhi, like Luo Daian and the others, stood up and applauded, their eyes shining with admiration as they watched Fang Yan, Bai Ruoxue and the others go up on stage to receive their awards.

Fang Yan and Bai Ruoxue had discussed this before the award ceremony, and tacitly handed the spotlight and microphone to Mike.

After all, if his script of Blood and Sand is to be made into a movie, it must be favored by a Hollywood film studio.

But no one expected that Mike was so nervous that he completely forgot the words he had prepared and spoke incoherently.

Fangyan had no choice but to step forward and face the audience, trying to smooth things over, and spoke openly:
"We are fortunate to work with so many great people who have helped us, and it is really impossible to thank them all in such a short time."

"We want to thank Lucas and Steven for trusting us to make this film."

"Of course, I have to thank Steven again. It was his outstanding directing ability that made Saving Private Ryan such a success."

"..."

“Also, I want to thank my friends who made a special trip to be here tonight, and my wife, who was there!”

The audience on the first floor followed the direction of Fangyan's finger and cast their eyes towards Gong Xian, Zhang Yu and others sitting on the second floor.

For a moment, applause rang out again. No matter whether it was genuine or fake, the superficial effort was not missed.

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa."

Under the gaze of the crowd, Zhang Yu and Chen Daoming stiffened all over and became visibly nervous.

Wu Yigong and Bai Chen, two veterans of the field, were calm and composed, with joy on their faces.

"Although our film Under the Bridge didn't even get a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, at least it was a good thing!"

Bai Chen looked like he was in agreement with Rong Youyan.

"His winning this time is a happy event for our Chinese-language films!"

Wu Yigong said: "The only flaw is that it is an American story. It would be much better if it was a Chinese story!"

"That's right, but no matter what, this is unprecedented!"

Bai Chen said: "This is different from the situation at the Xi'an Film Studio. Wu Tianming's "River Without Beacons" only won an award at the Hawaii International Film Festival, but Yanzi and his team won an Oscar this time, which is equivalent to the Hollywood's 'Golden Rooster Award'!"

Wu Yigong nodded: "As far as I know, the only Chinese who has won an Oscar is Huang Zongzhan."

"Yes, I won the Best Black-and-White Photography Award."

Bai Chen sighed, "But that seemed to be more than ten years ago, right?"

In fact, to be more precise, it was 21 years ago. Although Huang Zongzhen won the Oscar for Best Black-and-White Cinematography for the second time with "A Furious 1964", that was already in . During this long period of time, no Chinese, even Chinese Americans, have won the award again.

Fangyan won the more prestigious "Best Adapted Screenplay Award" this time, which can be regarded as breaking the "award drought" of Chinese in Hollywood.

As Mei Lanfang's adopted daughter and the first generation of Chinese actresses working in Hollywood, Lu Yan suddenly stood up and applauded.

Seeing the seniors in this attitude, Zunlong also stood up and looked at Fangyan, Mike and others who had finished their speeches.

On the way back to my seat, the Chinese directors, screenwriters, and actors on both sides of the aisle applauded enthusiastically.

Especially since screenwriting is just a side job for Fangyan, while he is a well-known writer all over the world!
It can be said that dialects are the "pride of the Chinese" after Bruce Lee. As for Jackie Chan, he failed again in his second attempt to venture into Hollywood.

But surprisingly, the surprises of this Oscars don’t end there.

Unprecedentedly, the "Best Supporting Actor" award was given to Wu Hanrun, an Asian actor who starred in "The Killing Fields".

Before filming "The Killing Fields", he was an overseas Chinese doctor who survived the Khmer Rouge's de-urbanization. He had never received any professional acting training and had never filmed any movies. Unexpectedly, he reached the peak of his career as soon as he debuted and won the Best Supporting Actor award for his first film.

Winning two awards in a row wiped out the shadow that had overtaken Chinese Americans in Hollywood for many years, and the entire music center was in an uproar.

However, Wu Hanrun was just a small episode, and soon the attention returned to Fangyan.

Although "Saving Private Ryan" lost to "Amadeus" in the Best Actor award, it won the Best Director and Best Picture awards, making it the biggest winner of the entire Oscars ceremony, without a doubt.

11 out of 8 nominations! This is a very shocking record of awards won by a single film!

Jason Epstein was already grinning from ear to ear as he watched Dialect take the stage with Steven Spielberg.

This time, "Saving Private Ryan" will not only be a huge hit, but it will also return to the bestseller lists 200%.

A series of novels written in dialects, such as "Artificial Intelligence" and "The Ring", also benefited from the success.

When I thought of this, my heart was burning with excitement. I couldn't wait to call the publishing department of Random House. The plan had changed! They were going to print more copies!
………………

As soon as the awards ceremony ended, attendees flocked to the celebration party hosted by Vanity Fair, also known as "Oscar Night".

Almost all of the Oscar nominees will be in attendance, and both winners and losers will appear on stage and show their faces.

On the surface, it is a reward for the hard work of the past year, but in reality, it is a chance to find the next good opportunity to "gain both fame and fortune", to show off their presence in front of producers, directors, and senior executives of film companies, to get close to them, and to make a PY deal.

There is also a special service window where each Oscar winner will have his or her name engraved on the golden man trophy.

Wu Yigong, Zhang Yu and others appeared together in the Sunset Tower Hotel with the help of dialect.

Steven Spielberg lowered his voice and said, "Fang, I'm going to make a movie next and I might need your help."

Fang Yan said: "If I can help, I will definitely help to the end. If I can't help, you will definitely understand my difficulties."

Steven Spielberg admired his straightforwardness very much and said directly that he wanted to shoot his movie on the Bund in Shanghai.

Fangyan raised an eyebrow: "The Bund?!"

"Is it difficult?" Steven Spielberg asked. "It's a coincidence!"

Fang Yan invited Wu Yigong over and said, "Steven, let me introduce you to this, this is the director of Shanghai Film Studio..."

Steven Spielberg was shocked. He never expected that he would ask him for blank invitations for such a group of friends.

Wu Yigong was also surprised, but when he learned that the newly crowned Oscar-winning director was going to the Bund to scout locations, he immediately became interested:

"Please tell him that in principle, we welcome him to come to Shanghai to make a movie, but there is a prerequisite, that is, the Film Bureau must review the relevant scripts. As long as there is nothing sensitive or wrong in the content, we will definitely approve and support it."

Bai Ruoxue translated it in detail to Steven Spielberg, who told the story of "Empire of the Sun" in a concise and concise manner.

Fangyan was tactful enough to leave temporarily, leaving enough space for Wu Yigong and Steven Spielberg to chat alone.

From the sight, I noticed Gong Xing, Zhang Yu, Li Zhi, Mike and others gathered together, talking and laughing.

At this moment, Jason Epstein, with great enthusiasm, led a tall and thin man and suddenly stood in front of him.

“Let me introduce you. This is Christopher Vogler, the script supervisor at Disney and also a visiting professor at USC.”

"Nice to meet you."

Fangyan shook hands with Christopher and said some polite words.

After saying "congratulations", Christopher revealed that Peter Shaffer walked out as soon as the award ceremony was over.

Before leaving, he left behind a bunch of complaints and weird remarks, such as "Amadeus did not lose to Saving Private Ryan in terms of art, but lost to political correctness", and "The great Mozart is not as good as an American soldier", etc.

"This is the arrogance that is unique to British gentlemen."

Jason Epstein curled his lips: "Don't they know that the main force of the Normandy Landing was the US Army, not the British Army!"

As soon as he said this, he won the support and approval of the Oscar judges and guests around him, and his pride could be seen between their brows.

Fangyan smiled secretly in his heart. With an American mainstream war film like "Saving Private Ryan", just like "Oppenheimer", how could the Oscar balance not be tilted, unless it encountered a naked scandal and black box like "Shakespeare in Love".

"Not bad!"

Christopher said: "I really appreciate the portrayal of the heroic spirit and heroic image in Saving Private Ryan."

"Thank you."

Seeing Fangyan just smiled slightly, Jason Epstein quickly added: "The reason why he can write so well is entirely because he not only has unparalleled talent in literature, but also has a deep understanding and unique ideas in script creation."

Christopher was very interested: "Really? For example?"

Jason Epstein obviously took a fancy to his status as a visiting professor at the University of Southern California. If Fangyan's books such as "Standards for Writing Screenplays" and "A Guide to Using "The Hero with a Thousand Faces"" can impress him, they can be easily recommended to the reading list of the University of Southern California.

So, as old acquaintances, I mentioned "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" and "The User Guide of "The Hero with a Thousand Faces"" to please him.

"A hero with a thousand faces!"

Christopher's eyes lit up instantly, "You like the Thousand Faces Hero too?"

Fang Yan couldn't help but be curious: "You too?"

"of course!"

Christopher excitedly said that he became fascinated by the book "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" when he was studying at USC. He had been trying to crack the code behind the ancient art of "storytelling" and often organized academic seminars on "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" with his classmates.

Campbell was even invited to give a lecture at USC.

Fang Yan and Jason Epstein looked at each other. It was obvious that he was brought to meet him because he was a fan of Campbell.

"After listening to his speech, I became more convinced that The Hero with a Thousand Faces is the screenwriting code I have been searching for."

Christopher's face was full of admiration.

Jason Epstein smiled and looked at Fang Yan: "He thought so too, that's why Saving Private Ryan was written with such a heroic sentiment, and that's why he was able to summarize a set of usage guidelines, a set of 'hero's journey' story model, from The Hero with a Thousand Faces..."

"What kind of story model!?"

Christopher was overcome with emotion.

"Hold on."

Fangyan waved at Mike, and a professional translator had to step forward at this time.

Mike came over and told him everything he had learned from the User Guide of "The Hero with a Thousand Faces":

"Teacher Fang noticed that Campbell's core idea is that the various heroes in mythology are actually different faces of the same hero. So he summarized a relatively stable story model from the fairy tales, myths and religious stories from the East and the West listed in the book."

"It's called 'monomith', which simply means 'departure, enlightenment, test, return'."

“That is, the hero sets out from the world of everyday life, risks all kinds of dangers, and enters a supernatural and magical realm. In that magical realm, he encounters all kinds of incredibly powerful supernatural entities and achieves a decisive victory. After completing that mysterious adventure, the hero returns with the power to benefit his kind.”

"This 'hero's journey' storyline is just one of countless variations on the 'monomiyth' model."

"Whether the storyline is deleted, added, or re-conceived, the original charm of the 'monomith' will not be lost."

"........."

"Oh my God!"

Christopher's eyes widened. "You really structured Campbell's ideas? You really did it?"

Fangyan waved his hand and said, "I just summarized a set of heroic narrative models applicable to the field of screenwriting from "The Hero with a Thousand Faces", so that the narrative steps and theories are more in line with script writing and film creation." Then he said that the user guide was only a few pages long.

“That’s pretty amazing too!”

Christopher was surprised and delighted and said, "This is the first structuralist screenwriting work in the true sense!"

Mike's heart was pounding. Just as he expected, what Teacher Fang passed on to him was the secret of the screenwriting world!

Christopher couldn't wait and asked, "When will this user guide be published?"

Fangyan looked at Jason Epstein. Although Jason Epstein had not read the User's Guide to "The Hero with a Thousand Faces", his friend's excitement immediately raised the value of this user's guide to two levels in his mind. There was a hint of mystery in his tone:

"In the next few days, we plan to print some sample books and circulate them in a small circle among producers, directors and screenwriters."

“Solicit opinions and comments from all parties, and then publish their comments and recommendations in the newspaper when the book is officially published.”

"Really!"

Christopher asked for 10 copies without hesitation, and prepared to circulate them within Disney so that everyone could have a look.

Seeing Disney's success, Warner, Universal, MGM, Paramount and other film companies were unwilling to lag behind. How could I be left out of such a good thing? (End of this chapter)