Chapter 679: Golden Globe Nominations (Bonus Chapter)

Not two days later, the Golden Globe Awards announced this year's list of nominations.

This list exceeded everyone's expectations.

On one hand, "Friends" really did receive three nominations: Zhan Yun received a nomination for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy Series, Yan Liang received a nomination for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy Series, and Lu Yan He received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical or Comedy Series.

Three nominations for acting awards were completely unexpected.

On the other hand, the film "Love Letter" unexpectedly emerged as a dark horse at the Golden Globes. Despite having no presence in the early awards season, Chen Bige surprisingly received a nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama, and Lu Yan He received a nomination for Best Screenplay.

Both of these works received nominations despite almost zero expectations (Maxine had performed routine PR for "Friends" but had not invested any additional resources).

One must know that even when Chen Bige won the heavyweight Best Actress award at the Hezhou Film Festival, she did not receive favor from the North American awards season; that year, "Rouge" had no presence in the United States.

This year, Lu Yan He believed that "Love Letter" was not at all to the Americans' taste. While a box office of over eight million dollars for a foreign-language film was indeed decent, it was still not a performance that would command their attention during awards season.

As it turned out, even Chen Bige herself had no expectations of this film helping her win an acting award, yet the Golden Globes had nominated her out of the blue.

This was Chen Bige's first Golden Globe nomination.

Lu Yan He immediately called Schmidt Lawley at Green Valley.

Schmidt Lawley was responsible for the distribution of "Love Letter" in the United States.

Lu Yan He asked him if Green Valley had done anything.

Schmidt Lawley said, "It's not that we did anything, but rather that the box office performance of 'Love Letter' in the global market was excellent, which caught the attention of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association."

The Golden Globe Awards are hosted by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, and the judges are media reporters from various countries and regions.

It is one of the most important bellwethers for the Academy Awards.

Lu Yan He still felt surprised.

Previously, even with diligent PR for "Road to Glory," he hadn't received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Yet now, having done nothing, both of his works had received attention from the Golden Globes. It was truly—

"So unexpected, what a pleasant surprise!" At the suggestion of Darren Wilson, Lu Yan He recorded a thank-you video and posted it on his social media platform: "Thank you to the Golden Globes, thank you to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for your attention to 'Friends' and 'Love Letter,' allowing these two non-English works to receive nominations this year. I am truly flattered. These nominations fill me with motivation to do a good job on every subsequent work. Thank you again."

A standard, by-the-book thank-you video.

Darren Wilson said, "This time, the nominations were completely without any PR or hype from your side; you were fished into the nomination list by the Foreign Press Association. It was the reporters from these associations who sent you in, so recording a thank-you video like this will make them feel that their votes were not cast for the wrong person."

A humble, grateful young person is certainly treated better than an arrogant one who doesn't know how to be thankful.

After Lu Yan He, Chen Bige, Yan Liang, and Zhan Yun all followed suit and recorded their own thank-you videos.

More than half of the other nominees did the same.

On the set of "Friends," Hu Siwei specially ordered a three-tier celebration cake, and the group celebrated this achievement with excitement and enthusiasm.

Hu Siwei said, "We got three nominations this year; let's strive for six next year!"

"Friends" was planned to be filmed season by season. This meant that everyone had a chance every year.

At this moment, everyone was exceptionally excited. Lu Yan He was the same. It was mainly because there were no expectations, so it was an extra pleasant surprise.

Chen Siqi asked him on the phone, "So, is it possible for 'Love Letter' to be nominated for an Oscar later?"

"I don't know about that. Although the Golden Globe Awards are one of the biggest bellwethers for the Academy Awards, after all, 'Love Letter' didn't have any presence in the awards season leading up to this," Lu Yan He said. "Moreover, the overlap between the Golden Globe and Academy Award voters isn't very high. It's just that I hadn't expected anything from the Golden Globes before, and now that I've received so many nominations, I feel that perhaps an Academy Award nomination is also possible."

"Are you talking about Sister Bige's Best Actress, or your Best Screenplay?"

"I'm talking about the screenplay," Lu Yan He said. "As for Sister Bige's Best Actress... unless she wins at the Golden Globes, the difficulty should still be quite high. The Oscars are increasingly looking at the 'big trend' now, and Sister Bige has no other nominations besides this Golden Globe nomination."

Chen Siqi: "OK, understood."

"Hmm? Are you asking this because you want to do something?"

"I want to hear your opinion so I can control the degree to which our media at Jump Up discusses and predicts the Golden Globes and the Oscars."

Lu Yan He: "Then you must not 'sell your own melons and praise them yourself' (brag)."

"I won't," Chen Siqi said. "Regardless, congratulations. Awesome, you've brought Chinese actors to the Golden Globe nominations once again. I estimate your phone is going to be blown up by your actor friends these few days."

(Content omitted for brevity)

From Jiang Jun and Jiang Yuqian in "Squid Game," to Yan Liang and Zhan Yun in "Friends," and then to Chen Bige in "Love Letter," Lu Yan He's works, including himself, have brought six people into the Golden Globe nomination list so far.

How can this not be called an awesome achievement?

Chen Ziyan also unceremoniously created a trending topic: How good is Lu Yan He's script at boosting actors?

During this carnival, some people also remembered the Golden Tripod Awards from half a year ago, remembered the "special treatment" suffered by "Friends," and remembered the ridicule directed at sitcoms, at so-called art, and at Lu Yan He during that time.

Lu Yan He's fans made an image, a comparison chart.

July: Lu Yan He refuses to accept the Golden Tripod Sitcom Award.

December: Lu Yan He brings "Friends" into the Golden Globe nomination list.

The horizontal banner above: True strength is not about what award you give me, but what award I go and take.

A group of Lu Yan He's fans tagged @Huang Lian and @Golden Tripod Awards with this image.

Very mean, but very satisfying.

"It's really a bit exaggerated, but only Lu Yan He could do it."

"I'm just waiting for the film starring Lu Yan He to break box office records in the country. Really, apart from not having a box office record in film history, Lu Yan He really has no shortcomings anywhere."

"Even if Lu Yan He doesn't have a box office record in film history, it doesn't affect his ability to carry the box office in the eyes of various film companies. He just doesn't act in those box-office-grabbing genres."

"I'm so looking forward to the box office results of 'Burning Fire' and 'The Mist 2'. Can the SARFT (State Administration of Radio, Film and Television) relax the review a bit and let 'The Mist 2' be released in our country? Let Hollywood see Lu Yan He's box office appeal in our China?"

"So annoying, 'Buried' was given to Li Zhibai, 'Doomsday' was given to Jiang Jun, 'Red Eye Flight' was given to Jiang Yuqian, and 'Source Code' was also given to foreign actors. Since he can write so well, why can't he write one for himself?! I want to see him kill it!"

Did you not expect a bonus chapter today?

Recommending the old entertainment-themed book "I Became a Scandal Heroine Overnight." See you tomorrow. (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 680 =====