Chapter 518: Renominated: Wei Jin Swears He Will Not Be a Cao Thief

Time arrived at the 10th, and all the nominations for the 85th Oscar Hong Kong Film Awards were released.

The news spread back to the country, causing a great shock.

"Excerpt from the Oscar Academy Daily:

The Mainland China film *1942* directed by Feng Xiaogang, the Hong Kong film *Life Without Principle* directed by Johnnie To, and the Taiwan film *Touch of the Light* directed by Zhang Rongji, all unfortunately failed to be selected and did not receive nominations for the Oscar Best Foreign Language Film award."

"Excerpt from the Oscar Academy Daily:

The English-language film *Life of Pi*, directed by Chinese director Li An, received nominations for this year's Oscars.

The nominated categories include: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Original Song, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Sound Effects."

"Excerpt from the Oscar Academy Daily:

The film *Gravity*, directed by Chinese director Wei Jin and starring Ceng Li and Cheng Long, received nominations for this year's Oscar Hong Kong Film Awards.

The nominated categories include: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Production Design, Best Visual Effects, and Best Sound Editing."

The film circle truly exploded; to be precise, the entire Chinese-language film and television industry was stunned by the news sent back from Hollywood.

It's crazy, it's crazy.

The three films sent by the two sides of the strait and three regions to compete for Best Foreign Language Film were all wiped out; however, the two films that did not use the recommended quotas and independently applied for regular awards emerged as dark horses.

The two great directors, Li An and Wei Jin, one with 7 nominations and the other with 8, including several major awards.

The key is that both of them have already proven themselves multiple times at the Oscars, and this time the chances are very high.

Although it was already night in the country, the internet was already buzzing with heated discussions.

"Damn, as expected of Wei Jin, 8 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Film Editing, and Best Cinematography; this gold content is quite high, too awesome!!!!"

"Li An is also very awesome, 7 nominations, even stronger than *Brokeback Mountain* back then."

"Besides *Avatar*, there hasn't been any other sci-fi film that could get so many nominations, right?"

"Doesn't *Life of Pi* count as a sci-fi film?"

"It doesn't. Although it's 3D, it's a fantasy adventure film."

"No comparison, no harm. I feel sorry for Feng Dapao for a minute; you were given a chance but couldn't use it."

"It's a double insurance this year. It's possible that both Best Director and Best Picture will be taken by Chinese people, yay yay yay!!!"

"To the one above, keep dreaming. How is that possible? Best Picture will never be given to a Chinese person unless they change their nationality. I said it, and even if Jesus came, it would still be the same."

"Brother Gun, come quickly, there's another sheepdog here."

"."

Wei Jin didn't know how to describe his mood. The news from Hollywood was announced at five o'clock in the morning.

Early in the morning, he received dozens of calls from North America, including Leonardo, Matt, Nolan, Robert Downey Jr., Ryan, Theron, Taylor... even Kristen and Ashley, with whom he had a one-night stand years ago, called. These people acted even more excited than Wei Jin.

It was hard to finally calm down by noon, and then calls from the country came again.

You have to know that it was around midnight in the country; don't these people need to sleep? Jing Tian called to express that she regretted it a bit; if she had known, she wouldn't have returned to the country.

Liu Yifei stated that the film crew would be arriving in North America in a few days, and the position of her partner for the Golden Globe Awards ceremony could be reserved for her.

Li Jie, oh, Li Jie didn't call. I guess this Buddhist-like sister had already taken Dudu to sleep.

Fan Bingbing, that flirtatious fox, was coquettishly complaining on the phone, sighing that her luck was bad; *Silver Linings Playbook* actually only nominated her for Best Supporting Actress for the third female lead.

However, she indicated that she would attend the Oscars with the film crew this time and would accept Wei Jin's investment then.

The night owl Liu Shishi also sent a congratulatory message and proudly informed Wei Jin that the voting for the new Four Dan Actresses had begun, and her chances were very high.

The others, such as Nazha, Liu Yan, Tian Ai, Ni Ni, and others, also sent congratulatory messages.

After answering more than a dozen calls in a row, Wei Jin really couldn't take it anymore, so he handed the phone to Huang Mengying and asked her to help handle it.

Arriving at the garden, he saw Da Meiyuan basking in the sun while holding a tablet and giggling. He didn't know who she was chatting with; the goddess's temperament was all laughed away.

"Xiao Jin, come and see, your Weibo is very lively."

Da Meiyuan's eyebrows were curved, the corners of her mouth were raised, looking as if she shared the honor.

"Alright, let me see what these people are doing without sleeping."

Wei Jin sat down beside the beauty and took a glance after taking the tablet.

Whoa, good heavens, the comment sections of his private Weibo and Shanhe Media's official Weibo were already overcrowded.

Many who couldn't get through on the phone just now were congratulating, teasing, and flattering him under his Weibo.

Especially those with closer relationships, their way of speaking was simply "disrespectful."

"Old Wei, your sister here is a Three Gold Grand Slam winner, my acting is great. When will you take me to visit the European Big Three and the Oscars? Whatever you want, sister will agree to you."

"Boss, your loyal servant sends the most sincere blessings. That, when will you consider me? I'll shoot however the director tells me to. If you point east, I won't go west; if you catch a chicken, I definitely won't chase a dog. The main thing is being obedient."

"Congratulations, President Wei. All my votes are for you. See you on the Oscar red carpet."

"Brother, congratulations."

"."

Wei Jin didn't know what to say. Have these people treated his Weibo as a place to chat? "Xiao Jin, Li Jie isn't coming to the Golden Globe Awards, she should be coming to the Oscars, right?"

Wei Jin held the beauty in his arms and nodded: "Yes, she will bring Dudu over during the Spring Festival, and our family will spend the New Year together."

Thinking of the cute Dudu whom she hadn't seen for several months, Da Meiyuan, who was pregnant, showed an auntie smile on her face, then as if she thought of something, she suddenly rolled her eyes at Wei Jin again.

"By the way, for the cocktail parties these days, take Meng Ying with you, so those actresses won't pounce on you."

"Alright, I'll listen to Yuan Yuanjie."

Facing Da Meiyuan's strict defense, Wei Jin could only smile and shake his head. Women, they are really fickle.

In the early morning in the country, *Gravity* landed on CCTV's morning news, and it was reported for a full minute.

After all, with eight nominations, the probability of winning is too high! Coinciding with the time approaching the art exams, the Beijing Film Academy naturally wouldn't miss this opportunity to hype it up.

Early in the morning, they displayed their fine tradition, hung up banners, and updated the news on their official website and Weibo: "Congratulations to our school's 2002 Director Department outstanding graduate Wei Jin for successfully entering the 8 nominations for the Oscar Hong Kong Film Awards with the sci-fi blockbuster *Gravity*. Wishing him success in his Oscar bid!"

The font was enlarged and bolded, as if they were afraid that the art exam candidates wouldn't see it.

The news of the Oscar nominations completely ignited the entire domestic entertainment industry in just over a dozen hours.

Some media outlets, eager to stir up trouble, specifically went to interview Feng Dapao; wasn't this just rubbing salt into someone's wound?

Perhaps because he had truly gained a reputation, Feng Dapao was exceptionally protective of his image, and he actually appeared quite magnanimous when facing the cameras.

"I wish Director Wei Jin great success; he has always been outstanding, and I hope he adds a few more trophies for Huaxia."

Chen Shiren and Zhang Yimou, who had occupied the spots for Oscar Best Foreign Language Film for years, were also within the media's range. "Nominations are certainly worth congratulating, but young people should keep a level head. It is very rare for a sci-fi film to receive nominations; even *Avatar* only got 9 nominations and 3 wins, all for minor awards. One must avoid being impatient."

Chen Shiren was consistently stubborn; these words were already quite euphemistic, as he did not hold much optimism.

Zhang Yimou, on the other hand, decisively stood on Wei Jin's side.

"*Dixing Yinxing* is absolutely epoch-making. I believe there will definitely be a good result; after all, what Director Wei is best at is breaking records!"

Some media outlets were clever and took a different approach, compiling the Oscar category awards that Chinese people had already won.

As of now, Chinese people have won a total of 9 out of the 24 Oscar category awards, including:

Best Director (Wei Jin, Li An); Oscar Best Foreign Language Film (Wei Jin, Li An);

Best Cinematography (James Wong Howe, Peter Pau); Best Art Direction (Tim Yip); Best Original Score (Tan Dun); Best Supporting Actor (Haing S. Ngor);

Best Original Screenplay (Wei Jin); Best Documentary Short Subject (Ruby Yang); Best Animated Short Film (Shaun Tan); When this set of data appeared, the entire entertainment circle and the internet boiled over once again.

In everyone's mind, the bold words Wei Jin shouted at the Oscars three years ago surfaced:

"In the future, Chinese people will be able to collect all the Oscar category awards."

Looking at it now, Li An plus Wei Jin indeed have a great chance of achieving it.

If this achievement were truly realized, it would be a major historical event that would change the history of Chinese cinema! Subsequently, everyone began to judge the best possible outcome for this year's Oscars.

It was finally discovered that if the nominations for Li An and Wei Jin were combined in an optimal way, the awards won by Chinese people would expand to a full 16, taking another step closer to all categories.

It was just a bit regrettable that the two directors had as many as 4 overlapping nominations.

This also meant that Wei Jin and Li An would be absolute competitors at this year's Oscars; it was such a pity.

Wei Jin had no time to pay attention to the news from home; starting from the evening, he had been attending the public relations cocktail party hosted by Summit Entertainment with Huang Mengying.

Just as Gao Yuanyuan had expected, there were countless female stars who wanted to throw themselves at him, even though Huang Mengying was firmly holding his arm.

For instance, the blonde beauty in front of him, wearing a blue dress with big wavy hair, appeared extremely enthusiastic.

"Wei, your film is truly amazing, full of artistic beauty. I wish you a full harvest at the Golden Globes and the Oscars."

Wei Jin held the girl's soft little hand, a faint smile appearing on his face.

"Thank you, Miss Blake."

That's right, the person in front of him was none other than Blake Lively, known as one of the Four Dan Actresses of Hollywood.

In fact, Blake Lively became famous very early.

At 11, she starred in her first personal film, *Sleepy Hollow*, and began to enter the North American entertainment industry.

At 18, she was nominated for the Best Breakthrough Performance at the 7th Teen Choice Awards for *The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants*.

At 19, she starred in the campus comedy film *Accepted*, further expanding her popularity.

However, what truly made her popular was that hit in North America, *Gossip Girl*.

From the first season all the way to the sixth season last year, every season caused a huge response in North America.

Since 2008, she, Kristen Stewart, Amanda Seyfried, and Emma Roberts have been collectively referred to as the Four Dan Actresses of Hollywood.

Although it was Wei Jin's first time meeting her, the two sides were actually not strangers, because *The Shallows*, produced by Summit Entertainment last year, was starred in by her.

The role was decided by Hunter, specifically to leverage the popularity and heat she had accumulated from *Gossip Girl*.

Facts proved that it indeed achieved very good results.

But perhaps it was precisely because of the big success of *The Shallows* that Blake Lively had developed quite an interest in Wei Jin.

Being able to reach her current position in this Vanity Fair of Hollywood, Blake was no "silly sweet," and she knew very well how much power this handsome Oriental man in front of her possessed.

Although she was already one of the Four Dan Actresses, Wei Jin was an existence that could help her go further.

At this moment, her face revealed that iconic, deadly charming, bright smile: "Wei, if there is any role in your projects suitable for me, you are welcome to contact me at any time."

Wei Jin knew very well that this woman had paved the way for a long time, and this sentence was the main point, so he nodded immediately:

"If there is a chance, I will certainly not forget Miss Blake."

Wei Jin originally thought the pleasantries ended there, but unexpectedly, Blake blinked her big eyes and issued a further invitation.

"Wei, would you... like to try my acting first?"

Huang Mengying: "0.0"

Beverly Hills, inside the villa bathroom.

"Boss, what are you...?"

Huang Mengying asked in confusion while enduring the director's acting test.

"What do you mean 'what'?"

Wei Jin replied while holding onto her with one hand and filming vigorously with the other.

"I mean, Blake... isn't she beautiful?"

"Slap! She's alright, I guess. Why, do you want me to have something happen with her?"

Huang Mengying, having received a strike, tensed up, then stuck out her tongue and explained: "I was just curious..."

"Heh, your observation isn't careful enough. Didn't you see the ring on her finger?"

"Just because of this?"

Huang Mengying endured the impact, a look of disbelief appearing on her flushed face.

"Slap! Slap!"

Although Wei Jin couldn't see Huang Mengying's expression due to the shooting angle, he could tell the young girl's thoughts from her tone, and he couldn't help but fiercely pat the beautiful buttocks in his hand.

"What kind of person do you take me for? Your boss never refuses the pleasures of the flesh, but I have never laid a finger on a married woman."

To be honest, 25-year-old Blake is young and beautiful, and her bright and imposing appearance is indeed the type Wei Jin likes.

But last year, this woman already married that little jerk Ryan, and Wei Jin asks himself if he could ever do the deed of cuckolding a friend.

What's more, he, Wei Jin, swears to death he will not be a Cao thief! "Boss, I was wrong."

"Hmph hmph, if apologies were useful, what would we need the police for? Prepare to receive an education, slap~~ slap~~ slap~~~"

"Ah~~ ah~~"

(End of this chapter)