Chapter 207: Can't suppress it, simply can't suppress it!

*The Sixth Sense* was shortlisted for 6 nominations, and *Amour* was shortlisted for 3 nominations. It wasn't very many, but it was definitely not few.

And most importantly, the few nominations Wu Yuchen wanted were basically on the list: *Amour*'s Best Foreign Language Film, and Best Director, which gave him even greater ambition!

"Congratulations, Wu, you have achieved a new achievement: the same director has two works nominated for the Best Director award at the same time!

This is really too crazy. Before, I really didn't expect this kind of thing to happen, but you really did something that hasn't happened since the Oscar awards were founded!"

At this time, Richard was also very excited. He had proposed this idea to Wu Yuchen before, but he didn't expect it to really be realized in his and Wu Yuchen's hands. This completely exceeded his expectations. Therefore, even though he had been engaged in Oscar PR for a long time, Richard also appeared very excited.

On the contrary, Wu Yuchen, who had adjusted his mentality during this period, spoke up and persuaded: "Hey, Richard, calm down, it's just a nomination, we haven't really won the award yet!"

Richard held Wu Yuchen's shoulders:

"No no, Wu, do you know? This is even harder than winning an Oscar! Oscar double nomination, every step you take now is creating history!"

Wu Yuchen smiled and patted Richard's shoulder: "It's us!"

Hearing this, Richard also smiled, paced back and forth twice, then rubbed his face, took a deep breath and said: "You are right, Wu, it's just a nomination now, it's not a success if you don't win the award!"

Subsequently, Richard and Wu Yuchen sat down and analyzed the big list in detail.

However, he now had to face a choice: *The Sixth Sense* or *Amour*?

*The Sixth Sense* and *Amour* embodied two different techniques and styles, but if it fell to the film itself, it was still that problem: *The Sixth Sense* had supernatural elements, while *Amour* was a realistic theme. However, *Amour* was a Chinese story, while *The Sixth Sense* had white actors and the story background was America. In comparison, both films had advantages and disadvantages.

Richard noted Wu Yuchen's attitude and continued:

"So, now let's talk about the remaining two awards. One is Best Original Screenplay, and the other is Best Director. For these two awards, your *Amour* and *The Sixth Sense* are both shortlisted. And in the same situation, you are facing a very strong opponent for both awards, which is *American Beauty*. You must make a trade-off, otherwise, it is very likely that the vote bank will be diverted."

Oscar voting, take Best Director for example, it's not that *The Sixth Sense* and *Amour* are both Wu Yuchen's films, so the votes can be stacked together. If Wu Yuchen doesn't guide it himself, it is very likely that the two films each get 1200 votes, while *American Beauty* eventually wins with 1500 votes.

"Wu, there are a total of five awards related to you personally. Let me talk about my personal opinion first.

First, the most important award, which is Best Picture. Although *The Sixth Sense* got a nomination, according to the current situation, *American Beauty* has a great advantage and high acclaim, while *The Sixth Sense* contains supernatural elements, which is a very disadvantageous point."

"Best Original Screenplay, focus on *The Sixth Sense*!"

"The..."

Hearing this, Richard immediately said: "According to the survey, as of 1998, the median age of Oscar judges was 64, and judges under 50 accounted for 12% of the total number of judges."

Then there is Best Foreign Language Film. *Amour* is now leading by at least one body length. The only competitor that threatens you is Spain's *All About My Mother*, but your personal influence and film exposure are far higher than this film, so this should be the award we have the most hope for at the moment!"

Since he had already reached this step and achieved this condition, why couldn't he think more and look forward to the Best Director award!

Whether he could win it, he didn't know, but if he didn't even dare to think about it, and didn't even try, then this award would definitely have no chance.

Wu Yuchen said: "Richard, tell me again about the age of the Oscar judges."

"*Amour*'s Best Foreign Language Film is something we must strive to win. With it, my trip to the Oscars will not be a failure no matter what."

Wu Yuchen first looked at the Best Original Screenplay award. If he had to choose between *Amour* and *The Sixth Sense*, it was actually not difficult to make a choice, because *The Sixth Sense*'s script was obviously more brilliant, especially that final shocking twist, while *Amour* did not win by the script; it was just an ordinary story of the elderly's life, aging, sickness, and death.

Wu Yuchen nodded:

In fact, *Amour* was also nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture in his past life, but now it was changed to a Chinese story and background, and it was not shortlisted for the Best Picture award this time, which showed that the Oscars still had a certain discrimination.

For Wu Yuchen, as long as *Amour* could win Best Foreign Language Film, he had already achieved his goal. Returning to China, he would definitely be blown up. The first Chinese-language Oscar, whoever won this honor, could basically eat for a lifetime in the country.

This choice concerned the possibility of Wu Yuchen competing for awards next, so he had to be cautious. He thought about the outpost awards he had attended in various places in the past few months. Both films had been nominated many times, but in the Best Director award, *Amour* seemed to be more favored by the judges.

Therefore, for these two shortlisted options, Wu Yuchen had to make a trade-off and choose a goal to concentrate his PR efforts.

"That is to say, more than 50% of the judges are over 64, and 88% of the judges are over 50?"

Richard started by talking about the two awards where Wu Yuchen was weakest and strongest, which Wu Yuchen also agreed with. He understood Richard's meaning: he must distinguish his advantages and disadvantages, and then make trade-offs, tilting main energy and resources to those with the most hope of winning.

Hearing Wu Yuchen's words, Richard hurriedly recorded them. At the same time, Wu Yuchen looked at another award that gave him greater ambition, which was also a heavy Oscar award: Best Director!

To be honest, with either *The Sixth Sense* or *Amour* alone, he wouldn't think about competing for Best Director, although both films were nominated for this award in his past life. But now, he had achieved two films shortlisted at the same time, occupying 2 of the 5 spots!

Just as Richard said, this was a feat that no one had ever accomplished since the Oscars were founded. In Wu Yuchen's impression, the first time someone did this in Oscar history would have to wait until next year's Oscars, when director Steven Soderbergh had two films nominated at the same time, and he also successfully won the Best Director of that year.

"As you wish."

"Best Director, then focus PR around *Amour*."

Wu Yuchen said his decision while revealing a smile. When filming *Amour*, he actually considered that the Oscar judges were all elderly and would have strong empathy for this film theme, but now it seemed that the effect exceeded expectations. *Amour* not only gained a significant advantage in the Best Foreign Language Film award, but also made many judges willing to cast their vote for Best Director for it!

Setting aside that *The Sixth Sense* was his mixed-race son and *Amour* was his pure Chinese bloodline, just talking about the possibility of these two films challenging for the Best Director award, based on his experience running around for these few months, *Amour* had a greater possibility.

"Good, next, we will promote around your two nominations, let the media constantly emphasize how amazing this achievement is, so that the judges who see it will consider this factor when voting. At the same time, Wu, you cannot show an attitude of giving up on other awards. In public, you must show the posture that you want to win."

Wu Yuchen nodded, understanding this truth: if you seek the top, you get the middle; if you seek the middle, you get the bottom.

Releasing an attitude to the judges that he was qualified to win all 5 awards, some judges might feel that giving him all of them was too much, and maybe voting for him for three or two was enough. But if Wu Yuchen said from the beginning that he only wanted 3 awards, then maybe some people would feel that giving him one was enough. During the voting period, many judges had this kind of centrist, or "splitting the fruit" mentality.

With the announcement of this Oscar list, if there was one film that was the most eye-catching, it was definitely *American Beauty*. It was shortlisted for 8 nominations including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor, and was the hottest favorite for this year's Oscars.

But if it was said who was the most concerned director, or not just a director, the most concerned person, it was definitely Wu Yuchen!

"Wu Yuchen creates a new Oscar record!"

"Unprecedented Best Director double nomination!"

"One person occupies two nominations, is this year's Best Director determined?"

"This year's Oscar-nominated Tom Cruise is undoubtedly very eye-catching. Presumably, the ratings of this Oscar awards ceremony will be one or two percentage points higher because of Tom Cruise. But his limelight was covered by another person, that is, Wu Yuchen, who was nominated for Best Director for two films at the same time and created history!

His *The Sixth Sense* must have been seen by many people. Even if they haven't seen it, everyone has heard of it. It was one of the most shocking films last year. Now the North American box office has reached 380 million US dollars, and the word-of-mouth is extremely high.

But today we are not talking about this famous *The Sixth Sense*, but Wu Yuchen's other Chinese film, *Amour*."

Hoping you live is love, not wanting you to leave; letting you die is also love, not wanting to see you in pain. We can always face the end of our own lives calmly, but it is very difficult to face the gradual departure of loved ones. The most painful thing is that we are powerless.

Wu Yuchen uses *Amour* to constantly question us: when loved ones are tortured by illness, how should we choose? Is it to respect the lover's wishes and let her be relieved, or just want her to live even if she is in great pain? This question will never have a correct answer, and it is precisely because of this that it touches our hearts and lets us face death directly.

The whole film mainly revolves around the two major themes of love and death. Death is the end of life, and love is the peak of life. I think this is also what director Wu Yuchen wants to convey to us.

There is one thing beyond doubt: the simultaneous nomination of two films with different styles, *Amour* and *The Sixth Sense*, has already reflected Wu Yuchen's extraordinary directing ability. To some extent, this feat of setting a new record is already more meaningful than the statuette itself.

Whether this year's Oscar statuette will be given to this director who created history will be a focus that everyone pays attention to."

In *The Hollywood Reporter*, a column article was specially written for Wu Yuchen and *Amour*. Undoubtedly, this was also influenced by Richard's PR.

In fact, everyone knows this. After all, if you don't spend money on PR during the awards season, don't think about getting any traffic. However, even with PR, you have to have something worth praising. Just like Wu Yuchen's double nomination this time, it was indeed very eye-catching and very noticeable. The Oscars have developed for more than 70 years, and every new record is difficult to create. When you set a new history, you are destined to become a focus person!

Not only in Hollywood, when the Oscar nomination list came out, China was even more explosive. This time, even if Wu Yuchen wanted to suppress it, he couldn't!

Previously, after *Amour* won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film, it had already caused quite a few reports, letting many people know that Wu Yuchen took *Amour* to participate in this year's Oscars, and it seemed quite promising.

And when the big list came out, *Amour* not only successfully shortlisted for Best Foreign Language Film, but also won nominations for two important awards, Best Original Screenplay and Best Director, which suddenly aroused the hope in everyone's hearts!

Back then, Chen Kaizi and Zhang Yimou went to participate in the Oscars, and they only won a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, while Wu Yuchen had three nominations directly, and they were all nominations for important awards. This treatment was obviously different!

Not to mention the history of Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaizi, just look at the other four films shortlisted for Best Foreign Language Film this year, which other film could have this treatment? None, not a single one!

What kind of treatment is this? The treatment of a seeded player!

Undoubtedly, this time *Amour* was definitely the closest Chinese film to the Oscars so far, so wouldn't it ignite the high enthusiasm in everyone's hearts?

"Best Foreign Language Film seeded player — *Amour*!"

"The Chinese film closest to the Oscars — *Amour*."

"Wu Yuchen is expected to become the first Chinese Oscar winner!"

"First capture the Golden Lion, then win the Golden Globe, Wu Yuchen carries *Amour* to point the sword at the Oscars!"

"Analyze the possibility of *Amour* winning the Oscars."

"*Amour*, the biggest favorite for Best Foreign Language Film at this year's Oscars!"

"*Amour* is widely acclaimed in Hollywood, Wu Yuchen conquers America across borders!"

First, a wave of reports about *Amour* was released, discussing the film *Amour* from all aspects.

And what was even more exciting was that Wu Yuchen not only had one *Amour* participating in this year's Oscars, but also a foreign son named *The Sixth Sense*!

In the consistent theory in China, film works are the director's flesh and blood, the director's own children. Therefore, although the story and actors of *The Sixth Sense* were not Chinese, since it was Wu Yuchen's foreign son, it carried half of our Chinese blood!

This foreign son *The Sixth Sense* was even more promising, taking 6 nominations, and also including important awards closely related to Wu Yuchen such as Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay.

And the matter of Wu Yuchen breaking Oscar history and creating a record was naturally dug out by the Chinese media for the first time.

"On the gold content of Wu Yuchen's double nomination."

"Wu Yuchen plays a double insurance, how much hope is there for Best Director?"

"Will Wu Yuchen become the first Chinese Oscar Best Director?"

Suddenly, the curiosity and enthusiasm of the common people were all mobilized. Even those who didn't usually pay much attention to films started buying newspapers to pay attention to Wu Yuchen's Oscar bid. For a time, Wu Yuchen's Oscar bid became the focus news in the country from being relatively flat before, no longer limited to the group of people who paid attention to films. To use a word from later generations, it was greatly out of the circle!

There were even netizens who simply started to move reports from foreigners on the foreign network and posted them to the Tianya Community for everyone to read, making the Tianya Community stand out among a group of forums instantly, becoming the base camp for film and television discussions in China, paying attention to Wu Yuchen's new trends every day.

Not only in the mainland, but also in Chinese-speaking regions such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore, and even Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea, all started to pay attention to Wu Yuchen's Oscar bid.

After all, in this year's Oscars, Wu Yuchen not only had hope of winning the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, but also achieved such an unprecedented thing as Best Director double nomination, so winning the Best Director statuette seemed to have become a visible hope!

You know, the Oscars have been around for more than 70 years, and no Asian director has ever won the Best Director award. Not to mention those little South Korean guys who have never touched the Oscars, even Japan's film emperor, master-level Akira Kurosawa, who harvested half of Hollywood fans led by Hollywood big shots like Spielberg and George Lucas, won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and the Oscar Lifetime Achievement Award, but he didn't have the Best Director award, and didn't even have a nomination.

Therefore, the Wu Yuchen now represented not only the Chinese, but also the Asian group. This was the closest time for the whole of Asia to the Best Director award!

And Wu Yuchen naturally received calls from people who paid attention to him. Among them, Han Sanping was the most prominent. He had just been in charge of China Film for a year. If Wu Yuchen could win the Oscars and win glory for Chinese films, that would be his achievement!

And he had always had a good relationship with Wu Yuchen. With Wu Yuchen's strong support, wouldn't it be more handy for him, Han Sanping, to display any actions in the future?

"Brother Wu, I know you are humble, but you are too humble! If it weren't for this Oscar big list coming out, we would still be kept in the dark by you!"

"Brother Han, this is really not me being humble. Don't look at my many nominations, but a nomination is just a nomination after all. Now I really can't say I have much advantage. Brother, please help me suppress the public opinion in the country again, please don't hold me too high!"

Wu Yuchen discussed with Han Sanping on the other side of the phone.

"Can't suppress it, simply can't suppress it!

Brother Wu, there is nothing we can do now. Your Best Director double nomination has created a new Oscar record. Who can manage this group of media? Now not letting them write is not letting them make money, and they are saying good things about you, not scolding you. How can this be managed?"

Listening to Han Sanping's words on the other side, Wu Yuchen couldn't help but sigh. The domestic public opinion was like this. Let alone now in 2000, even if it were 20 years later, the confidence of the Chinese people would be higher than it is now. If someone could create a similar achievement, it would also lead to heated discussions across the network.

At this time, Han Sanping asked: "Brother Wu, like this, tell me the truth, how much chance do you think *Amour* has of winning the award? And those other awards, if I understand the situation, I can also help you communicate."

Wu Yuchen thought for a while and gave Han Sanping a bottom line:

"Brother Han, I am determined to win the Best Foreign Language Film award now. I have an 80% grasp, unless I am really unlucky and have a big upset. As for other awards like Best Director and Best Original Screenplay, I really can't say. I dare not even say I have an advantage, and Best Picture is basically impossible."

Hearing Wu Yuchen say that he had an 80% grasp of the Best Foreign Language Film award, Han Sanping suddenly felt ecstatic. He didn't ask for so much. As long as Wu Yuchen could bring back the Best Foreign Language Film award this time, he would be a great hero!

"Hahaha, Brother Wu, with your words, I feel stable in my heart! Don't worry, I will risk my old face to help you speak this time. When your good news comes, we will beat drums and gongs again!"

Han Sanping did what he said. This time he personally called the leaders of major newspapers one by one. It wasn't that he didn't let people report, but he controlled the heat. Most of the topics were concentrated on the Best Foreign Language Film award, after all, it was what Wu Yuchen said he was determined to win.

As for other awards like Best Director, they could carry out a wave of popular science and rational analysis, emphasizing the difficulty of winning, and paving the way for the subsequent development of the situation, so that they could advance and retreat, and there would be rhetoric even if they didn't win the award.

Wu Yuchen didn't have much time and extra thoughts to pay attention to the domestic public opinion and trends now. With the announcement of the big list, the competition for the Oscars had entered the second stage, which was the moment when the five films used all their skills, all kinds of means were used, and they fought with bayonets.

For example, Wu Yuchen was constantly emphasizing his Best Director double nomination, but at the same time, some people stood up and pointed out that he was too young. This kind of young man obviously lacked qualifications. How can there be a Best Director in his twenties in the world?! ===== CHAPTER 208 =====