Chapter 209: Fortresses Often Collapse from Within

Richard took a deep breath, then knocked on the door gently. Seeing the secretary who opened the door, he immediately offered a smile, and then walked in cautiously.

In the room, Michael Eisner sat steadily on the office chair. Standing in the room at this time was none other than Miles, the executive who had contacted Wu Yuchen before, with his head slightly lowered, looking like he didn't dare to breathe.

Seeing this, Richard thought it was bad, and hurriedly stood by Miles, then squeezed out a smile: "Mr. Eisner."

Michael Eisner raised his eyelids and glanced at him: "Richard, are you responsible for Wu Yuchen's PR this time?"

Even if it was just a flat tone asking a question, Richard could feel a pressure from it, and immediately nodded: "Yes, sir."

"I heard that Wu Yuchen won Best Director at the Directors Guild Awards yesterday?"

"Yes."

Richard felt that this should be considered good news, so he couldn't help but introduce a few more sentences:

"Director Wu Yuchen winning Best Director this time will create a historical..."

As Michael Eisner's voice grew louder, Richard's calves couldn't help but start to tremble. He wanted to explain that this was Wu Yuchen's choice and also the best choice, and the hope for *The Sixth Sense* was much smaller, and the current result had already proven everything, but he didn't dare to contradict the tyrant in front of him at all.

"As for Wu Yuchen, I don't think you need to tell him. Anyway, *The Sixth Sense* and *Amour* are both his films, and he also has the obligation to pay for the PR of *The Sixth Sense*. The better performance of *The Sixth Sense* is also adding luster to his director."

"Do it, now!"

"Richard, there is no 'but'. You also saw Mr. Eisner's attitude. No one in Disney can defy him. I don't care what method you use, bring people to visit, or call those judges one by one."

Miles waved his hand and said:

"Who could have thought that you could really win the Directors Guild Best Director? Best Director in his twenties, if you told me before, I would only think this is a fantasy!"

Spielberg shook his head and smiled lightly: "The strongest fortresses often collapse from within. You don't need to know too much for now, just work hard on PR. Every effort you make now may increase your possibility of winning the award by one point."

A few days later, at DreamWorks, Sam Mendes entered the office and saw Spielberg and David Geffen there.

Richard could naturally understand this truth, but at this time he couldn't help but complain:

Richard couldn't help but pat his forehead painfully: "That is to say, it is because we won the Directors Guild Award that Mr. Eisner has the current idea?"

Sam Mendes was stunned on the spot when he heard this, and then asked: "But, isn't this award already reserved by Wu Yuchen?"

Spielberg said lightly: "Isn't this exactly what Eisner would do?"

If *The Sixth Sense* could bring back the Oscar statuette for Best Director, that would be a happy thing for everyone. Anyway, the one receiving the award is him, isn't it?"

"Hmm?" Sam Mendes was a little confused.

He had a premonition that if he really did such a thing, Disney would definitely fall out with Wu Yuchen in the future. No director could tolerate such a thing happening.

"Isn't it distributed by us? And Wu paid a large amount of PR fees..."

Richard looked embarrassed: "But, now the Directors Guild has already presented the award, and our PR work for the Best Director award has stopped. And doing so will cause many variables for the Best Director award that is already in hand..."

Michael Eisner tapped the table and shouted at the two: "You must understand, you are Disney employees, and you must put Disney's interests first at all times!"

Originally, according to Disney's own assessment, *The Sixth Sense* being able to get so many nominations was already a victory, eating a wave of Oscar traffic. But after seeing that Wu Yuchen actually won the Guild Best Director with *Amour*, more desires were generated. *Amour* could do it, why couldn't *The Sixth Sense*? They are all your Wu Yuchen's films, why are you biased?

"But, but this is completely different..."

Richard's body stiffened directly, his throat seemed to be strangled, and his mouth couldn't make any sound.

"What?!"

Subsequently, Miles put his arm around Richard's shoulder and said:

"Why didn't you say it at the beginning? The time left is too short, and now I have no way to tell Wu about this, and he couldn't possibly agree to this decision. If it had been decided at the beginning, I would have invested resources and energy into *The Sixth Sense* with Wu and the whole team..."

Miles spread his hands and said: "Of course, Mr. Eisner saw that since Wu Yuchen could win Best Director with a foreign language film, an Asian film, why couldn't it be *The Sixth Sense*?"

But this was the order of His Majesty the Emperor. Their Majesty the Emperor, who had even fired powerful figures like Michael Ovitz, the founder of CAA, a few years ago, preferring to pay 120 million in liquidated damages, how could he really put a director's appeal in his eyes?

"Re-join the competition for Best Director."

Miles interrupted him directly:

"Hey! Richard, don't you understand Mr. Eisner's meaning yet? So what if *Amour* won the award? Is it our Disney's?"

"I ask you? Why isn't it *The Sixth Sense* that won this award?!"

Watching Sam Mendes leave with full motivation, David Geffen smiled and said: "Didn't expect such a thing to happen."

However, before he finished speaking, he was directly interrupted by Michael Eisner: "Why isn't it *The Sixth Sense*?"

Then he said to Richard: "Richard, did you hear that? Just now Mr. Eisner's instructions."

Miles waved his hand:

"So what? Did we Disney not pay for the PR of *The Sixth Sense*?"

In the final analysis, *Amour* won the Oscar for Best Director, how much can we Disney earn? It's just an Asian film, and it's a literary film. How much box office can it harvest in North America? Ten million? Twenty million?"

"Interesting thing?" Sam Mendes was very curious.

Hearing this, Richard couldn't help but sigh long. Can this be the same thing?! This kind of decision made by people above patting their heads is really very annoying and troublesome.

In the roar of the tyrant, Miles hurriedly took Richard and fled the devil's den.

But *The Sixth Sense* is different. Since the Oscar nomination list was released, the box office of *The Sixth Sense* has been rising against the trend for two weeks. And most importantly, if *The Sixth Sense* has the blessing of the Best Director statuette, then do you know how much its disc sales can increase? At least 50 million!"

After returning to his office, Miles finally breathed a sigh of relief, then pulled his collar and unbuttoned it to make his breathing more smooth.

Seeing him come in, Spielberg smiled and said: "Hey, Sam, your PR content needs to be adjusted again."

David Geffen revealed a smile, came over and patted Sam Mendes on the shoulder: "I can only say you are really lucky, some interesting things happened~"

Richard's throat rolled nervously, sweat on his head, and he didn't dare to speak with his head lowered. Miles beside him hurriedly said: "Mr. Eisner, this is our work error, but it is still too late to remedy it. The second round of Oscar voting has not started yet..."

Sam Mendes was a bit confused, but he knew that something must have happened, otherwise the two big shots wouldn't let him do useless work for no reason.

Subsequently, David Geffen talked about Wu Yuchen: "Still a bit young!"

Spielberg smiled: "Young people always need some experience to grow~ When I was in my twenties, I was still learning how to shoot films, and he is already much stronger than us. After this, I will go to talk to him again."

Miracle Pictures, Wu Yuchen and Soderbergh shook hands:

"Wu, thank you very much. Communicating with you is really much better than those executives who only ask about the cast and funds! I can't wait to restart this project now!"

"Steven, you will shoot a great film, I believe in my vision~"

Watching Soderbergh leave, Wu Yuchen was in a good mood. Since he encountered such a chance to pick up a high-quality project, he couldn't miss it.

Through these days of negotiation, the two sides reached a consensus. This film, once shot, would take the Oscar route. Wu Yuchen invested 45 million, would not interfere with the shooting of the film, but the cast had to be reasonable.

Wu Yuchen was not very worried about this. In his past life, after Soderbergh was abandoned by Fox, he finally found a small independent production company to get the investment. The whole film was done by himself from beginning to end. This time, it wouldn't be much worse if he invested in it.

Now that it was March, the Nasdaq index reached a high of 5132 yesterday. However, fortunately, his US stocks had been cleared, so he could just sit and watch the show.

These days, Wu Yuchen found that Richard had arranged quite a lot of publicity for *The Sixth Sense*. However, Wu Yuchen could understand it. After all, *Amour* had already won the Directors Guild Best Director, which was equivalent to booking the statuette in advance. Then the PR team's goal was concentrated on *The Sixth Sense*'s Best Original Screenplay, and resource tilting was a matter of course.

It was just that Richard, who had often accompanied him for the past few months, was rarely seen, which made him a little unaccustomed. Wu Yuchen shook his head with a smile. What's so unaccustomed about having one less big man by his side? Isn't it fragrant to have this beauty Jennifer Connelly accompany him?

The next day, under the request of Jennifer Connelly who tried her best last night, Wu Yuchen accompanied her to the Screen Actors Guild Awards. The history of the Screen Actors Guild Awards was not as long as the Directors Guild Awards, and this was only the 6th session this year, but it quickly developed into an important award in Hollywood.

This year, Jennifer Connelly was also shortlisted for Best Supporting Actress for *The Sixth Sense*, dragging Wu Yuchen to help her, but it was a pity that it was useless, and she still lost to Angelina Jolie of *Girl, Interrupted*.

Wu Yuchen was very relaxed, watching the show all the way. *The Sixth Sense* was also shortlisted for the little boy actor Haley Joel Osment, but unfortunately, he didn't win the award either. This was very normal. After all, they didn't invest any PR resources for this little boy's Best Supporting Actor at all!

The big winner of this year's Screen Actors Guild Awards was still *American Beauty*. Best Actor and Actress were both swept by it, which was also in line with everyone's predictions.

March 26th, this year's Oscars were held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Both sides of the red carpet were surrounded by screaming fans and media reporters who kept taking pictures, crazy for the big stars who walked by.

This was not Wu Yuchen's first time attending the Oscars. This time, holding Jennifer Connelly, who was dressed beautifully, he appeared calm and composed. However, after Wu Yuchen walked the red carpet with the *The Sixth Sense* crew, he turned back and got into a car again.

After the car stopped, Wu Yuchen got off first, then opened the door and carefully helped the two old people get off. They were none other than the two actors of *Amour*, Ge Cunzhuang and Wang Danfeng. Not only them, but even Gong Li and Huang Lei, who played supporting roles, came, as well as the film's producer, photographer, and others, all following onto the Oscar red carpet in high spirits.

This time Wu Yuchen had a relatively large grasp of *Amour*'s Best Foreign Language Film, so he specially invited the whole crew to participate and witness the moment of the first Chinese-language Oscar, especially the two old actors.

The 70-something Ge Cunzhuang and Wang Danfeng were still strong and healthy, not at the age of being unable to walk. They followed Wu Yuchen on the red carpet and kept waving to both sides.

Huang Lei, who came to rub the red carpet, looked even more high-spirited. He didn't expect that he could also walk on the Oscar red carpet, but he had no experience before. As soon as he got off the car, he was dazzled by the various cheers and flashes outside the car. Fortunately, everyone's focus was not on him.

The biggest star of the *Amour* crew was Wu Yuchen. Even Gong Huang had a huge gap in fame in America compared to Wu Yuchen. The fans on both sides of the red carpet were quite respectful to Wu Yuchen, constantly shouting his name.

"Wu, congratulations! You are a hot figure at the Oscars today, how do you feel?"

The host of ABC TV invited Wu Yuchen for an interview.

"Thank you! Although it's not the first time attending the Oscars, the mood is very different. After all, I was just a spectator before, but today I am fortunate to participate in the selection, a bit nervous, and excited and thrilled!"

No matter what Wu Yuchen thought in his heart, he had to show this state on the surface, to please the American audience. If you were a cold and high-profile look that didn't care, then the audience's edge would be defeated by half.

"Wu, two films were selected for multiple Oscar awards at the same time, and you also won the Best Director double nomination. This is a very amazing achievement. May I ask if you choose yourself, which film do you want to help you win Best Director?"

Wu Yuchen thought to himself that this was obvious. The Directors Guild Awards had already told you the answer, but he also knew that this was a topic that the host specially picked for the audience to be interested in, so he smiled and said:

"Although I won a double nomination, my opponents are all very excellent. It's hard for me to say I can win the statuette. In fact, as long as I can win this award, I will be very happy regardless of which film it is~"

This time the organizer also considered it very thoughtfully, arranging the *Amour* and *The Sixth Sense* crews together. Wu Yuchen naturally sat in the middle, and both sides could be taken care of.

After Wu Yuchen sat down, he looked at the *The Sixth Sense* crew on his left, a seven or eight-year-old child, and then looked at *Amour* on his right, a pair of seventy or eighty-year-old old man and old woman, which also made him laugh. The protagonists of his two films were really two extremes!

The host was Billy Crystal, who had already served as the Oscar host 7 times before. He was a talk show actor by origin and had a strong ability to activate the atmosphere on the scene.

After interacting with the stars on the scene, the awards ceremony officially began. The first item was the Best Supporting Actress award, which had some weight, and it was to use this award to warm up the scene.

Jennifer Connelly next to Wu Yuchen stiffened her body directly, staring tightly at the stage and the big screen. Although she lost the election at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the birth time of the Screen Actors Guild Awards was still very short, and the predictability was not as accurate as the Directors Guild Awards, so she still had hope for the statuette.

However, Jennifer Connelly was destined to be disappointed. After a full suspense, the award was eventually taken away by Angelina Jolie of *Girl, Interrupted*. When the camera aimed at Jennifer, she also hurriedly squeezed out an elegant smile, and then applauded gently to celebrate for her opponent.

Looking at the somewhat disappointed Jennifer Connelly, Wu Yuchen knew that this big-breasted beauty beside him probably cursed Jolie a hundred times in her heart, and smiled and comforted her softly:

"Jenny, it doesn't matter, just treat it as saving points this year. I just invested in a film, and the heroine in it is very suitable for you. Come again next year~"

"Wu, it's so good to have you~"

Jennifer Connelly, who was still a bit sad, felt excited in her heart when she heard this. If it weren't for the public, she would have wanted to offer a fragrant kiss to Wu Yuchen. In fact, this *The Sixth Sense* was a leap-forward progress for her career. Not only did it achieve a super high box office, but it also helped her be nominated for the Oscars for the first time. Now as long as it was what Wu Yuchen said, she believed it!

Wu Yuchen smiled. Investing 45 million, arranging a female role was no problem, and Jennifer Connelly herself was suitable, and her acting skills were not bad.

Next were naturally several technical awards similar to visual effects, costume design, etc., and among them, the first award related to Wu Yuchen also appeared, the Best Film Editing award.

"Best Film Editing... *The Matrix*!"

Wu Yuchen was not disappointed at all. He didn't pay much attention to the editing award, didn't invest any PR resources at all, and *The Matrix* winning this award was also well-deserved. Wu Yuchen applauded.

After a song and dance performance, the Best Supporting Actor award for which *The Sixth Sense* was nominated began, but at this time the live screen almost gave all the shots to Tom Cruise. No way, who let him be a superstar?

However, no matter how much of a superstar Tom Cruise was, he was still not favored by the old men of the Oscar Academy.

"The winner of this year's Best Supporting Actor is... *The Cider House Rules*, Michael Caine!"

Wu Yuchen didn't care about the frustrated Tom Cruise on the screen, turned his head, reached out and rubbed the little boy's hair to comfort him: "Haley, your performance is great, being able to come here is already a victory~"

In fact, if it was really about acting performance, Wu Yuchen really felt that this Best Supporting Actor should be awarded to the little actor Haley. It was a pity that the statuette looked at more than just acting skills. The adult world was very complicated.

After two or three more technical awards, it finally reached the Best Foreign Language Film award related to *Amour*. Wu Yuchen came to his spirit and straightened his body.

For this Best Foreign Language Film award, Wu Yuchen's emphasis could be said to be no less than Best Director, and although *Amour* had been in a leading position all the way, it was not like the Directors Guild Award that had already booked in advance, so he still felt a bit unstable. When the time came, Wu Yuchen naturally felt a bit uneasy in his heart.

At this time, not only Wu Yuchen, but everyone in the *Amour* crew was staring at the stage with full attention.

Following the introduction of host Billy Crystal, only a pair of male and female partners walked onto the stage. Generally, this Best Foreign Language Film award would invite foreign filmmakers as presenters, and this time the female guest was Spanish actress Penélope Cruz, whose 1994 film *Belle Époque* won Best Foreign Language Film. And the male guest...

After the *Amour* crew saw him, they couldn't help but feel happy in their hearts, because it was none other than Jackie Chan!

Wu Yuchen also revealed a smile after seeing Jackie Chan, thinking that the organizer was really tricky.

Among the Best Foreign Language Films of this session, *Amour* had the greatest advantage. Among the other four competitors, only one Spanish film *All About My Mother* had some competitiveness, and the other three had no threat.

As a result, the organizer arranged a Spanish actress and a Chinese actor. Then whether *Amour* won the award or *All About My Mother* won the award, this arrangement would not be wrong.

At this time, Huang Lei suddenly asked: "Who has higher fame and status in Hollywood, Penélope Cruz or Jackie Chan?"

Wu Yuchen affirmed: "Of course it's Jackie Chan!"

Huang Lei's face was happy: "Hahaha, then the advantage is on our side!"

Gong Li couldn't help but turn to look at Huang Lei: "Can you compare like this?"

"Sister Li, this is an auspicious omen!" Huang Lei's words made several people smile.

Penélope Cruz spoke first: "Films speak to us in various languages, the smiles of babies, the tears of the elderly, looking at the four seas, it is all like this."

Jackie Chan then took the words: "The five candidates for Best Foreign Language Film prove that films all over the world have their own styles and are increasingly loved by the audience. They are..."

A very standard line, and then the clips of the five candidate films were played one after another on the big screen.

After the clips were played, Penélope Cruz didn't linger anymore and directly picked up the envelope in her hand and tore it open. Looking at the person tearing the envelope was this Spanish actress, Huang Lei's heart was raised to his throat again. This was not a good omen! He thought to himself, Jackie Chan, you are usually so tough, why don't you grab it and tear it yourself at this time!

Not to mention Huang Lei, even Gong Li was nervous. Although she was not the protagonist, she was involved in it after all. This was the closest opportunity for Chinese films to the Oscars!

The two old seniors Ge Cunzhuang and Wang Danfeng were also staring at the envelope without blinking at this time...

Penélope Cruz took out a slip of paper from it, looked down, had no expression on her face, and handed it directly to Jackie Chan. Jackie Chan's eyebrows and eyes had already revealed a smile, but he still glanced at it immediately, and then he couldn't hold back his expression on his face anymore, laughing until his whole face was left with only a big nose, and shouted excitedly:

"Best Foreign Language Film: China, *Amour*, Director Wu Yuchen!" ===== CHAPTER 210 =====