Chapter 210: Is His Head Kicked by a Donkey?

When the winning result was transmitted from Jackie Chan's mouth, the whole audience immediately offered applause. This result could be said to be within the expectations of most people.

If you want to say who is the happiest, it is naturally the *Amour* crew, and naturally Wu Yuchen himself. After all, this is the first Oscar for Chinese films! Chinese films have been challenging the Oscars for decades, and this time they have achieved a breakthrough of 0!

Wu Yuchen did not suppress his excitement this time, and couldn't help but roar with his arms raised. And Jennifer Connelly beside him also reacted quickly, immediately offering him a hug, constantly congratulating him in her mouth.

On the *Amour* crew side, whether it was the old actors Ge Cunzhuang and Wang Danfeng, or the two supporting roles Gong Li and Huang Lei, or the photographer and others, they were all in a festive mood at this time, hugging each other and high-fiving each other.

"Oscar! We took it, Oscar!" Huang Lei kept shaking Wu Yuchen's arm and shouting with a red face.

"Took it! Took it!"

Wu Yuchen kept repeating it in his mouth. Even though he had assumptions before, when he really won the Oscar, he still had an unspeakable feeling of pleasure.

Wu Yuchen specially hugged the Ge Cunzhuang and Wang Danfeng beside him individually, and said thank you sincerely in their ears.

Subsequently, amidst the thunderous cheers and applause of the whole audience, Wu Yuchen held his head high and walked onto the stage with big strides. Seeing Wu Yuchen on stage, Jackie Chan greeted him and gave him a big hug.

"Director Wu, congratulations! Really adding glory to us Chinese!" Jackie Chan hugged Wu Yuchen enthusiastically and blessed him.

Hearing that the winner was himself, Wu Yuchen suddenly felt a surprise in his heart. After all, although it was a double nomination, the probability was larger, but he didn't have much grasp of this award, so being able to get it was indeed a surprise.

CCTV here only broadcasted the oral news, while the TV stations in Hong Kong and Taiwan directly cut the awards clip of ABC TV and broadcasted it directly in the news to the audience. Although the internet was fast, the proportion of internet users in this era was still small, but TV was different!

Finally, thank the judges for their favor for *Amour*, thank everyone who supported me, thank you!"

Wu Yuchen looked at Kevin Spacey on the stage. This guy's acting skills were indeed good, but Wu Yuchen would not cooperate with him, don't even touch him. This person was later exposed to have long-term infringing behavior, and the object of infringement was also the same sex.

The first award presented was the Best Actor award. Like the result of the Screen Actors Guild, it was Kevin Spacey, the male lead of *American Beauty*. This had almost no controversy and was very consistent with the sweeping trend of Kevin Spacey during the outpost stations.

The fastest spreading news now was the internet. On the three major portals, a text live broadcast column was specially opened for this Oscar. The moment they received the news, they all immediately hung the news that *Amour* won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film on the headline and celebrated with festive red fonts.

"When you hold this trophy, the mood is really wonderful! It is the best reward for my efforts in film over the past year, and it is also an honor.

In the expectant eyes of the whole audience, Mel Gibson took out the slip of paper: "Wu Yuchen, *The Sixth Sense*!"

However, at this moment, Chen Kaizi's face had become ugly. Even if he didn't want to face it, he had to accept this reality now. His position as the number one director in China was about to be gone!

With a bang, Chen Kaizi locked himself in the study again. Chen Hong only felt a headache. She was so pregnant, not only had to worry about her son, but also had to worry about Chen Kaizi.

At the same time as the broadcast, its background was also inserted with a picture, which was none other than Wu Yuchen kissing the Oscar statuette.

Wu Yuchen also smiled and said to Jackie Chan: "Many thanks, Brother Long, you came to present the award today and brought us good luck~"

"Wife, Wu Yuchen's *Amour* won the Oscar! Our China has an Oscar!"

"Mom and Dad, come and see, Oscar! We won the Oscar!"

At this time, it was just morning in China. CCTV-6 was broadcasting Wu Yuchen's *My Sassy Girl*, when suddenly a line of small characters scrolled below: "Warmly congratulate our country's film *Amour* for winning the 72nd Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film! Celebrate the birth of China's first Oscar!"

"Our China won the Oscar! Cow cow cow cow!"

Wu Yuchen smiled and took the trophy, then walked to the back of the podium and said to the microphone:

"Wow, I am really very excited now. This is the first Oscar statuette in my life, and it is also the first statuette in China. It has a different meaning for me and my motherland!"

The presenters who appeared in this climax stage were basically relatively famous. The one presenting the Best Original Screenplay award was Mel Gibson, a Hollywood first-line star and director.

Wu Yuchen's words were also transmitted all over the world through the live TV signal.

"Turn on the computer quickly, go and watch Wu Yuchen win the Oscar!"

On the big screen, in the five boxes, Wu Yuchen occupied two alone, which was very eye-catching.

"The winner of Best Original Screenplay is..."

Chen Hong, who was pregnant, hurriedly shouted: "Guoguo, shut up!"

TV was in its most glorious period now, and the transmission efficiency and range were all levers. For a time, Chinese people on both sides of the strait and three places were detonated by this news. After all, the Oscars were promoted as sacred in this era!

"Damn, big thing happened! Wu Yuchen's *Amour* won the Oscar!"

Thank my parents, thank my alma mater Beijing Film for cultivating me, thank China Film and Shanghai Film for their help to our crew!

Immediately following was the Best Actress award. This time it was different from the Guild Awards, not *American Beauty*, but the heroine of *Boys Don't Cry* won it.

Many people shouted loudly at home:

For a time, many people flocked to the TV, wanting to watch more content, and at the same time, they were also discussing enthusiastically, constantly praising Wu Yuchen, all filled with a happy atmosphere.

Best Foreign Language Film itself represented the country to compete, so when everyone heard Wu Yuchen say this, seeing this move of his, they all smiled knowingly.

Suddenly there was a crackling sound outside. The brush in Chen Kaizi's hand slanted, which made him feel a burst of irritability in his heart. As a result, as soon as he opened the door, he saw his three-year-old eldest son Guoguo, who was jumping and shouting happily:

"Oscar! Took it! Oscar! Took it! Oscar! Took it!"

It was said to be small characters, but it was not small. If it were a little bigger, it would cover the subtitles, and this line of characters was still scrolling constantly, and it had not stopped since it appeared. The ratings of CCTV-6 were not low, and it was broadcasting a popular film like *My Sassy Girl*, so naturally, many people were watching. When everyone saw this line of characters, they were all shocked in their hearts and couldn't care about watching the film anymore.

After Wu Yuchen finished speaking, he kissed the statuette in his hand.

Not only CCTV-6, but even CCTV, which had always had many procedures and slow reactions, suddenly inserted news at this time:

"Insert a real-time message: Our country's director Wu Yuchen's film *Amour* successfully won the Best Foreign Language Film at the 72nd Oscar Awards being held! This is not only China's first Oscar, but also a breakthrough of 0 for Chinese films!"

No matter how the outside world reacted, the Oscar awards ceremony was still going on, and it was impossible to stop for Wu Yuchen and *Amour*. Next were song and dance performances, and then after several awards such as original songs, the awards ceremony completely entered the climax stage.

Of course, this is not my credit alone. I want to thank many people. First of all, the male and female protagonists of the film, Mr. Ge Cunzhuang and Ms. Wang Danfeng. Without their wonderful performance, *Amour* would not have this power to strike the heart. Thank Gong Li, Huang Lei, the photographer, and many other crew members. Without your participation and hard work, this film would not have been born!

"Go to the internet quickly, China's first Oscar!"

This time at the Oscars, because there was a Chinese film *Amour* and Wu Yuchen won multiple Oscar nominations, media from both sides of the strait and three places all sent reporter groups to participate on the scene. At the moment *Amour* won Best Foreign Language Film, the reporters from both sides of the strait and three places had no estrangement at all, all shouting together, and some people even took the phone to report the situation in real time.

After the two awards of Best Actor and Actress, the script award, which had some weight but was not very heavy, was arranged to ease the atmosphere. Best Adapted Screenplay had nothing to do with Wu Yuchen and was taken away by *The Cider House Rules*, but Wu Yuchen was a direct candidate for Best Original Screenplay, and he had two nominations!

Chen Kaizi was in the study at this moment, holding a brush in one hand, waving it on the rice paper. It was not that he didn't know about the Oscar awards ceremony going on at this time, but he just didn't want to watch it. What did it have to do with him if others went to evaluate the awards?

At the same time, it was not just the people of the *Amour* crew who were excited.

Jackie Chan laughed, released Wu Yuchen, then took the Oscar statuette himself, wiped it well twice, and offered it to Wu Yuchen with both hands.

However, compared to the excitement of winning Best Foreign Language Film before, Wu Yuchen's emotions were much calmer at this time. He just clenched his fists, then hugged the crew members one by one, accepted their congratulations, and got up to walk to the stage.

"I have always believed that a good script is the beginning of a good film, and its importance is self-evident.

Thank producer James, he did a lot for me to turn this story into a film, and he is a very good partner! Thank Bruce Willis, Haley, and others for their wonderful performance, thank all the crew members for realizing this dream together!

This award is extraordinary to me. It will encourage me to create more good stories. Thank you!"

Compared to before, Wu Yuchen's acceptance speech this time was much shorter, but the applause below was still enthusiastic.

A boys' dormitory at a university was crowded with 20 people. It was only 2000, and the price of computers was not cheap, and it was not so popular. On average, there was one computer for several dormitories.

At this moment, these 20 people were surrounded by a bulky desktop computer in three layers inside and three layers outside, constantly urging:

"Is it out yet? Why is there no news?"

"You click more, refresh a few times!"

"Is your computer okay? Why doesn't it change at all?"

"This can't blame my computer, it's the slow internet speed!" The boy was surrounded by a group of people at this time, and he was also very happy in his heart, constantly operating the mouse and clicking refresh.

The next moment, I saw a second line of red big happy news on the Sina webpage:

"Congratulations to Wu Yuchen for winning the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, China's second Oscar!"

Someone with sharp eyes shouted: "Damn, the second one! Wu Yuchen is awesome!"

Then with a bang, everyone in the dormitory burst into enthusiastic cheers, and soon, it seemed to be contagious, and this cheer spread throughout the dormitory building.

Not only Sina, all websites were paying attention to the progress of the Oscars at this time, and for a time, they were all screened by the good news of Wu Yuchen's second Oscar.

The spread of the news was faster than a virus, and it reached thousands of households. All Chinese-speaking areas around the world were filled with a festive atmosphere.

And at the Oscar awards ceremony scene, it had completely entered the final climax stage, because the next were the last two major awards, Best Director and Best Picture.

In fact, for many years in the past, the Oscar Best Director and Best Picture awards were packaged, that is, these two awards were almost not separated. If there was one, there must be two. If you shoot the Best Picture, you must win Best Director. If you are the Best Director, your film must be the Best Picture.

But last year, Harvey Weinstein, the spoiler, killed his way out and forcibly snatched Best Picture from *Saving Private Ryan* with *Shakespeare in Love*, breaking the convention. Therefore, whether this year's Best Director and Best Picture would be separated again was also a highlight of this awards ceremony.

Watching Spielberg appear on the stage, Wu Yuchen suddenly felt a little nervous. According to Huang Lei's theory just now, this presenter was from DreamWorks, which was not an auspicious omen for him!

Subsequently, Wu Yuchen shook his head again. Spielberg, as the winner of last year's Best Director, was very normal to present this award as a guest this year. This was a convention and also represented inheritance.

After Spielberg came up, he didn't have any nonsense: "Please look at the five candidate films."

On the big screen, *The Sixth Sense*, *American Beauty*, *The Cider House Rules*, *Amour*, and *The Insider* were shown one by one again.

Just after playing, Spielberg couldn't wait to open the envelope. At this time, even he was a little curious about who the winner was this time.

The Vanity Fair party after the Oscar awards ceremony was the celebration venue for various Hollywood crews. Everyone was much more open than at the awards scene, pushing cups and changing lamps, and noisy people were everywhere.

At this time, in the *Amour* crew, the two old seniors Ge Cunzhuang and Wang Danfeng were not used to this occasion and had already returned early. Other young people stayed to celebrate. Having won China's first Oscar, wasn't it worth celebrating wildly?

Of course, this was also a very important social occasion. Wu Yuchen, the big director, was naturally the object of many people's talks and exchanges.

Wu Yuchen responded to these people with a smile. After all, the experience of the past few months made this kind of scene talk become an instinct.

However, at this time, his mind was full of small question marks. Are these judges so fickle? What benefits did DreamWorks give them? Or was the lead advantage of *Amour* very small, and then it was reversed by *American Beauty*?

At this time, the presenter just now, Spielberg, walked to Wu Yuchen with a wine glass and smiled: "Wu, congratulations on winning Best Foreign Language Film and Best Original Screenplay! You must have set the youngest record for these two awards~"

"Thank you!" Wu Yuchen's wine glass touched his lightly.

Subsequently, Spielberg said again: "The Best Director award is really a pity~"

Unlike the polite replies to those people before, Wu Yuchen said directly: "Winner takes all, there is nothing to pity. Honestly, compared to comforting words, I want to know more, how did you do it?"

Spielberg shrugged: "Actually, we didn't do anything."

Seeing Wu Yuchen frown when he heard this, Spielberg smiled and said: "I know your doubts, do you want to find a place to talk? I can answer you."

In the quiet room, the two sat opposite each other.

Spielberg asked with a smile: "Do you know who your previous four unlucky guys are?"

Without waiting for Wu Yuchen to answer, Spielberg answered himself: "In 86, my film *The Color Purple* won the Guild Best Director, 11 Oscar nominations, and the result was nothing."

And the one before me was called Coppola. His *The Godfather* was hailed as one of the greatest films in the world, a recognized master-level director, and also won the Guild Award, but he didn't win the Oscar for Best Director.

With two unlucky guys like us accompanying you, do you feel better? Can we count this as an alternative friendship?"

Spielberg smiled and raised his wine glass, Wu Yuchen pursed his lips and touched it.

Although it still couldn't change the fact of failure, after Spielberg's personal demonstration, the loser alliance was full of great gods, which indeed played a certain psychological comfort role.

Subsequently, Wu Yuchen asked: "Steven, what do you mean by saying you didn't do anything?"

Spielberg didn't sell the pass anymore: "On the third day of Oscar voting, I received a call from an old friend. He said that your sudden change of vote behavior here made him very confused."

Wu Yuchen keenly noticed a word, and his brows immediately twisted and asked: "Change vote?!"

Spielberg observed Wu Yuchen's expression. Sure enough, as he guessed, he didn't know, so he continued: "Yes, change vote. Your PR team visited in person, hoping he could vote for *The Sixth Sense* in the Oscar Best Director."

Wu Yuchen couldn't help but change his face. In his mind, he immediately thought that a few days after the Directors Guild Awards, the marketing of the whole team tilted towards *The Sixth Sense*, and Richard had been missing during that period.

But this couldn't help but make Wu Yuchen a little unbelievable, because from the beginning of PR to winning the Directors Guild Award, the four months of time could be said to be the result of the joint efforts of the whole team including him. After working so hard to pay so much, how could everyone suddenly do such a thing as temporarily changing votes?

Looking at Wu Yuchen's expression, Spielberg said: "Strange why this kind of thing happened? Because this is an order from Michael Eisner, the Emperor of Disney."

Wu Yuchen clenched his fists and couldn't help but explode a foul language: "Is Eisner's head kicked by a donkey?"

Most of the judges who voted for him at the Directors Guild Awards were for *Amour*. Suddenly asking people to change votes, surely many people would not accept this decision. In this way, not only was it impossible for *The Sixth Sense* to win the award, but it would also reduce the original votes of *Amour*. It was completely an act of self-destruction.

Spielberg shook his finger:

"No no, Eisner is not stupid, he is just arrogant. He has ruled Disney for 16 years, known as the Emperor of Disney. Absolute power will breed absolute arrogance, will become extremely self-righteous, and will become willful."

"Not just you, he has played many people. My partner Katzenberg was played by Eisner more than once and left Disney in anger."

Katzenberg was one of the three giants of DreamWorks and a great contributor to Disney's resurgence ten years ago.

"Michael Ovitz, the founder of CAA, the largest brokerage company in North America, was promised conditions by Eisner to leave CAA and join Disney, but as a result, he was not given any power and was swept out of the house after 1 year."

Even Jobs, the boss of Pixar who is very important to Disney now, cannot get any respect from Eisner, and the two are now at odds."

Then Spielberg turned the topic back:

"I heard that Disney paid a lot of money to buy out *The Sixth Sense*. In Eisner's eyes, I paid the money, so you should cooperate with Disney's actions. He won't consider how important this award is to you, but if *The Sixth Sense* wins, how much revenue it will bring to Disney later."

Wu Yuchen couldn't help but rub his eyebrows. He basically understood what was going on now, and believed that Spielberg would not lie to him. He would know after visiting a few judges according to the original PR list.

Wu Yuchen originally thought it was because of his age or the small difference in votes that the reversal happened. Unexpectedly, it was Disney who backstabbed him behind his back!

"Disney doing this, aren't they afraid of damaging their reputation?" Wu Yuchen asked with a dark face.

Spielberg shook his head slightly and replied:

"Maybe, but very small. I don't need to explain the truth of 'big store bullying customers'. In fact, being able to let your two films be nominated at the same time is a manifestation of the strength of the PR team in the eyes of many people."

"And you are too special this time. Two films compete for the same award, and they are operated by the same team. There has been no such thing for decades. No one will worry about this kind of happy trouble~"

Yes, there has been no such situation as Wu Yuchen for decades, and it was precisely because of the double nomination operated by the same team that such an operation space was left. Not to mention those directors who are happy to be favored by Disney, even many famous directors only do PR for one film, so they don't need to worry about this problem at all.

At this very moment, Wu Yuchen went through the whole thing in his mind and realized a truth. The most essential reason for this incident was that his interests were inconsistent with Disney's.

Disney pursued maximizing the revenue of *The Sixth Sense*, while he pursued the personal honor brought by *Amour*. Initially, this was just a small hidden danger, but when the Best Director award was about to become a reality, the inconsistency of interests caused the hidden danger to explode completely.

However, realization was realization, Wu Yuchen still had to curse: Eisner, I f*** your mother! ===== CHAPTER 211 =====