Chapter 233: Reaction

The Oscar awards ceremony ended, and the Vanity Fair party was lively.

At this time, several wine glasses touched together, and Wu Yuchen said to everyone: "This time *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* has achieved remarkable results, which is inseparable from everyone's hard work! Thank you all!"

At this time, he was expressing his gratitude to everyone as an investor for *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* winning 4 Oscars.

"Wu Dao, what are you saying? Being able to participate in *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* is really our honor!" Nick Cheung said with a smile.

"Yes, Wu Dao, this is all what we should do! During the filming, I injured my leg and had surgery. I had hesitated whether to quit at the time. Now I am really glad that I persisted!" Michelle Yeoh also sighed from the heart.

Zhang Ziyi hurriedly said to Wu Yuchen: "Wu Dao, thank you for giving me this opportunity!"

Wu Yuchen shook his head with a smile: "You should thank Director Ang more. It was he who chose you. However, Ziyi, your performance this time is also very great, and the film is so wonderful, you have credit for it!"

Wu Yuchen's words were not empty. Zhang Ziyi's performance in *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* was really wonderful, especially the bamboo forest bed scene martial arts filming, which made many foreign judges call it amazing.

After the polite words were finished, Zhang Ziyi originally wanted to bring wine to further deepen the relationship with Wu Yuchen, but was dismissed by Wu Yuchen.

He didn't think too much, but found that Ang Lee had been relatively silent since the awards ceremony, so he wanted to talk to him alone, naturally not wanting to pay attention to Zhang Ziyi.

He found a point in the subsequent shooting plan, that is, filming at the World Trade Center Twin Towers. At that time, Spider-Man would weave a huge spider web between the Twin Towers, and then capture a group of robbers escaping by helicopter.

Thinking of this, the corners of Wu Yuchen's mouth couldn't help but rise. Next time, he could call Anne Hathaway over to compare who is whiter and who has a better figure!

Ang Lee was stunned for a moment, then smiled at Wu Yuchen: "Wu Dao, I don't have your confidence!"

Wu Yuchen patted Ang Lee on the shoulder: "Let's encourage each other!"

Ang Lee smiled bitterly and shook his head: "Wu Dao, I plan to rest for a while. Just after the awards ceremony ended, I had a huge sense of emptiness, but now after communicating with you, it's much better.

..."

Then Harvey sneered. The project he wanted to do before had already obtained the adaptation rights from Broadway. This time he was going to form a luxurious lineup no less than the other side, and then personally snipe the other side at next year's Oscars, to see if you can still laugh then!

Knowing that everyone must have been crazy for a night, the *A Beautiful Mind* crew didn't start filming today, giving everyone 1 day of rest. Wu Yuchen took the opportunity to run to the *Spider-Man* crew to see and care about the shooting situation.

Wu Yuchen was also silent for a while upon hearing this. Winning with a foreign language film, the meaning is naturally different from winning with a Chinese-language film. He and Ang Lee both fell before the Best Director award with Chinese-language films, naturally feeling sympathy for each other.

Ang Lee shook his head and sighed: "Wu Dao, to say I don't care is a lie. After all, being so close to Best Director this time, there must be regrets. But if I really want to talk about regrets, I think I definitely can't compare to you, Wu Dao. Then what do I have to keep falling here?"

Wu Yuchen was also happy tonight, saying good words to everyone.

Harvey looked at Wu Yuchen, then at Russell Crowe, as well as Ed Harris who was nominated for Best Actor and Jennifer Connelly who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress. It was no secret that they were filming *A Beautiful Mind* now. This lineup was really not to be underestimated!

Wu Yuchen also smiled: "Wish you young!"

Then in this way, who will occupy this quota of Oscar films that is given every year for *Gladiator*? Of course, *Traffic* and *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* will grab the largest share!

In Wu Yuchen's memory, both films were global box office hits of over 200 million US dollars. With such high returns, how could he not be happy?

This was not all, the key was seeing the two films produced by Wu Yuchen, whom he hated, win so many awards and receive the praise that others usually gave him, which made him very unhappy. No one in Hollywood could ignore him like Wu Yuchen.

Wu Yuchen laughed: "Best Director, we will definitely be able to win it in the future."

Wu Yuchen thought it was not difficult. Jennifer Connelly had been nominated for Best Supporting Actress for two consecutive years, which was equivalent to saving a lot of points. Next year, *A Beautiful Mind* would invest some lobbying resources for her, and it shouldn't be too difficult to win a Best Supporting Actress.

Wu Yuchen shook his head with a smile: "It's just good luck. Ang Lee and Soderbergh encountered difficulties, and I happened to have the ability to provide help when I learned about it, so everything happened so wonderfully~"

"To be honest, I really admire you for this, being able to keep filming. This *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* really exhausted my heart and blood. If I don't rest for a while, I really can't recover."

In this situation, although Wu Yuchen himself didn't win any awards, he became a sweet pastry at the party tonight. Producers, directors, and even actors from all walks of life came to get closer to him. Producers and directors hoped that if their projects could be favored by Wu Yuchen in the future, and actors were even more straightforward, hoping that they could be favored by Wu Yuchen. If they could participate in Wu Yuchen's or Miracle Pictures' projects, the chance of winning an Oscar golden statue would greatly increase!

Some are happy and some are sad. Looking at Wu Yuchen who was surrounded by stars, Harvey Weinstein was very unhappy. He was not without participation in the Oscars this year. *Chocolat* was a film he promoted this year. But unfortunately, Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, etc., five nominations, none won.

"Thank you! Wu, but I should be the one to congratulate you. The two films *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* and *Traffic* produced by Miracle Pictures have joined forces to win 8 awards. In fact, you are the real big winner!"

After the Vanity Fair party, Wu Yuchen naturally had a crazy night and woke up the next day. Last night, Jennifer Connelly served him very attentively, and she also agreed to a small request of his.

Spielberg looked at Wu Yuchen deeply. Although the other party was humble, he would be a fool if he really believed him. There are many difficult projects in Hollywood every day, how did Wu Yuchen happen to help these two? Why didn't Wu Yuchen invest in other directors in difficulty? And the two films you invested in all shined at the Oscars!

Not only Spielberg could realize it, but others were not blind. A little thought would know that even if the two films themselves were excellent, their current achievements must be inseparable from Wu Yuchen's help.

"Steven, congratulations!"

Then Wu Yuchen asked Ang Lee again: "Director Ang, what are your plans later?"

Outsiders didn't know how deeply Wu Yuchen participated in these two projects. Maybe he directly participated in the production of the two films and provided many ideas for the films?

Thinking that Wu Yuchen won the Oscar double nomination himself last year and won an award, and today the company's two films won so many awards, apart from lobbying, it shows that Wu Yuchen understands the Oscars very well. He understands the taste of the judges, or he understands how to help a film and make it an excellent film that the Oscars like!

Then he couldn't help but smile again, and toasted with Wu Yuchen: "Wish you young!"

Wu Yuchen laughed: "I am young after all! Director Ang, you also have to make your mentality young!"

Ang Lee was stunned upon hearing this, and then thought of Wu Yuchen's age, sighing endlessly, youth is really good!

Spielberg toasted with Wu Yuchen with a smile:

Wu Yuchen congratulated Spielberg. At the Oscar awards ceremony tonight, *Gladiator* produced by DreamWorks harvested 5 awards including Best Picture and Best Actor.

Jennifer Connelly was 30 years old this year and was eager to win a golden statue to prove that her career was successful. And Wu Yuchen, who helped her make great progress in her career in the past two years, was naturally the object she relied on. It was just accompanying him to happy, not a very excessive thing, it was worth it to exchange for a golden statue!

Wu Yuchen said with a smile: "Last year Spielberg came to comfort me, so I came to comfort you. Congratulations on joining the ranks of Coppola, Spielberg, and me. This is the path that a great director must go through!"

Ang Lee nodded, and then said: "But it may not be a Chinese-language film..."

"Director Ang, what's wrong, are you still worrying about Best Director?" Wu Yuchen asked with a smile.

"Hmm, it's really as you said, everything is wonderful!"

Of course, as a reward, Wu Yuchen also promised Jennifer Connelly that he would definitely help her win an Oscar golden statue. It didn't have to be Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress would do.

If it were for an ordinary team, being able to win 5 nominations for Best Picture, Best Actress, etc. for such a romance film could be considered a victory. But he is Harvey Weinstein. Winning no awards this year is a failure!

He immediately called director Sam Raimi: "Hey, Sam, I don't seem to have written this part in my script?"

Although *Gladiator* was the big winner of this year's Oscars in terms of awards, in fact, this film had already been released on a large scale in May last year. That is to say, this year's Oscar awards would not add to *Gladiator*'s box office. At most, the discs would sell better, but theaters would not give *Gladiator* large-scale screenings again.

"Oh, yes, this is what we discussed and added. We all think this effect will be very cool and very attractive to the audience! What do you think, Wu?"

Looking at the excited eyes of the other party, Wu Yuchen thought about it and said: "It's cool, but can we change to another place?"

"Why change the place? The Twin Towers are iconic buildings in New York. Only here will there be this effect. Changing to other places will halve the visual effect and the audience's emotions."

Could Wu Yuchen say that half a year later, 9/11 would come, and the Twin Towers, this iconic building, would face the impact of terrorist planes?

At that time, in order not to evoke the sad past of the audience, the ones with the Twin Towers would definitely have to be cut. Filming is also filming in vain.

He thought about it and didn't intend to manage this matter anymore. He patted the other party's shoulder: "Okay, it's a good idea, you guys film it!"

This kind of thing cannot be shown at all, otherwise it would be very strange if he stopped it now. In case he is suspected of being involved, it would be nonsense. Let them film it, at worst cut it later, anyway, it definitely can't be broadcast.

After this, Wu Yuchen returned directly to the *A Beautiful Mind* crew to continue filming. *Traffic* and *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* didn't need him to worry too much. The distribution matters had already been discussed before the Oscar campaign, and people had a package plan for this.

*Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* winning the Oscar, after being passed back to the mainland, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, naturally caused quite a reaction again. Chinese-language films winning Oscars for two consecutive years made everyone have an illusion, that is, Chinese-language films are about to rise!

Many people took out *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* to watch again, including many directors. They also wanted to see what point of this *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* moved the Oscars, to see if there was any place they could learn from.

However, after a group of people understood the details, they were discouraged, because the production cost of this kind of martial arts film *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* was too high. 20 million US dollars converted is nearly 170 million. How many directors can afford to play this?

Forget it, still have to learn Wu Dao's *Love*. This kind of low-cost realistic film is what they can play!

At the same time, some remarks by Ang Lee about the Oscar scene of *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* were also passed back to the country, and more and more details of *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* were dug out.

"Ang Lee thanks Wu Yuchen, without him there would be no *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon*!"

"Ang Lee thanks Wu Yuchen for giving valuable suggestions for the film!"

"The person the whole *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* crew is most grateful to is actually him!"

"Nick Cheung—the man who picked up Jet Li twice and created the peak of Chinese martial arts!"

Winning the golden statue will attract attention, so things that no one paid attention to before were all moved to the newspapers. Everyone knew that so many things happened during the filming of *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon*.

"Unexpectedly, it turns out that the male lead was originally Jet Li. I don't know if he regrets quitting?"

"Must regret, Oscars! Just joking, this Jet Li is really prosperous for Nick Cheung, quitting twice, once *New Dragon Gate Inn*, once *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon*. Do you say Nick Cheung should publicly thank Jet Li? Hahaha."

"If you say so, Nick Cheung also has to thank Chow Yun-fat. Chow Yun-fat also pushed this play, and the film he played ended up losing miserably. It's really creation playing with people!"

"Hey, no vision! Look at Wu Yuchen, he took a fancy to *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* at a glance. Now winning the Oscar doesn't show how accurate he is!"

"Hey hey hey, you are wrong about this. It should be first with Wu Yuchen's help, with Wu Yuchen's guidance and suggestions, Ang Lee's *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* could win the Oscar!"

"Yes yes, Ang Lee publicly admitted that without Wu Dao, there would be no *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon*! Where would there be any Oscars?"

"Is Wu Dao comparable to Chow Yun-fat?"

Although Wu Yuchen was not in the country, a *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* made his name spread everywhere again. And people in the circle all remembered Wu Yuchen's reputation for being righteous. This time *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* really completely solidified it.

Now everyone is joking with each other, don't be afraid if you don't have money, go to Miracle Film and Television. What you are afraid of is that you don't have talent, and your work can't enter Wu Dao's eyes!

Indeed, quite a few people had this idea, bringing their own scripts or ideas to Miracle Film and Television to pull investment...

Wu Yuchen also received quite a few calls from the country, naturally related to *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon*.

First of all, Han Sanping: "Brother Wu, now quite a few people say that you helped Ang Lee win the Oscar..."

Wu Yuchen couldn't help but laugh: "Brother Han, this is too much praise for me. If I had such great energy in Hollywood and could do this, my Best Director award last year wouldn't have been lost!"

Han Sanping smiled upon hearing this: "This film is your investment after all. Now that it has achieved results, naturally there will be more associations. However, with you, Brother Wu, in Hollywood, presumably it will be much more convenient for our Chinese-language films to go to sea in the future!"

"Brother Han, don't worry, if it's a good film, I will definitely help if I can. They are all Chinese-language films, and I also want to expand the influence of Chinese-language films internationally." Wu Yuchen promised.

"Hehe, worthy of being our China's number one director, the realm is high!" Han Sanping couldn't help but flatter.

"Brother Han, don't put a high hat on me!"

"Alright, then I won't disturb you."

Then it was the several women around him. At the beginning, Jiang Qinqin, Li Xiaoran, and Zeng Li had all competed for the role of Jen Yu, but Wu Yuchen didn't interfere, and finally Ang Lee chose Zhang Ziyi. Now *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* won the Oscar, and the women naturally had some reactions in their hearts.

Jiang Qinqin was the first to call, but she didn't mention *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon*, but asked: "Hubby, is our *Brotherhood of Blades* going to the Oscars?"

Wu Yuchen understood her thoughts as soon as he heard it: "You perform well first, and see if there is a chance then!"

"Really? Then I will definitely work 300% hard!"

After Jiang Qinqin hung up the phone, Wu Yuchen shook his head. He filmed *Brotherhood of Blades* for commercial box office, not thinking about going to the Oscars, but it doesn't hurt to use this to encourage the actors first.

Then Wu Yuchen thought about it and simply called Li Xiaoran:

"Hello? What's the matter?"

"*Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* won an award, don't you have any thoughts?" Wu Yuchen asked curiously,

"Tch, it's gone long ago! After the film was released, I went to see it, and I knew I definitely couldn't play it."

Wu Yuchen's heart moved, and he asked: "How to say?"

Li Xiaoran said angrily: "With that intimate scene of Zhang Ziyi, I don't believe you would let me play it!"

"Hahaha, Sister Xiaoran, you, you are really the roundworm in my stomach!"

"Get out of here!"

Wu Yuchen hung up Li Xiaoran's phone with a smile. It must be said that Li Xiaoran really understands himself. *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* has quite a few intimate scenes between Jen Yu and Lo, if Ang Lee had really chosen Li Xiaoran, he estimated he would have to discuss with Ang Lee to cut the scenes.

Zeng Li's answer was even simpler: "Ziyi was chosen by her ability, she played well, now it is what she deserves."

After Wu Yuchen finished listening, he felt that this was really Zeng Li's more Buddhist temperament.

Wu Yuchen naturally didn't care about the domestic disturbances anymore. He was now fully devoted to the filming of *A Beautiful Mind*.

"Hey, this won't work, I need to create a golden effect!" When filming the campus scene, Wu Yuchen shouted stop after filming a segment, and then said to the photographer.

After hearing Wu Yuchen's description, the photographer said: "Director, to achieve the effect you want, we have to change the film, use a low-contrast film, and before loading, expose the film to yellow light first. This should be able to debug the effect you want. However, this may take some debugging time..."

"Hurry up, this scene must use this effect." After Wu Yuchen finished speaking, he planned to discuss temporarily adjusting the shooting plan with Grazer.

At this time, he found that Grazer brought an old man who looked over seventy years old, and he immediately reacted, taking the male lead Russell to welcome him: "Oh, Mr. Nash, welcome!"

"Hehe, I just want to see what you filmed me as. I wasn't so handsome when I was young~"

Then he smiled at Jennifer Connelly and said: "My wife is not as beautiful as you."

"Mr. Nash, thank you for your compliment!" Jennifer Connelly hurriedly responded with a smile.

Seeing Nash present, Wu Yuchen simply changed the shooting plan and first filmed the indoor scene, which was also the matter of Nash solving math problems on the spot. With Nash's guidance, it should be able to restore the real scene better.

However, Wu Yuchen thought things were simple. Real scenes are sometimes not thrilling at all, and can be said to be very boring. After communicating with Nash, Wu Yuchen sighed, and he also understood that there must be many places in the original film that were artistically processed so that the audience could watch it better. Therefore, he simply filmed according to the original version.

Just like the questions Nash asked him about the script: "Wu, actually there is no pen ceremony at all. I think it looks weird."

The pen ceremony is a famous plot in the film, which is the moment when many school members put pens on the table where Nash is sitting at the end of the film, which is equivalent to the protagonist's moment of showing off in the film.

"Mr. Nash, please don't mind, we are all doing this to express respect for you and to let the world affirm your achievements."

"But it is fabricated, this might make some of my friends laugh at me~"

"Oh, no, they should laugh at me if they laugh. Films always need some artistic processing ingredients. Don't worry, we are filming your biographical film, and there will be nothing unfavorable to you!"

Old Nash nodded after thinking for a long time.

Wu Yuchen found that this Nash had a choice difficulty. Although he was very smart and had a high IQ, he was very difficult when making certain choices in daily life. Before joining the crew, Nash spent 15 minutes thinking to decide whether to drink tea or coffee. Wu Yuchen planned to add this trait to the film.

However, Nash's arrival was not without help. He told Russell Crowe many of his personal habits, or many mathematicians' habits, making Russell Crowe perform more like a mathematician through these details.

In order to make the content related to mathematics in the film accurate and credible, during the filming, the crew also invited Dave Bayer, a mathematics professor at Barnard College, to come to the set every day to check the mathematical details. ===== CHAPTER 234 =====