Chapter 252: An Open Conspiracy

Just as Grazer said, in the *Chicago* crew, both the lead actor and actress were expressing their dissatisfaction to Harvey Weinstein.

"Hey, Harvey, I came to act in this film aiming for Best Actress, and now you're asking me to change my submission to Best Supporting Actress?" Catherine Zeta-Jones threw up her hands and said angrily.

"My dear Catherine, I think you should ask Douglas this question. He will explain to you that I am doing this entirely for your own good!"

Harvey replied with conviction. Actually, he quite coveted this girl Catherine, but her husband was Michael Douglas, who also had considerable influence in the industry. He had won an Oscar for Best Actor as an actor and won Best Picture as a producer after transitioning. The reason *Chicago* used Catherine this time was also inseparable from Douglas's connections.

"Harvey, you adjusted the PR resources for Best Actor, didn't you?" Richard Gere also asked.

Facing the questioning from the lead actor and actress, Harvey Weinstein could only explain again:

"I have already told you that the Oscar Best Actor and Best Actress this year will be influenced by other forces. Your chances of winning will be much lower than in the past. Instead of that, it's better to concentrate your energy on other awards."

But Richard Gere said: "Harvey, I don't aspire to win an award. For me, an Oscar nomination is a victory. Is even this requirement not possible?"

Richard Gere is actually an idol-type actor. If he could get a nomination this time, it would already be a success for him.

But Harvey didn't see it that way and advised Richard Gere:

"Richard, black people will take up two to three spots for Best Actor nominations this time. Your chances are too small. Believe me, being the lead actor of an Oscar Best Picture is much more useful than an Oscar nomination!"

Harvey also slandered Richard Gere in his heart for not knowing the big picture. He gave him the opportunity to be the lead actor of *Chicago*, which was already giving him enough face. Otherwise, with his acting skills? Hmph!

Thinking of this, he called Eisner again and shouted as soon as he got through:

"Eisner, do you see it? *The Lord of the Rings*, which I personally picked out and is about to break $300 million, just slipped through my fingers because of your stinginess!"

Looking at the results of *The Lord of the Rings*, Harvey Weinstein began to feel miserable again. This film was already in his hands at the beginning, and they were about to sign the contract, but it was because that idiot Eisner thought the investment was too high and wouldn't approve the money for him. As a result, this sweet pastry ended up in New Line's hands. His heart ached!

Subsequently, Harvey took out the freshly released 74th Oscar nomination list. His *Chicago* was undoubtedly the leader, with 13 nominations!

And just at this moment, he also saw his biggest opponent for this year's Oscars, *A Beautiful Mind*, which received 8 nominations. Harvey remembered the scene where he was rejected by Wu Yuchen before and showed a contemptuous smile. This time, it was his home turf, and he was going to teach the other party how to behave and let him see what an "Oscar pusher" is!

Time came to February. *The Lord of the Rings* had been released for a month, and the box office had already reached $280 million. It was about to rush to $300 million, and the momentum was not weak at all.

Although the impact of 9/11 was great, those who experienced it personally were in the minority. As time passed, people always couldn't suppress their restless hearts, especially the American public who were already accustomed to daily entertainment. By the end of the year, major streets, shopping malls, and cinemas had all recovered their previous foot traffic.

"Eisner, are you questioning my ability and vision?" Harvey shouted again.

Eisner was also unhappy when he heard this:

"Hey, Harvey, everyone can say hindsight. You didn't plan to shoot a trilogy at the beginning. Maybe it would have become a loss-making project in your hands!"

But when the opening weekend box office for *Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone* came out, all of Hollywood's jaws dropped: $90.29 million in the first 3 days!

You know, the existing opening weekend record was still the $72.13 million held by *Jurassic Park 2* a few years ago. The magic boy not only broke the record but also directly broke through the two major barriers of $80 million and $90 million, directly pulling the results to a level that everyone found unimaginable before! Its astonishing explosive power shocked all of Hollywood.

"OK, OK! Let's not have any more meaningless arguments about these past things. Now, your focus is the Oscars! Win this year's Oscar Best Picture and become the big winner, and I will give you money to produce your next *Lord of the Rings*!"

Richard Gere looked at Harvey and cursed in his heart. He spoke so grandly, why didn't he reduce Renée Zellweger's PR resources for Best Actress? Isn't it because the two of you have a "PY" (backdoor) deal!

Wu Yuchen watched with envy. It wasn't that he envied the high box office—he had known that long ago—but he envied *Harry Potter*'s ability to make money. He didn't know before he came into contact with it, but now that he understood it, he felt it was absurd. Not to mention anything else, just one point: while *Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone* was still filming, they had already reached a cooperation with Coca-Cola, with an advertising fee of $150 million!

$150 million! The film's production cost was only $120 million. This means that before the film was even released, it had already started making money. And the profit from its peripheral products, to be honest, is definitely more than *Pirates of the Caribbean*, maybe even double. The magic boy is too fierce!

Wu Yuchen also expressed the same sentiment as everyone in Hollywood now: Warner is really lucky. A *Harry Potter* series alone can guarantee their prosperity for the next ten years.

Hearing Eisner's promise, Harvey finally hung up the phone with satisfaction. The so-called "crying child gets milk"—just knowing how to work isn't enough. He knew Eisner was having a hard time now, so he had to take advantage of the current situation to extract more benefits from him.

Just as Harvey Weinstein began to show his skills again and went to various old men for Oscar PR, a newly released article attracted considerable attention:

"The King of the Oscars—Harvey Weinstein."

First came *Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone*. Everyone knew this would be a high-grossing film, after all, its novels had already become a global phenomenal cultural trend. However, everyone felt that as a fan film, a global box office of $500-600 million should be about it, and it shouldn't threaten *Pirates of the Caribbean*.

Compared to *Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone*, the results of the other film, *The Lord of the Rings*, seemed mediocre, with $47.21 million in the opening weekend. This result is actually not bad, it's just that it's a big gap compared to the magic boy. But it has good word-of-mouth and strong staying power!

Eisner thought that Harvey was indeed useful to him, so he suppressed his temper and said in a deep voice:

*Pirates of the Caribbean* has now broken $800 million at the global box office. From any angle, this is undoubtedly an extremely dazzling achievement. Basically, everyone thinks this will be the box office champion of the year. And it was just at this time that two films were released at the end of the year: *Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone* and *The Lord of the Rings*.

"The Oscar awards season has arrived again. Everyone is no stranger to the Oscar statuette, but the origin of the name 'Oscar' is very vague. There are four legends, and there has been no definitive conclusion to this day.

But now, the surname of the Oscars has already found its owner. In Hollywood, there is a popular and recognized saying: Oscar Weinstein!

As the name implies, the Oscars now have the surname Weinstein, and many actors even believe this deeply.

Perhaps this seems ridiculous, but if you have paid attention to the past Oscars and count the Oscars of the past 10 years, you can understand this greatly.

Look at the past 10 years; in the Oscar Best Picture nominations every year, Harvey Weinstein's films are inevitably among them:

'93 *The Crying Game*; '94 *The Piano*; '95 *Pulp Fiction*; '96 *Il Postino*; '97 *The English Patient*; '98 *Good Will Hunting*; '99 *Shakespeare in Love*; '00 *The Cider House Rules*; '01 *Chocolat*; '02 *Chicago*.

Yes, ever since Harvey Weinstein joined this Oscar game, he has never been out of it. He has even treated the Oscars as his own home; every year's Oscars are like a routine homecoming.

In recent years, Harvey has frequently produced blockbusters. *The English Patient* won 9 major awards including Best Picture. Even a rotten film like *Shakespeare in Love* could defeat *Saving Private Ryan* to win Best Picture and win Best Actress.

Obviously, there will be no surprises at this year's Oscars, and it will be a clean sweep for *Chicago*, which received 13 nominations. Because behind it stands the true king of the Oscars—Harvey Weinstein!"

The entire article is praising Harvey Weinstein, listing his achievements and praising his Oscar PR ability to the extreme. But anyone with decent reading comprehension can see the mockery of the fairness of the Oscars and the questioning of the Academy in it.

Actually, the matter regarding Harvey is not a secret, but usually, it is mostly limited to Hollywood. How many ordinary fans pay attention to it?

But now, when this guy's record of the past ten years is listed, it really stunned many readers. You don't know until you count; it's shocking when you do. Although many people knew in the past that Hollywood allows PR, who could achieve such a "badass" record? It's hard not to make people suspect that Harvey has a "PY" deal with the Academy!

And shortly after this article, several similar articles followed:

"The Academy's Oscars? Harvey's Oscars!"

"The man who controls the Oscars—Harvey Weinstein!"

"The man who calls the wind and rain at the Oscars—Harvey Weinstein!"

The general meaning of these articles is naturally similar, all questioning Harvey's manipulation of Oscar results and his winning of Oscars through PR ability over the years. They are also expressing one meaning: if this continues, not only will the gold content of the Oscars continue to decline, but it will become Harvey's own game. Who else will play with you?

And just at this time, the victim Spielberg also accepted an interview: "I don't want to mention the failure of *Saving Private Ryan* for Best Picture again, because it is not a pleasant memory. What I care about is that it didn't lose to art. Harvey's actions should be managed!"

Spielberg's words were like adding fuel to the fire, immediately raising the heat of this topic to a higher level. For a time, Harvey, the Oscars, and the Academy were all pushed to the forefront of the storm.

At this time, Wu Yuchen was holding these newspapers and reading them back and forth. Sure enough, Hollywood has suffered from Harvey for a long time. After he found someone to write an article and publish it, others immediately followed. Presumably, there was no shortage of other crews nominated for Best Picture. If they could eliminate Harvey, this opponent, everyone's chances of winning would be much higher.

Of course, he was also the one who found Spielberg to speak out. But this was originally what he should do; DreamWorks occupies the majority of the investment in the film *A Beautiful Mind*.

Wu Yuchen watched the newspaper and laughed. Now everyone is playing with their cards face up; he just wants to see how Harvey responds.

"Slander! These are all naked slander! The Oscars have always been the Academy's Oscars, not my Harvey's Oscars!" Harvey shouted angrily at the reporters.

The reporter immediately asked: "But Harvey, just two days ago, you accepted an interview and firmly stated that *Chicago* would win this year. Does this prove that you possess a secret weapon, which makes you so confident and makes you invincible at the Oscars?"

Harvey patted his chest and roared angrily:

"My confidence is built on the excellence of *Chicago*, just like those films in the past. Every one of them is a work of art, worthy of the Oscars!

The achievements I, Harvey, have been able to obtain in the past, and being able to reach today, are all due to my producing ability and excellent vision!"

"Harvey, does this mean you don't deny your title as the King of the Oscars?" The reporter was still relentless.

To be honest, Harvey recognized this title in his heart, but he knew he couldn't admit it in public.

"I want to emphasize again that the results of the Oscars are selected by thousands of judges upholding the principles of fairness, justice, and openness. I believe in the vision of these judges!

Why did no one question Tom Hanks winning Best Actor consecutively? Because he has superb acting skills. My films are the same; they are all excellent works that can stand the test of time!"

"Then what about *Shakespeare in Love*?" The reporter poked Harvey directly in the lungs.

Harvey retorted: "*Titanic* can win the Oscar for Best Picture, why can't *Shakespeare in Love*? Is Shakespeare not great enough?"

"But Spielberg..."

Harvey waved his hand dismissively: "That is just the unwillingness of a loser!"

After speaking, Harvey flicked his sleeves and left. However, after returning, Harvey also realized that this was an open conspiracy against him. The mastermind behind the scenes must be the competitor this time, and perhaps all of them participated.

But this also aroused his ferocity. He understands this group of judges; they might shout about fairness in public, but who can control private voting? Isn't it just that if the PR is in place, you can win? His PR team this time is not just Miramax; there is also Disney's support. He doesn't believe he can't handle them. This time, he is going to face this public opinion and solidify his position as the King of the Oscars!