Chapter 286: War arrives

"Sister Li, what's the situation in the country now?" Wu Wu Yuchen asked with concern.

"Are you talking about SARS? I just heard that it's quite fierce in Guangdong, but I see everyone in Beijing is still eating and drinking as usual, but I heard that cinemas seem to be stopping. Is it that serious?"

Wu Wu Yuchen shook his head after hearing this. SARS was discovered in Guangdong last December, but it wasn't taken seriously. It wouldn't be until the next two months that the prevention and control level would be raised, and large-scale transmission and death cases would appear in Beijing and Hong Kong.

However, Wu Wu Yuchen couldn't "foresee" and make a preview, so he could only remind the people around him now:

"Sister Li, let the family pay more attention, hoard more food and drink, and go out less. This kind of infectious disease can't be sloppy!"

Seeing Wu Wu Yuchen like this, Gong Li nodded and agreed, keeping it in her heart.

Subsequently, Gong Li said with a smile: "Wu Dao, the discussion about this Oscar in the country is very high now, especially when everyone knows that this film of ours is reflecting the history of the anti-Japanese war, it's even more boiling!"

To be honest, because Wu Wu Yuchen's *Love* and *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* had already won two Oscar Best Foreign Language Film awards, the Oscar obsession of quite a few people wasn't as strong as the first time. Human nature is like this. When you can't get it, you are always restless. Once you have it, it seems it's not that precious, and it's impossible to be as enthusiastic as when you haven't won it.

But this time, the theme of *The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas* is anti-war, is exposing Japan's crimes, which directly ignited everyone's passion!

Although everyone is tested by anti-Japanese film and television dramas, this kind of anti-Japanese film killing to the international stage, especially killing to the Oscars, is the first time. How can this not make the masses boil?

Although *Hero* also entered the Oscars this time, its Oscar attention really couldn't compare to *The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas*. After all, the themes of the two have a gap in the hearts of the vast Chinese people, and the significance cannot be compared at all.

Jennifer Connelly knew, but she was very unwilling in her heart. The opportunity was right in front of her. She cried and begged: "But, Wu, I might not have no hope, if..."

Wu Wu Yuchen hugged her and comforted her: "Hey, Jenny, isn't this what we agreed on? Whoever performs better, the resources will lean toward whoever in the end."

Objectively speaking, Wu Wu Yuchen naturally hoped that Gong Li could win this Best Supporting Actress, but Gong Li also had a strong opponent this time, Meryl Streep, who was called Auntie Mei by Chinese fans. She won the dual nomination for Best Supporting Actress this time with *Adaptation* and *The Hours*. *The Hours* was also Wu Wu Yuchen's work, so he really couldn't favor one too much on the surface.

"That's right, Hans, although I'm sorry to say this, I must make a choice between the two films. *The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas* is more likely, after all, the social trend now is anti-war."

Gong Li and Meryl Streep's competition for Best Supporting Actress was something Wu Wu Yuchen couldn't intervene too much in, but he could make the decision for his own awards.

Fortunately, the public relations teams for *The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas* and *The Hours* were separate. For this award, it depended on who had the better ability.

Nicole Kidman, who had a good performance in *Moulin Rouge* last year but lost to a black person, clearly had quite a few sympathy points. Her voice was very high in quite a few Oscar front-line stations this year, so Wu Wu Yuchen and the Fox team naturally chose Nicole Kidman.

Nicole Kidman smiled and interrupted her: "Forget it, Jenny, the rules of the game are like this. Since you made the choice at the beginning, you have to be able to play."

Now that Wu Wu Yuchen made the choice, the Fox public relations team was naturally disappointed, but could only helplessly accept it. Then, under Wu Wu Yuchen's suggestion, they put all the public relations power into the two awards with gold content: Best Picture and Best Actress.

Gong Li also responded with a smile: "Then I will go all out with you, Wu Dao, on this trip!"

For Wu Wu Yuchen, no matter which film helped him win Best Director, he could accept it, but for the two crews, it was different. Winning the honor of Best Director could clearly bring better promotional effects to the crew, and the follow-up box office would be higher.

"Wu, are you sure you want us to give up Best Director?" The Fox public relations team asked Wu Wu Yuchen again. 【2

"Nicole! Damn it! Don't get carried away; you only have a 20% chance, and you might end up with nothing!" Jennifer Connelly let out a loser's curse.

But this created a problem: Wu Wu Yuchen and the Fox team had to decide who to focus their main public relations resources on. Because for this year's Best Actress award for *The Hours*, both Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Connelly had been nominated.

If the PR resources were truly split between the two, there was a high probability that neither would win, and someone else would benefit in the end.

Wu Wu Yuchen definitely had to abandon one side; he could not have his own people competing against each other and splitting the votes. And it was clear that *The Hours* was the side to be abandoned.

In the film *The Hours*, Jennifer Connelly and Nicole Kidman had roughly the same amount of screen time. When the nominations were first submitted, Wu Wu Yuchen had asked her whether she chose Best Actress or Best Supporting Actress. Having already won Best Supporting Actress last year, Jennifer Connelly naturally chose Best Actress.

Upon hearing this, Wu Wu Yuchen smiled and said, "That's why, Sister Li, we must do our best on this trip and bring back a surprise for the people back home as much as possible!"

At the time, Wu Wu Yuchen had an agreement with both women: he would support whoever received a nomination. If both were nominated, he would tilt resources toward whoever performed better and had a higher probability of winning.

That night, Jennifer Connelly threw herself into Wu Wu Yuchen's arms, looking like a tear-streaked beauty.

Nicole Kidman had originally wanted to show off a bit more as the victor, but Wu Wu Yuchen gave her bottom a firm pinch, telling her to shut up and stop provoking Jennifer Connelly at this moment. She then sullenly stopped talking.

Wu Wu Yuchen comforted Jennifer Connelly, saying, "Jenny, let it be this time. Being nominated for Best Actress is an honor in itself, and it will also earn you points in the hearts of many judges. There will be opportunities in the future~"

Jennifer Connelly hugged Wu Wu Yuchen's arm and asked with misty eyes, "Wu, you will help me in the future, won't you?"

Wu Wu Yuchen gently wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and smiled, "Of course~"

However, at this moment, Nicole Kidman also squeezed into Wu Wu Yuchen's arms, hooked her arms around his neck, and looked at him with a seductive gaze: "Wu, the person who needs your help now is me~"

But soon, she was pushed down directly by Jennifer Connelly: "Damn it, Nicole, you bitch, tonight I must teach you a lesson!"

Watching one great beauty tear open the clothes of another, and seeing the scene in the room become quite scandalous, Wu Wu Yuchen was delighted and couldn't help but join in.

A few days later, Spielberg rubbed his brow with some fatigue and asked Wu Wu Yuchen, "Wu, is it really not you? We are on the same side; you don't need to hide anything from me."

Wu Wu Yuchen frowned and said, "Steven, do you think I have any need to do that? I've already asked you to be the intermediary; why would I go through the extra trouble?"

The matter the two were discussing was the sudden, large-scale outbreak of negative news regarding *The Pianist*'s director, Polanski, over the past few days. Many media outlets and reports had one consistent tone: "*The Pianist* is a good film, but a scumbag like Polanski doesn't deserve to win an award!"

Wu Wu Yuchen then spread his hands toward Spielberg and said, "Steven, I'm not the only one nominated for Best Director. Old Martin is also someone who doesn't want Polanski to win!"

"Alright, alright, Wu, I shouldn't doubt you, but some of our compatriots have come to me to handle this, which has caused me some distress."

Wu Wu Yuchen leveled his tone and said again, "If I may be blunt, you should have expected this to happen once the shortlist was announced. After all, Polanski did these things himself, and it's inevitable that he would fall into a whirlpool of public opinion. This also proves the direction of public sentiment. He really shouldn't be participating in the competition for Best Director~"

"I know what you mean, Wu. I will convince them."

After Spielberg left, Wu Wu Yuchen curled the corner of his mouth. He didn't know if other Best Director candidates, like old Martin, had stirred up trouble, but he certainly had. However, he didn't use people from DreamWorks; he had people from Disney handle it, so Spielberg didn't know yet.

Just as he said, Polanski had a major stain on his character and was still a criminal to this day, not even daring to step foot in America. As long as there was a spark, a group of media outlets would follow up to bash him.

Although he let Spielberg divide the Jewish power, Wu Wu Yuchen wouldn't pin all his hopes on Spielberg's persuasion; that would be too naive. Any means to weaken a competitor could not be left out!

After the Oscar nomination shortlist was released, Hollywood became even more lively and chaotic. After Gong Li, Wu Wu Yuchen saw Zhang Zhang Yimou arrive in Hollywood.

In his past life, Miramax hadn't taken *Hero* to heart at all, putting all their energy into *Chicago*. At that time, *Hero* had no presence in North America and didn't expand its theatrical release. Zhang Zhang Yimou hadn't come to Hollywood for any PR at all, only arriving when it was time for the awards ceremony.

But this time, Sony's PR was quite reliable. Not only did they help *Hero* get nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, but it also received nominations for Best Costume Design, Best Visual Effects, and Best Cinematography. Therefore, Zhang Zhang Yimou simply came over to participate in the PR activities arranged by Sony; after all, he made *Hero* to chase the Oscars!

From this perspective, Wu Wu Yuchen and Zhang Zhang Yimou were actually competitors, as both were aiming for Best Foreign Language Film. But Wu Wu Yuchen was full of confidence in himself; if he couldn't beat Zhang Zhang Yimou at the Oscars, then he had truly wasted his years in Hollywood!

The moment he stepped off the plane, Huang Huang Xiao Ming was very happy. As a member of F4, this was naturally not his first time in America, but this time was different—he was here to attend the Oscar awards ceremony!

He, Huang Huang Xiao Ming, was an actor who was going to step onto the Oscar red carpet and walk the Walk of Fame. How many peers back home could compare to him? He was far ahead!

As soon as he arrived at the hotel, Huang Huang Xiao Ming couldn't wait to visit his mentor, Wu Wu Yuchen. But when he arrived, he saw Wu Wu Yuchen and a group of people standing together, staring intently at the big screen of the television.

Huang Huang Xiao Ming looked over and saw the American President, Bush, on television delivering a speech. The content wasn't complex: they were officially starting military action against Iraq.

Huang Huang Xiao Ming was stunned. He was in America, just off the plane, and a war was about to start?

The group of people around Wu Wu Yuchen couldn't help but start talking all at once:

"Damn it, the war is really coming!"

"Actually, we should have known long ago that we couldn't stop these politicians at all!"

"The Oscar awards ceremony is coming up soon; will it be affected by this?"

In fact, everyone already had mental preparations for the outbreak of this war, as it had been brewing for so long, and America had even issued an ultimatum to Iraq. It was bound to happen. But the moment it truly broke out, many people still couldn't help but curse in anger.

And what everyone was actually most concerned about was the Oscar awards ceremony, which was closely tied to them—would it be canceled or postponed because of this?

You have to know that stars' schedules are usually set in advance. If it were postponed, rescheduling would be very troublesome. Getting thousands of people together again at a different time would be truly difficult. If it were postponed, it would certainly lead to many people being unable to attend, and the star power would be much dimmer.

However, there were indeed precedents for postponement in Oscar history: in 1937, Los Angeles suffered from floods and heavy rain, and the Oscar ceremony was forced to be delayed by a week; in 1968, after the assassination of black leader Martin Luther King Jr., the ceremony was postponed; in 1981, after the assassination attempt on President Reagan, the ceremony was postponed.

But some also believed that as long as the flames of war didn't reach American soil, the Oscar ceremony wouldn't be affected. After all, hadn't America fought many wars in the past seventy years? When had the Oscars ever been postponed because of a war?

A moment later, Wu Wu Yuchen's phone rang. After listening for a while, he said to the people around him, "The Academy has just announced that this year's Oscar awards ceremony will not be canceled or postponed due to the Iraq War..."

Upon hearing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Although most people were shouting anti-war slogans, what they were actually most concerned about was whether their own interests would be affected.

Just like Huang Huang Xiao Ming at this moment, he also set his mind at ease; after all, he hadn't made the trip for nothing.

However, Wu Wu Yuchen then added one more sentence: "But because of the outbreak of war, the Oscar red carpet segment is canceled."

Huang Huang Xiao Ming was stunned again upon hearing this. His Oscar red carpet—gone?