Chapter 130: Palme d'Or

Last year, May 26th was when the Cannes Film Festival closing red carpet and awards ceremony were held; this year, it was held on May 25th.

Last year, Gao Yuanyuan accompanied him on the closing red carpet; this year, the one walking the red carpet with Cao Yang had become that guy Depp.

The two walked on the red carpet in suits, and Depp waved to the surroundings from time to time.

In the film reviews published in the festival daily, Depp was the biggest favorite for the Cannes Best Actor award this year, which made him very happy, and he kept muttering that he should have come to Cannes earlier if he had known.

Depp was currently still a signed actor with the United Talent Agency (UTA) and hadn't switched to Creative Artists Agency (CAA). In the strategy formulated by his agency, Cannes wasn't included; they wanted to put their main energy into the Oscars.

Actually, this was understandable. This year, Spielberg was a member of the jury. With his prestige, his influence in the jury was quite large, and he was a CAA person, not getting along well with UTA.

So, in the agency's view, the difficulty for Depp to conquer the Cannes Best Actor award was a bit high, and investing a lot of energy wasn't worth it; it was better to go all out for the Oscars.

Although Cao Yang also wanted to produce a Best Actor, since the agency wasn't interested, plus Cao Yang was putting his main energy into the Palme d'Or, he didn't worry about Depp's Best Actor matter.

Walking the red carpet, signing autographs, reporters taking photos, accepting brief interviews, and then finding their seats to wait for the awards ceremony to begin.

"Director, do you think it's possible for me to get Best Actor?"

After Depp sat down, he suddenly asked.

He really regretted it a bit now. If he had known the daily's evaluation of his performance was so high, he should have come earlier and tried to conquer it.

Cao Yang thought for a moment. If it were based solely on performance without outside factors intervening, the possibility of Depp getting Best Actor was very high. After all, he had two faces in the film, his performance was completely unforced, the transitions were extremely natural, and his explosive power was absolutely sufficient.

"There should be many people in the jury who like your performance. As long as one person supports you, your Best Actor is almost there."

Without operation, one could only listen to heaven's will and look at luck.

The three major European festivals also had some Best Actors and Actresses who weren't operated on; it was just because someone in the jury particularly liked them and supported them to the end that they finally won.

"That is to say, if I operate, as long as I handle one person in the jury, there's a great chance of winning?" Depp turned his head and asked with some surprise.

Cao Yang nodded. "Your performance is already good enough. I think everyone will agree on this point; what's missing is someone to support you."

Patting Depp on the shoulder, Cao Yang comforted him: "There are nine people in the jury; it's very likely that one of them particularly likes your performance and will support you to the end."

Depp felt like crying. Damn UTA, preparing to use all their energy on the Oscars. If they had spared just a little bit to conquer Cannes, maybe the Cannes Best Actor would have been more certain.

Once the time arrived, the awards began.

There were also many off-site awards this year. For those films that didn't enter the main competition unit, if they could win an off-site award, it counted as not having come in vain; at least it would be easier to sell the film.

On May 21st, the last patient in Jingcheng was discharged.

The situation in the country suddenly improved, and everyone had the energy to pay attention to other things.

Tianya Forum had started to become lively in the last few days.

Among them was a latest post saying that Chinese-language films in this Cannes had been wiped out, *Purple Butterfly* had returned in defeat, and International Zhang had once again missed the opportunity to win an international Best Actress award.

"Now, among the so-called Four Huadan, only International Zhang doesn't have a heavyweight Best Actress award. Why doesn't she cooperate with Cao Yang? Cao Yang is quite good at producing Best Actresses." Someone followed up and asked.

"It's not that International Zhang doesn't want to; there are plenty of actresses who want to cooperate with Cao Yang. Cao Yang has said that his film's female leads never look at acting skills, only at whether they fit the character positioning."

"Damn, that sounds domineering."

"Alright, you're busy, Director Cao, goodbye."

"To the person above, I might have guessed your meaning. If you had Cao Yang's skill in training actors, you could also just look at beautiful... eye appeal, haha..."

"Gao Yuanyuan is really beautiful... eye appeal."

"Li Xiaoran is also beautiful... eye appeal, and she's also Li Dabai, haha."

"Yu Feihong is also beautiful... eye appeal."

"A bunch of perverts above."

"Speaking of Cao Yang, haven't you noticed that the Cannes Film Festival awards ceremony has kept him again? This indicates that Cao Yang is going to win an award again, again, and again."

"Didn't the original poster say Chinese-language films were wiped out? How is Cao Yang still staying until the end?"

"To the person above, one look and I know you haven't been following the entertainment circle. Last year's sensational director selection event, Cao Yang finally stepped out and took down that Hollywood biographical film. The film Cao Yang entered into the main competition unit this time is this one."

"Cao Yang is still awesome; as long as it's an art-house film, he has never missed."

"Cannes is currently awarding prizes. Sitting and waiting for Cao Yang to take a big award, preferably Best Director. He won Best Director at Cannes last year; if he wins again this time, he'll have a consecutive win."

"If Cao Yang could win the Palme d'Or, that would be great. Only Chen Kaige has this in the country."

"Very difficult. The Palme d'Or isn't that easy to get."

Following the awarding of Best Actress, Depp became obviously nervous.

The award presenter went on stage and first teased the weather in Cannes for two sentences. Cao Yang didn't understand why this guy had to tease the weather, but some people laughed out loud.

"The winner of Best Actor is Muzaffer Özdemir, and..." Depp didn't hear his own name and was obviously a bit disappointed, but with the presenter's long-drawn-out "and," he lifted his spirits again. A double egg, there's hope...

"Mehmet Emin Toprak, *Distant*. Congratulations to the two actors of *Distant*."

Depp was disappointed again.

The two winners were both the leads of *Distant*. However, this wasn't a gay film, but a film about family affection, and from the perspective of two people, it looked through the city of Istanbul in transition and the process of urbanization of immigrants from the countryside.

The theme was to explore social change and the irreconcilable contradictions between people.

Cao Yang sighed. Cannes once again verified the law that favorites must die. Before, no one would have thought that Best Actor would be awarded to the two actors of *Distant*. This film's score in the daily wasn't high, ranking in the middle.

Afterward, Cao Yang thought about his own film's score in the daily, which was 0.2 points higher than the biggest competitor, *Elephant*, and was also a big favorite for the Palme d'Or tonight. Would it also verify the law that favorites must die?

Just as Cao Yang was letting his imagination run wild, they started awarding Best Director.

This award presenter didn't say much nonsense, chatted for two sentences, and then said: "The Best Director tonight is..."

When the award presenter lowered his head to look at the envelope, Cao Yang was rarely suddenly nervous, and couldn't help but mutter in his heart: Please don't be me, please don't be me...

"Gus Van Sant, *Elephant*."

!

"Clap clap clap..."

Applause rang out. Cao Yang clapped hard, happy that Gus Van Sant could win Best Director at Cannes.

This time it was especially sincere.

Cao Yang noticed that Gus Van Sant was stunned for a moment, then stood up, the smile on his face obviously a bit unnatural. He must also know that after winning Best Director, the Palme d'Or tonight was in suspense.

When Gus Van Sant was giving his speech on stage, he also inadvertently glanced at Cao Yang's side. Cao Yang was smiling all along, but his heart had already started beating fast.

The next award, the Grand Prix, was given to *Distant* again. Today, *Distant* could be considered one of the biggest winners.

When the award presenter announced that the Grand Prix was *Distant*, Depp had already looked at Cao Yang incredibly. Now there was only one big award left; without a doubt, the Palme d'Or tonight would be *Bad Milk*.

Even if he didn't win Cannes Best Actor, being able to win the Palme d'Or was also a remarkable achievement, and the help to Depp was still very large.

With the fame of the Palme d'Or as a foundation, this was self-contained publicity. Many Oscar jurors would at least know there was such a film, and when it came time to conquer it, it would be much easier.

"Damn, Best Director isn't Cao Yang."

"A bit regrettable, Cao Yang didn't have a consecutive win. It's probably the Grand Prix."

"Wouldn't it be the Palme d'Or?"

"Anyway, there are only two awards left. It's either the Grand Prix or the Palme d'Or."

"It's about to be revealed... Holy shit, it's not the Grand Prix. The Grand Prix isn't Cao Yang. Holy shit, Cao Yang is awesome!"

"Is it really just one big award left? I still can't believe it until now. Cao Yang has the Palme d'Or?"

"Only the Palme d'Or hasn't been awarded yet. That's right, Cao Yang is going to win the Palme d'Or!"

"Holy shit, Cao Yang is awesome!"

"... *Bad Milk*, Cao Yang."

"Clap clap clap..."

No double egg, only Cao Yang's film. The biggest award of the night belonged to him. The Palme d'Or was Cao Yang's!

"What was playing on the big screen on stage was Milk, played by Depp, giving a passionate speech on the street. At first glance, he was an upright and selfless guy.

And the camera turned, the captured image was Milk saying to his assistant: If I win the election, I will formulate a special bill to catch all these trash. These people should be swept into the dustbin of history."

Cannes really knew how to choose images. They didn't forget to mock the Americans even for this little bit of time.

Depp temporarily forgot the pain of losing Best Actor. At this moment, he was only excited. He hugged Cao Yang and couldn't help but say: "Director, we succeeded, we won the Palme d'Or!"

Until this moment, Cao Yang's heart finally settled down. Palme d'Or, not bad. Finally, he wouldn't let Brother Kaige guard the Palme d'Or alone anymore. If Brother Kaige knew, he should be happy too, right?

Tianya Community was already boiling at this time. For a while, all kinds of posts popped up.

"Damn, Cao Yang really won the Palme d'Or."

"This is the second one in the country. The first one was won by Chen Kaige."

"Cao Yang now has a Golden Lion and a Palme d'Or in hand. Only a Golden Bear is missing to be complete."

"Very difficult. Berlin won't easily give Cao Yang an award again. They won't let a Chinese person win the Grand Slam."

"It is very difficult. Director Zhang is also just a little bit short. It's a pity."

"I still want to say one sentence: Cao Yang is awesome."

(End of chapter)