Chapter 167: The Oscars Are Here

Tang Mu Luo Si tried his best to make himself look more sincere, and what he said was entirely for the sake of the film.

"Cao, my opinion is, let's invite Johnny Depp to play the male lead; you should be very familiar with him, and I think he would also be very happy to cooperate with you again."

Tang Mu Luo Si first raised a finger.

"First, you just helped him win the Golden Globe Best Actor and won an Oscar nomination; whether it's him or his agency, they must be very happy to cooperate with you, and the salary will also be discounted."

Then, Tang Mu Luo Si raised a second finger.

"Second, he is currently at a critical moment of impacting the Oscar Best Actor; if the news of cooperating with you again spreads, it is a positive for him, and for our film, it can also play a very good promotional role."

Tang Mu Luo Si raised a third finger.

"Third, he hasn't won the Oscar Best Actor yet; we sign him in advance, before he raises his salary, which is most beneficial to us; maybe our film will have the addition of an Oscar Best Actor."

Cao Yang had actually thought about this problem; if the male lead wasn't Chinese, the character of the commander would definitely be played by a Chinese actor.

The character of the commander looks like a villain at first glance, so cruel to the aliens who have no resistance, and relentlessly chasing the mutated male lead.

However, if this character were changed to a domestic actor, it would be very simple to reverse the villain's perception, as long as a sentence appears in his lines from time to time, at least people in our country can understand everything he does.

"Those who are not of our race must have a different heart!"

With this sentence, is the cruelty of the commander's character still cruelty?

You know, although the aliens look very disgusting and won't resist, they have very advanced weapons and also have spaceships that can fly from outer space to Earth—they don't resist now, it doesn't mean they won't resist in the future.

Didn't you see that the mutated male lead could control alien weapons? That is extremely awesome.

As long as you shape him into the image of a cold-blooded soldier, plus he says "Those who are not of our race must have a different heart" to many people, and change the lines a little bit, this character will stand up.

In terms of promotion, it can also be said to be a dual male lead.

Cao Yang frowned, indicating that this was a bit unacceptable.

Even if there was a countermeasure, he couldn't easily agree.

"Mr. Luo Si, I think you got one thing wrong; those three international Best Actresses have no interest related to me, so why would I make an exchange with you for their sake?"

This time it was Tang Mu Luo Si's turn to frown, and he tried his best to persuade.

"Aren't they the three you cultivated? The more successful they are, the more it can prove your ability. Moreover, you can also use this to make an exchange with them? I think if you propose any conditions, no one can refuse an 80 million USD Hollywood blockbuster."

"Sorry Luo Si, I am pious about films, and I won't use film roles as exchange conditions."

Cao Yang shook his head; old guy, you might not know, I don't need any conditions to propose any conditions to them.

"Cao, I am really considering this film; Depp is also very suitable as the male lead, and moreover, he might win the Oscar Best Actor in a few days; this is such a good opportunity."

Tang Mu Luo Si tried his best to persuade.

"Luo Si, this is a co-production." Cao Yang reminded.

"I know, for the remaining roles in the film, you can choose a few for Chinese people to play, including the character of the commander, you can also specify, and Columbia will never interfere."

Tang Mu Luo Si said sincerely.

Cao Yang sighed, looked at Tang Mu Luo Si, and shook his head with a wry smile.

"Mr. Luo Si, I really can't do anything about you.

Besides what you said, I want to arrange for one of my people to be the production director, the main photographer will still be Gu Changwei who won an Oscar nomination, and in addition, I want to arrange for some students from the Beijing Film Academy to intern in this film."

Tang Mu Luo Si breathed a sigh of relief; he thought it was some big deal; these were all small things.

"You are the producer and director, you have the final say."

Johnny Depp had been in high spirits ever since he won the Golden Globe Best Actor.

Under the arrangement of his agency, he participated in many banquets, met many Oscar judges, and moreover, as far as he knew, the company was going all out to attack the Oscars, determined to push him to the Oscar Best Actor.

For this reason, they scattered a lot of money and also sent out many thoughtful "little gifts."

Of course, the premise of all this is that the film you participate in must have the ability to win awards; otherwise, it would be doubly difficult, and you could only desperately throw money, and it wouldn't necessarily have an effect.

Therefore, Depp was very grateful to Cao Yang and wanted to continue cooperating with Cao Yang.

He now looked back and felt that under Cao Yang's guidance, his acting was simply too great. Never had any director been able to make an actor enter the role unknowingly like Cao Yang, and acting felt as simple as walking the path he had walked again.

This includes his guide Tim Burton, who also doesn't possess this ability.

"Johnny, did Director Cao Yang tell you that he has a new film and wants to cooperate with you again?"

The agent called and asked.

"Yes, buddy, I've already received it; just today, he also said that Columbia would contact you, and just let me wait."

Depp was rarely free this morning, but he still had to go to a banquet in the evening; the closer it got to this time, the less he could relax.

"That's right, I'm with the people from Columbia now; what do you think?"

"Of course I have no problem; being able to cooperate with Director Cao Yang again is something I can't ask for."

The agent was silent for a moment; was this still that difficult bad kid?

He remembered that every time this guy took a play, he had to understand the script first, understand the director, and also know who he was cooperating with; the agency was always very troubled.

When did this guy start to be able to be settled with just one phone call?

!

He dared to bet that Depp definitely hadn't read the script, and besides knowing he was cooperating with Cao Yang, he knew nothing else, but he just agreed.

Of course, the agency was also happy for Depp to cooperate with Cao Yang again, and would hype it up—the Golden Globe Best Director and the Golden Globe Best Actor cooperating again, this is a big news, which is very beneficial for impacting the Oscars.

Even if it's attacking the judges, the Oscars have thousands of judges, and it's impossible to take care of everything, and there are always some that cannot be taken care of.

And hot news will make them have a deep impression of the actor, which is conducive to them making a key decision when they don't know how to choose.

"Johnny, this film is adapted from a novel; I've already read the novel, and it's an art film wearing a sci-fi skin, and the main theme is still racial discrimination."

The agent explained a few words, then said: "The reason I say this is to consult your opinion; how should the salary be collected? Ever since you won the Golden Globe Best Actor, the external quotation has been raised to 12 million."

"Is this any difficult thing to choose?"

Depp said without hesitation.

The agent was speechless for a while; this film although has art attributes, it is obviously built as a commercial film, and you, on the other hand, opened your mouth and it was a discount; do you know how much money this discount is?

"How about this, I'll report 70% to Columbia and see what they say."

Depp hesitated for a moment, then said: "Report, just a little small change; I want to give face to Director Cao Yang and can't leave an impression of being insatiable."

The agent was speechless again; these fucking art types are difficult to handle, their brain circuits are different, where is this and where is that; how could reporting 70% leave an impression of being insatiable?

Can't understand!

American Western Time February 29, 2004, 5:30 PM, Beijing Time March 1, 9:30 AM, the 76th Academy Awards ceremony was grandly opened at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, and the major awards that film fans were waiting for would also be revealed one by one.

CCTV-6, following the broadcast of the Oscar ceremony last year, this year is still the only TV institution in the mainland that can broadcast the whole process live, and will broadcast the whole process of this world film feast live on the evening of March 1 at 21:30.

As the only mainland media authorized by the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) to broadcast the awards ceremony in its entirety, the CCTV Movie Channel will conduct a 4-hour live broadcast on the evening of the day at 21:30.

As for why the broadcast time was delayed by twelve hours, according to the person in charge of the general editorial office of the CCTV Movie Channel, it was mainly because of the time difference.

When the United States broadcasts live, it is 9:00 AM in our country; for most viewers, it is the time for work and school; if it is broadcast live, it is neither conducive to viewers watching in time, and due to language problems, it cannot achieve the best viewing effect.

Alright, this is one reason.

It is rumored that because of the experience of broadcasting last year, and also because there is a guarantee of ratings, the Oscar broadcast this year was already decided two months ago, and the advertising space was also successfully tendered.

The evening is the guarantee of ratings; if it is broadcast live at 9:30 AM, there will be no ratings, and the advertisements cannot be sold for a good price.

This year's advertising space sold for a very good price, and the leaders were very satisfied.

However, the time this satisfaction lasted was very short—not long after, Cao Yang's *The Bad Milk* won ten Oscar nominations.

Therefore, the relevant person in charge regretted slapping their thighs; the advertising space was sold too early!

It is said that it was news revealed by internal personnel; the relevant person in charge tried every means to "squeeze out" two advertising spaces of a few seconds in that time period, and sold a very, very large amount of advertising revenue.

Different from last year, this time CCTV-6 also made a big move; the front-line reporting team sent by the Movie Channel became one of the only 12 media in the world authorized to set up cameras on the red carpet.

This shows that the Movie Channel will shoot more original shots this year, rather than being confined to the broadcast materials provided by the ABC TV station.

Moreover, because Cao Yang's *The Bad Milk* is one of the big favorites this year, the Movie Channel has already spoken out that it will focus more on Cao Yang and his film crew.

It will also conduct a simple interview with Director Cao Yang on the scene.

For a time, many people were looking forward to it, not knowing if Cao Yang would still be glorious at the Oscars.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 168 =====