Chapter 218: Influence

After ending the call with Han Zong, Cao Yang began to seriously consider the possibility of him winning the Oscar for Best Director.

Cao Yang's greatest disadvantage was not whether his films aligned with the values of the Oscars, but his identity as a pure Chinese person.

The Oscars are not like the three major European film festivals.

While the three major European festivals do, to a certain extent, show slight favoritism toward directors and actors from their own countries or even Europe, they value the "lineage" of the work more and are not as concerned about nationality.

The Oscars are different.

Relatively speaking, the Oscars are merely an award within the United States, and they are more willing to bestow awards upon actors developing in Hollywood—specifically, they are more willing to bestow them upon white people.

If not for considerations of political correctness, the chances of other ethnic groups winning are slim.

Of course, to demonstrate that they do not discriminate against other ethnic groups, the Americans will occasionally give an award to a Black person.

In fact, given Cao Yang's current reputation and influence, if he were to show even a hint of wanting to change his nationality, this Oscar for Best Director would be absolutely guaranteed; even regardless of who his opponent was, nothing could stop him from winning.

The executives at Columbia, as well as Ehrmann, had both raised this issue with Cao Yang when *The Milk of Sorrow* became a huge success, and Cao Yang had rejected it without the slightest hesitation.

This was a matter of principle; there was no room for negotiation.

Now, with less than ten days left until the Oscar ceremony, Han Zong had called, but Columbia and Luo Binsi had yet to call.

This forced Cao Yang to ponder deeply.

The so-called surprise, for Han Zong, even if the operation to get Cao Yang Best Director didn't succeed, would only be a slight regret; *District 9* receiving seven Oscar nominations was already a massive success and a surprise.

However, for Columbia and Luo Binsi, they were now urgently wanting to collaborate with Cao Yang on his next film; if they couldn't pull off Best Director for Cao Yang, it wouldn't be called a surprise.

Columbia and Luo Binsi would only call Cao Yang once they saw hope and had a bit of certainty.

Cao Yang checked for information online.

The competition for this year's Oscars was quite lively.

*The Aviator*, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Li Zi, was currently the biggest favorite.

"The Aviator" received ten Oscar nominations, including major awards such as Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor.

*Million Dollar Baby*, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, had received seven Oscar nominations.

These included major award nominations such as Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Actress, and it was also one of the current biggest favorites.

Speaking of Eastwood, the internet also reported an interesting event, which could be considered an influence brought about by Cao Yang.

Just after the Oscar nominations were announced, *The Hollywood Reporter* interviewed him, asking why he had personally stepped into the ring to direct and star, and had even received nominations for Best Director and Best Actor.

Eastwood was silent for a moment, then said:

"I had a shelved project called *Mystic River*. Ever since this project, which I valued highly, was shelved, I understood a truth: as a director, rather than finding some unreliable actors, it's better for me to do it myself..."

Well, Eastwood was implying something here.

Anyone who followed the incident that caused such a huge uproar at the time—the actor hitting the director—knew what this was about.

When they first started filming *Mystic River*, Sean Penn and Tim Robbins were acting with too much "gay chemistry," and even though Eastwood told them many times, the two just "wouldn't change."

Eastwood said some very elegant words, mainly about the topic of "fencing" between two male animals...

Who is Sean Penn?

He is a famous bad boy throughout Hollywood; how could he endure such verbal attacks with his explosive temper?

Most importantly, whenever they were filming, he felt that Tim Robbins looked delicate and pretty, quite pleasing to the eye, and even felt an impulse deep in his heart...

In a fit of shame and anger, Sean Penn taught Eastwood a lesson on the spot. It was said that he made Old Yi stay in the hospital's "VIP room" for two months.

Of course, this might be an exaggeration by the media at the time; with so many staff members on set, how could they just watch the director get beaten?

However, it was absolutely true that Eastwood got beaten up, and it was clear that he still held a grudge about being beaten at the time.

Otherwise, he wouldn't still be throwing shade at this incident during the interview.

Cao Yang's *District 9* also received seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor, counting as one of the favorites.

Additionally, there was another biographical film called *Finding Neverland*, which told the story of a Scottish writer and received six Oscar nominations, also one of the favorites.

It is worth mentioning that this film, shot in 2002, for some reason was not released until November 2004, and the lead actor was Depp, the Oscar-winning actor whom Cao Yang had promoted.

According to news from inside the Oscars, this film could have originally received seven nominations; the one it missed was Best Actor.

When the nomination list came out, Depp, by virtue of *Finding Neverland*, had always been a strong contender for the Best Actor nomination, and a very high-ranking one at that.

Unfortunately, *District 9*, which he also starred in, had also received a Best Actor nomination, and it was ranked even higher, which resulted in him occupying two of the five nominations alone.

The Oscars, after consideration, felt it was somewhat inappropriate to give Depp two Best Actor nominations.

Consequently, they removed the Best Actor nomination for *Finding Neverland* and moved Eastwood, who was ranked one place lower, up to replace one of Depp's nominations.

There was another film that could also be considered a favorite; this film was still a biographical film, telling the legendary story of the brilliant life of the American jazz and rock figure Ray Charles.

This film also received six nominations, including major award nominations like Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor.

Was this year's Oscars determined to push biographical films?

Well, perhaps biographical films are indeed easier to win awards with, which is why so many directors are swarming to shoot them.

Cao Yang no longer remembered who won Best Director at the 77th Academy Awards, but barring any surprises, it would likely be between Eastwood and Martin Scorsese.

Now that Columbia had made a move, Cao Yang became that surprise.

On the domestic internet, especially in the "Cao Yang Bar," when everyone was discussing it, they also felt that Cao Yang's biggest obstacles to winning the Oscar for Best Director were Eastwood and Martin Scorsese.

Of course, there were also many "authoritative" media outlets that felt Eastwood and Martin Scorsese were more "high-end," seemingly feeling they had more prestige than Cao Yang and were more "worthy" of winning the Oscar for Best Director.

This era and the next dozen years would be like this: anyone who was a foreigner was automatically looked up to and puffed up by any means necessary.

Just like a certain well-known film review website, "Dou," where any foreign film was automatically rated one point or even more higher, while domestic films were automatically treated with a one-point reduction.

However, it was no longer so easy to step on Cao Yang now.

As the largest bar in the country and the one with the highest activity, the "Cao Yang Bar," under the intentional guidance of the higher-ups at Baidu, had long since "deified" Cao Yang.

Interpretations of all his films from various angles, all the awards he had won, all the praise from foreign media, etc., were all pinned and highlighted in the bar, and most members and visitors of the "Cao Yang Bar" would almost certainly see them. Therefore, when some websites and online media intentionally used Eastwood and Martin Scorsese to suppress Cao Yang, they were mercilessly mocked and attacked by the comments below.

"There really are idiots in this world, I'm talking about you, editor. You actually think Eastwood and Martin Scorsese have more prestige than Cao Yang; you're truly fucking ignorant, shameless, and fearless.

Let's not talk about anything else, let's just talk about major awards.

Cao Yang has won an Oscar for Best Picture, a Venice Golden Lion, a Cannes Palme d'Or, a Venice Best Director, a Cannes Best Director, a Berlin Jury Grand Prix...

He has also produced an Oscar Best Actor, a Berlin Best Actress, a Venice Best Actress, and a Cannes Best Actress.

You idiot editor, go check again what awards your so-called higher-prestige Eastwood and Martin Scorsese have won!"

"I'll supplement the above for you, so the idiot editor doesn't play dead.

In terms of important major awards:

Eastwood won the 65th Oscar for Best Director in '93 and the Venice Lifetime Achievement Award in '00; that's just those two.

Martin Scorsese won the 47th Venice Best Director in the late '90s, and the 52nd Venice also gave him a Lifetime Achievement Award in '95.

He also won a Cannes Palme d'Or and Best Director; there are no other major awards with significant influence.

!

So, idiot editor, how did you have the courage to say that Eastwood and Martin Scorsese have more prestige than Cao Yang?

Is it just because they are older than Cao Yang and won a Venice Lifetime Achievement Award in their sixties?

Don't you know that just by virtue of Cao Yang having won a Venice Golden Lion, by the time Cao Yang is in his sixties, Venice will 100% give Cao Yang a Lifetime Achievement Award."

"I am studying abroad in Los Angeles, USA, and I know more about the situation here.

I dare say the editor must have never been abroad.

In terms of artistic achievement, Eastwood and Martin Scorsese themselves wouldn't dare say they can compare to Cao Yang.

In terms of box office and influence, Cao Yang is absolutely one of the directors Hollywood film companies most want to collaborate with, and he could even rank in the top three.

The editor must also not know that Cao Yang is a bestselling author in the US, right? Haha, he holds a great many novel copyrights, which are said to be easily adaptable into films.

Additionally, here in the US, if you randomly interview a Hollywood actor, whether male or female, Cao Yang will definitely be in the top five of the directors they most want to collaborate with."

One week before the Oscar ceremony, Cao Yang received a call from Columbia Executive Director Luo Binsi.

This time, Luo Binsi didn't talk to Cao Yang about collaborating on a film, but invited Cao Yang to the US, saying that *District 9* might have some gains at the Oscars, and it would be best for him, the director, to be present.

On February 21, the group set off from Jingcheng for the US.

There were quite a few people going to the US this time.

*District 9* received a nomination for Best Picture, and Han Zong, as one of the producers, also went to the US together.

Gu Changwei definitely had to go; by virtue of *District 9*, he had once again received an Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography.

This was already Gu Changwei's third time receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography.

He had first received an Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography for *Farewell My Concubine*, but unfortunately didn't win, and it even brought him several years of frustration.

But also because of those few years of unsuccessful struggling in Hollywood, he didn't become a fixed crew member for some big domestic director, but instead became Cao Yang's fixed cinematographer.

Last year, Gu Changwei, by virtue of Cao Yang's *The Milk of Sorrow*, once again received an Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography and finally got his wish, winning Best Cinematography.

Gu Changwei also didn't expect that he would receive an Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography again this year.

In the past, when he boasted that he was the number one cinematographer in the country, there might have been some controversy; after all, there were one or two other cinematographers of equal fame, and Hong Kong and Taiwan also had very good cinematographers.

But that was already a thing of the past!

Now Gu Changwei didn't really care about being the number one cinematographer in the country, nor did he need to boast about anything.

Because even looking at the whole world, after receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography again, he was one of the few great cinematographers, let alone domestically.

Even, in Cao Yang's memory, the story of Old Gu switching to directing, filming *Peacock*, and thus having an unspeakable story with a certain young female actor surnamed Zhang, did not happen.

According to the historical trajectory of his past life, at this time, Old Gu's *Peacock* would have already been released, but now, Old Gu hadn't even mentioned the matter of switching to directing.

Probably because he was living too comfortably following Cao Yang; now that he had both fame and fortune, why the hell would he switch to directing? There was absolutely no need.

Duan Yihong also had to go to the US; he had received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor by virtue of *District 9*.

In the past, for a pure Chinese person, this would absolutely be a remarkable major event.

But Cao Yang's appearance made this seemingly incredible thing not so shocking anymore.

In fact, Duan Yihong receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor was also a bit beyond Cao Yang's expectations.

At first, when he just learned that *District 9* had received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor, Cao Yang thought it was Samuel L. Jackson, who played the gang leader, or Ian McKellen, who played the protagonist's father-in-law.

After Cao Yang analyzed it, he felt there were three reasons.

First, the character of the commander played by Duan Yihong had his persona slightly modified by Cao Yang, and quite a bit of plot that could highlight his personality was added, making the character more "three-dimensional" and more deeply rooted in people's hearts.

Second, Cao Yang added acting experience to several main characters; at least in terms of performance, all of them had super-level displays, and the more "three-dimensional" the character, the more impressive they were.

Third, Columbia and Han Zong must have operated slightly on the Oscar nominations.

Combining these three points, Duan Yihong got the Best Supporting Actor nomination.

This was an "achievement" that International Chapter struggled to reach by racking her brains and using unscrupulous means.

On the plane, Cao Yang chatted with Han Zong and talked about the strange phenomenon of this year's Oscars—the sudden increase in biographical films.

Han Zong had also noticed this matter before; he had even chatted with Luo Binsi about it, so he knew a little.

He told Cao Yang that so many directors shooting biographical films was influenced by his *The Milk of Sorrow* last year.

Being able to "snatch" Best Picture from the trend-setting *The Lord of the Rings 3* made many directors feel that biographical films were very promising.

That was why there were so many biographical films this year.

Han Zong sighed once again in his heart at Cao Yang's influence.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 219 =====