Chapter 219: Everything is afraid of comparison

Cao Yang coming to the US this time, besides attending the Oscar ceremony a few days later, had another important matter to handle.

*Juno*, for which he served as producer and executive producer, wrote the script, and held final cut rights, had already been filmed and completed its rough cut under the "supervision" of Cheng Jianye, who was sent as executive producer.

It was just waiting for Cao Yang to watch it and decide with the production side, Fox Searchlight, how to finalize the final version.

However, this was not urgent; let's talk about it after the Oscar ceremony.

This year's Oscar nomination list also included a Chinese-language film.

That was Old Mouzi's *House of Flying Daggers*.

*House of Flying Daggers* had its North American rights bought out by Sony Classics. Given the huge sales of Old Mouzi's *Hero* and Cao Yang's *The Nine-Tailed Fox* in North America, Sony Classics had high expectations for *House of Flying Daggers*.

In fact, when Sony Classics bought out the rights to *House of Flying Daggers*, neither *Hero* nor *The Nine-Tailed Fox* had been released yet.

By the time the two films were released one after another and both achieved very good box office results, Sony Classics' feeling at the time was like winning the lottery.

It was also a bit like the blind marriages of the past; after entering the bridal chamber and lifting the bride's red veil, the groom's hands trembled with excitement—the bride's appearance and figure completely exceeded expectations!

Consequently, the full-of-enthusiasm and expectant Sony Classics arranged the release slot for the Christmas season, three weeks earlier than Cao Yang's *District 9*, to avoid self-inflicted slaughter.

Hope is always beautiful, yet reality left Sony Classics and Columbia deeply disappointed.

What self-inflicted slaughter; it was completely overthinking it.

*House of Flying Daggers* almost didn't stir up any waves; by the time *District 9* was released, its box office hadn't even exceeded 10 million US dollars after three weeks.

Sony Classics was not reconciled; clearly, the North American box office of both *Hero* and *The Nine-Tailed Fox* exceeded 50 million US dollars, so why didn't it work for *House of Flying Daggers*?

You have to know that Sony Classics spent over 10 million US dollars to buy the rights; how could they recoup that? Although *House of Flying Daggers* could be considered a kung fu film, it was completely different from the kung fu films Americans loved to watch.

In other words, the follow-up market was also not good.

Then they could only think of ways from other places; they couldn't lose money.

After consideration, both Sony Classics and the production side of *House of Flying Daggers* felt that the only way out was to represent the mainland and compete for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

However, the first difficulty placed before them was how to compete against *The Nine-Tailed Fox*, which won Best Director at the Venice Film Festival.

*The Nine-Tailed Fox*, whether in terms of awards or box office, had left *House of Flying Daggers* far behind; this was a hurdle that was very difficult to cross.

If it were some other director with shallow qualifications, it would be fine; by virtue of Old Mouzi's influence, *House of Flying Daggers* would definitely be selected.

But the key was that the director of *The Nine-Tailed Fox* was Cao Yang, a person whose influence, both domestically and abroad, exceeded Old Mouzi's, which made it difficult.

As long as Cao Yang said *The Nine-Tailed Fox* was going to represent the country to compete for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, *House of Flying Daggers* would have absolutely no hope.

Sony Classics had a very good relationship with Cao Yang, but for such a matter involving interests, they couldn't easily open their mouths to ask Cao Yang to give up competing for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

Several parties waited anxiously, and until the deadline for registration was almost up, they hadn't heard anything about Cao Yang registering.

Then, *House of Flying Daggers* was inexplicably selected to represent the mainland to participate in the Oscar competition.

Afterwards, the production side of *House of Flying Daggers*, namely producers Zhang Weiping and Jiang Zhiqiang, learned some inside information.

Cao Yang looked down on the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, such a chicken-rib award!

Therefore, Cao Yang had never applied to represent the mainland to participate in the competition for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

Looked down on?

Chicken rib?

When did the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film fall to this point?

This feeling was like the "beauty" you desperately pursued, in the eyes of others, was...

Sigh, it was originally a very happy thing, but inside, there was an inexplicable sense of loss.

What made them feel lost was not just this.

This year, 49 films competed for the Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, and then when the Oscars announced the nomination list, *House of Flying Daggers* was not among the five Oscar nominations for Best Foreign Language Film.

*House of Flying Daggers* was not selected!

Fortunately, Sony Classics, relying on the big tree of Columbia, was still quite capable and got a Best Cinematography nomination for *House of Flying Daggers*.

Originally, it was another very happy thing, but after seeing Cao Yang's *District 9* receive nominations for major awards such as Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor...

Whether it was Zhang Weiping or Jiang Zhiqiang, even Zhao Xiaoding, who received the Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography, always felt neither here nor there.

It was like all the preparations were made, and just as they were about to take up arms and plunge into the melee, the other side suddenly got their period.

Endless loss.

Sigh!

Cao Yang coming to the US this time, Columbia attached extreme importance to it; they didn't let Cao Yang and his group book a hotel themselves, but arranged a villa with a swimming pool in Beverly Hills for the group.

It was said that this was one of the properties owned by Columbia, specifically used to entertain distinguished guests whose status had reached a certain level.

The Oscar ceremony allows family members to attend together; every year, many stars bring their families to participate.

So this time coming to the US to attend the Oscars, Gu Changwei brought his wife Jiang Wenli, and Duan Yihong, after asking for Cao Yang's opinion, brought his girlfriend.

As for Han Zong, fearing a bad influence, he didn't bring his family.

Cao Yang, on the surface, also came alone.

Additionally, one of the actors in *District 9*, Dong Xuan, also came along; after all, with a crew participating in the Oscars, you couldn't not have a female actor come, right?

As for why the female actor snuck into the director's room at night, and the director tutored the female actor in "throat skills," isn't that a very normal thing?

As everyone knows, Director Cao is good at training actors.

Moreover, one of the female leads in Cao Yang's next film, *Black Swan*, is Dong Xuan; this reason is actually sufficient.

Since she is one of the leads in *Black Swan*, she must have a foundation in ballet, so Cao Yang naturally had to check it carefully.

Dong Xuan's dance foundation was still very good; she hadn't put it down for so many years and had been practicing diligently.

Most importantly, she also liked to wear double ponytails, could do backbends, and could do some high-difficulty movements...

This was also one of the reasons Cao Yang liked her.

The concubine is like a pipa held diagonally, letting the gentleman flip his fingers to play the palace and merchant notes.

Willow smoke and water colors, a ripple of waves.

After a long time, the singing finally stopped.

Dong Xuan curled up in Cao Yang's arms like a little bird, rubbed her face against Cao Yang's chest, and then said weakly: "Couldn't you have let me catch my breath just now?"

Cao Yang stroked Dong Xuan's scattered hair and asked with a smile: "Didn't you like it quite a bit? Who was it that said don't stop?"

"Hmph!" Dong Xuan bit Cao Yang lightly. You stinky man, I was praising you; why are you so unappreciative? Couldn't you have not exposed me and let me be reserved for a moment?

I don't believe you can recover faster than me.

Believe it or not, I'll use all my strength, transform into a juice-squeezing machine, and make you walk while holding the wall.

Thinking of Cao Yang holding his waist and walking while holding the wall, Dong Xuan couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Cao Yang looked at Dong Xuan, who suddenly laughed, and was a bit confused for a moment. What are you laughing at?

Dong Xuan quickly restrained her unrealistic thoughts, lest she couldn't help but laugh again, and hurriedly changed the subject to distract her attention.

"I read *The Hollywood Reporter* yesterday; it listed *District 9* as one of the biggest favorites for this year's Oscars and said you are the strongest contender for Best Director... Do you have confidence?"

"What if I have confidence?"

Cao Yang smiled and stroked her smooth back, explaining: "The Oscars are different from the three major European festivals. Here, as long as the production company makes up its mind, there is almost nothing that cannot be done; it just depends on whether they are willing to spend a lot of money to operate it."

"Ah?"

!

Dong Xuan couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

She could be considered the one with the least "experience" among Cao Yang's several intimate female companions.

Li Xiaoran, Yu Feihong, and Gao Yuanyuan, as people who had won Best Actress at the three major European festivals and endorsed so many big brands, certainly had more experience in this regard than Dong Xuan.

Even Pang Bing, because she was more famous than Dong Xuan and had many endorsements, also had much more experience than Dong Xuan.

In Dong Xuan's heart, the Oscars had the same prestige as the three major European festivals, and even, in terms of influence, were more popular than the three major European festivals.

How could such a film award, which had prestige and was the most influential in the world, be as unbearable as Cao Yang said?

It was simply unimaginable.

"What, don't believe it?"

Cao Yang slapped Dong Xuan's perky buttocks and said with a smile:

"Let's give a few simple examples. *Titanic* is a very classic romance film, but no matter how classic it is, in terms of artistry, it is absolutely impossible to sweep the Oscars and win 11 major awards at once.

How much artistry do you say *The Lord of the Rings 3* has? Why can such a commercial film also sweep the Oscars?

Let's give another individual example. I don't know if you've heard of Gwyneth Paltrow?"

Dong Xuan thought for a moment and asked softly: "Is it the one who won the Oscar for Best Actress in '99?"

The reason she had such a deep impression of this person was that ever since Gwyneth Paltrow won the Oscar for Best Actress, she had always been dubbed "Water Queen" by the media.

Cao Yang nodded and said:

"Competing with her for the Oscar for Best Actress at the time was Cate Blanchett, who was called the Great Demon King. Cate's performance in *Elizabeth* was very stunning; at that time, no one thought she could defeat Cate to win the Oscar for Best Actress."

"In film awards, isn't it normal for there to be upsets?"

Dong Xuan said weakly.

"The premise of an upset is that the actor's acting skills must at least be online."

Cao Yang shook his head and said: "Let's put it this way, Gwyneth Paltrow's performance makes people very distracted. Additionally, her father was a very famous producer in Hollywood, and her godfather was Spielberg."

There was one more point Cao Yang didn't mention: for *Shakespeare in Love*, for which Gwyneth Paltrow won the Oscar for Best Actress, Harvey Weinstein was one of the producers, and he was also the main controller of the film and responsible for the film's operation.

Let's add another point: during the filming of *Shakespeare in Love*, Brad Pitt was still her boyfriend, and then Pitt went to the set to see his girlfriend once and unilaterally announced the breakup.

Even years later, when Harvey Weinstein's sexual assault scandal broke, Brad Pitt's first reaction was to declare that he was going to kill Harvey...

I don't know what stimulating thing Pitt bumped into back then, so much so that he still had such great resentment toward Harvey years later, and only dared to make harsh remarks after Harvey lost power.

Dong Xuan yawned. Forget it, the Oscars are too far away from me; as long as Cao Yang can win more awards, it's fine, never mind what operation or not.

She had done quite a few high-difficulty movements before, so she was still quite tired; she was sleepy, time to sleep.

As for the previous thought of making Cao Yang walk while holding the wall, forget it; she admitted she didn't have that much ability, so let Li Xiaoran, who also came from a dance background, do it.

Sometimes Dong Xuan also had some doubts: with those two big papayas of Li Xiaoran's, how does she dance? Doesn't she worry about losing her balance when they swing back and forth?

Hmph, thinking about this makes me angry; Cao Yang, this bastard, I don't know if he has other confidantes.

Thinking on the bright side, regardless of whether Cao Yang has other confidantes, at least he hasn't admitted it, nor has he said he has a girlfriend.

Forget it, don't think about it; dreams have everything, time to sleep.

US time February 27, 2005, Jingcheng time February 28, 2005, the 77th Academy Awards held its ceremony at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles.

The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) conducted a live television broadcast.

Regarding the time difference, the broadcast time of the Oscar ceremony was exactly on the morning of February 28, Jingcheng time. CCTV, like in previous years, purchased the broadcast rights.

However, it was still scheduled for broadcast at 21:45 in the evening to show the grand occasion of the ceremony.

In order to give film fans a chance to revisit the excellent films that won Oscar awards, the CCTV Movie Channel specially designated this week as "Oscar-Winning Film Exhibition Week."

Starting from the 21st, every day at 22:00, they presented carefully selected Oscar-winning and nominated films to the audience; this was also the first time CCTV6 had concentrated on playing Oscar-winning films.

These seven films for seven days were in order: *The Milk of Sorrow*, *Gone with the Wind*, *Chariots of Fire*, *Ben-Hur*, *The Sound of Music*, *The French Connection*, and *District 9*.

From this, one could also see that the Movie Channel still attached great importance to Cao Yang; the opening film on the first day was Cao Yang's, and the film on the last day was also Cao Yang's.

They certainly had reasons to attach importance to Cao Yang.

Setting aside Cao Yang's influence, just talking about this time, because *District 9* broke the box office record and received so many Oscar nominations, the advertising slots when CCTV broadcast the Oscars reached a new high.

By the way, according to information Cao Yang received, *The Milk of Sorrow* seemed to be broadcast in an uncut version.

It couldn't be said that it wasn't cut; some scenes that were too perverted were still cut a little bit, but those nude scenes were almost all preserved.

The Movie Channel was still very awesome.

Additionally, one had to sigh that the "Cao Yang Bar" was truly omnipotent; there were all kinds of people in it, and the news that *The Milk of Sorrow* was going to be broadcast in an uncut version was widely circulated in the "Cao Yang Bar."

Because of this, the "daily activity" of the "Cao Yang Bar" went up another level; many people expressed that they wanted to learn some "art" and appreciate it seriously.

Perhaps when *The Milk of Sorrow* is broadcast, it could even set a new viewership high for the same time slot.

By then, Anne Hathaway's popularity in the country would definitely be able to go up several levels, not lower than any first-line international female star.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 220 =====