Chapter 346: Winner

The live stream Sohu is hosting this time is quite interesting; one only needs to look at the guests they’ve invited to see why.

Aside from the host, Sohu invited two guests: one is Cheng Er, and the other is Zhang Yang; both of these guests are directors from the mainland.

However, the two men have completely different educational backgrounds.

Cheng Er is from the 1995 directing class of the Beijing Film Academy.

Zhang Yang is from the 1987 directing class of the Central Academy of Drama.

Since graduating, both have become very promising, cutting-edge directors in the mainland.

Especially Zhang Yang; at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival, although his directed film "Getting Home" did not enter the main competition section, it did win the Panorama section’s Best Film award from the independent jury.

Cheng Er’s 1999 graduation short film, "Criminals," earned him countless international awards, and many in the industry are optimistic about his future.

His first feature-length film, "The Third Person," has currently finished filming and is just waiting for its release.

Setting other things aside, the mere fact of their different educational backgrounds subconsciously creates a sense of opposition, which fits perfectly with the theme of Sohu’s live Oscar broadcast today.

Of course, while it’s called a live stream, Sohu isn’t wealthy enough to purchase the broadcast rights for the Oscars; like Sina, they invited two guests to report the results in real-time according to the awards ceremony’s progress and then provide commentary.

However, unlike Sina, Sohu took a different approach by giving this live commentary a theme that also fits the Oscar theme perfectly: Cao Yang’s "grudges" with Martin Scorsese and Clint Eastwood.

Sohu’s theme is simply the big word "Grudge."

It must be said that Sohu knows how to stir things up these days; the guests they invited can also be categorized under "grudges," not to mention that in their live stream’s text introduction, they highlighted the educational backgrounds behind the two guests' names.

As for why the two guests would come to such an obviously "incendiary" live stream, the reason is actually simple: to promote their films.

Currently, Zhang Yang’s "Getting Home" is being screened domestically and in Xiangjiang; as the director, appearing on a program to promote a film is normal.

Cheng Er’s first feature film has just finished shooting and will definitely be released this year; it is also normal to build some hype and promote it in advance.

For the sake of film promotion, this so-called "incendiary" behavior is nothing.

Haven't you seen how "Little Cannon" often deliberately creates controversial news before his films are released, speaking without restraint, which is how he got the nickname "Little Cannon"?

"Come, let’s look at the final result; the presenter is already opening the envelope, and the winner of Best Adapted Screenplay is..."

The host stopped there, and both Cheng Er and Zhang Yang remained silent, quietly waiting for the result.

For a moment, the live studio was very quiet.

"Congratulations to Director Cao Yang for winning the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay once again."

"Clap, clap, clap..."

All three of them started applauding.

"Director Cheng, you guessed wrong this time; Director Cao Yang defeated Martin Scorsese’s 'The Departed' in a head-to-head matchup to win Best Adapted Screenplay."

The host said with a smile, "Director Zhang predicted it correctly."

Before the awards, the Sohu host would have Cheng Er and Zhang Yang predict the results, which is also a major highlight of this live stream.

Clearly, Cheng Er, who graduated from the Beijing Film Academy, predicted that "The Departed" would win Best Adapted Screenplay, while Zhang Yang, who graduated from the Central Academy of Drama, was more optimistic about "Inception."

Another major highlight of this online live stream is that netizens can participate in real-time and post comments in the section below.

The host saw that among comments like "Congratulations to Cao Yang" and "Cao Yang is awesome," there were comments attacking Cheng Er mixed in.

Logically speaking, Cheng Er, a graduate of the Beijing Film Academy, should be fully supporting Cao Yang.

Cheng Er shook his head with a bitter smile and said, "I really hoped Director Cao wouldn't win this award; it would have been better if 'The Departed' had taken it."

"Oh?"

The host looked at Cheng Er with some surprise, thinking that this pretentious director was young after all to say such a thing; given Cao Yang’s status at the Beijing Film Academy, wasn't he afraid of being roasted by the vast number of netizens or being ostracized by the Beijing Film Academy?

"I can actually understand Director Cheng’s thinking."

Zhang Yang took over the conversation and said.

"Hmm? Can Director Zhang elaborate?" The host quickly followed up.

"Most film festivals around the world have an unwritten rule: films with box office returns that are too high won't be given major awards; some film festivals don't even let high-grossing films enter the competition."

Zhang Yang paused and continued, "Director Cao’s 'Inception' has a global box office of nearly 900 million USD; even in Hollywood, that is a top-tier box office result."

"Is this the reason why, even though 'Inception' received nine Oscar nominations, many industry insiders and media outlets were not very optimistic about it?"

The host followed up.

"Yes, including most North American media; they didn't list 'Inception' as a major favorite for this year's Oscars.

However, 'Inception' is, after all, a very classic film and possesses extremely high artistry and room for contemplation; one cannot ignore its artistry just because the box office is too high.

Additionally, I don't know if everyone has noticed, but in this film, the acting of almost all the main actors is excellent, making you feel that they are that character and should be that way; the performances are extremely convincing.

This is also Director Cao’s greatest strength in coaching actors.

Adding all these up, if they don't give 'Inception' a decent major award, the Oscars would really be questioned by the media and film critics for having a dark side.

Therefore, many industry professionals believe that among the three major awards—Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay—they will inevitably give one to Director Cao."

The host understood Zhang Yang’s meaning, pondered for a moment, and said:

"I understand; this is also the reason why Director Cheng said he didn't want Director Cao Yang to win Best Adapted Screenplay. If he doesn't win this award, it is highly likely that they will give Director Cao either Best Picture or Best Director."

Cheng Er nodded with a bitter smile.

"Best Adapted Screenplay certainly can't compare to Best Picture or Best Director, so to show they value it, the Oscar officials invited heavyweights like Tom Hanks and Helen Mirren as presenters this time."

Many netizens watching the live stream in the comment section silently retracted their insults toward Cheng Er; as for those already sent... well, you get what you get, who told you, Mr. Cheng, not to explain it clearly beforehand?

The host nodded thoughtfully, then looked at Zhang Yang and asked, "So, when Tom Hanks, a two-time consecutive Oscar Best Actor winner, and Helen Mirren appeared, Director Zhang had already guessed the result?"

Zhang Yang hesitated for a moment but still nodded.

Then, he added, "However, for Director Cao, the Oscars' Best Picture and Best Director aren't actually as important as we imagine; Director Cao’s artistic achievements no longer need the Oscars to prove them."

Subsequently, Zhang Yang smiled and explained, "Director Cao already has two Oscar Best Picture awards and one Oscar Best Director award, plus one Best Original Screenplay and one Best Adapted Screenplay; this is already..."

He originally wanted to say that this was an achievement impossible for any Chinese director to reach, but saying that would be a bit offensive, so he forcibly swallowed his words.

"Now it’s one Best Original Screenplay and two Best Adapted Screenplays."

Cheng Er added from the side.

The host also added from the side:

"Perhaps some audience members don't understand why Director Cao has the achievement of two Oscar Best Pictures; they might search through all the films directed by Director Cao and only find that 'Milk' won an Oscar for Best Picture.

I will explain here: 'Juno,' which won Best Picture at the Oscars last year, although not directed by Director Cao, had him as the producer, executive producer, and screenwriter.

Simply put, Hollywood is a producer-centered system; most directors don't have much power, and the producer is the one with the most power in the crew, and the Best Picture award is also presented to the producer.

By the way, for all of Director Cao’s films in Hollywood, he is the producer; this is a privilege only a few great directors have."

"Director Cao is a great director standing at the pinnacle of the pyramid, not only domestically but even in Hollywood," Cheng Er interjected.

Zhang Yang is a straightforward person; he almost blurted out: That’s why this Oscar ceremony is "clout-chasing" off Director Cao, hyping up the "grudges" between Director Cao and Martin Scorsese and Clint Eastwood.

Besides being older than Director Cao, what else do Martin Scorsese and Clint Eastwood have that can compare to Director Cao?

Whether it’s awards from the three major European film festivals and the Oscars, or North American or global box office, Director Cao crushes them both.

Of course, straightforwardness is one thing, but Zhang Yang isn't stupid.

Saying this would definitely lead to crazy attacks from the fans of those two in the country, and might even lead to attacks from those "idiots" who, even if they aren't fans of the two, always feel that the moon is rounder abroad.

The host looked at the latest progress of the Oscars and said, "The Best Costume Design award was just presented; it is a great pity that 'Curse of the Golden Flower' failed to win this award."

Cheng Er thought for a moment and said, "Their crew probably didn't think they could win; no one even went to attend the Oscars this time; it seems they entrusted the North American distributor, Sony Pictures Classics, to go."

"The Oscars are still too difficult for Chinese people."

Zhang Yang sighed, then immediately thought of Cao Yang and quickly added, "That is why Director Cao Yang’s success is even more commendable."

"Next is the presentation for Best Cinematography; what do Director Cheng and Director Zhang think?"

The host asked.

It was time to pick sides again.

"I believe Mr. Gu can win Best Cinematography for the second time," Cheng Er said with a smile, preempting him.

Zhang Yang smiled and shook his head; he actually also felt that Gu Changwei was very likely to win this award.

After all, there are too many classic shots in "Inception," especially the shot where the entire city folds and flips like paper; that is absolutely the most classic, creative, and imaginative visual shot of this century.

One of the highlights of this program is the "confrontation" between the guests; the program team leader had also said beforehand that they must pick sides in predicting the awards.

Zhang Yang thought about it; among the remaining nominated films, the shots in "Pan's Labyrinth" were not bad, but they clearly couldn't compare to "Inception."

No choice, it’s a "confrontation," after all; who told him to be late in answering?

"'Pan's Labyrinth,' I guess."

Zhang Yang didn't explain anything; compared to "Inception," the shots in this film really had nothing to brag about.

"The presenter for Best Cinematography this year is of high caliber; it’s actually Gwyneth Paltrow, who once won Best Actress at the 71st Oscars."

The host said.

Cheng Er smiled and interjected, "It is indeed rare for a Best Actress winner to present Best Cinematography."

"Some friends might not necessarily know who Gwyneth Paltrow is, but if you mention her nickname, especially on the internet, then many people might have teased her."

Zhang Yang said, "Many people on the internet call her the 'Water Queen,' meaning her Oscar for Best Actress was a bit unearned, because competing against her for the Oscar for Best Actress at the time were Meryl Streep and Cate Blanchett.

I don't need to say much about the acting skills of these two; one is called 'Auntie Meryl,' and the other is called the 'Great Demon King,' both absolute powerhouses who have won awards until their hands went soft.

Gwyneth Paltrow winning Best Actress as an upset caused a lot of criticism; actually, her acting in the award-winning film 'Shakespeare in Love' was quite good..."

"Wow! 'Inception,' Mr. Gu Changwei; let us congratulate Mr. Gu for winning the Oscar for Best Cinematography."

The host interrupted Zhang Yang and said loudly.

Subsequently, all three of them started applauding.

"Congratulations to Mr. Gu; this is Mr. Gu’s fourth nomination for an Oscar for Best Cinematography and his second time winning it; it will probably be hard to surpass among Chinese people."

Cheng Er said with a smile while applauding.

Zhang Yang also shook his head with emotion, his heart filled with envy.

This is a classic example of choice being greater than effort.

In the film industry, who doesn't envy the luck of that old guy Gu Changwei?

Back then, this guy basically had no films to shoot, so he could only claim to have an eye ailment and stayed home with almost nothing to do.

His best option was to switch careers and become a director, but that was quite difficult.

Who could have imagined that Cao Yang’s "exclusive" cinematographer Tian Zhuangzhuang happened to quit at that time and went back to the Beijing Film Academy to teach, giving Gu Changwei a massive opportunity.

In the few years following Cao Yang, he was nominated for Best Cinematography at the Oscars three times and won the award twice; fame, fortune, and status all came at once.

Zhang Yang could imagine that as a cinematographer, Gu Changwei would definitely go down in Chinese film history; no one could shake his position.

He really had a stroke of blind luck.

Even looking at Hollywood, looking at the whole world, no matter who is ranking cinematographers, Gu Changwei is a figure you cannot bypass.

The top three might be slightly controversial due to different ranking methods, but there is certainly no doubt about the top five.

"Although there aren't many Chinese participating in this year's Oscars, and only four Chinese were nominated, looking at it now, it definitely counts as a grand ceremony."

The host smiled and said: "Besides 'Curse of the Golden Flower' missing out on Best Costume Design, Huang Haipeng won Best Sound Mixing, Gu Changwei won Best Cinematography, and Director Cao Yang won Best Adapted Screenplay."

"All of them are from the Beijing Film Academy."

Cheng Er added with a smile.

Zhang Yang opened his mouth, wanting to say something to add some luster to his alma mater, the Central Academy of Drama, but unfortunately, the only internationally presentable person from the Central Academy of Drama, Zhang Ziyi, didn't even attend this year's Oscars.

Actually, even if she had attended, she couldn't have added luster to her alma mater because she had no nominated works this year.

Because the Beijing Film Academy produced a Cao Yang, it has brought too much honor to the school.

For a moment, Zhang Yang was very envious of the Beijing Film Academy; he could imagine that with Cao Yang's current status and influence, the Beijing Film Academy would only get better and better, becoming the sole leader in the country.

This point has actually already been realized.

Look at the number of applicants and the scores for the Beijing Film Academy over the past two years; they have steadily surpassed the Central Academy of Drama and the Shanghai Theatre Academy by a wide margin, and the gap is already hard to bridge.

In the past, when people mentioned domestic film and television schools, the Beijing Film Academy and the Central Academy of Drama were mentioned in the same breath; but now? No one would think the Central Academy of Drama is qualified to be mentioned alongside the Beijing Film Academy.

The Beijing Film Academy has the world-class top director Cao Yang, the world-class top producer Cao Yang, the world-class top screenwriter Cao Yang, directors with international influence like Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige, and the world-class top cinematographer Gu Changwei.

Now we must add the internationally influential sound designer Huang Haipeng—the Oscar for Best Sound Mixing is not just talk.

And there is the internationally influential producer Cheng Jianye—'Juno', for which he was sent by Cao Yang to serve as executive producer, won the Oscar for Best Picture.

Even in the area of actors, where the Central Academy of Drama was once most proficient, the Beijing Film Academy now has two Venice Best Actresses, Yu Feihong and Dong Xuan.

In this regard, although the Central Academy of Drama has Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi, which seems like they could contend, they lack a heavyweight international Best Actress award like Zhang Ziyi, so the Central Academy of Drama is slightly inferior.

Sigh...

The more Zhang Yang thought about it, the more uncomfortable he felt.

"Next, famous film stars Naomi Watts and Robert Downey Jr. will serve as presenters to award Best Visual Effects. What are your thoughts, you two?"

The host asked.

It was time to pick sides again.

Zhang Yang couldn't help but complain internally; did this even need to be asked? Just based on the visual effects of the street flipping in 'Inception', what do 'Poseidon' and 'Superman Returns' have to compare with it?

Based on the shot of Superman lifting the plane?

"'Inception'."

Zhang Yang hurriedly answered first.

Who knew that Cheng Er had the same thought, and almost in unison with Zhang Yang, said 'Inception'.

Now it was the host's turn to be stunned.

However, as a professional host, his professional conduct was certainly not lacking.

He acted as if there was no such thing as picking sides and smiled, saying: "It seems both Director Cheng and Director Zhang are very optimistic about 'Inception', so..."

After a few seconds of silence, waiting for the presenters to announce the final result, the host laughed and said: "Congratulations to Director Cao Yang, congratulations to 'Inception', for winning the Best Visual Effects award once again."

"I calculated it; Director Cao's 'Inception' has already won four major awards, right?"

Cheng Er asked with a smile.

Zhang Yang thought for a moment and nodded.

"Of the nine nominations for 'Inception', five have already been awarded. Aside from missing out on Best Sound Editing, the awards for Best Sound Mixing, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Visual Effects have all been secured."

Then, the few of them looked at each other; was this the 'Inception' that the media didn't favor beforehand?

Was this the 'Inception' that was rumored to be unable to win major awards because its box office was too high?

Even if the remaining four nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Original Score were all lost, no one would think 'Inception' failed at the Oscars, right?

This already counts as the big winner tonight, okay?

As if to confirm their guesses, except for winning Best Original Score thanks to Hans Zimmer's extraordinary performance, 'Inception' missed out on the remaining few major awards.

And Martin Scorsese, with the film 'The Departed', won both Best Picture and Best Director in one fell swoop, finally fulfilling his dream of missing out on Best Director for many years.

The "grudge" between the three major directors hyped up by this year's Oscars ended with Martin Scorsese having the last laugh, winning the two biggest awards, Best Picture and Best Director, out of four nominations.

Furthermore, when presenting him with Best Director, three major directors—Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas—were dispatched.

That was giving him plenty of face.

Cao Yang can also be considered one of the winners; nine nominations yielded five awards. This was probably the surprise that current Oscar president Sid Ganis gave to Cao Yang and Tom Rothman.

After all, Tom Rothman is about to become the global vice president of Sony Pictures, which counts as a promotion.

As an old friend and partner of Tom Rothman, Sid Ganis had to show something—Tom Rothman and Columbia put in a lot of effort for him to successfully be elected as Academy president and Oscar president.

And 'Inception', for which Tom Rothman is the credited producer, was one of Sid Ganis's returns to Tom Rothman.

For a classic film like 'Inception', no one would object to it winning a few technical awards.

This is considered legitimate.

Only Director Eastwood only received a consolatory technical award like Best Sound Editing.

However, this award was won by "narrowly beating" 'Inception', which can be considered as saving a bit of face.

Just like Cao Yang's Best Adapted Screenplay was won by "narrowly beating" 'The Departed'.

The Oscars are actually very good at dividing the cake.

After the Oscar awards ceremony ended, it was the famous Oscar banquet.

Interestingly, Zhang Ziyi was not seen at the Oscar awards ceremony, but she was seen at the Oscar celebration banquet.

That's right, Zhang Ziyi had no works nominated for the Oscars and was not a presenter, so there was no way to see her at the Oscar awards ceremony.

The Oscar celebration banquet was different; she was brought over by someone.

"Congratulations to Director Cao for achieving good results tonight. Let me introduce you; this is my boyfriend Vivi Nevo, you can just call him Vivi."

Zhang Ziyi walked over, arm-in-arm with a short foreigner, and greeted Cao Yang.

However, her tone seemed a bit arrogant, which could be seen from her saying Cao Yang achieved "good" results.

You have to know that these are five Oscar awards, making it the film with the most wins tonight; in her mouth, it was just "good".

Afterwards, she continued: "Vivi is the largest private investor in Goldman Sachs, the largest individual shareholder of Time Warner, and also has huge shares in The Weinstein Company."

This sounded like she was showing off.

She thought Cao Yang was just a director in Hollywood, at most a well-known big director, and couldn't compare to the status of her new boyfriend.

It seems she still doesn't understand Hollywood.

(End of chapter)