Huayu: From an ordinary person to a happy director

Chapter 74 Oscar Awards

The Oscars Film Festival is naturally attended by journalists from all over the world, including domestic journalists.

Reporters looked at Shi Lei walking on the red carpet and whispered to each other.

"Hey, do you think "Million Dollar Baby" can win an award? It has seven nominations, it can't be zero wins, right?" a tall and thin reporter asked his bald colleague next to him.

"Who can say for sure? Director Shi is from the mainland, so it's not certain that he is deliberately trying to disgust you."

"No way..." The tall and thin reporter felt it was a little impossible.

"Who knows! Some people in North America look down on people from mainland China. I have encountered some discrimination here..." The bald reporter was very pessimistic.

"The movie has good reputation and box office, so it should be awarded!"

"It's hard to say, Director Shi is from mainland China..."

"Isn't Wu Baige also from the mainland?"

"They are different. Wu Baige is from the Hong Kong circle, while Director Shi is from the mainland."

"This... Columbia will help!"

The bald reporter hesitated for a moment and said, "It should be possible. There may be a Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor award."

"What about the other big prizes?" The tall and thin man seemed a little unwilling.

"Well... there's a lot of room for improvement." A bald reporter squeezed out this sentence.

no way.

The full name of Oscar is the Academy Awards of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Leading the way is North America.

It is certain that people will favor their own people.

Nowadays, the biggest award won by Chinese filmmakers, including those from Hong Kong and Taiwan, in the Oscar world is the Best Foreign Language Film.

"What if it works!" The tall and thin reporter still held on to a glimmer of hope.

After hearing this, the bald reporter couldn't help but touch his broad forehead.

"suck!"

"It would be great if Director Shi could win the Best Director award. He would definitely be promoted to the top director in China! Given his age, he has a bright future!"

"Do you think it's possible?" The third reporter who had been silent couldn't help but said, "It would be great if we could win the Best Picture award as a producer with another North American producer. No, thank God."

"Okay, stop bragging and hurry up and take pictures. Take pictures of everyone walking on the red carpet. No matter if the pictures are useful or not, just take them first." The bald reporter also felt that there was little hope and stopped the topic.

The crew of "Million Dollar Baby" was placed in a relatively forward position, and I don't know if it was because of Columbia or because "Million Dollar Baby" had many nominations.

The crew mainly consists of six people, Hans (producer), Shi Lei (producer and director), Hilary Swank (female lead), Viggo Mortensen (male lead), Morgan Freeman (supporting role), and Joel Cox (editor).

While waiting for the award ceremony to begin, several people were chatting secretly.

"Shi, do you think I have a chance to win the Best Actor award?" Viggo Mortensen seemed very excited, looking around, his breathing still a little unsteady.

"Do you think I have a chance to win the Best Director award?" Shi Lei asked instead of answering.

Although he held out a glimmer of hope, he knew it was slim. After the nominations were announced, Hans and he'd focus primarily on the Best Picture award.

Although there is some input in the Best Director award, it is almost nothing.

So even though he has normal fantasies in his mind, he won't show them.

And he wasn’t close to Viggo Mortensen.

Viggo Mortensen, Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings, he didn't know how Columbia talked to Viggo Mortensen to let him play the coach in the movie at the cost of pretending to be old.

You have to know that "Million Dollar Baby" is a female-led drama, and the audience's attention is mainly focused on the female lead. The male lead doesn't have much room to perform. Although he is called the male lead, his role is actually the supporting actor.

During the previous filming, he only regarded Viggo Mortensen as an actor who was paid to act in the film, and did not deliberately make friends with him.

The main reason was that he was not famous enough at the time and the cost of making friends with him was too high, so after the film was finally finished, the two of them just had an ordinary relationship.

"Shi, just pretend I didn't ask." Viggo Mortensen stopped asking.

He couldn't say such things against his conscience.

Let’s not talk about Shi Lei’s identity.

Let's take the nominees for Best Director this time: The Aviator, Martin Skogaus.

Taylor Hackford, Soul.

The Winery Life, Alexander Payne.

Vera Drake, Mike Leigh.

They are all excellent works, and these directors are all very experienced directors. Just considering their age and filming experience, I don’t want to give the Best Director award to Shi Lei.

No matter which director wins the Best Director award, it will be more convincing than Shi Lei.

The competition is too great!
The probability of Shi Lei winning the prize is less than one in ten thousand.

Hilary Swank suddenly asked, "Do you think I will win the award?"

Her voice was trembling, and everyone could hear her nervousness.

"Your chance of winning is 99.9%, and the remaining 0.1% is due to force majeure," Shi Lei said confidently.

"Thank you, Director Shi!" Hilary Swank expressed her sincere gratitude.

Although she has already won the Best Actress award once, who doesn't want to win another award?

Moreover, "Million Dollar Baby" is a drama with a female lead. The award can greatly increase her salary for future films, allowing her to get rid of her status as a vase and become an actress who can carry the box office.

The few of them did not continue chatting. Time passed quickly and soon the theater was full of people.

Shi Lei saw many big Hollywood stars.

Either they are nominated or they come to the event as invited guests.

After the symphony orchestra's performance, the host came on stage.

"Welcome to the 77th Academy Awards."

While welcoming people, the host interspersed some jokes, making the people in the audience laugh from time to time.

To be honest, when it comes to humor, there are huge differences between Eastern and Western cultures.

Shi Lei didn't understand, but he still pretended to laugh.

Until the awards ceremony begins.

The first award was for Best Supporting Actress, and it went to Cate Blanchett of The Aviator, who played Galadriel, Queen of the Elf in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

Next, the awards came out one after another.

"Million Dollar Baby" was nominated for Best Editing, but did not win the award, which was won by "The Aviator".

When it came to the Best Actress award, Shi Lei's mind focused.

This is the award that Million Dollar Baby has the highest chance of winning.

"There are nominees for Best Actress."

"Hilary Swank from Million Dollar Baby.

Annette Bening in "Being Julia".

Catalina Sandino Moreno in "Ave Maria".

Imelda Staunton in "Vera Drake".

Kate Winslet in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind."

"The winner of the 77th Academy Award for Best Actress is our boxer Hilary Swank. Her spirit of not giving up on her dreams is worth learning from."

"Congratulations to Million Dollar Baby and Hilary Swank!"

The director's camera suddenly turned to Hilary Swank from the crew of "Million Dollar Baby".

Hilary Swank stood up excitedly, went on stage to receive the award, and thanked many people at the same time.

Among them, special thanks were given to Shi Lei.

"I want to thank Shi Lei, who was the producer, director and screenwriter of Million Dollar Baby. If it weren't for his persistence, I wouldn't have gotten the role of Maggie."

(End of this chapter)