Birth of an actor

This is William's first time backstage at the Oscars.

It's not that he hasn't received invitations from the academy to present awards in the past few years, it's just that he has become less and less interested in the extra exposure, and he doesn't need to compete regularly on the red carpet like actresses, showing that Only with extraordinary fashion taste can we get better fashion resources, so those invitations were basically declined by Amon Goffman.

However, William's name is already on the list of guests for next year's Oscars, because as this year's Best Actor Oscar winner, he will also present awards to the next best actress.

Following Julia Roberts, William walked through the busy staff backstage, received congratulations from several guests who were waiting to present the awards or had already finished presenting the awards, walked through the long and curved passage, and chatted with others standing at the door of the dressing room The stars greeted each other, passed by the lounge filled with flowers, champagne and snacks, and came to the door of a media reception room.

"You can go to the media reception room to stay for a while, chat and take a few photos. After the award ceremony, the winners will be interviewed in it." Julia Roberts pointed to the left and right directions and explained enthusiastically Said: "If you want to go back to the main hall, you can go back to the end of the right aisle. After the film review short film is over, the best picture award will be presented. I remember "A Beautiful Mind" and "Lord of the Rings". Selected, maybe Will you prefer to go back to your seat and wait for the result?"

There have long been rumors in the industry that although Julia Roberts has a tense relationship with her family, she is extremely good at the workplace, and has a very good popularity in Hollywood and a wide circle of friends.After a few contacts, William didn't wonder why the other party was so good at accumulating contacts - when a superstar or a beautiful woman is so warm and friendly to you, it's hard not to have a good impression of her - although he wasn't sure that Zhu Isn't Leah Roberts so gracious to everyone she meets in Hollywood.

William glanced into the media reception room, where a group of photojournalists and several technical award winners stood, and there was a small stage, which was probably used for contracts and backstage interviews of Oscar winners.He nodded to Julia Roberts and thanked: "Thanks, Julia, I'll just do it myself."

"I'll see you at the Vanity Fair party later, Will." Julia Roberts gave William another smile before turning away and going to the nearest lounge.

William turned into the corridor leading to the main hall. When he passed an empty dressing room, he looked around, walked in, closed the door, and took out his mobile phone.Sure enough, it was full of text messages and emails, and there were many voicemail messages. William didn't read the content, but just browsed quickly in the sender column. I saw Lance's name.

Although the content of the text message was only "I'm proud of you", it was the best congratulations William had heard this year, and he called back without hesitation.

Lance picked up the ring before it finished ringing, as if he had been staring at the phone waiting for the screen to light up: "Hi, Will."

"Guess where I called you?"

"Backstage at Oscar."

"Correct. How do you know?"

"Because I didn't see you on TV, your seat is empty." There was a recognizable joy in Lance's voice: "Although you must have seen the text message, I still have to say, congratulations, Will .”

"Oh, thank you." William said, rubbing his inexplicably hot right ear: "Are you still watching the live broadcast?"

"Obviously. But the TV's going to be off soon, and New York is—five minutes to two in the morning, and I'm going to Wall Street in seven hours for a survey."

William became serious: "What trouble has arisen?"

"Don't be nervous, Will, it's not a big deal." Lance explained: "In the aftermath of the Enron incident, many companies that were accounted for by Arthur Andersen will be investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. A company is a client of this firm, so it has to participate in the investigation, but the company's accounts are clean, and the investigation should be over soon."

Enron used to be the largest energy company in the world, with assets worth hundreds of billions of dollars. It reported amazing profits and its stock price was rising steadily.But the reality is that Enron’s profitability is extremely low, and it also bears a huge debt of 130 billion U.S. dollars. In order to seek personal gain, the board of directors has colluded with Andersen accounting firm to make false accounts and falsely report profits all the year round, and promote the rise of the stock price. On the one hand, it is convenient for the senior management Secretly selling stocks to make money, on the other hand, maintaining a good company stock price and credit rating, the company can continue to maintain operations with bank loans.

When the global economy was in good condition, no one had discovered Enron’s fake account profit model. However, after the millennium, the global economy entered a period of downturn. Enron still maintained a high profit report while operating poorly. When the doubts snowballed, the company's stock price inevitably fell, and the fake accounts leaked. Then, like an avalanche, scandals such as debts, fake accounts, and high-level stealing of stocks were exposed. It came out that in just over a month, Enron's market value fell from 800 billion US dollars to 2 million US dollars, and it had to apply for bankruptcy protection to the New York Bankruptcy Court four months ago.

The bankruptcy of Enron also created the largest corporate bankruptcy case in American history. This is the "Enron Incident", or "Enron Scandal".As another protagonist of the scandal, in the 90s accounting firm rankings, Andersen Accounting Firm, which ranked No. [-] in the world, was also forced to dissolve within a few months after Enron's bankruptcy, and its global business was taken over by other accounting firms. annexed.

The company under William's name has never had any business dealings with Arthur Andersen, and the accounting audits are also done by other accounting firms, such as PricewaterhouseCoopers and the like.Hearing what Lance said, he felt a little relieved. Just as he was about to speak, he suddenly remembered something: "Lance, when you were involved in the investigation, did you meet the senior executives of AOL-Time Warner?"

"Yes, I did meet two very important VPs, including Chief Financial Officer Michael Kelley, who, as far as I know, is the ex-AOL executive who played a key role in the merger of the century. It played a big role." Lance's tone became more and more thoughtful, and he understood what William wanted to say.

"Are you trying to say that former AOL executives are also under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission? Because they may have made fake accounts when they acquired Time Warner?" Lance guessed, then asked himself: "It's very possible After Enron went bankrupt, accounting scandals broke out at several other large companies that Andersen worked with, which led to Andersen being forced to dissolve. As far as I know, America Online was once the largest customer of Andersen. Andersen has been doing the audit of this company since then.”

Coincidentally, William and Lance fell silent together.

They were thinking the same thing—Time Warner is an 80-year-old company with strong capital, and even after deducting its debt, its market value at the turn of the millennium was worth hundreds of billions of dollars.However, America Online has only been established for more than ten years, and the company can develop rapidly by relying on the wave of technology. The main business is only dial-up Internet access, and the foundation is very weak.The equity allocation after the merger of the two companies is determined based on their respective market values ​​when the merger was announced in January 2000. Whichever has the higher market value will get more equity.

Will America Online make fake accounts to increase the market value of its own company in order to become the dominant player of the new company after the merger?I am afraid that only AOL executives are aware of this matter, but what everyone knows is that after the successful merger of the two companies, AOL shareholders obtained 55% of the new company's shares, and Time Warner shareholders obtained 45%.

Lance's tone was subtle: "Wall Street now has no idea that AOL-Time Warner is under investigation."

"If the news gets out..."

"AOL-Time Warner's stock price may plummet again." Lance said in a decisive tone: "Infighting will also intensify."

After the merger of AOL and Time Warner, there have been disputes in the board of directors. This is not a secret in the business circle. One reason is that many old shareholders of Time Warner think that the name of the new company is problematic. It is incomprehensible to put it in front of Time Warner, because the brand value of the latter is much higher than that of the former.

The second reason is that after the company merged, the stock only rose on the first day, and then fell all the way with the burst of the Internet economic bubble. So far, AOL-Time Warner's stock price has shrunk by 75%, from the total market value A super company with more than 2000 billion US dollars has fallen to tens of billions of dollars.Under such circumstances, many shareholders of Time Warner think that the acquisition of Time Warner is selling itself too cheaply and that they will lose a lot. If they wait until the stock price of AOL starts to fall before starting the merger, the share distribution of AOL-Time Warner will be absolutely absolute. It won't be what it is now.

Two reasons, plus some battles over the right to speak on the board of directors and important positions in the company, AOL-Time Warner has been very lively recently. If the stock price continues to plummet and the value of shareholders shrinks further...it is unimaginable that there will be internal strife what it looks like.

However, this is an opportunity for those who are interested.For example, William, who has been following the trends of AOL-Time Warner.

"The Internet economy will continue to rise, and maybe the next rise will be more frenzied than two years ago. This is one of the reasons why I have always disagreed with your idea of ​​reducing your shareholding in Google. As for Time Warner, the stock is completely taken over. The current economic situation and the merger partner have dragged it down, and Warner’s earnings have been excellent these years, and it won’t be in the doldrums for too long.” William thought about it, and then came to a conclusion: “After the stock price starts to plummet, we will contact those shareholders who want to sell their stocks. Buy as much as you can."

"Will, I'm a little confused now, are you interested in DC comics or Time Warner?"

"Of course it's all."

"In that case, maybe I can talk to Ted Turner over brunch about it, I know he's been trying to sell for a while, and he's going to have a hard time sitting down if the stock goes down again recently. .”

Ted Turner, a media tycoon, the founder of the cable network TNT and the cable news network CNN. Later, Time Warner brought TNT and CNN under its umbrella through mergers and acquisitions. Leaped to become Time Warner's largest individual shareholder, and served as Time Warner's vice president for many years.

"waiting for your good news."

"Will, I think you have to hang up," Lance said. "You should go back to the awards show. A Beautiful Mind won best picture."

……

When William returned to the main hall, the trophy was already in the hands of Brian Grazer, the producer of "A Beautiful Mind". He didn't know who presented the award, but luckily he didn't miss the acceptance speech.

Quickly walking back to his seat, William wanted to be a quiet audience member, but his position was too conspicuous—in the middle of the first row—just as he was seated, the main creators of the film shouted "Will come up!" Share the honor with us!", pulling him onto the stage.

——The best picture is the biggest finale award of the Oscars. Although the producer and director always receive the award on their behalf, the reward is indeed everyone involved in the film production process, the entire film team.So often, the best picture award recipient team is also the most spectacular, ranging from seven or eight people to as many as 27 or eight. Everyone who has contributed to the film is eligible to stand on the stage to accept this honor .

After exchanging a few hugs with everyone, William stood still behind Ron Howard, and his statuette trophy was passed around in the hands of others. Many people were even more excited than William himself. Holding the statuette in his hand, he scrutinized it repeatedly, patting William on the shoulder and saying loudly, "Congratulations! Will.", "I'm so happy for you!" and "Great job!".

The producer of "A Beautiful Mind" Brian Grazer was the first to speak. He mainly thanked the film's producer and distributor DreamWorks and Universal, and praised Ron Howard as an excellent partner and a very talented biopic Master, when talking about William, Brian Glazer is full of praise: "Will is a miracle, he is talented, hardworking, humble, and dedicated. It is my honor to work with him. If it weren't for him, now I am I wouldn’t stand here.” Then I thanked other actors, screenwriters and family members.

Probably because Brian Grazer's speech was too long, or it might be that Ron Howard had already finished what he wanted to say when he won the best director. When he spoke, Howard's acknowledgment was only one sentence: "God bless, thank you support." The simplicity is to the extreme.But judging from Ron Howard's slightly trembling voice and his hands clenched on the trophy, he is definitely not at peace at this moment.

Afterwards, Brian Grazer and Ron Howard held up their trophies, the Kodak Theater erupted with applause like a tsunami for the last time tonight, and No.70's [-]th Academy Award Ceremony officially came to an end.

At this time, it was almost two o'clock in the morning on the east coast of the United States, and it was past eleven o'clock on the west coast, but the excitement of the night had just begun.

"New York Times", "Los Angeles Times", "Variety Show", "Hollywood Report", "The Times"... From the United States to Canada and other countries, I don’t know how many newspaper offices have brightly lit editorial offices, and editors are racing against time to write The manuscripts related to the Oscars finally settled, with eye-catching headlines, carefully proofread and sent to the printing room, so that the reports can be distributed in every newsstand in every city before dawn .

The response of traditional media is relatively slow, and the Internet has long been a sleepless carnival.

AO Scott, Roger Ebert, Todd McCarthy, Stephen Hunter, Joe Morgenstern... Each of the well-known film critics in the United States has updated their website or blog home page Awards results, and expressed their views.

The discussion boards of IMDB, HSO.Com, HitFix and other websites have already been flooded with Oscar-related topics.

"Five statuettes! "A Beautiful Mind" is the biggest winner tonight!"

"As he deserves, Will has become the youngest Oscar winner in history! Fans who like him come in and sign in, let us cheer for him!"

"In fairness, isn't this the Oscar with the most off-court scenes, the biggest reversal, and the most astonishing results?"

"The news from the roadside news agency, the Oscar ratings record has been refreshed again - the moment William Bradley won the best actor, the highest ratings in an instant surpassed that of "Titanic"!"

"Did anyone notice the expressions of the losers when the winners were announced? Especially Denzel Washington?"

……

"Will, can you talk about how you felt when you became the Oscar winner?"

The front stage of the Oscars has all ended, and the backstage excitement has just begun. As soon as the winners returned to the backstage, they were surrounded by media reporters who had been waiting for a long time. They took photos with the trophies and other winners. It has become a practice after every Academy Awards to accept a short interview.

William took a group photo with actress Halle Berry, took photos with other performance award winners, took photos with the winners of "A Beautiful Mind" and "Lord of the Rings" crews, and took several photos with the trophy, Just when he was being interviewed, the reporters who swarmed and blocked him couldn't wait to throw out several questions.

"'Brain went blank' is probably the best way to describe it. I was in shock when the results were announced and then somehow walked onto the stage with a microphone in front of me and about 3000 people looking at me—" William looked at the Oscar statuette in his right hand: "Actually, looking at it now, I still feel a little weird. I can't believe it really happened."

"We can all testify that this trophy really belongs to you!" seemed to be the Washington Post reporter loudly, which sparked the first wave of promises and laughter from the surrounding media.

The reporter of ABC TV immediately asked: "Will, what is the secret of winning the Oscar? Is it also inspiring to other young actors?"

"Persevere, I think." William blinked his left eye at the reporter, and his tone was a little teasing: "Persist until the academy will give you the trophy."

Everyone laughed, whistled and clapped.

"About the next movie, do you already have plans?" a reporter from "Variety Show" asked.

"There is no shooting plan, and I haven't seen a satisfactory script yet." William shook his head: "Maybe I will take a break first and give myself a vacation."

"Will, here!" The reporter of "USA Today" finally grabbed a chance to ask a question: "After winning the award, did you share this happy news with others? Who did you call first?"

"Of course, I called my best friend." William replied with a smile: "I will talk to my mother later to share the joy."

"Best friend? Which one?" The reporter of "USA Today" was stunned for a moment and then asked, but his question was drowned out by the scrambling questions of other media reporters - the backstage interview of each winner It’s only a short few minutes, but there are dozens of media outlets here, and all the reporters want William Bradley to answer their own questions. They are simply competing for who can ask the loudest questions——"USA Today" After the reporter can no longer get attention, he can only give up his own questions. At this moment, he has not realized what kind of truth he is passing by.

……

The gold mirror-like champagne bottle reflects a slim figure. The off-the-shoulder champagne-colored dress is light and thin, with a gauze style, light-gold short hair and cherry-colored lips, full of the retro style of the 20s.

Then the slender figure gradually approached, and the mirror-like body of the bottle reflected a face belonging to Renee Zellweger.

Renee Zellweger also saw herself reflected in the mirror of the bottle body. She took a photo secretly, and after confirming that her hairstyle was not messed up, her lips were sweet and plump, and her teeth were as white as shellfish, she smiled in satisfaction. He picked up a glass of champagne from the side, and while shaking the liquid in the glass, he stared at the entrance of the banquet hall as unobtrusively as possible.

The person she was looking forward to hadn't appeared yet—she who lost the Oscar had enough reasons not to come to the party, but she came and dressed so beautifully, of course she had a goal—Renee Zellweger had no choice but to focus on Put it at the party, and glance towards the entrance from time to time.

She is now in the ballroom of the Sunset Tower Hotel in Los Angeles. Vanity Fair chose this place as the venue for the Oscar night party this year, and spent a lot of money—just look at the six-liter giant black box that she just looked at in the mirror. Peach A gold champagne is known, and the glass of Louis Roederer crystal champagne in her hand is also a six-liter bottle of vintage champagne. The selling price of a bottle is tens of thousands of dollars, and the invited tonight There are more than a few hundred guests, and the cost of drinks alone may cost hundreds or even tens of millions of dollars.

With such extravagant money, coupled with the gimmick of Oscar's name, and the strictly controlled media, it is no wonder that the scale of the dinner party of "Vanity Fair" magazine is getting bigger and bigger every year, and most of Hollywood's celebrities are caught. Without a certain reputation and status, it is difficult to get even an invitation letter.

Look at the active people at the dinner party at the moment, the most popular film and TV stars in Hollywood, the media tycoons hugging their beautiful "frozen age" wives, the singer kings and queens who have won one or N Grammys, socializing Celebrities, sports stars, fashion designers, executives of multinational companies, and of course supermodels with proud faces and figures are indispensable for every Hollywood party, and they also undertake the tasks of vases and bait.

Of course, since it’s called the Oscar Dinner, the focus of the banquet is the Oscar winners who have just won the statuette. Among them, the winners of the performance awards are especially sought after, especially the status of the newly promoted Oscar winners and actresses at the party Like the king and queen at the high school prom.

Although the king has not yet appeared at the "Vanity Fair" party, there is only the queen who is full of stars.

From Renee Zellweger's vantage point, Halle Berry can be seen, standing with her admirers, presumably enjoying the compliments, not wearing what she wore at the Oscars The semi-see-through long dress was replaced with a dark blue suspender dress—just like Renee Zellweger herself, Halle Berry probably went directly to the hotel to rest after coming out of the Kodak Theater Dress up and hit the Vanity Fair Oscar night party without a break.

Oscar's first black actress seems to have not recovered from the aftermath of the award ceremony. Her face is full of dreamy joy, and at the same time, her hands are tightly clutching her statuette, as if afraid to let go of it It would have disappeared—in fact, Renee Zellweger could testify that she hadn't let go of her grip on the trophy since the party started.

Taking a sip of champagne, Renee Zellweger lowered her head to cover up the disdain on her face, and when she raised her head again, she had her trademark easy-going and friendly smile again.

"What's your first glass of champagne? This is my third glass." Nicole Kidman appeared with a glass of champagne half-drunk, drank it down, and put the empty glass on the On the bar next to Renee Zellweger: "I'm afraid there are already rumors about my frustration and drinking."

Renee Zellweger and Nicole Kidman are not familiar with each other, but she will not refuse the kindness delivered to her door, she raised her head and drank the champagne in her hand, and said straightforwardly: "Then let them enjoy themselves Gossip about two frustrated women getting drunk."