Made in Hollywood

"When adapting other people's stories, it takes great talent to preserve the spirit of the original and adapt it into a great script."

Standing on the stage, Sofia Coppola casually spoke the words prepared by the organizer, "Few people have this kind of talent, but this year there are many excellent screenwriters who have presented wonderful stories on the screen. superior."

With that said, she turned to the big screen, "The nominees for Best Adapted Screenplay are - Brolio Mantovani, "City of God," Robert Pasini, American Glory, Duke Rosenberg, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Brian Helgeland, Mystic River."

Sofia Coppola opened the envelope and glanced down, her eyes locked on Duke immediately, "I am honored to announce that the winner is Duke Rosenberg, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King!"

"Congratulations!" She clapped her palms.

This result can be said to have no surprises. The Kodak Theater instantly burst into warm applause. Duke smiled and stood up slowly. Ivanka first gave a big hug and kissed him lightly on the left cheek.

"Congratulations, dear!"

She let go of her arms, and Duke hugged his mother again, clapped the crew one by one, and hurried onto the stage.

"Duke, congratulations."

Seeing Sofia Coppola open her arms, Duke hugged her tightly again, then took the second Oscar statuette in his life and stood in front of the microphone.

"I would first like to thank Tolkien, without Tolkien's great trilogy, there would be no Lord of the Rings movie, and I would not be standing here. I would also like to thank the writing team at Duke Studios, who are equally The key to the success of the script. Finally, thank you to my family and friends. They are always encouraging me to keep going.”

Duke didn't say much. After a brief acceptance speech, under the leadership of Miss Ceremonies, together with Sofia Coppola, walked into the backstage.

"Very simple testimonial."

Entering the backstage, Sophia said as she walked. "It's shorter than I thought."

Duke laughed. "Because it will give you more time to chat."

Sophia rolled her eyes silently and revealed directly, "I think you left your words on the best director."

Walking to the interview area, Sophia did not stop, waved to Duke, and went directly into the corridor leading to the hall, while Duke stayed for routine interviews.

reporters who interviewed him. It also seemed to feel that there would be better opportunities later, and the questions asked were more routine.

Seeing Duke's figure disappearing at the entrance to the backstage, Norman Miller quickly turned his head to look at the computer. After waiting for more than ten seconds, he refreshed it, and the circle of friends was crowded with new information.

"This is the ninth golden statue!"

"Nine consecutive hits! The 100% winning rate is terrifying!"

"I think Duke has a chance to break the record, if the next three awards can be won."

"The best original song is not a big problem. "The Last Farewell" has a great advantage, the key is the best director and the best picture. If you can't win these two awards, the nine golden statuettes will also be a failure for "The Return of the King" ."

The last one was also Roger Albert's idea. When the hated director took over the statue, he tried to adjust his breathing rhythm, forcibly controlled his blood pressure not to rise, and comforted himself with the last two awards. He hasn't failed yet, has he?

"Nine statuettes." Megan Ellison frowned and said to his brother, "David, will he be the winner tonight?"

"According to Michael Ovitz's analysis, it does." David Ellison sighed. "Although I don't want to see it, Duke Rosenberg is definitely not something that film critics can stop. The group of professional film critics can't compare to us!"

David Ellison also looked down on those vampires, just like every time Oracle launched a new database software, so-called experts always jumped out to sing bad, as if Oracle Civilization would go bankrupt because of the failure of this software, and finally The result is that the software is sold, and the experts selectively forget those remarks.

Duke has returned to the Kodak Theater and handed over the golden statue to his mother. Mrs. Leah has a rare bright smile. Duke's success is her greatest pride!

"We just got the tenth statuette!"

As soon as he sat down, Ivanka couldn't wait to hold his hand, "Billy Boyd and Howard Shaw won the best original song!"

"That's great news!" Duke nodded.

At this point in the award ceremony, it is nearing the end. "The Return of the King" has won ten golden statues with ten nominations, and has become the biggest winner now.

But Duke is very clear that not getting the best director and the best picture, even if there are ten statues, is still a failure.

However, the three awards that are closely linked to the best picture - best cinematography, best editing and best adapted screenplay - have already arrived, and the best picture is basically no suspense, and now the biggest question is his best director. .

His biggest enemy is that since the birth of the Oscars, no director has ever won the best director for a film that is not realistic.

Before that, the first to be awarded is the best actor and actress.

"Best Actress winner is Charlize Theron "The Devil"!"

"The Best Actor winner is Sean Penn, Mystic River!"

As Duke remembered, both Sean Penn and Charlize Theron were crowned Best Actor and Best Actor by virtue of their extraordinary roles. Personally, it is not difficult to come to a conclusion - it is really very, very difficult to win the Oscar for acting with a character with normal spirit or appearance!

"It's our turn!"

Ivanka grabbed Duke's hand tightly and seemed very nervous. Mrs. Leah, who was sitting on Duke's other side, also had a serious face. She knew Duke's character. This was almost the only time he won the Oscar for best director. Opportunity.

Since the four major awards began to be awarded, the ratings of the Oscars have continued to rise. After all, only the best actor, the best actress, the best director and the best picture have received the most public attention.

On Nielsen's side, the North American viewership count reached a peak tonight when the best actress was awarded - 43.26 million!

This has something to do with Charlize Theron's personal appeal, perhaps because of Duke. With the "Matrix" trilogy, Charlize Theron has become a big hit. Among the A-level actresses, he definitely stands very high. The front position, with her current influence, will naturally attract a large audience at this critical moment of impacting the Oscars.

However, this number did not last long. When Billy Crystal announced the start of the Best Director Awards, Nielsen's North American viewership exceeded 45 million in less than half a minute!

And it's showing an upward trend!

In the instant sharing circle of friends, there was also a quietness that has never been seen tonight. Duke supporters have turned all their energy to live TV, and there is no time to share their experiences.

In the live broadcast room of ABC TV, Roger Albert clenched his hands into fists, even ten times more nervous than Duke sitting on the scene. Ten years, success or failure will soon be announced.

Norman Shearer stared at the television, his eyes fixed.

Brad Miller folded his hands and seemed to be praying for the series he liked and the director he liked.

Irene Lauder, who was far away in Paris, was also sitting in front of the TV, quietly waiting for the moment when her friend came on the stage!

Countless fans of Rosenberg-style movies across the United States put down their beers, cokes, burgers and sandwiches, and they waited quietly, waiting for the moment of celebration!

On the stage of the Kodak Theater, amid the music played by the symphony orchestra, Tom Cruise with short hair came slowly, his smile still so charming, but unable to attract attention. At this moment, even if It's Tom Cruise, and it's just a backdrop for the Best Director Awards.

The moment he saw Tom Cruise appear, Harvey Weinstein immediately had a bad feeling in his heart. Cruise and Duke have a complicated relationship, but since "Chicago", the two have formed a strong bond. The alliance of interests, the relationship between each other is very close, and there are rumors that Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman's marriage has persisted until now, because the other party has resolved many times between the two behind the scenes. crisis.

Clint Eastwood's brows frowned, then loosened, and Tom Cruise's appearance almost meant that his chances of winning the best director were already very low, and tended to zero indefinitely.

On the side of the "Raging Sea" crew, Peter Weir's eyes flashed a few traces of unwillingness, but he was helpless. The advantages accumulated by the Lord of the Rings trilogy are too great, and the other party's public relations work is not worse than Miramax, he is afraid Can only wait for the future.

Under the gaze of countless eyes, Tom Cruise gracefully walked to the microphone.

"The nominees for this year's best director come from three different continents." He showed a characteristic smile, "among them, there are regulars at the Oscars, and some are newcomers. The works they make are closed in just 20 days. There are also small-budget productions and epic masterpieces that took several years to complete. Even though they are so different, they have one thing in common, that is, they all have an excellent talent for making movies!"

"The nominees for Best Director are..."

With the pictures on the big screen, Tom Cruise began to introduce the nominees one by one, "Fernando Merrill - "City of God", Sofia Coppola - "Lost in Translation", Peter Wei Er - "Fight the Sea", Duke Rosenberg - "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King", Clint Eastwood - "Mystic River"!"

He opened the envelope without raising his head, "Best director is... Duke Rosenberg, "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"!" (To be continued..)

ps:  Is it luck, or is it luck, it just happens to be in the whole chapter.