Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1304 Oscar Controversy
Bugsy, which received the same loud praise as the movie, led the Oscar nominations with ten nominations, making it the biggest hot movie of the year.

Mike Medavoy, president of TriStar Pictures, said the result would be a huge boost to the box office of "Push," which is still in theaters, and the number of theaters showing the film next week would increase from less than 500 to more than 1,200.

Mike McDavoy said: "The nominations gave us an extraordinary boost and gave the film a second life."

His boss, Peter Guber, chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, was pleased to say that films produced and distributed by Sony (including TriStar) received a total of 36 nominations, one of the highest totals ever for Columbia Studios.

“It’s validation from our peers,” he said. “The emotional and psychological reward — knowing that you’ve done a good job — is critical to our company.”

"Shameless..." Mike Madavoy complained to Ronald in his garden. The nearest room was several dozen meters away, and Ronald's land was all around. With professional bodyguards checking, there was no chance of eavesdropping.

What Medavoy complained about was that Guber was here to take advantage of the situation. He was nominally in charge of Columbia and TriStar, so the nominations won by TriStar were also counted on his head. He ignored the fact that he had refused to distribute and produce many films at the time, and now he is here to take the credit.

"Stop complaining, you've made a lot of money..."

Ronald grabbed a can of Original Coke from the portable mini-fridge and handed one to Medavoy, who was not happy about being interviewed for a Warren Beatty movie.

"Didn't I speak well of The Silence of the Lambs? The media doesn't understand, they always think that those with more nominations can win..." Mike McDavoy took a big sip of Coke and didn't dare to retort. He needed the box office of the released movies to prove that his and Frank Price's old method of gaining recognition by making a good movie still worked.

"What I really care about is Diane's nomination. You have to help me..." Ronald glanced at him. The internal struggle of Sony has also spread to the American branch. His practice of selecting suitable projects from scripts brought by United Artists and Orion is still outdated in this era of stars.

"I'm trying to get you a ticket, and I've been hanging around in some old guy's house in Beverly Hills like a Fuller brush salesman."

"I appreciate it……"

Ronald waved his hand and had the snacks brought up. The two pretended to be admiring the Chinese-style decorations, but they were actually preparing for the upcoming Oscars.

"So this signature?" Mike Medavoy had not forgotten the purpose of his visit.

"No problem, this is the right thing to do..."

Ronald signed both documents and handed them over.

These are two of the many controversial events at this year's Oscars. The first is the nomination of "Beauty and the Beast" for Best Picture.

This really hurt many judges, especially the actor judges. For no reason, a live-action movie was snatched away by an animated film. How can those who work in Hollywood every day and expect an Oscar nomination feel?

Therefore, many people have launched a letter of intent to add an award to the Oscars - the "Best Animated Feature Film Award". In this way, traditional animation companies like Disney will not have to rush to the big trough of the Best Film Award to grab food.

Of course, animation companies like Disney are also happy to see this happen, because it is not every year that there are masterpieces like "Beauty and the Beast" that are loved by both children and adults. If the Best Animated Feature Film is added in the future, wouldn't it be like setting up an award for itself?

After Ronald spoke to Katzenberg on the phone, he knew their attitude, so he readily signed the letter of intent.

Another letter of intent is more tragic.

Howard Ashman, the composer of the theme music for "Beauty and the Beast", died in March 1991 before the movie was released. He was diagnosed with the disease in 1988, but Katzenberg admired his talent very much and still used him to compose music for Disney's Aladdin.

He was also the main composer and arranger of "Beauty and the Beast". In order to prevent him from being overworked, a studio was specially opened for him near St. Vincent's Hospital in New York where he was receiving medical treatment, so that he could work there.

Although he received the latest treatments, his condition deteriorated rapidly, so he didn't wait until the movie was released and became a hit and was nominated for Best Original Song.

Oscars are generally not awarded to deceased persons. Most of the exceptions in the past were when the winners died after being nominated. The only exception was James Dean in his early years. After his death in 1955, he was nominated for two consecutive years.

Ronald also learned about this from Katzenberg, and the Oscars are likely to make an exception for him this time. But the necessary procedures still need to be followed, such as many Hollywood figures petitioning the Academy on his behalf.

Ronald of course agreed to this kind of icing on the cake. After all, the song he wrote for "Beauty and the Beast" was obviously of high quality, and the award was well deserved.

“Hey… these (minority-oriented) artists, I don’t know if God had some special features when he created them, their level is very high…”

Mike McDavoy took the signed letter of intent and sighed. He had been in Hollywood for so many years, and of course he knew that many of the early stars were... just for the audience's perception, and the studios arranged for them to formally marry the female stars.

"I don't know if this composer's talent is related to..., but this disease has now been confirmed to be unrelated to... " Ronald glanced at Mike Medavoy.

"Hey?"

"Don't you know why Magic Johnson of the Lakers announced his retirement?" Ronald knew more than him. The news of Magic Johnson's announcement caused quite a stir in Hollywood.

Previously, everyone mistakenly believed that this disease was associated with minority groups. Magic Johnson was the first to let people know that playboys who like beautiful women can also be infected.

"I really don't know. No wonder so many celebrities have turned down film offers and gone on vacation recently."

Mike Medavoy suddenly realized that these people were queuing up to go to hospitals with testing capabilities for examination, right?

"I can tell you don't watch professional sports, Mike..." Ronald shook his head. The Lakers were without their star player, and the New York Knicks couldn't even stop them in the Eastern Conference Finals. The two cities he lived in were both trampled under the feet of the Chicago Bulls. Hey, if Jordan was really good at playing basketball, why did he go to Chicago?
……

"You want me to sign this too? Why should I sign for her?"

After a while, Richard came and gave Ronald a new letter of intent, asking him if he would sign it. Ronald got angry when he saw the content.

This is a letter from Barbra Streisand. She was very angry after the Oscar nominations were announced because although her directorial debut "Prince of Valencia" received seven nominations including Best Actor, Best Picture, and Best Cinematography, she was not nominated for any award.

Not only did her hope of replicating Kevin Costner's miracle of winning Best Director last year fail, but she wasn't even nominated for Best Actress, which she thought was a sure thing.

You know, this is Barbra Streisand's first sex scene in many years...

However, this kind of thing is not easy to bring to the table, so Barbra Streisand found a reason, saying that she was not nominated for Best Director because she was a woman and was discriminated against.

The logic here is quite clear, just compare it to Kevin Costner last year. Costner was also a star who directed for the first time, and so was she. Costner also made a movie about the background of the great era, and so was she. Costner also had the "on-site guidance" directing assignment of the director of photography and the producer, and so was she...

It was the same thing, but Kevin Costner won the Best Director award, while she didn't even get a nomination, and lost the Best Actress nomination. Isn't this pure sexism?
Barbra Streisand not only publicly said on TV that the Academy's failure to nominate her was sexist, but also specifically targeted Hollywood's years of male hegemony. Finally, she vowed that if the Academy did not correct this mistake, she would not attend the awards ceremony.

"You are one of the first directors in Hollywood to film independent and strong female characters. Now you are the favorite director of feminism. This kind of thing must be done with you..." Richard smiled. He turned the document to the back and showed Ronald the many feminist organizations that Barbra Streisand had joined.

"Just decline on my behalf, saying that I support them and that I also like to make films about independent women. But signing will offend the big studios in Hollywood, which is still a male-dominated society. It might affect my ability to make more films with female protagonists as the main perspective..."

Ronald thought about it and then explained it to Richard.

These people are really hard to offend. Their ability to organize various protests is almost as strong as those of minority groups. Ronald still remembers the protests when The Silence of the Lambs was released. It is better not to take sides in such matters...

……

"Warren, you support me, right?"

At a Hollywood canvassing party, Barbra Streisand spoke to Warren Beatty. She was not nominated for Best Director, but Barry Levinson in The Passion of the Wind was the favorite. Harvey Keitel and Ben Kingsley were nominated for Best Supporting Actor in The Passion of the Wind, and Kate Nelligan was nominated for Best Supporting Actress in The Prince of Waves. The two were nominated for different awards. So they could become allies for now and canvass for each other's votes.

"Barbara... I support you, but not going to the Oscars is a very unfriendly act..."

"But as long as you support me and let the Academy speak, I will go back..." Barbra Streisand was wearing a dress and white stockings, a weird combination. One hand touched Warren Beatty's chest.

"Warren..."

Annette Bening's voice followed the shadow, "That's Oliver Stone over there, would you like to talk to him? Sorry, Barbara..."

Bening gave him a look, really helpless. She didn't know many people in Hollywood, but every female star she knew had an affair with Warren Beatty. Every one...

"Warren, please tell me, do you support this? We should help each other..." The nominations for the Best Director Award are voted by the directors. So Barbara had to ask Warren Beatty (also the Best Director Oscar winner) to speak out about this matter.

"Support..." Warren Beatty was in a hurry to canvass votes for others, so he said perfunctorily and left.

"Honey, you're the best..." Annette Bening cast an admiring gaze at Warren Beatty. Only big stars can effectively canvass for votes.

"Honey, don't you think many of them haven't seen The Last Airbender?" Warren Beatty had a bad feeling in his heart. The box office of The Last Airbender was a big failure this time. If it hadn't been nominated, it would have been taken off the screen in theaters.

This is completely different from his last Oscar win for "Reds." At that time, everyone was talking about this movie...

"It doesn't matter, honey, they voted because of you..." Bening now particularly believes in the power of celebrities.

In the end, Warren Beatty still couldn't escape the debt of love and agreed to speak for Barbra Streisand. He said that it was a regrettable mistake for the director of this film to be ignored by the Academy. Just like Penny Marshall's film "Awakening" last year, it was also ignored. Some people at the time thought it was a snub to her because she was a woman.

Columbia's Guber, who also directed and distributed "Prince of Waves," issued a written statement saying, "It is shocking that Barbra Streisand was overlooked as a Best Director nominee."

"Those who remain silent are also accomplices in this discrimination, especially male directors who have the right to vote, because upholding this discrimination against female directors is beneficial to them in winning awards.

The older generation is fine, but the new generation of directors also don’t have the courage to break the old habits. I am disappointed by their silence.”

Ronald was furious when he saw the unusual statement released by Guber. It's fine if you want to promote your own award-winning movie, but why are you criticizing me? It's my professional judgment which movie I nominate, and it's not your place as a producer to comment on it.

The reason why Barbra Streisand was not nominated is actually largely because her peers have doubts about how much of the film "Prince of Waves" was directed by her.

There are many rumors coming out of the set that the time Barbra Streisand spent on directing was less than one-third of the time she spent on acting.

"Mike..." Ronald called Mike Medavoy, "What's going on?"

"Gubel wanted to highlight Prince of Waves, and this was his own project. The money from Haoqing Sihai and others all came from the TriStar Films label owned by Price and me..."

"Do you have another movie called Boyz n the Hood?" Ronald suddenly remembered the black director John Singleton.

"That was also Guber's project, released by Columbia Records. He felt that this was a kind of compensation after black star Eddie Murphy complained for years about the Oscars' discrimination against black people. The possibility of Boyz n the Hood winning the award was very small, and the nomination was the biggest reward..."

"I say, he is also a young director, right?" Ronald knew that Singleton was nominated for Best Director at the age of 24, and also took away his record as the second youngest person to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director...

"Hehehe, that's it..."

"I'll have someone contact you..." Ronald also laughed. Gubel, aren't you going to speak out for the sexism against Barbara Streisand? Let me teach you a lesson.

"For this matter, you just need to add fuel to the fire. When the trend comes, you just need to accept an interview and say a few words. Your film pays great attention to black people and women. This is your biggest advantage..."

Pat Kingsley, a public relations crisis consultant, came to discuss the counterattack with Ronald. In her opinion, all that was needed was to give black people a platform to speak.

……

"Some people think that I stole the nomination from Barbra Streisand, which is not true. I am actually a big fan of hers. Boyz n the Hood is a movie written by black people, directed by black people, and filmed by black people, telling black stories. It should not be accused of this..."

A day later, John Singleton was interviewed by Richie Lake, a female host from a local New York TV station.

Soon this interview was widely broadcast by TV stations such as NBC and ABC, and many black stars also spoke up for Singleton, saying, "You Jews have already taken so many advantages, and now we've received a nomination, and you're jealous too?"
"Ah, I have always believed that movies are a reflection of the social reality of America. We should have the kind of movies that match the kind of people we have. So in my movies, I often shoot stories about black and female protagonists, and their contributions to society should not be ignored."

Ronald also accepted a telephone interview, pouring out politically correct words for free.

"So I also think that directors need to be women and black people and other minorities. I am a fan of the works of both of these directors. I have watched them several times." Ronald answered while looking at the cheat sheet in his hand.

"I pay a lot of attention to the multiculturalism of our country, so I also invested in two films directed by Chinese and Japanese directors. They are expected to be released next year. I hope everyone will remember to watch them then..."

"Honey, you don't forget to promote your movie when you are interviewed?" Diane came over to talk to her. Before the Oscars, Diane hired a body sculptor to come to her home to arrange fitness and proper nutritious meals in order to look good in clothes.

A few weeks of scientific diet and exercise have shown remarkable results. Not only has my figure improved, but my skin has also become more elastic and radiant.

However, the continuous scientific diet still made people feel irritated, so Ronald went out with her to attend the premiere of Michael Douglas' new film on the weekend and had a delicious meal without counting calories as a reward to himself.

"Hey, isn't this a win-win situation?" Ronald put on his coat with a smile, and the two walked to the Beverly Cinema arm in arm... The new movie "Basic Instinct" is a thriller, and after The Silence of the Lambs, this type of movie has been generally expected to do well at the box office.

(End of this chapter)