Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1572: A-Gump said dreams will come true
Ronald held the Best Director award tightly in his hand. He looked back at Spielberg and continued, "So I think today is also a good time to say thank you, Steven."

"Hua Hua Hua..."

The audience burst into warm applause. Everyone liked to see this kind of plot. A famous director helped a new director. More than ten years later, he personally handed the Oscar for Best Director to the new director.

Ronald looked at the audience, waiting for the applause to end. However, the applause continued for a long time without fading. Ronald suddenly realized that everyone was looking at him not as a newly-crowned Oscar winner for Best Director, but as a billionaire who could have a huge impact on their careers.

So he simply stretched out his left hand that was not holding the trophy, and made a gesture in the air with his palm facing down.

It was amazing that the audience accepted Ronald's gesture very obediently, and the applause stopped after 3 seconds. It seems that the rich and powerful can naturally exert a certain influence on the public, and those people are also happy to follow their instructions.

After the applause stopped, Ronald continued with his acceptance speech.

“There are many other people who have had a significant impact on my career, such as my late parents, who told me stories about the Vietnam War and gave me endless love, and my aunt, who took care of me during my high school years and whom I love very much.

There was Martin Scorsese who taught me film appreciation in college, Francis Coppola who gave me a crew assistant to watch how he directed, and George Lucas who invented a lot of movie special effects magic and made it possible for a new director like me to use it...

There is also Roger Corman, who gave me my first second-unit directing job, and Jim Cameron, who worked with me at his New World Pictures. Uh… uh, and the editor of this film, Walter Murch, who was also my editor…

God, I'm so nervous right now...my mind is all blank. There are so many people who have helped me, I can't thank them all individually, so I can only thank them all here."

Ronald then remembered that he forgot to take the small piece of paper with his thank-you note. When he got upstairs, he wanted to thank everyone. He felt in his pockets and thought that he had already said half of it, so it would be fine to just continue thanking everyone.

"Hehe..." The audience kindly showed tolerance for Ronald's nervousness. You see, he didn't even take out his speech to read. It must be a huge surprise for him to win the award, so he even forgot to take it out. Then there was another round of applause.

"I would also like to thank my family, especially the woman I love. Forrest Gump is a very intense production. Without their support, I could not have done it. I would also like to thank everyone in the crew for tolerating my bad temper during the filming, and for their wonderful performances and hard work.

Especially the team responsible for special effects, without them, our audiences would not be able to see such magical pictures as we have now.

I think if Forrest Gump were here, he would definitely say that as long as people work hard and give full play to their talents, every American's dream can come true.

Finally, I would like to thank moviegoers around the world for liking and watching this film, which is full of humanity, inspiring, and hopeful. Thank you all.

Finally, I want to say something to my son Roger, I know you didn't listen to your mother's order and are still watching TV, you can go to bed now...

"Hahaha..." The audience laughed so hard that they fell forward and fell backward. Spielberg was introduced as the winner by Ronald's son, and Ronald ended the speech with this very popular dialogue with his son. Everyone saw that Ronald was not just lip-service to his family, but really took care of it himself, just like the middle class, and had the trouble of educating his children.

Ronald's speech was not long, but from beginning to end it was all about thanking the people who had helped him in his career and the people who had contributed to the film Forrest Gump.

Most of the audience sitting below were Hollywood insiders. What impressed them most was not Ronald's humility, but how lucky this guy was. At the beginning of his career, so many famous directors had helped him.

Walter Murch, the winner of the Oscar for Best Editing and Best Sound Editing, taught him how to edit films. George Lucas also gave him the right to be a small director and use the special effects capabilities of Industrial Light & Magic.

Moreover, his university teacher was actually a colleague of Martin Scorsese in his first job, who was James Cameron. Maybe God favored him? But who was that Roger Corman? Everyone still had some questions in their hearts and began to discuss it among themselves. Some people who had watched the 60 Minutes program began to popularize science for those who had not watched it.

Of course, the most excited among these people were Diane and Helen. When Diane heard Ronald say that he loved a woman, she was already crying with excitement. She pressed the root of her nose with both hands to prevent tears from flowing out and ruining her makeup.

This was a completely different experience from going on stage to receive the Oscar. The happiness that filled her chest made her feel extremely happy.

Helen, who sat in the back row, also felt that the woman Ronald mentioned as his love was actually her, just like Spencer Tracy had a wife, but many years later, when people talked about his romance, they would mention Katharine Hepburn instead.

When Helen thought about the biography many years later where the author would write about the relationship between her and Ronald, she laughed out loud and felt that there should be at least two or three chapters about it.

Of course, the awards ceremony was not over yet, the last and most important award, Best Picture, had not yet been announced, but everyone present was certain that Forrest Gump would deserve to take the award, otherwise it would be the biggest scandal of the Oscars since the 1990s.

Sure enough, when the duo Robert De Niro and Al Pacino stood in front of the microphone and began to announce the nominations, the first name called was Forrest Gump, which naturally received the warmest applause from the audience.

The last one to be mentioned was The Shawshank Redemption, which received the second loudest applause. After the videotape of this movie was released, it gradually became popular among industry insiders and ordinary audiences.

Quentin Tarantino's prediction was very accurate. I wonder if Harvey Weinstein, after assessing the situation, told him that the Best Original Screenplay award would be Pulp Fiction. That's all the rewards for tonight.

Pulp Fiction, Robert Redford's Quiz Show, and the British film Four Weddings and a Funeral, which shared the remaining three nominations, received little applause or cheering, and you wouldn't even notice it if you were watching the awards ceremony on TV.

At their old home on Staten Island, Aunt Karen and Donna and her husband also sat there to watch the awards ceremony tonight. After Ronald won the Best Director Award, his acceptance speech moved Aunt Karen so much that she went to the bathroom and cried silently.

Although she had seen Ronald receive the Oscar at the previous Oscar ceremony, today's speech was real and brought back many memories.

"The Shawshank Redemption seems to be getting a lot of attention. Will the Best Picture award... go to someone else?"

The aunt, who had just calmed down, came out of the bathroom and saw this scene. She couldn't help but look at her daughter with some worry.

"That's impossible," Donna said confidently to Ronald. "Forrest Gump won the Best Actor, Best Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Editing awards. If they dare to give the Best Picture award to another movie, I think there will be an uproar tomorrow."

"And Forrest Gump is such a good movie that almost all audiences in the middle of the political spectrum like to watch it. If they insist on giving the Best Picture award to another film, I think the judges will immediately be involved in a vote-buying scandal. They won't be so unwise."

Little Doug also agreed with his wife's point of view. How could it be possible that a movie that the audience liked so much would lose to a movie that ordinary audiences had never even heard of?
Sure enough, the final winner was Forrest Gump.

In this film led by Ronald, art director Polly Platt, Daydream's script supervisor David Simkins and Daydream's distribution director Michelle Cannold all served as producers.

They and Ronald all went on stage to receive their respective golden statuettes.

Because the Oscars do not limit the number of producers who can win the Best Picture award, all four of them were able to go on stage to receive the award. During his acceptance speech, Ronald did not compete for other people's time. He simply said a few words and gave the time to the other three.

Perhaps inspired by Ronald's acceptance speech for the Best Director award, all three mentioned their children in their acceptance speeches.

Polly Pratt said to the camera that she hoped her children would remember this moment today. If someone told them in the future that their dreams could not come true, they must remember tonight and this occasion. Forrest Gump would tell them that their dreams would come true.

In short, although Best Picture is the biggest award in the Oscars, its winners and acceptance speeches are a ratings nightmare, because TV viewers don't know the filmmakers at all, and the producers have little interest in what they say.

Fortunately, these three were quite tactful. After they quickly finished their speeches, David Letterman came on stage and ended the entire award ceremony.

Ronald and the others turned around and walked to the back of the stage. After the award ceremony, all the winners had to hold the golden statuette and go to the official press conference to be interviewed by reporters.

The passage from the backstage to the interview venue is different from the passage for the audience. Because Diane was sitting downstairs, he had to move slowly with the large number of audience members to get to the press conference.

In the passageway behind the stage, Helen Slater and her father had stopped Ronald. They were waiting for the Best Director Award to be presented, and then they sneaked out to wait for Ronald.

Gerard Slater shook hands with Ronald and turned his back to give his daughter some time.

"Ronnie..."

"Helen..."

The two hugged each other tightly in a corner where no one was around, and kissed each other on the cheek. They didn't kiss, nor did they say those clichés, but just looked into each other's eyes, knowing what the other wanted to say.

Finally, Helen Slater just said softly, "I'll wait for you in New York," and turned around and left the venue with her father.

"Hey, I must include this paragraph in Ronnie's biography..."

Ronald was afraid that if he delayed his brief reunion with Helen for too long, Diane and the others would have already arrived at the press conference and wait for him. Ronald quickened his pace and arrived at the press conference in two steps.

"what?"

Unexpectedly, there were no people here, only Quentin Tarantino was talking nonstop over there, and he waved the Best Original Screenplay Oscar in his hand vigorously many times. But because the other large groups had not come yet, he was not afraid of hitting others.

"Oh, I'm so glad I got this award. I used to work in a video store, and now I got an Oscar. It's a bit like being a high school quarterback and suddenly finding yourself in the Super Bowl..."

Quentin was still answering questions as the reporters brought up his past experiences and asked him if today was a dream come true after watching so many Oscar-winning films.

And for some reason, these reporters surrounded him and asked so many questions, which made him feel great.

"Ronald..."

A sharp-eyed reporter saw Ronald appear at the press conference, and everyone pointed their cameras or microphones at him. Even the reporter who was halfway through asking Quentin a question gave up completely and stepped forward to put the recorder in his hand to Ronald's mouth.

"Oh, I love Quentin's movies, he's a genius, like a walking Hollywood encyclopedia..."

"Oh, yeah, I love Ronald's movies too, he's a real genius. Let me tell you, he's amazing. When Top Gun came out, I was blown away by him, Piu...that shot, that scene, my soul almost left my body." Quentin didn't seem to hear Ronald's mockery. Instead, he excitedly praised Ronald and said that he was a fan of his.

Ronald laughed and said, "I'm also a fan of Quentin." Then he held the Oscar for Best Picture in one hand and put his arm around Quentin's shoulder with the other hand. The two of them posed for photos in front of reporters.

"Ronald, Quentin, you admire each other so much, will you cooperate in the future?"

"Um, the Waynes and I..." Quentin was just about to say that he still had a contract with Harvey Weinstein's Miramax, but Ronald suddenly spoke up.

"Of course, if there is an opportunity, we would love to work with Quentin. As you know, our Daydream Pictures is committed to providing the best platform for directors who have ideals, ideas and the ability to shoot these author films."

Ronald put his arm around Quentin's shoulders without saying anything, then waved the little golden man in his hand, and motioned Quentin to raise it with him. Photographers took countless photos of the two directors... Reporters also began to think of headlines. Ronald Lee expressed his willingness to support Quentin Tarantino's film creation... two talented directors who appreciate each other.

"Quentin!" Harvey Weinstein, who had just rushed in from the awards ceremony hall, was so angry that his mouth almost twisted when he saw this scene. He quickly stepped forward, forcefully separated Ronald and Quentin, and then asked the reporter to go aside to continue the interview.

It's only been a minute, and without keeping an eye on him, Quentin is already thinking about cheating...

"Dear..." Ronald ignored Harvey's boring thoughts. He saw Diane coming over with his Best Director award. He happily hugged her and kissed her in front of the reporters.

"What took so long? Is everything alright?" Ronald took the little golden man and helped Diane tidy up the part of her skirt that was dragging on the ground.

"Everything is fine, except that Meg Tilly bitch is causing trouble again, causing a traffic jam..." Diane held Ronald's arm with one hand, covered her mouth with the other hand, and whispered something in Ronald's ear. She was afraid that someone would take a video and read his lips.

It turned out that just after the award ceremony, the ladies were all wearing very complicated and beautiful dresses and slowly walked towards the press conference. At this time, Meg Tilly blocked the exit of the seating area again. She said that her shoes were missing and fell under the seats in the first few rows, and asked someone to find a way to help her pick them up.

For a moment, many men bent down to help see where her shoes were. The ladies around her were all pissed, this bitch was still trying to grab men's attention.

"Ronald, what new plans do you have next? Will you continue to work with Diane on new movies? Do you have any new investment plans?"

Reporters seized the opportunity and asked Ronald questions about the new film. Unlike other stars, Ronald is hard to interview now.

"Everyone, I don't have any new film plans for the time being. Diane will be filming a movie with Tom Cruise, but tonight I just want to celebrate with my wife. Let's leave these questions until tomorrow. Thank you everyone..."