Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1617 Donation of Collection

Such debates will attract all the firepower. If a certain film cannot be disqualified from the nomination, it will be beneficial to both. After all, one is an Italian film and the other has not yet been released. Among the thousands of judges, only a few have watched both films.

As a result of this incident, many people have learned about the plots of the two films, as well as some information that adds points to the actors, directors and producers who have the opportunity to be nominated.

At this time, Ronald came out to act as peacemaker with another hot candidate for the nomination, the leading actor, director and producer of this year's best-selling commercial historical war blockbuster, Braveheart, Mel Gibson.

Both of them were interviewed by newspaper reporters. Mel Gibson said that he watched both films and thought they were both very good creations. Ronald said that the so-called flaws were all technical issues and could be handled by referring to previous Oscar precedents.

For example, Australian actor Peter Finch won the first posthumous Oscar for Best Actor for his performance in his last film, Network, in 1977. Before him, famous actors such as James Dean and Spencer Tracy were also nominated posthumously...

The numerous judges actually felt that such a debate was meaningless. Therefore, on Christmas Eve, the eligibility of the two films was recognized by everyone. If they continued to make trouble, they would be enemies with the judges.

The PR work of both sides also died down, and the traditional party began. Both sides sent invitations to Ronald, but both were rejected.

Ronald just wanted to have a good vacation with his family, so he simply borrowed a copy from them and watched it at home.

Since The Postman is mainly in Italian and Spanish, the copies for public screening actually have subtitles burned into the film, so there is no need for an additional subtitle machine. When Ronald watched it, he felt very familiar, watching the plot and reading the subtitles at the same time without any problem. However, Diane felt uncomfortable, as she couldn't balance the plot and the dialogue, and felt that she didn't understand many things.

This is also a common practice in foreign art films. American cinemas have never often played foreign films. Therefore, they are not familiar with the operation of subtitle machines. Many times, projectionists make mistakes, either failing to open the subtitles synchronously, or there are problems with the timeline, and the subtitles will be ahead of schedule or behind schedule.

This movie is very interesting. It was jointly produced by Britain, Italy and Belgium. The director is from Britain, and the main character in the movie is the great Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. It is very international.

However, they were not nominated for this year's Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. For some reason, Italy, where the production company is located, did not submit this film, which was released in America for five weeks in the summer and earned more than 10 million box office, but instead submitted another film.

Since each country can only submit one entry, The Postman failed to make the cut for Italy. Originally, the United States and Belgium could have also submitted this film, because it is a popular topic and has a certain box office in America, so it has a great chance of winning.

However, due to a restriction on the Oscars foreign language films, the language of the nominated country must account for the majority of the film. Therefore, this Italian-based film could not be nominated by Belgium or the United Kingdom.

Therefore, the producers had no choice but to announce that they would compete for the Best Picture, Best Actor, and several other awards. They had to use a foreign language film to compete with the many heavyweight English films on the market.

Ronald, on the other hand, received an unexpected Christmas gift.

Two days before Christmas, a square hardwood box was delivered to Ronald's home, along with a thick letter.

Ronald looked at the logo and address on the envelope in confusion. It was from Miramax Films. He opened it curiously and found an Oscar statue inside. He didn't know whether it was a replica or the real thing.

Ronald quickly opened the envelope, and inside was a letter signed by Harvey Weinstein, thanking him for speaking out for the movie "The Postman" and stating that this Oscar was the Best Original Screenplay Award that Orson Welles won for Citizen Kane.

This little golden statue was always thought to be lost by Orson Welles, but after his death in 1994, someone found it again and sent it to Sotheby's auction house, but it was ultimately unsold because the bid did not reach the $80 that the auctioneer wanted.

This time Harvey Weinstein found the seller from Sotheby's and convinced him that Ronald was a fan of Orson Welles. The seller agreed that he would sell it if Ronald was willing to bid $75.

Finally, Harvey attached his phone number in the letter, saying that as long as he wrote a check for $75, the statuette would belong to him. After all, the Oscars have changed their rules and winners cannot resell the statuette. The price of such old statuettes is gradually rising, and Ronald will definitely not lose money.

However, Orson Welles has a daughter. Beatrice Welles, the daughter of Orson and Italian actress Paola Morelli, has been dedicated to promoting and restoring her father's films during his time in Europe.

When she found out about the restoration of "Touch of Evil" by Ronald, she was very unhappy and expressed her dissatisfaction in the media. It was not until she saw the restored copy that she publicly apologized, saying that the version restored by Ronald was what her father wanted.

After receiving Ronald's call, Beatrice said that she did not have $75 to buy back her father's Oscar statuette. But if Ronald owned it, she would not mind, but she hoped to have a chance to see the statuette, take a photo with it, and pass it on to future generations.

Ronald had an idea to buy the little golden man and give it to Orson Welles' daughter, but this might not be a good thing for the other party.

He actually didn't want to collect Welles's golden statue. Compared to this kind of honorary souvenirs, Ronald preferred the original scripts or some props from the movies as collections.

So he thought of another solution and told Beatrice Wells that he had a better place to store his father's trophies.

"We are delighted that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Technology Museum has welcomed another memento of this landmark film, following Spielberg's donation of the Rosebud Sled used in Orson Welles's genius film Citizen Kane.

The long-lost Oscar for Best Original Screenplay won by Orson Welles was donated to the Academy Museum by Ronald Lee and Orson's daughter Beatrice Welles. Movie-loving audiences will have another chance to appreciate this important souvenir of the film.

The people from the Academy of Motion Picture Technology and Art were very happy and held a joint press conference. In addition, two works by Orson Welles were re-screened in the cinema inside the academy: Citizen Kane, his most acclaimed work, and Touch of Evil, which was restored by Ronald. Movie fans who bought tickets had the opportunity to take photos with the little golden man...

"I heard that this is an item from Sotheby's auction house? The college thanks you for your selfless dedication..."

The president of the college, Arthur Hiller, also came to thank Ronald in person.

"It was Harvey Weinstein, the president of Miramax, who told me that all I had to do was write the check and have the lawyer prepare the contract, hahahaha..."

Ronald didn't mind at all letting Harvey Weinstein take the credit in front of the president of the Academy. After all, all the reports in the media were about him, Ronald. Plus, he cleverly linked it to "Leaving Las Vegas", so all the reports tomorrow would have his and the movie's names, and Harvey Weinstein wouldn't be mentioned at all.

Beatrice Wells has several low-budget independent films that her father Orson made during his decades in Europe.

After Touch of Evil, no one in Hollywood was willing to invest in Orson Welles, but in Europe, he was still popular... as an actor, not as a director.

Having shot many films in Europe, Orson Welles' acting skills were highly recognized by European directors. He played many important minor roles and also played many major supporting roles. For example, in "Waterloo", a film produced by the Union, Switzerland and Italy, he played Louis XVIII who fled in panic after the restoration of Napoleon.

Orson Welles did not waste his actor's salary, but spent it on his own independent production. Because he had no money, he could only shoot a little bit with the salary. Each of his films was shot gradually in this way. Different rolls of film, different formats, different cameras, and completely different styles.

Beatrice Wells wanted to restore some of her father's classics, and Ronald promised her that he would finance the restoration work if she was willing to return the copyright of these films to United Artists.

Beatrice Wells was so happy to hear that Ronald was willing to pay and make money after the release that she signed the contract on the spot. She also said that her father had a posthumous work "The Other Side of the Wind" that had not been filmed or edited, but she had a lot of manuscripts left by her father, and if Ronald was willing, she could complete the work.

Of course, Ronald is not running a charity. The main reason he is willing to restore and produce Orson Welles' works is because he can make money.

Orson Welles' fame grew even greater after his death.

For example, in the list of the 100 best films of all time published by Britain's Sight and Sound magazine, Citizen Kane was ranked first by critics and third by directors. It was also ranked third by the UK's Cahiers du Cinema.

Therefore, there are a large number of movie fans who want to see the works of Orson Welles. This has formed a niche movie market. Ronald's "Standard Collection" brand is preparing to release a collector's edition of Orson Welles' classic movies.

Whether or not we can complete this posthumous work of Orson Welles depends on how his other works sell.

……

After donating the golden statue, Ronald returned home for Christmas. On the way, he began to think about Harvey Weinstein.

The reason why he gave himself a gift was because he was actually the one who introduced the movie "The Postman" and was responsible for its public relations and promotion.

But until Harvey's letter reached Ronald's home, he didn't know that the film was produced by Miramax.

The reason is very simple, because the American distributor used the name of Disney's Buena Vista Company to distribute the film. In fact, Harvey bought the film after he saw it in Europe and introduced it to China for distribution.

This is a typical Weinstein strategy of seeing the best European films, then introducing them for screening, and finally competing for awards. After waiting to be nominated, they will be screened again next year to make money.

However, with the addition of this deck, Ronald, who was not paying special attention, did not recognize it. After removing the mask, it turned out to be Harvey's fat face.

Ronald's several strategies, coupled with his speaking out, actually suppressed the competitor "Dead Row Walking" and objectively promoted "The Postman". Harvey then emerged from the water to thank Ronald.

This is probably related to Ronald's public relations actions in the past two years, which severely suppressed Harvey's project. Harvey also showed weakness, saying that if you don't have any projects, can you give me a chance?

However, Ronald was not optimistic about Harvey Weinstein's choice of this film for the award. After all, it is a foreign language film. If Miramax wants to use a foreign language film to compete with many English-language masterpieces in the Best Picture battleground, isn't it a bit too confident?
“Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!”

After having lunch on Christmas Eve with the staff at home, Ronald and his family gave them gifts in advance. This has become a tradition in the Li family, where the host symbolically serves the people who originally served them for half a day on Christmas.

Everyone received very nice gift packages, and we can share the joy with our families when we go home today.

After dinner, Ronald also gave Diane a gift in advance, but it was too big to be placed under the Christmas tree.

This year's gift is an oil painting, which was painted by an oil painter based on a still of Diane during the filming of "Other People's Money".

The Diane in the painting is heroic and capable like a working girl, but also very sexy and beautiful. Diane was so happy when she saw it, she never thought that Ronnie would give her such a painting.

Diane also took out a gift, which was Coppola's shooting script when they first got together and filmed Coppola's "The Untamed." It contained many of his handwritten revisions and stills from the shooting.

The two of them sat on the bed in the room, reading the shooting script and reminiscing about the sweetness of the past.

"This is really valuable information. I will ask someone to scan and archive it all in a couple of days. It's so precious." Ronald felt like he was back in the crew of that year, and many memories came flooding back.

"Yeah, if fans see these stills, they will be so happy... Look, this one is a photo of Tom Cruise doing a somersault."

"Yeah, it would be nice if fans could see it too..." Ronald also sighed, and couldn't help but think of something he still had to do before the end of the year.