Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1627 Negative Whisper PR
"Nick, do you have anything to say to me?"

At noon that day, Ronald called Nicolas Cage to his home, and after asking everyone to leave, he asked him directly.

"What? What did I say? Oh, my recent PR has been going pretty smoothly, but I'm very tired. The PR department of United Artists arranges two or three PR events for me every day..." Cage didn't understand, but when he saw Ronald's Oscar statuette on display in his study, he suddenly realized...

"Stop..." Ronald made a pause gesture and asked in a different way, "I mean something more personal. Is there anything I should know?"

"Personal matters, oh, I understand..." Cage thought he understood Ronald's thoughts, "Although it's a bit early to do this, I will write a note to remind myself. When I give my acceptance speech at the Oscars, I will remember to thank you. After all, the first movie I joined the Screen Actors Guild was the opportunity you gave me..."

"Madfaco... I'm talking about you and your wife. You're no longer together, so why are you still pretending to be a couple in front of outsiders? Someone wants to expose this matter and use it as a scandal to attack your personal character, and even your performance in the movie Leaving Las Vegas..."

Ronald gave up his bossy attitude and cursed directly. He originally wanted to let Cage speak out in this way, so that he would be more cooperative.

"Ward, who are the people digging into my privacy? What happened between Patricia and I is purely a private matter between us. What does it have to do with me and the movie..."

Nicolas Cage was furious. He married fellow movie star Patricia Arquette last year, but they separated less than a year later. However, he, who has a strange personality, did not file for divorce with her. In any public occasions, such as the promotion of the movie "Leaving Las Vegas", the two still attended as a couple.

"What?" Ronald was also confused. He originally thought that the two had entered the divorce process. In the past, Hollywood had a situation that fit the situation... that is, someone's sexual orientation needed to be concealed...

"Handle it yourself. You haven't divorced yet, so this is still your private matter. This is the number of public relations consultant Pat Kingsley. She will teach you how to deal with it..."

Ronald felt something was wrong when he looked at Cage, so he quickly asked him to take a public relations class on how to deal with negative news.

Recent Oscar-nominated movies have generally been hit by all kinds of negative news. Leaving Las Vegas actually only received four nominations, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay, but the nominations were all very strong awards, and in this wave of widespread negative news, it was hard to escape the same fate.

Richard, who had been monitoring various news, sent a warning to Ronald that some media had recently been leaking information about Nicolas Cage, the most promising nominee for the four leading actor nominees, and interviewing some people who had had scandals with him in the past.

Such tabloid gossip is very difficult to refute. Their news is specious, and it is difficult to sue them for defamation. Fortunately, Nicolas Cage is still married, and his wife is willing to continue acting with him. There will be no major scandals for the time being, which will affect the reputation of the movie.

In contrast, "Braveheart," which received 10 nominations, has recently been hit by a barrage of negative news, each one more explosive than the last.

The first thing that came out was an old story between the director and the protagonist Mel Gibson. In 1991, when he was interviewed in Spain, he was provoked by a reporter and asked if he had a different sexual orientation.

As an Australian-Irish man, there are two things you can be pretty sure Mel Gibson will do: drink, and laugh at other people.

In that interview, Mel Gibson mocked those people, telling the reporter, "They come in the back. This is just for the... With this look, who would think I'm them? I don't allow myself to be confused like that. Do I look like...? Do I talk like them? Do I move like them?"

This can only be regarded as a typical case of communication failure under different cultures. Many Hollywood stars have many outrageous rumors in foreign countries. Those reporters have never been to Hollywood and don’t know how to distinguish which are outright rumors, which have some truth, which are acceptable to ask, and which are not…

So, after getting Mel Gibson's vulgar answer, the reporter actually just laughed it off and didn't bother with it anymore.

But for some reason, this interview from five years ago was suddenly dug up and hyped up during the critical period after the nominations were announced.

This hype also involves a plot in the movie "Braveheart". In the movie, Edward II, who is going to marry the French princess played by Sophie Marceau, is described as a... character.

The character is portrayed as a typical stereotype, with weak speech and posture, and is very effeminate. In the end, the character's end is also tragic, being pushed out of the window and fell to his death by his father, Edward I Longshanks.

Because of the overlap between Mel Gibson and the film's plot, a particularly wealthy and influential organization in America, the Anti-Defamation League (GLAAD), publicly condemned him.

This organization was actually established after ... patients and ... encountered social discrimination. It is an organization specifically designed to protest and file private complaints against discrimination against ... in society.

Their founders are a group of media professionals in New York, and they also have many sympathizers in Hollywood. Ten years after its establishment, the influence of this organization has greatly increased. Now they can launch a frontal attack on big stars like Mel Gibson and commercial blockbusters like Braveheart, and they are not afraid of trouble from studios and distributors because of possible box office losses.

GLAAD held demonstrations in various places, especially in Los Angeles. When the nominations were announced, GLAAD protesters held banners outside the Academy. Their demand was to boycott this film that discriminated against a certain group of people.

Afterwards, they followed Mel Gibson, waited wherever he went, and rushed up to him and shouted in protest to his face.

Mel Gibson was angry about this negative smear, so they dug up his interview from many years ago and put a label on him. Is this an attempt to influence the judges' voting tendency?
When he was interviewed by a magazine, the reporter asked him whether he accepted GLAAD's request to apologize to a certain group of people. The impulsive Irishman blurted out:

"Hell will freeze over before I apologize. They can form their own Falcon..."

This really upset GLAAD. They had already protested against your portrayal of Edward II as a cartoon-like stereotype in the film, and now you are insulting a specific group of people to their faces. This created a grudge between them.

Many GLAAD members and sponsors are Hollywood insiders. In addition, they have received a lot of funding from foundations, so they are willing to spend money on negative and offensive ads.

So for a while, the media began to criticize Gibson.

However, for the time being they cannot run advertisements calling for people not to vote for Gibson, as this behavior is expressly prohibited by the Oscars.

However, their tactics are even more ruthless. Right now is the peak of the PR campaign for votes, and there are several parties every day waiting for the judges to attend.

At these parties, many GLAAD members, especially those working in specific groups such as makeup artists and fashion designers, began to use a method called whisper PR.

The so-called whisper PR is actually that people find the right person at a party, then gather in a corner and talk in a low voice to exchange interests and persuade the other party's voting choice.

Although the GLAAD news is a big deal, there are still many people in the industry who don’t know about it. At these parties, one-on-one whispers spread, and soon everyone who attended the party knew about it. Then after the party, those who heard the interesting gossip would go to the next party to spread the latest gossip.

This method is more efficient than using the media or telemarketing to promote voting. However, there is a disadvantage to this method: interesting content can only be spread if it has been reported by the media.

If Mel Gibson's words were not so explosive, these party animals would not be interested in spreading them. In Hollywood, telling boring gossip is a taboo in social occasions.

However, the severe situation that Mel Gibson has to face is not limited to this.

Another group of people who have a lot of power in Hollywood are also spreading negative news about him through one-on-one whispers: the British actors working in Hollywood.

Hollywood has always welcomed British actors and practitioners. These people are different from American actors. Most of them come from stage plays. Although everyone speaks the same language, there are some barriers, which results in British actors having a fixed small circle.

As an Irish-Australian, Mel Gibson actually has a kind of dissatisfaction with Britain passed down from his ancestors. In the movie Brave Heart, he also showed his dissatisfaction with the English.

As a Scottish national epic, the film is full of loopholes in historical authenticity, and has been pointed out by many historians and media to contain a large number of historical errors. Some critics have called it one of the works with "the most serious historical inaccuracies in modern films."

For example, the Scottish soldiers in the film wore plaid kilts, which only appeared in the 16th century (in fact, they could not have appeared in the 13th century). The scene in the opening of the film depicting Edward I luring and killing Scottish nobles did not happen in history books...

These plots that clearly deviate from historical facts have caused dissatisfaction among serious historical circles and some media. In addition, the film's nationalist tendencies have also triggered political criticism - some British critics bluntly said that Braveheart is full of typical plots of beating up the English and the dialogues are clumsy and straightforward, like a poor imitation...

These criticisms were already there when the film was released, but when it came to the voting stage, the volume and repetition of the criticisms suddenly increased a lot.

In general, film critics and other serious media have labeled the movie Braveheart as "historically false" and "politically incorrect."

If Mel Gibson angrily refuted the previous rumor, his reaction to this rumor further highlighted the rudeness of the Irish ginger heads.

He admitted all of this without any objection, and immediately said that this was a very ridiculous accusation.

When facing the accusations of the film "misleading the audience" by historians and the media, Gibson was a little unconvinced. He sarcastically said: If you let historians make movies, cinemas all over the world will be empty.

The film is not a history lesson, nor a documentary. If it is shot completely according to history, it will be boring and make people fall asleep. The image of Wallace does not need to be completely faithful to history. What is important is the spirit of resistance he symbolizes.

His response was actually weak. Most of the audience's attention was on the plots and costumes that were not in line with history. The audience was not interested in your sermons and your rebuttal that it was impossible to completely follow history in filmmaking.

However, his last words talked about Wallace's rebellious spirit and pursuit of freedom.

This just satisfies the vanity of Americans. After all, they are also a country that gained independence from the British colonies, and "freedom" is basically one of the biggest political correctness in America.

In addition, most Americans feel that the result of their pursuit of freedom is that they won the Cold War. Wallace shouted for freedom, but he was facing a tyranny. So what if Mel Gibson's movie slightly slandered the British royal family?
Moreover, if we follow the hints in Brave Heart, it is still a question whether the current British royal family's bloodline comes from Edward I the Long-legged or Wallace of Scotland.

So, on the surface, this kind of whispering PR achieved a good effect, but after hearing these gossips, it actually aroused the rebellious psychology of many judges. Mel Gibson, this bastard, made the British very angry when he made this movie, which was quite a relief.