Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1630 The Black Man's Day of No Harvest

"Thank you, thank you..." Jackie Chan can basically understand this simple English spoken by the host, but there are still some problems with the expression.

"Can you give us some of your famous moves?" Oprah's attitude towards Chinese people is still so typical, making people feel as if in her eyes, Chinese people have a lower social status than black people in America. At this biggest event in Hollywood, Jackie Chan's presence seems to be just to do a few moves for fun.

"Now? Um... It's not convenient for me now, I'm wearing a tuxedo..." Jackie Chan was very experienced in dealing with this kind of harassment, and he made up an excuse. Although he was not wearing a tuxedo, he was just wearing a loose formal suit with oriental design elements.

In the end, only Elizabeth Shue, who was nominated for the first time, didn't understand Oprah's tricks and accompanied her to give many answers that Oprah was willing to hear. For example, she was very nervous and had to slap herself in the face when she woke up in the morning to make sure she was not dreaming. She was so nervous that she almost didn't sleep last night, and so on...

If the judges were voting now, seeing Elizabeth Shue's lack of confidence in herself, I'm afraid no one would vote for her.

Finally, Ronald and Diane, who arrived late, were also stopped by the most famous black talk show host and were interviewed.

Oprah asked Ronald what he thought of the nominated films, whether he had any favorites, whether he was optimistic about United Artists' "Leaving Las Vegas" winning, etc.

Ronald was already able to handle this kind of question easily. He knew very well that Oprah's purpose was to create a gimmick. If he said that he really liked Leaving Las Vegas, then the comments in tomorrow's newspapers would definitely be that he was very confident in winning the award and ignored other excellent nominations. If he gave any other answer, then the comments would be that Ronald had no confidence in his project, that New United Artists' first Oscar was not exciting enough, etc...

This is a question that a friendly journalist who is professional about the Oscars should not ask.

So Ronald naturally secretly modified the question and directly said the answer he wanted to say. He directly talked about how he and Diane watched a lot of movies and which movies' performances impressed them as ordinary audiences.

He mentioned all the films that received multiple nominations this year in a comprehensive manner, and distributed his praises and applause evenly, without missing a single one.

Oprah was still not giving up and asked him which nominated movie he liked best.

Ronald was not in a hurry and revised Oprah's question again. He said that he liked all movies, but the one he watched the most was Babe Piggy, because his son liked it. He and Diane watched it with him several times...

"This bitch..." Ronald cursed Oprah in his heart. This person is really vicious. She doesn't care about other people's lives for her own benefit. She even sets traps for her own interview guests from time to time.

After entering the venue, Ronald was busy greeting people he knew. Everyone was willing to chat with him. On the one hand, it was to build closer relationships. It was a good thing to be able to say a few words to a busy person like Ronald and deepen his impression.

On the other hand, this is also an opportunity to show his status in the circle. At the Oscar awards ceremony where all the important people gather, everyone can see that he and Ronald and his wife greet each other like good friends, and others will also see it.

Ronald was able to sit down only when the countdown to the opening began. Soon this year's host, Whoopi Goldberg, came out wearing a black long dress and a striking diamond necklace.

"Hello everyone, did you miss me?"

The reason why I said this at the beginning is that Whoopi Goldberg has hosted the Oscars before, although the ratings were not very good. This statement is full of the unique confidence of black people, but also contains a hint of self-mockery.

Ronald still has a good impression of her. People who can make fun of themselves always have a sense of humor, which is much better than Oprah's hosting style.

"Welcome everyone to the 68th Annual Academy Awards, or as it's called in some circles - Cutthroat Island..."

Sure enough, this sense of humor saved the audience from being bored, and everyone burst into laughter. Ronald also applauded politely.

But the humor in the opening remarks was a bit too direct. She said that this year's movie is about the Year of the Pig. In addition to the piglet baby, there are also showgirls. This is to call the men who exploited the heroine in the Smoky Lady "pigs".

Then she said that the performances of actresses this year were rich and varied. Elizabeth Shue played a prostitute (Leaving Las Vegas, nominated for Best Actress), Mira Sorvino played a prostitute (Mindhunters, nominated for Best Supporting Actress), and Sharon Stone also played a prostitute (Casino Tycoon, nominated for Best Actress). How many votes did Charlie Sheen cast?

When these words were spoken, the male guests at the scene all laughed awkwardly, while the female guests all seemed to be laughing happily.

Charlie Sheen has returned to A-list status through the Top Gun spoofs, but something big happened in Hollywood last year.

The scandal of "Hollywood madam" Heidi Fleiss broke out. During Fleiss's trial, Charlie Sheen was subpoenaed to testify, and he had no choice but to admit that he spent about $14 on services arranged by her over a period of 5.3 months.

Moreover, Heidi Fleiss later claimed that the actual cost may have been closer to $30 to $40.

This incident did indeed reveal an ugly corner of Hollywood. Fortunately, Heidi Fleiss was a very sensible person. She was not afraid of implicating others, except for wild people like Charlie Sheen who were not ashamed but proud of it. She only confessed two elderly producers who had long since passed their prime.

Heidi Fleiss did not name any of the Hollywood stars involved in the gossip, and the names on the list revealed by the gossip included Johnny Depp, George Lucas, Sean Penn, Jack Nicholson, Mick Jagger and other famous Hollywood playboys.

Since there is no way to confirm it, no one knows whether this list is true or not, but looking at the awkward smiles of the stars at the scene, it is probably true.

Ronald knew it clearly, not to mention others. When he had just entered the industry for five or six years and did not have a deep foundation, he asked Richard to find someone through Heidi Fleiss to entertain the then Secretary of the Navy in exchange for the Navy's support for Top Gun.

Heidi Fleiss's client list probably included many people who were more powerful than he was at the time.

Sure enough, the result of the trial later confirmed Ronald's guess. Countless people hired a good legal team for her through agents like Richard.

Heidi Fleiss, who was sentenced to three years in prison last year, had a great advantage in her appeal this year, taking advantage of a technical flaw in the jury and is expected to be acquitted.

However, this kind of humor is a bit too direct and not suitable for live television. While the male audience applauded and smiled, many of them also wanted to kill Whoopi Goldberg on the spot.

Ronald laughed without any psychological burden. He understood that this misalignment was caused by the different senses of humor between blacks and whites.

If it were a black talk show, such a joke would cause black men to laugh just as loudly. They have almost no moral judgment on the prostitution scandal, but would find it funny that a black man was caught by his wife.

Although white people are equally hypocritical, they still feel uncomfortable being made fun of in public, especially when the person telling the joke is a black woman.

"Now let's present the first award. The presenter is a gentleman who, in his recent film, destroyed a satellite, a train, a tank, and a helicopter. Let's welcome the actor who plays 007, Pierce Brosnan."

"Thank you all, tonight I will take up the challenge of presenting the first award. Bond will not let himself face such a challenge unarmed, he always has some secret weapons. And I have two tonight...Please welcome fashion industry experts, Claudia Schiffer, and Naomi Campbell..."

Poof...

Ronald almost laughed out loud. The producer of the evening party, the black man Quincy Jones, had a very black mindset... To present the Best Costume Award, he invited two supermodels, and then asked many fashion models to wear costumes from the nominated movies and have a catwalk show.

For a moment, the lady of Sense and Sensibility, paired with the strong man of Braveheart, the military uniform of Richard III, coupled with the sci-fi style of 12 Monkeys... it can be said that it was a chaos of demons.

Finally, all the models came out and filled the stage. Brosnan, who was announcing the winners, had to make his way through the crowded stage. The two supermodels, Schiffer and Campbell, were unable to squeeze in because of their high heels.

When he finally announced the winner, the models behind were pushing each other because it was too crowded, and almost pushed the model next to Brosnan down... The on-site broadcast director was so scared that he immediately cut to a close-up to avoid embarrassment.

"What a bunch of makeshift groups..."

Almost everyone at the scene was thinking this way: black people should never be allowed to be producers of award ceremonies in the future. It seemed as if they had not rehearsed seriously. Such mistakes would not be made as long as they walked the stage again as they had done before.

Moreover, Quincy Jones had his own selfish motives. Among the five top supermodels, he invited the only black person, Naomi Campbell... Anyway, seizing every opportunity to enhance the status of black people in the entertainment industry may be the ultimate goal of this all-black production team.

However, several nominees for the Best Costume Award were always white. When the winning costume designer for The Last Airbender, James Acheson, went up to receive the award, his fluent British English was in stark contrast to the black accents of Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah. Ronald estimated that Quincy Jones would not look very happy.

Next was the Best Supporting Actor award, presented by last year's Best Supporting Actress Dianne Wiest.

As a result, Brad Pitt, who played the supporting actor in 12 Monkeys, a film Miramax had worked hard to publicize, and Apollo 13, which had both numbers in its titles, did not win any awards. Finally, Kevin Spacey, who played the supporting actor in the low-budget production The Usual Suspects, won the first acting award today.

Brad Pitt of 12 Monkeys was probably quite confident of winning the award, as when the nomination was announced, he put his arm around girlfriend Gwyneth Paltrow’s neck and gave her a kiss on the ear.

This scene was also played on the big screen at the scene. Gwyneth Paltrow met him when they were filming Seven Deadly Sins, and her parents had a long history with Spielberg. She was hired by Spielberg to play the role as early as the Captain Hook era.

Brad Pitt is a very good person who is good at taking advantage of every opportunity to get on the headlines for free. In the end, the two favorites, Ed Harris and Tim Roth, lost to Kevin Spacey. Miramax spent a lot of money on PR and put James Cromwell, the actor in Babes, on the nomination list, but the result of eliminating the competition was that Kevin Spacey, who performed well, won easily. Brad Pitt's nomination can be said to have no chance of winning.

Then Braveheart won the Best Makeup Award, and Love in Troubled Times won the Best Art Direction Award. At this time, the host Whoopi Goldberg introduced the next award with great anticipation, the Best Short Film Award presenters, Jackie Chan from Hong Kong, and the famous retired NBA player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar...

Her expectations are predictable, because a black woman named Diana Houston is also one of the nominees for Best Short Film. This is also the only black person nominated tonight...

However, Ronald, who was sitting below, looked a little unhappy.

Before Jackie Chan went to present the award, she came over to say hello to Ronald. The two of them hugged and shook hands warmly, and agreed to go to the party together after the award ceremony. Ronald would introduce him to some people who were interested in his acting style, such as Tom Cruise, to discuss the possibility of cooperation.

Jackie Chan obviously did not expect to stand next to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who is over 7 feet tall, today. The two of them were just like the two brothers played by Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito a few years ago, with Jackie Chan becoming a clown.

Actually, Jackie Chan is not short, about 175 feet inches (cm), but when he is in the same frame with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, he looks short. The two of them had to be in a close-up when announcing the winners. So the camera cut to Jackie Chan's waist, and he had to look up to talk to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar...

The tens of millions of viewers who watched the live broadcast could only get the impression that he was a short Asian man...

Considering the various questions Oprah asked Jackie Chan, black people in the Hollywood and Los Angeles entertainment circles still see him as a Chinese circus.

This not only offended Jackie Chan, but also Ronald, who wanted to introduce him to Hollywood and American audiences.

In the end, the winner was Christina Lahti. The only black person nominated, Diana Houston, did not get the golden statue either. Tonight was destined to be a day when no black person won anything.