Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1632 Prohibiting Negative Public Relations Efforts

"Today, five directors nominated for Best Director are first-time nominees for bringing us five unforgettable films whose skill and imagination have made them possible for generations to come. The nominees for the Academy Award for Best Director are:

Ronald quietly read out the names of the nominated directors on the stage. This year, because Ron Howard unexpectedly lost the nomination, it became a year with less fierce competition. Five directors who were nominated for the first time have the possibility of winning.

If Ronald himself had encountered this situation a few years ago, he might have won the award earlier.

“Chris Noonan – Piggy Baby…

Tim Robbins - Death Row Walking..."

Every time Ronald said a name, a photo of the nominated director at work would be played on the big screen at the scene.

This is a special favor from the Oscars to directors, because in this era, it is generally believed that the director is the person who has the greatest impact on the final quality of the film.

Among the five nominees, only Mel Gibson wore medieval Scottish costume and had Wallace's hairstyle. This is because he was the only one who directed and acted in the film. Tim Robbins is also an actor-turned-director, but he did not act in the film this time, instead giving all the performance opportunities to his live-in girlfriend Susan Sarandon.

"The Oscar goes to..." Ronald's performance in reading out the nominees and delivering the connecting words was very outstanding. Most of the audience held their breath and looked at the Hollywood tycoon on the stage.

But when the key moment of nomination was announced, even the whispers stopped. For a moment, the atmosphere on the scene was very solemn, and Ronald seemed to have returned to the moment when he was waiting for the announcement of the award last year.

There was a small problem when he opened the envelope. The envelope was very sturdy and it took Ronald some effort to open it.

Among the five nominees sitting below, Mike Figgis of Leaving Las Vegas was the most nervous. He had won quite a few awards in previous Sentinel Awards, and it was generally believed that he, Mel Gibson, and Michael Radford, the director of The Postman, were all truly deserving of the award.

The big boss who bought the film distribution rights and promoted the award through various means, Mike Figgis, was swallowing his saliva nervously.

Ronald finally opened the envelope, took a closer look, and had an expression of "as expected". Then he announced the winner of the Best Director award to the audience present and around the world.

"Mel Gibson, Braveheart..."

"Ah..." The audience exclaimed in unison. Mel Gibson, who had been surrounded by various scandals before, still won this relatively important award. Everyone felt a little different from the past.

Mel Gibson quickly lowered his head. He was an actor with excellent acting skills. He used this action to hide his excitement. Then he raised his head again. This time his expression was only happy and satisfied...

Ronald spread his hands and congratulated Mel Gibson. The two made a few "Congratulations" and "I don't know why it's me" expressions, and Ronald solemnly handed the little golden man to Gibson, then stepped back to give him the main stage.

"I'm not a good writer..." Mel Gibson tried to be relaxed, but the excitement in his tone betrayed him.

"But I have a lot of people to thank, so I wrote a list. It's not a very long list..." As he spoke, Mel Gibson took out a rectangular piece of paper from his jacket pocket, with lines of names on it.

Then he did a comedian's move, shaking his hand, and the long list doubled in length. It turned out that it was deliberately folded up, and when it was turned over, it was another long piece of paper.

"Well, it's not particularly long anyway..."

Mel Gibson came up with a clever idea again and began to thank all the important people related to this movie.

“…Thank God for the wonderful time I had, and thank all the directors I worked with, who were my film school…and now, I’m standing here with an Oscar in my hand…

But like most directors, what I really want to do is let the actors perform..."

This joke made the audience burst into laughter. This was probably what Mel Gibson really thought. He obviously enjoyed being an actor more... However, this can also be understood as his ambition for the Best Actor. He was not nominated for the Best Actor this year.

Mel Gibson also realized that there was something wrong with what he said, and he turned around and looked at Ronald, "Am I right?"

Ronald was also amused by him. Could this guy have slipped out to drink again during the award ceremony? But there was no way to argue with such a person. Ronald shrugged and the audience laughed in cooperation.

"Congratulations... Do you feel good?" Ronald asked Mel Gibson, who was still a little absent-minded holding the little golden man, as the two were leaving the stage.

"Indeed, I still can't believe this is true..." Gibson grinned with joy.

"Don't you think some nominations are manipulated and a bit outrageous?" Ronald took the opportunity to ask when he saw that there was no one around except him and Mel Gibson.

"Hmm?" Gibson didn't know what he meant.

"For example, Ron Howard lost the Best Director award, and you lost the Best Actor award..."

"What do you mean?" Mel Gibson's eyes lit up.

"You still have to be interviewed. We can discuss it in detail when we have time..."

This year, Harvey Weinstein must have used some unknown means to attack the Oscar. Ronald thinks that anyone who has a grudge against Weinstein might as well try to win the Oscar.

When he returned to the venue, the Best Actress award ceremony was almost over. Tom Hanks announced the winner of the Best Actress award, Susan Sarandon, who played a nun in Dead Man Walking, defeated Elizabeth Shue, Mel Streep in The Bridges of Madison County, and Emma Thompson in Sense and Sensibility, and won the Best Actress award.

Susan Sarandon's acting is certainly very good, but whether she can outshine the other nominees is still controversial.

Mel Streep and Clint Eastwood played the romantic love between two middle-aged men and women and achieved box office results that exceeded expectations. This is not something that ordinary people can do. Most moviegoers are only interested in the love between young handsome men and beautiful women.

Streep's look in The Bridges of Madison County has a thick waist, a typical look of a middle-aged southern housewife, and it is not easy to gain the audience's recognition in this way.

Emma Thompson's interpretation of Jane Austen's Elena and Elizabeth Shue's best performance since her debut are both very topical. Even though Susan Sarandon's role has some religious characteristics, she is not necessarily the winner of the Best Actress award.

However, these failed nominees were still very graceful and everyone stood up and applauded and congratulated Susan Sarandon.

The Best Actor award was later presented to Nicolas Cage. When he went on stage to receive the award, his co-star Elisabeth Shue took the lead and stood up, asking the audience to stand up and applaud Cage.

Cage was obviously very excited. It's strange, whether you are sure of your win or you are totally surprised. Oscar winners, especially first-time winners, always find it difficult to contain their excitement.

Cage's speech. It was also a bit of nonsense, "Three and a half million budget, what 16mm film, I must thank the Academy for giving me this opportunity, combining artistic and commercial success, allowing me to be nominated among several other very talented actors..."

Nicolas Cage said it was great, but it is quite offensive that he specifically used the low cost, high box office, and unconventional 16mm film shooting to highlight his own success.

However, he didn't have to worry about that tonight, as everyone was particularly magnanimous to the Oscar winner.

For example, Ronald didn't argue with him. Cage didn't read a list like Gibson did to prevent forgetting, but played on his own. He almost forgot to thank Ronald.

Fortunately, at the last moment, maybe it was because his wife kept lip-syncing to remind him, or because Elizabeth Shue pointed at Ronald, but Cage remembered to thank Ronald.

"I would also like to thank the great United Artists and the great Ronald Lee. It was he who saw the print and decided to buy the film for domestic distribution, which gave me, Elizabeth Shue, and director Michael Figgis the opportunity to be appreciated by domestic audiences for their efforts..."

The camera turned to Ronald at the right time. He also stood up, nodded slightly, and applauded Nicolas Cage like everyone else.

"Finally, I got the chance to say, hi, Weston, it's Dad, I love..."

Cage also imitated Ronald's move in his speech last time, mentioning his son, letting all TV viewers know that his son's name is Weston (Coppola Cage).

Shortly afterwards, Whoopi Goldberg came up to introduce the Best Picture award presenter, the first black Oscar winner, Sidney Poitier.

The production team of an all-black awards show still has to squeeze in as much private work as possible. There are no black nominations this year, but the most important award still needs a black actor to present it.

Sidney Poitier, who was nearly 70 years old and spoke with a weak breath, read the teleprompter with great effort and announced the list of nominations.

The Best Film Award went to Braveheart without any suspense. Braveheart won four awards including Best Director, and had almost no rivals for Best Film.

Neither Apollo 13 nor Sense and Sensibility was nominated for Best Director, so it was only natural that they lost the Best Picture award. However, it would be too shocking for Babe Piggy and The Postman, one a special effects animal film and the other a foreign language film, to win Best Picture.

After a group of producers including Mel Gibson ran up in a mess and each of them gave an excited speech that no one was interested in, this year's Oscars ended.

The guests at the scene began to stand up and then left in batches. The winners went to be interviewed, while those who did not win went to the party held by the academy directors. Some stars and actors who aspire to become big stars will choose a post-banquet party with a higher exposure rate. For example, the most famous one is the party held by the variety show a few years ago.

After arriving at the party with everyone, Ronald looked around for Spielberg.

Finally, among a circle of Jewish actors, he found Spielberg and his wife.

"Ronald, how's it going?" Spielberg smiled at Ronald.

"Do you think the nominations tonight are a bit strange? Many of the film nominees inexplicably avoided the most important one." Ronald and Spielberg left the crowd and walked two steps to a corner to exchange opinions. No one dared to approach and disturb the most powerful people in Hollywood to chat.

Ronald reiterated his slightly conspiracy-theoretic theory that Ron Howard, the most likely director to win the award, was not included in the Best Director nominations, and because of this lack of a nomination, Apollo 13 would have a hard time winning the Best Picture award.

The biggest difference between this year's Oscars' PR battle and previous ones is that in addition to positively promoting their own films and nominees, some people may also be conducting negative PR attacks to eliminate the most likely competitors.

"No way, this is a very serious accusation. Do you have any evidence? Or how does this negative public relations method you mentioned work?"

Spielberg thought about it and still felt it was a bit unbelievable. Ronald's statement actually made sense, but there were some incomprehensible things that happened at every Oscars in the past. If we attribute it all to this conspiracy theory, isn't it a bit too much?
"Think about it, just because this hasn't happened before doesn't mean it won't happen in the future. I think we need to form an alliance to put pressure on the academy to prevent this kind of negative public relations against competitors from happening again in the future."

Ronald still wants to work with Spielberg, so that the pressure on the academy's directors will be more effective.

However, Spielberg did not particularly believe this. Seeing that he was a little indifferent, Ronald had to sigh and turn around to discuss with other people to see if there was any possibility of an alliance.