America Tycoon: The Wolf of Showbiz

Chapter 895: Chapter 850: The Academy Encourages Competitive Slander_2

Chapter 895: Chapter 850: The Academy Encourages Competitive Slander_2

“No matter our age, we’re all good sisters!” Silsa raised her glass and said, “Sisters, let’s toast!”

The others lifted their glasses and clinked them together: “Cheers!”

…

The Golden Globe Awards won several heavyweight awards, causing a small rebound in “La La Land’s” box office, breaking through $250 million in North America.

The film echoed strongly overseas as well, with international box office catching up to North America’s, and the global box office total reaching $511 million.

With the Oscars looming, “La La Land” still had the potential to climb at the global box office.

Netflix had also approached Davis Studio early on to negotiate the rights for offline streaming of the film.

Martin wasn’t in a rush, planning to wait until after the Oscar ceremony.

This year, the Academy made numerous changes to exemplify a spirit of “striving for excellence.”

The biggest change was that the list of award winners would no longer be announced at the nominees’ luncheon but instead would be released at a press conference beforehand, turning the luncheon into a real gathering of nominees.

In late January, the Oscars announced all the nominations.

Under the publicity and public relations of Davis Studio and Disney Studios, “La La Land” grabbed 14 nominations, including Best Original Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Actress, Best Original Song, Best Director, and Best Picture, tying the record for the most Oscar nominations for a single film previously held by “Comet Beauty” and “Titanic.”

But this wasn’t necessarily good news; “La La Land” itself wasn’t that dominant, and too many nominations might cause vote-splitting in the final ballot.

Martin’s goal remained unchanged: the primary public relations target was Best Picture.

Subsequently, at the Directors Guild and Producers’ Alliance awards, “La La Land” took home all the best film category awards.

Many in the entertainment media and industry wondered why “Twelve Years a Slave,” which had been well-received during screenings, extremely Oscar-friendly, and met American society’s needs, hadn’t applied for a series of Best Picture awards.

Without the crew applying, those awards couldn’t just be handed out to them.

In early February, the nominees’ luncheon was held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.

“I don’t understand.” “Why would ‘Twelve Years a Slave’ voluntarily give up applying for Best Picture?” Although they were from different crews, Leonardo still sat at the same table with Martin: “The film was produced by Plan B, and Jennifer Aniston holds absolute controlling interest in Plan B.”

He was very curious: “Martin, how did you manage Jennifer Aniston?”

Martin continued from where Leonardo left off: “Literally like you just said.”

Leonardo was stunned for a moment.

Nicholson beside them said, “You’re such an idiot, of course, Martin took care of it!”

Leonardo suddenly realized: “So it was taken care of indeed!”

Martin casually remarked, “To avoid hurting feelings, I sparred with Jen in advance. Jen even brought Jolie to help, but in the end, I won.”

Nicholson suddenly sighed, “If Leo competed with his rivals in this manner, he’d never get an Oscar in his lifetime!”

“Don’t say that.” Martin defended Leonardo: “Leo is working hard to reach 30 seconds in the 100 meters.”

Leonardo didn’t want to deal with these two clowns anymore.

Having taken a dig at one, Nicholson began mocking the other: “Martin, in the future, you could write an Oscar memoir, detailing your entire process of fighting for Oscars, like a tragic hero, winning honorably in a fair fight, and hand-to-hand competition. It would surely be a prominent mark in Oscar history!”

Leonardo immediately perked up: “Martin will become a true Oscar hero!”

Martin shrugged his shoulders: “To become the second person in history to be expelled by the Academy.”

Nicholson and Leonardo both burst out laughing.

Julie and Aniston arrived at this moment and sat at the next table.

The latter looked towards Martin and said, “You’re the big winner of the nominations.”

Martin smiled, “Twelve Years a Slave” has garnered quite a few nominations, Best Actor is very likely to win.”

Aniston pointed to Leonardo, “He’s also competing for the Oscar.”

Martin dismissed with contempt, “When you count your competitors, Leo is negligible.”

Leonardo was helpless, “Winning this time is indeed difficult for me.”

“The hot favorite is Matthew McConaughey,” Jolie interjected. “His performance in ‘Dallas Buyers Club’ is indeed great.”

Aniston sighed, “Martin, you must compensate me.”

Nicholson joined in the fun, “Martin just told me he would pay billions in compensation. Jen, after the luncheon is over, I’ll grab him, and you remember to come and take him away.”

Aniston was not at all polite, “Then I’ll trouble you, Jack.”

Jolie leaned into Martin’s ear and whispered, “We have custom-made many torture devices, just to deal with you.”

Martin was unfazed, “Don’t worry, I will endure them on your behalf.”

Subsequently, the nominees luncheon began.

After the reform of this year’s Oscars, the nominee list was announced early, turning the luncheon into a pure publicity event.

A group of people ate and drank, cooperated with the media for photos and interviews, and warmed up for the Oscars ceremony a few weeks later.

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Perhaps it was because last year the Academy sternly warned Ang Lee and “Life of Pi”; perhaps because Martin did not participate much in public relations, this year’s Oscar competition was not as intense, and the publicity lacked real breaking points.

After the group photo of the nominees, some Academy chairpersons gathered together, looking somewhat worried.

Chairman Tom Sherak sat in the lounge with a frown, saying, “This year’s competition is not fierce enough, leading to a lack of highlights, and the viewership has dropped significantly compared to the same period last year.”

Vice President Katherine Kennedy said, “At the same period last year, we had the ‘Life of Pi’ email scandal that sparked attention across America.”

Tom Hanks took up the conversation, “Is it that the punishment was too harsh last year, making this year’s campaigns tentative and lacking in force?”

“We can’t not penalize overstepping, but penalizing reduces the enthusiasm of other crews,” Tom Sherak found the balance hard to manage. “I would rather have suicidal crews jump out every year than to see this year’s calmness.”

Katherine Kennedy considered and said, “Competitors smearing each other may not be a bad thing for the Oscars, at least it could maintain the heat.”

Tom Hanks also worried, “We can’t encourage them to smear each other, can we? How else can we maintain the Oscars’ standard?”

This made Tom Sherak shake his head slightly, after long thought, he said, “If the Oscars ratings fall below 20 million and its influence continues to decline, what standard is there to speak of?”

Without influence, what use is there in maintaining high standards.

Tom Hanks nodded, acknowledging the very real problem.

Without commercialization, the Academy would have no money; without money, how would it maintain its lofty position in Hollywood?

Katherine Kennedy took a practical approach, “We should relax the rules a bit, turn a blind eye as long as it doesn’t get too out of hand.”

“This time we can only do so much.” Tom Sherak felt that this year’s Oscars might set a new low in viewership, all that could be done was to start from next year.

He instructed, “Starting from the middle of next year, find a way to leak news, aiming for heated competition right from the start of the awards season.”

Tom Hanks showed responsibility, “Leave it to me. I’ll find a way to discreetly spread the news. Even if we encourage competition, we need to maintain the standards of the Academy.”

The three quickly reached an agreement.

They, too, were considering for the Oscars.

In the new era, the Oscars faced too many challenges.

The luncheon for the nominees ended, and Martin didn’t leave the hotel, but was dragged by Jolie and Aniston to boost their morale.

There was no choice, “Twelve Years a Slave” had voluntarily bowed out, though it was due to Aniston’s defeat, but Martin the winner had the American spirit, of course, he had to deploy tens of billions of troops and garrison the loser’s homeland.