Chapter 553: Chapter 274 Unexpected
“Shakespeare in Love,” Judi Dench!” When the winner’s na was read out, the venue erupted into rapturous applause, with the “Shakespeare in Love” crew cheering especially loudly. Although Judi Dench stood with restraint, her excitent was clearly visible in her eyes. As a veteran actress who had been nominated for the Oscars several tis before, finally her wish was fulfilled, and even if she were to lose composure, no one would say anything.
As the score from “Shakespeare in Love” played, the crew mbers took turns congratulating her, including Adrian and Gwyneth. Soon, she made her way to the stage, steadied her emotions after receiving the Oscar statuette, and began her acceptance speech.
anwhile, Adrian glanced over at “Good Will Hunting.” When the winner was announced and Judi Dench’s image completely filled the large screen, Natalie’s face had briefly flashed with disappointnt, fleeting but clearly seen by the observant Adrian.
As if she felt his gaze, Natalie turned her head. Upon seeing that it was Adrian, she smiled and gave him a reassuring look, as though she were relieved—what was that about?
Before he could ponder the issue, Gwyneth’s voice was already whispering in his ear, “What are you looking at?”
Despite the softness of her voice, the undertone of jealousy was rather obvious. Adrian simply smiled and turned back, “Nothing.”
“Really?” Gwyneth looked suspiciously toward the area Adrian had been gazing at, but she saw nothing.
“Alright, Judi is coming down, let’s continue congratulating her,” Adrian said with a laugh, shifting the topic. Once Dench had finished her speech, Adrian led the applause and stood up again to congratulate the veteran actress once she was offstage.
After that, he didn’t sit down but walked straight out. Gwyneth imdiately sensed sothing but could only look back at the unflappable Blanchett seated further back and sit down in her seat, fuming. About half an hour later, Adrian returned, looking almost the sa as when he left, but the slight upturn of his mouth revealed what he had been doing. Gwyneth was sure that if she got closer, she could sll another woman’s perfu on him.
He had done this last year, and now he was doing it again—how infuriating! Gwyneth thought bitterly that the woman must have given him a good ti; otherwise, he wouldn’t have looked around so concerningly before.
She was wrong, but this was precisely the illusion Adrian wanted to create. However, so of Gwyneth’s thoughts were not unfounded—he had indeed enjoyed a good ti in the restroom just now. But it wasn’t last year’s little fairy—Kirsten, who hadn’t attended the Oscars this year—instead, it was Zetajones. This woman, still set on gaining more for herself, naturally didn’t refuse Adrian’s proposition.
The award ceremony continued, and after a few technical categories were awarded, the original screenplay undoubtedly went to “Good Will Hunting.” Inspirational mainstream films had always been a favorite of the Oscars. Even if it didn’t win Best Picture, it wouldn’t be without a few significant awards, though it looked like Joaquin would have to miss out on the Best Actor.
As the ceremony went on, with performances, Goldberg’s codic interludes in outrageous costus, the award show quickly approached its climax.
“Oh, we’ve finally reached the mont—” Goldberg said on stage, seemingly nostalgic. Just as everyone thought she’d complain about having never won the Best Actress herself, she suddenly changed the subject and motioned behind her, “Now it’s your turn to co up here, Jack, of course, no ax.”
Laughter erupted from the audience as Nicholson, dressed in a sharp suit, sauntered out from behind and shook the envelope in hand, speaking leisurely, “You’ll be disappointed, Ubi, just an envelope, no ax.”
More laughter followed, and Goldberg shrugged, “Alright, alright, I got it, get started, don’t keep people waiting too long, else the person with an ax won’t be you.”
Nicholson then raised his hands amid the laughter, “Let’s get to the point, shall we? The award we are about to present is one of the most important ones—who will get it? That’s the question.”
He said, revealing his trademark smirk—cunning, mischievous, and slightly absurd—amusing many in the crowd.
“Alright, let’s take a look at the nominees first.” Nicholson waved his hand, and the side screen started showing the images of the nominees, Streep, Gwyneth, Blanchett and so on, appearing one by one, alongside clips of their respective roles in the films. The venue quieted down instantly as Adrian could almost discern who was breathing heavier: Gwyneth in front or Blanchett in the back.
“Any one of these actresses is outstanding, but unfortunately, only one can receive this honor…” Nicholson began with a sigh, but everyone’s attention was clearly not on his lant, so he quickly stopped and opened the envelope in his hand, “Let’s see, who will be today’s Best Actress.”
At that mont, both won in front and behind held their breaths. Around three seconds later, Nicholson’s voice rose, “Elizabeth, Kate Blanchett!”
The orchestra imdiately began to play the score from “Elizabeth,” and Blanchett covered her mouth at first in disbelief. Gwyneth, after her initial shock, managed a forced smile and joined the others in applause, pressing her lips together tightly. Adrian maintained his smile—though it wouldn’t have been a problem for him no matter which of the two won won Best Actress, he had hoped it would be Blanchett, as it would be more advantageous for him.
“Thank you, thank you all,” an excited Blanchett stood up to receive congratulations from the cast and crew of “Elizabeth.” Perhaps overwheld with emotion or sothing else, she suddenly reached out and embraced Adrian tightly when she arrived in front of him.
Adrian was first surprised, but then he smiled and kissed her on the cheek, imdiately eliciting several low screams. It was important to note that the caras were focused on Blanchett at this ti, so all of Arica watching the Oscars would not miss this mont, and the journalists waiting by their TV sets were especially thrilled; they now had sothing to write about. However, Gwyneth, who was seated in a slight diagonal in front of Adrian and who turned her head, appeared to have a slightly dark expression on her face.
Therefore, after sitting down, Adrian imdiately put his hand on her shoulder, and Gwyneth gave him a sowhat reluctant “Don’t worry” look.
“I…I’m so excited…” After receiving the Oscar statuette for Best Actress from Nicholson, Blanchett faced the audience and took a deep breath, “I love acting, I love movies, and I’ve dread more than once of standing on this stage to wave and greet everyone, but now that I’m really here, I don’t know what to say…”
Kind laughter rose from the audience.
“Thank you to my parents, for raising , thank you to my teachers, for nurturing , thank you to my friends, for always encouraging and supporting …” What followed was the familiar script, which everyone would utter upon standing there, but towards the end, it beca a bit different, “And lastly, I want to thank Ed, you brought here, you showed so much more, there’s no one better than you, I love you, you are a great director!”
This acclamation, resembling a declaration of love, imdiately garnered more applause, although the clappers varied in expression. Adrian also clapped softly around her; Blanchett’s expression of genuine emotion was definitely not pretense.
“Sorry, I am a bit…” Blanchett whispered in his ear apologetically during their next embrace after coming down.
“There’s nothing to worry about,” Adrian replied, seemingly unconcerned, and once again publicly kissed her on the cheek, provoking yet another murmur of voices.
Even though the battle of the Miracle Girls had thus concluded, so issues were just beginning. Wait and see; tomorrow’s dia will be filled with headlines like “Kate Blanchett’s Public Declaration of Love.”
The subsequent awards, although still important, had already lost Adrian’s interest, even though he had three Best Director nominations and two films nominated for Best Picture.
“Life is Beautiful, Roberto Benigni!” was the winner of Best Actor. Even though he was Italian, the other nominees each had issues, such as Joaquin being too young or Hanks having already won Best Actor consecutively. The person most likely to defeat him was “Gandalf” Ian McLaren, whose “Gods and Monsters,” a great biographical film nominated for telling the story of Hollywood in the 50s, was unfortunately at a disadvantage because he was both gay and British—at tis the British identity could be advantageous, but at other tis not.
Furthermore, as the film was another perspective and a different way of portraying World War II, Nazis, and Jews, Spielberg could not sway everyone. But that was alright; it ant greater chances for next year.
After winning the Oscar for Best Actor, Benigni was incredibly excited; with this and earlier winning Best Foreign Language Film, he had snagged two Oscars, an achievent that was certainly enough for this Italian to take pride in. Fortunately, he didn’t do anything as crazy as he had at Cannes.
The following two awards, however, were quite unexpected. The Best Director was not the highly-anticipated Miracle Director Adrian Cowell, but Robert Zeckis for “Cast Away”!
As the na was read out, not only was the audience and host surprised, but Zeckis himself was quite astonished. It was a known fact that Adrian had not just one, but three nominations, and both Sant and Zeckis had resigned themselves to the role of spectators, yet the tables turned in the end, and the honor landed on him.
Adrian, however, didn’t care in the slightest and was, in fact, the first to clap and cheer for Zeckis. It wasn’t hard to guess the Film Academy’s intentions—”Mulholland Drive” was mainly nominated due to the Best Director award he had received at Cannes; “Elizabeth” had beco much smoother after his revision, but so issues could not be resolved so easily, which made the Best Director nomination seem sowhat forced; as for “Shakespeare in Love,” despite its originality, it was unfortunately a romantic cody. How many directors of romantic codies had received the award since Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall”?
So, seemingly securing three nominations at once appeared impressive, but the actual chances of winning were not much higher than usual, and the Film Academy could also use this opportunity to show how “we are fair” and “we award talent in directing, not anything else.”
Of course, this was not unrelated to the fact that Adrian had not put much effort into public relations, but now it was just as well. Zeckis should have won Best Director for “Forrest Gump,” and now getting it for “Cast Away” wasn’t bad at all. In any case, getting a Best Director nomination was very easy for Adrian whenever he wanted it.
Since Best Director had gone to Zeckis, it naturally followed that “Cast Away” should receive Best Picture; most tis, both awards would go to the sa film. Besides, “Cast Away” was an excellent motivational film, and with two-thirds of the movie being Hanks’ solo performance, which left a deep impression on many, winning Best Picture was well deserved.
“Congratulations, Robert, outstanding work,” Adrian congratulated as he extended his hand to Zeckis.
“Thanks, Adrian, you did pretty well yourself,” Zeckis replied, slightly embarrassed, as he felt like he had snatched the award by exploiting a loophole from Adrian’s hands. Not that he was a fool. He might not understand the intricacies as well as Adrian, but being Spielberg’s friend, he could sowhat guess at the issues involved.
“Don’t be like that, Robert,” Adrian chuckled. “‘Cast Away’ was indeed well-made; you fully deserve the award.” He then turned to Hanks and Spielberg, who had been chatting with him earlier, “Right?”
“Of course,” Spielberg joined in with a laugh, “I think Ed must be regretting it now; I really wanted him to direct it initially.”
“I’m glad you didn’t, Steven,” Hanks followed seriously, “although Ed is known for his efficiency, for actors, it would have been a disaster.”
“Hey, you two, is that the way you talk about in front of others?” Adrian called out, prompting laughter from them.
A few witty remarks later, the atmosphere beca even warr, and the group began to chat like everyone else in the hall. This was Vanity Fair’s Oscar Night party; it had been held for six years and had truly beco a brand. What kind of big shot would you be if you attended the Oscars but did not go to the Vanity Fair party?
“To be honest, I do feel a bit disappointed tonight; you could’ve taken another Best Director,” Spielberg said to Adrian after Zeckis and Hanks had left.
“It’s fine. You’re not in a rush to get a second one, so why should I rush to get ahead of you?” Adrian shrugged his shoulders.
“Is that flattery?” Spielberg laughed heartily.
“Of course, after all, you’re the producer of ‘Band of Brothers,’ and we haven’t even finished one episode. I have to stay on your good side, in case you suddenly decide to quit,” Adrian shrugged again.
Spielberg’s laughter grew louder; he was in a good mood, although “Life is Beautiful” had taken ho Best Actor and Best Foreign Language Film, it was enough that it hadn’t claid Best Picture.
“Speaking of which, I’m planning to make a movie, ‘A.I.,’ maybe you’d like to direct it?” he asked suddenly.
“A.I.?” Adrian pondered, “Isn’t that the one you were planning to do with…”
“Yes, that’s right,” Spielberg nodded in confirmation.
“Oh, forget it, having directed a Kubrick-style film was enough; I don’t want to go through that again, you know how it feels…” Adrian imdiately shook his head and refused.
“Is that so?” Spielberg gave him a half-smiling look. As one of the Three Giants of DreamWorks, he knew a thing or two about the various complications between him and the two lead actors.
However, Spielberg didn’t continue on that topic and switched to another, “Well, okay, but if the situation today arises again, don’t regret it, Ed.”
“It’s fine, Robert is fully qualified to win Best Director,” Adrian said earnestly, and then added, “Speaking of which, maybe you could recomnd a director to ?”
“Oh?” Spielberg raised an eyebrow.
“Um… you know, in ’97, I got a screenplay. Although the main actors are pretty much decided, we just can’t find the right director,” Adrian explained, “I could direct it, and the screenplay is good, but you know, I’m going to be very busy this year…”
“The Lord of the Rings, right?” Spielberg suddenly asked.
Adrian was sowhat surprised, and then Spielberg pointed not far off, “Heard it from over there.”
Turning his head, he saw old McLaren chatting and laughing loudly with a few people.
“I knew it,” Adrian couldn’t help but sigh.
“It’s fine, Ian didn’t say much, I guessed it myself,” Spielberg consoled him.
“Alright, let’s not talk about that. I just wanted to ask if you could possibly recomnd a few suitable candidates?” Adrian said.
“Let think… Wait, ’97? You an that screenplay?” Spielberg stared at him.
“That’s the one,” Adrian admitted generously.
“Oh,” Spielberg began to laugh, “Back then, DreamWorks barely outbid MGM just about to seal the deal, then out of the blue, you guys silently swooped in and spent double the price to snatch it away. Now you want to recomnd a suitable director, don’t you think that’s a bit too much, Ed?”
“To be frank,” Adrian earnestly thought for a mont, “I don’t think so.”
“I knew it,” Spielberg said with a laugh, and then looked at him, “Alright, I’ll give it so thought.”
“I’ll count on you then,” Adrian patted his arm, then took his leave.
The reason he ca to find Spielberg at the party was to find a suitable director for that screenplay. Adrian had considered many people, even thought of David Lynch, but none seed quite right. Plus, he had to concentrate most of his efforts on the production of The Lord of the Rings, with no ti to thoroughly select the right director, so he could only try to get help from Spielberg, rembering the original director had a good relationship with him and was chosen to direct on his recomndation.
But now wasn’t the ti to think about this. Having secured a commitnt from Spielberg, it was ti to check out the evening’s victors and the disappointed. (To Be Continued. If you like this work, please co to Qidian (qidian) to vote for recomndation tickets and monthly tickets; your support is my greatest motivation.)
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