"You should run for president, Ed," Campbell said after sipping so fine tea. Although this place was considered remote, setting up a table to enjoy the best Darjeeling tea was no problem for the wealthy, especially with a convoy of vehicles providing service in the background.
"In that case, I wouldn’t even make it past the primaries," Adrian replied with a smile, holding his coffee.
"A president can still have lovers," Campbell remarked slyly, "Your insight is outstanding, always grasping the crux of the matter and resolving it in unexpected ways. You’re charming and persuasive, capable of getting people to accept your ideas, even if they seem unlikely. Such a person should be sitting in the White House, certainly better than Junior Bush."
"There’s never been a billionaire president, not to ntion a dia mogul as president—it doesn’t align with the traditions of democracy and freedom," Adrian shrugged, "That’s why Hollywood suits better."
Campbell chuckled twice, took another sip of tea, and then said, "Alright, I can lobby for you and convey your views to them, but, just like last year, I can’t guarantee anything."
"No problem," Adrian nodded imdiately, "That’s more than enough."
After a few minutes of silence, Campbell patted the shotgun beside him, "Let’s continue then, I still hope to bag a boar before this hunt ends."
Despite saying he couldn’t guarantee anything, Adrian didn’t mind at all. As long as Campbell spoke up, he was practically assured victory. To impress soone or a group, you need to offer sothing they can’t refuse. What is irresistible? It’s simple: uniqueness!
Aside from Natalie, there’s no one else in Hollywood who is a famous, good-looking, well-educated child star who also... was born in Jerusalem and grew up there until age three! The significance of Jews to the United States needs no elaboration. While calling them the ultimate authority might be an exaggeration, their power in new dia and Hollywood is indeed formidable.
That’s why Adrian and AC dia received considerable support from Wall Street. His identity as a descendant of Mayflower travelers made him quite popular among WASPs, which can be seen as a sign of their involvent in Hollywood.
Of course, this doesn’t an Adrian had to go against Jewish groups. Although competition is inevitable, at a higher level, they generally coexist and thrive together. Seeing this, Adrian invested early in "Schindler’s List" to gain the friendship of so Jews and collaborated with them in various ways, qualifying as a friend. However, his identity also ant he wouldn’t entirely follow their lead, enabling him to navigate skillfully to this day.
Now, as his crowning mont approaches, the 60th anniversary of World War II victory and the Holocaust-thed "Pianist" have earned him political correctness and Jewish support. His harsh criticism of European films tied the entire Hollywood film industry to him. Therefore, he wanted to express gratitude by recomnding a template—a perfect representation of the Jewish image.
This isn’t overstepping. Yes, Adrian is doing it for Natalie, but it also aligns with Jewish group interests. However, being born in the Holy City, Jerusalem, is already enough, especially since she lived there for three years. Additionally, both her parents are Jewish, and her Jewish identity is purer than those with half or even less Jewish blood. Her great-grandmother even served as a spy for the Allies during World War II. She once played the lead role in the stage play "Annie’s Diary." Connecting all these dots and then publicizing them, Adrian couldn’t imagine a reason for the Academy to refuse.
Yes, significant controversy is bound to arise, but so what? After all, thanks to Adrian, when has the Oscars ever been without controversy in recent years? Moreover, controversial awards have been given in history, and the key still lies in benefits.
Overall, this hunt was relatively enjoyable, but the necessary PR, alliances, and exchanges couldn’t be overlooked. Adrian was already prepared to forgo non-essential awards. This proved useful, as demonstrated by the Oscar nomination list released at the end of the month, where "Pianist" and "Locke" both received ten nominations.
Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Costu Design, and Best Editing nominations went to "Pianist," while Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Editing went to "Locke." Although there was one overlapping nomination, counted separately, it could be considered ten.
"Another step forward!" was the first headline in the new issue of the "Hollywood Report" concerning the Oscars, and even without naming nas, readers knew who it referred to.
How many tis has the Miracle Director been nominated for Best Director now? Who cares, just as no one cares how many tis he’s been nominated for script-related awards. Everyone just wants to know if he, having already won Best Director once, can continue the winning streak and whether Natalie Portman can beco the first person to win Best Actress consecutively, once again shining brightly under his direction.
"Look, look, the mbers of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have all been bought!" Such rumors were circulating online continuously.
Of course, as usual, for a dia tycoon, this almost serves no purpose, and there are plenty of other notable aspects of this year’s Oscar nomination list to explore for news material. For instance, Nicole Kidman’s na once again appeared among the Best Actress nominees.
Including "Arican Beauty," Nicole Kidman has received five Oscar nominations in 7 years, and consecutively won Best Supporting Actress twice. For soone once considered just a pretty face, this achievent is astonishing. If she continues at this rate, she might surpass Katherine Hepburn and ryl Streep to beco the actress with the most nominations in Oscar history.
As for why she could achieve this, besides the die-hard fans online shouting "Divorcing Cruise was the right decision," many can guess. The Miracle Girl moniker isn’t just a na. Not to ntion, in this year’s Best Actress nominations, aside from Nicole, nominated for "Transarica," there was also Kate Beckinsale for "North Country" and Keira Knightley for "Pride and Prejudice."
The forr also held the Miracle Girl title. Under dia scrutiny, her images in "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and "nto" had beco well-known, and the "earliest" prefix was almost established. Moreover, it was widely known that Lily was Adrian’s daughter. Many also knew he had more than one child, and speculated that daughters of Monica and Sophie were his too, but unfortunately, due to various reasons, it couldn’t be published in the dia.
As for the latter, although no concrete evidence proved her involvent with the Miracle Director, many reporters captured photos of her having intimate conversations with Adrian. Given the Playboy’s usual personality, claiming there was nothing going on was almost impossible. This was also why after "Locke," practically no one cared whether the Miracle Director had an affair with Natalie—it was almost impossible to believe there wasn’t sothing substantial making her willing to invest so much.
Moreover, "Pride and Prejudice" had Miramax’s investnt, and its U.S. distribution was handled by them. Even so British insider sources suggested that not only was Keira Knightley nominated for her role, but Joe White was also appointed as director by Adrian. With all these clues combined, even if it weren’t true, journalists could easily fabricate a story saying it was.
In any case, once these nas appeared on the nomination list, various dia outlets naturally erged with all sorts of analysis reports. A little guidance, and the ones concentrating entirely on Natalie and Adrian, beca few and far between, even if it was clear he was determined to get her another award.
Moreover, the performance awards nominations included Asian faces for the first ti, which was always worth noting. Indeed, Lin Chi-Ling and Nakama Yukie both secured spots on the list with their roles in "Sideways" and "Babel," respectively.
Lin Chi-Ling’s role was not the most significant among the three female characters in "Sideways," so obtaining a nomination was a result of PR efforts. While Nakama Yukie also benefited from PR, her acting skills played a substantial role. She should have been nominated for "moirs of a Geisha," achieving her desire this year.
As for Dennis and Aniston, they regrettably neither received a lead actor nomination nor a lead actress nomination, which was a sha given their outstanding performances as a couple.
The appearance of Asian faces on the performance award nomination lists is always sothing worth celebrating, and this ti not only increased the count to nine, but they were all actresses. To have two in one go, it’s almost impossible not to attract dia attention.
Moreover, the nomination list also includes Kirsten and Blanchett. Kirsten was nominated for a minor independent film called "June Bug" that was released at the end of September, which had average box office performance but received good reviews. Blanchett’s film, on the other hand, was "Notes on a Scandal," adapted from a 2003 non-fiction book and simultaneously released in the UK and US in mid-December, starring Judi Dench, and received a nomination for Best Actress.
There’s no need to ntion Blanchett’s "Miracle Girl" status. As for Kirsten, she, like Keira, was photographed many tis having intimate conversations with Adrian in public. He managed this aspect quite well. Industry insiders could confirm the "Miracle Girls" were very much involved with him, but young girls like Kirsten and Scarlett thought they had one-night stands with him.
As such, it’s needless to say how much attention it draws. The pressure on Adrian and Natalie beca lighter. These reports seed aggressive, but they were quickly resolved, and what eventually landed on them was just a light touch. This gave Adrian enough ti to prepare for the last mont and, in the process, garner so good news.
Michael Bay agreed to take over the sequel of "Transforrs," which was both expected and unexpected for Adrian.
It was expected because Adrian believed it was only a matter of ti before Bay agreed. The biggest weakness of Shell (Bay) was that he urgently needed a film to regain his montum. He was a director of comrcial films before and would continue to be one, and the biggest fear for a comrcial director is losing their comrcial value.
He is different from Sam Remy and David Fincher, the latter two beca famous for their personalities. Fincher still maintains his character in film production, while Remy, despite transitioning with the "Spider-Man" trilogy, still has the "Evil Dead" trilogy as a rare cult classic. The result is that even if they encounter comrcial failures, they can still secure funding for a movie they want to make after taking a break.
However, Shell beca famous through comrcial films, so comrcial value is very important to him. Without it, he can’t hold his director’s gaphone steadily. After the millennium, his films were mostly losing money and even dragged down DreamWorks, so now he urgently needs a comrcially successful film.
What could be more guaranteed at the box office than a "Transforrs" sequel? Reviews? Comparisons? These are trivial compared to self-interest! Didn’t critics give him the nickna "Explosive Bay"? Didn’t people mock him for only making comrcial films? Moreover, when Adrian personally stepped out to talk, using relationships with DreamWorks, how could Shell not be tempted over ti?
The unexpected was that he didn’t expect it to happen so quickly. He originally thought it would take at least three weeks or more to convince him, but who knew that after just about half a month, Shell agreed.
"You are right, Ed, no one can surpass Caron, so there’s no need to surpass him," Michael Bay said to him at the ti, which surprised Adrian greatly.
Since attempting to persuade Shell to do sothing he didn’t want to wasn’t possible directly, telling him that he needed a comrcial film to regain his reputation and that he couldn’t surpass Caron and should not try to was crucial. The latter was a very persuasive excuse, provided he admitted he couldn’t surpass him.
That’s not easy. Often, rationally knowing you can’t surpass soone but admitting it to others is hard. Shell’s acceptance was unexpected.
"I’ve always been grateful for your help, and I also think there’s no difference in status between comrcial films and art films, so I’ll continue to pursue my interests," Michael Bay continued.
This remark solved Adrian’s doubts. Very well, although Shell had so bad habits, at least he knew what he should do. Clearly, he always rembered the favor Adrian did for him initially. He was also pleased that Adrian used him as an example when refuting European filmmakers, which brought him significant fa. Indeed, acknowledging Adrian’s growing influence may have contributed to his agreent, but that was already quite good.
Very well, this matter was thus settled. Adrian imdiately began preparations for two sequels and simultaneously so new films. It’s not that he wanted to start sothing new after completing his goals, regardless of the outco. He intended to take a good break, so he had no plans for now.
Thus, the actual preparation of new films was for the won in his life. Now he had more ti and could proceed slowly and more ticulously.
"A Ph.D., female Ph.D., history Ph.D., you haven’t played such a role before, right?" Adrian said, hugging Zetajones from behind, teasing her as he gazed at her reflection, "Stop looking, you’ve recovered very well."
"Does Virginia count?" Zetajones ignored him, still posing variously in front of the mirror in Adrian’s arms.
"Of course not, that should be classified as a thief." Adrian leaned over and inhaled deeply at her neck.
"Do you really think I’m suitable?" Zetajones turned around, tilting her head slightly as she asked.
"Very suitable," Adrian exaggeratedly replied, "When this script was dug out from the archives, I regretted not producing it earlier, but on careful consideration, I realized it was a wise choice. If I had made it back then or just a year later, I wouldn’t have found a suitable female lead. Now you are the perfect choice."
"Don’t try to fool , Ed," Zetajones sniffed lightly, "Don’t tell none of your won is suitable."
"If you only consider it from a single aspect, there are many suitable ones. But when looking at it comprehensively, it’s different. Everyone has their own things, so you are the most suitable," Adrian earnestly said.
After watching him for a few seconds, Zetajones smiled broadly, stepped back a few paces, adjusted her clothes, and spun around in front of him: "Do you really think I’ve recovered well?"
"Of course," Adrian laughed, gesturing towards her, "Look at this figure: the full breasts, slim waist, and round hips, no different from before."
"Can’t you think of so better adjectives?" Zetajones raised an eyebrow, "You used to be very good at describing won."
"Yes, that’s right, but I think this way best expresses my current mood," Adrian chuckled as he moved closer, "I really, really want to pin you down right now..."
"Julie is waiting downstairs. If you’re not afraid of making her angry, go ahead," Zetajones then straightened up, "Oh, and it’s almost ti to feed Kelis."
"So what? The little one won’t mind sharing a bit with her dad." Adrian squinted his eyes, trying to look lecherous.
"Very well, when Kelis grows up, I will tell her how you want to snatch what’s ant for her," Zetajones rolled her eyes, then strode out. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welco to visit Qidian (qidian) and vote with recomndations or monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
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