The Best Director

Chapter 279: Chapter 279: We Are the Champions

“Ladies and gentlemen, I am Dominique Garcia-Rolaldo/I am A.J. Ramas, and this is the unveiling of the 61st Golden Globe Awards nominations. In a moment, everyone will witness the past year’s most excellent film and television works being honored.”

Countless viewers tuned into NBC watched as Andy Garcia’s daughter, Dominique Garcia, dressed in a low-cut white evening gown with flowing long hair, and Lorenzo Ramas’s son, Alvaro Joshua Ramas, in a black suit—they were the Miss and Mr. Golden Globes of this year. On the screen at the Hilton Hotel, looming behind them was a large screen displaying the Golden Globe logo. They smiled as they opened the envelopes in their hands, “And the nominees are…”

This year, all hopes for Wang Yang’s film company to make a splash at the awards rested on him, with two films and one TV series.

Despite “MIT-21-TEAM” being a summer film slowly fading from memory, its flood of positive reviews and pinnacle representation of gambling movies also allowed it to compete in the musical/comedy film category—though the company had no grand ambitions and similarly no great momentum.

Among the categories for Best Picture in a Musical or Comedy, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor/Actress, Best Director, and Best Screenplay, it seemed that the only promising nomination was for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy. Because Natalie Portman’s performance was dazzling—the conniving genius college student Amanda and the sharp-tongued high school student Juno were on par; and also because she was Jewish and a Harvard graduate.

The Jewish influence in Hollywood is substantial, and Natalie Portman is considered the ideal new idol for the Jewish community. Naturally, her accomplishments would be highly sought after. Even though the Golden Globes are hosted by the Foreign Press Association, these factors are influential. Therefore, the film company didn’t bother trumpeting claims like “’21’ could get Wang Yang a Best Director nod” which no one would take seriously; instead, they funneled their marketing budget into Best Actress and, to a lesser extent, Best Picture.

The other film, “The Devil Wears Prada,” hotly debated and controversial among film critics, was also classed in the musical/comedy category. Since the Golden Globes don’t have “Costume Design” or similar technical categories, its most likely nominations were for Best Actress (Meryl Streep) and Best Picture, much like “21.”

On paper, a 23-year-old director, producer, and screenwriter who single-handedly spearheaded “21” and “The Devil Wears Prada” would seem deserving of a major nomination. But now that person was Wang Yang, and after “District 9” swept the Golden Globes and Oscars, the novelty of his youth had worn off. Now, he was held to the same—or even stricter—expectations as industry veterans like Steven Spielberg and Steven Soderbergh, stringent standards surpassing those of “American Beauty” director Sam Mendes. After all, he is the miracle worker, Wang Yang.

So, when considering nominations for Director, Picture, and Screenplay, Wang Yang’s most likely nod was not for a feature film but for the TV series, “Prison Break.”

As NBC’s biggest surprise of the TV fall season—and the biggest disappointment for CBS and ABC—”Prison Break,” now on winter hiatus after months of broadcasting, had achieved remarkable viewership, with an average of 20.65 million viewers and a 13/20 ratings share, sitting in the fifth spot for prime-time viewership for the first half of the year. In an incredible feat, it sparked a global “‘Prison Break’ fever,” with fans worldwide following the harrowing journey of Michael Scofield.

And “Prison Break” seemed to need that “beautiful skyscraper” of an award. TV critics had already hailed it as a “revolutionary series,” and fervent fans were giving it enthusiastic thumbs-ups as “the best TV series ever.” What it lacked now were the trophies—Emmy and Golden Globe awards.

Even if the film company didn’t lift a finger, NBC would naturally pull out all the stops in promoting it. Award nominations could boost ticket sales and soar ratings. That night, the most hopeful Golden Globe nominations for “Prison Break” were for Best Television Series – Drama and Best Actor in a Television Series – Drama (Wentworth Miller).

“He was a boy, She was a girl…”

In the spacious living room filled with the Christmas spirit, the carefree guitar sound and the off-key singing rose together. Danny, looking completely exhausted, lay next to the Christmas tree, simply closing his eyes to sleep; On the fabric sofa, Jessica watched the TV screen intently, silently praying for many nominations for “21,” “The Devil Wears Prada,” and “Prison Break,” especially hoping for “The Devil Wears Prada” to be nominated for Best Director and Best Picture, shutting up all those pesky critics!

Of course, she knew this was nearly impossible. The Golden Globe judges were essentially part of the critic community, viewing through a critic’s lens. At present, “The Devil Wears Prada” had a 40% vs. 60% rating—it was less likely than “21,” but then it wouldn’t be a thorough smackdown of the critics…

“But all of her friends, they’d stuck up their nose.” With a black guitar slung over his shoulder, Wang Yang stood beside the couch, passionately strumming and singing. Ever since he heard Jessica’s rendition of “Hey Jude” a few days ago, he felt his passion for music and rock completely awakened by her! His current singing made him close his eyes slightly, feeling very pleased with himself: “They had a problem with his baggy clothes, He was a skater boy, she said see ya later boy…”

“Yang, stop! They’re about to start the announcement.” Jessica gave him a look; these days he’d been possessed, seizing every opportunity to embrace his guitar. Wang Yang stole a glance at the screen and turned back to continue playing, “Jessica, do you know? Now my goal is the Grammys, so I’m planning to release an album.” Jessica laughed, “Sure, I support you! But don’t I have a better chance?”

“Not really.” Wang Yang shrugged and kept on playing and singing. His voice was clearly pleasant, and he wasn’t off-key, so why was he criticized for being unpleasant, exaggerated, and artificial? This was his most genuine expression of emotion!

At the announcement, Dominique and Alvaro began to reveal the nominations, and names and photos of the nominees flashed on the big screen. Best Original Song, Best Score, Best Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor/Actress categories for films were revealed one by one. There were no surprises compared to the media’s prior predictions, as movies like “Cold Mountain,” “Big Fish,” “Mystic River,” “Lost in Translation,” “Love Actually,” “The Last Samurai,” and “The Lord of the Rings 3” shared the spots.

Under the increasingly excited singing, Jessica grabbed the remote to turn up the volume. Dominique on TV smiled and said, “Next up is the Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy. The nominees are Scarlett Johansson, ‘Lost in Translation.'” Jessica couldn’t help but exclaim, “Scarlett got nominated! Wow, that’s amazing!” Dominique continued, “Diane Keaton, ‘Love is Compromise’; Helen Mirren, ‘Calendar Girls’; Natalie Portman, ‘MIT 21 TEAM’; Meryl Streep, ‘The Devil Wears Prada.'”

“YES! YES!! Yang, two nominations!!” Jessica jumped up, fists raised in excitement, even happier than if Jessica Alba had been on the list, though she hadn’t had any hopes at the start. She bounced around joyfully, excitedly plucking the guitar strings at random, “Two! If a movie is bad, would the leading lady’s performance be noticed? If the director is rubbish, can the actors perform well? No! They are connected!”

“Wow!” Hearing Natalie and Streep’s names, Wang Yang too was delighted, their performances absolutely deserved the accolades! Watching the excited Jessica, he smiled and wrapped an arm around her, this girl… However, Jessica let out a yelp when she bumped into the guitar; Wang Yang sat down on the sofa, nonchalantly smiling and said, “What great news! Anyway, this at least proves that ‘TDWP’ is not worthless, the performances are very good, aren’t they?”

“They are connected!” Jessica shouted back firmly, sitting down and gritting her teeth, “Time will prove everything, how ridiculously wrong they are!”

This nomination for Meryl Streep, with 13 Oscar nominations and 18 Golden Globe nominations to her name, seemed like an everyday affair, yet when she heard her daughter excitedly shout, “Mom, you got nominated!”, she still felt happy because every nomination was a testament to her hard work. Mamie, who’d been a part of “TDWP,” suddenly said with feeling, “Amazing Yang is brilliant.”

From childhood star to popular teenage idol, Scarlett Johansson’s career had blossomed under his recognition, opening a series of performance opportunities; Natalie Portman faced a lot of criticism in the “Star Wars Prequel” series and found rejuvenation in his films; Natalie’s mom’s performance was expected, but she also spent two days on the “TDWP” set. She witnessed firsthand the charm and directing ability of the amazing Yang, and how even a small role could be convincingly important, and it worked.

“Yes, Wang Yang has remarkable talent.” Meryl Streep, entering the living room, nodded in agreement at these words. Amazing Yang’s career path was extraordinary, at 23, he’d already matured on set, more confident than many directors in their thirties or forties and often hit the nail on the head with a single phrase, yet he also possessed the youthful enthusiasm and spiritual energy of a younger man, precise and ambitious, and this was a significant help for her in her performance in “TDWP.”

Looking at her eldest daughter on the sofa, as Streep was about to ask where her second daughter had gone, Mamie asked, “Mom, these past few days a lot of film critics online have been attacking Wang Yang. You know, about ‘TDWP,’ shallow, tedious… What do you think?” The Gummer family rarely discussed films and performances at home, but Meryl Streep was aware of this critical battle. When asked this, she smiled, “This could be my most commercially successful work, what do you think? A nearly perfect commercial movie.”

Under the same New York sky, when Natalie saw her photo up on the big screen, she chuckled a few times, amusing, amusing! Shaking her head she sighed deeply, having worked with him twice and earned this nomination each time, Rachel, Jessica had not. She mused, “How about ‘Best Partner’?” Would there be a third collaboration? Should she accept…

The unveiling continued, announcing more categories, including Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, Best Actor in a Drama, and sure enough, Scarlett Johansson earned another nomination for “Girl with a Pearl Earring,” joining the ranks with the likely Best Actress contender Charlize Theron for her self-destructive performance in “Monster.” To the dismay of Wang Yang’s die-hard fans, neither “21” nor “The Devil Wears Prada” were included among the Best Musical or Comedy Film nominations, and naturally, he wasn’t listed for Best Director either.

The five Best Director nominees were Sofia Coppola for “Lost in Translation,” Clint Eastwood for “Mystic River,” Peter Jackson for “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,” Anthony Minghella for “Cold Mountain,” and Peter Weir for “The Perfect Storm.”

Anthony Minghella and Peter Weir were basically also-rans, with betting companies likely offering them the longest odds.

At 32, Sofia Coppola, a member of the Coppola family, daughter of the great director Francis Ford Coppola (“The Godfather” series), and cousin to Nicolas Cage, faced humiliation and ridicule at the Golden Raspberry Awards at 19 for her performance in “The Godfather 3” as worst new star and worst supporting actress, and again at 28 for “Star Wars Episode I” as worst supporting actress. Along with endless criticisms “shameful nepotism,” “laughable performance,” “no prospects”…

However, when she left Hollywood with a downcast heart and stepped out of the acting scene to pick up the director’s microphone, her talent surged forth like a burst water main in the street! Her 2000 film “The Virgin Suicides” was widely acclaimed, and this year’s “Lost in Translation,” which pays tribute to Wang Jiawei’s “In the Mood for Love,” swept up awards at various film festivals. There were countless praises: “Born to be a director,” “A great female director is being born,” “Has a limitless future”…

But despite this, her odds wouldn’t be that low; Clint Eastwood’s wouldn’t be any lower, because, as it turns out, you don’t need to say much about the result—the “The Lord of the Rings” series is a “massive build-up to a huge explosion.”

“Now he’s become a superstar, playing his guitar on stage,” Wang Yang bent forward strumming the guitar, walking step by step, his face filled with excitement as he shouted and sang, “Has your pretty face spotted the boy’s worth? He’s a skater boy…”

“Dear, have you been dumped by some girl?” Jessica furrowed her brows tightly, not sure whether she felt sorry for him or couldn’t stand the crazy singing. Wang Yang ah’d in surprise, paused and looked at her face, nodding without much thought: “Yes, that’s why I love this song. You change ‘skater boy’ to ‘camera boy,’ ballet girl to rock girl… am I saying too much?”

Jessica slapped the sofa in anger and exclaimed, “She dumped you? What the hell! FUCK! No, no…” She blinked and shook her head, realizing something, stuck out her tongue and started to giggle, “Thank God! Thank her! Yes, ‘Skater-Boy’ should be sung by me, hahaha!” Wang Yang, with a dumbfounded expression, patted the guitar and said, “Dear, that’s a bad memory for me! No, it’s not.”

“Yang.” Jessica beckoned him with a wave and said tenderly, “Come here, come here, drop the guitar.” Wang Yang put the guitar down by the sofa, sat down and asked, “What?” Jessica opened her arms, pulled him close, and hugged him like a child, her laughter barely contained as she comforted him, “Oh, poor thing! Your singing is lovely, and you look cool playing the guitar, don’t mind their arrogance.” Wang Yang comfortably leaned back on her thighs, watching the TV screen, and said happily, “Exactly, I’ve always thought so!”

The TV continued with the nominations, announcing Best Foreign Language Film and Best Drama, concluding the movie award announcements; next, the two hosts moved on to announce the TV award nominations, including miniseries and musical or comedy series, as well as drama series.

“The five nominees for Best Actor in a Television Drama Series are Anthony LaPaglia for ‘Clueless,’ Wentworth Miller for ‘Prison Break,’ William Petersen for ‘CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,’ Martin Sheen for ‘The West Wing,’ and Kiefer Sutherland for ’24’.”

“The five series nominated for Best Television Drama Series are ’24,’ ‘CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,’ ‘Prison Break’…” As Dominik Garcia’s voice continued, the promotion poster for “Prison Break” lit up on the big screen at the venue and she went on, “‘Six Feet Under,’ ‘The West Wing.'”

“YEAH!! Haha! Haha!!” Jessica once again excitedly waved her fists, curious to see what the critics would say now! This was just fantastic! She looked down and kissed him with a laugh, asking, “How should we celebrate?” Before Wang Yang could reply, the mobile phone on the coffee table suddenly rang. He got up, took a look and said, “It’s Natalie, probably calling to congratulate. HELLO, Natalie!”

Sure enough, Natalie’s happy laughter came through, “Hi, Yang! I just saw the TV, I got another Golden Globe nomination, you’re watching too, right? Feels great! I just wanted to say thanks.” Wang Yang shrugged with a smile, “No need, you performed well, but… to celebrate these nominations, I’ve decided to sing a song! Wait a minute, you’ll get to hear it soon!”

He was overcome with a sudden burst of enthusiasm, hit the speakerphone, gave the phone to a wide-eyed Jessica beside him, grabbed the guitar, and started strumming passionately, bursting into “We-are-the-champions”: “We are the champions, my friends—and we’ll keep on fighting till the end, we are the champions!!!”

“OK, great! You can stop now, I’m touched,” Natalie said with a deep tone, and after hearing another impassioned “We are the champions!” she coughed, “Champions, I have to hang up! But I have to say, you have a talent for singing, keep it up! I’m waiting for your diamond record, haha! Bye!”

“I knew it! I knew it…” Hearing the dial tone from the phone and watching Jessica innocently turn her eyes as if to say “it’s not my fault,” Wang Yang grabbed his hair and shook his head, “Why? Am I too rock?… Damn it! Maybe I’ll just stick to being ‘camera boy.'” Jessica quietly patted his shoulder. Wang Yang calmed down and said, “But to celebrate our box-office championship, I should still finish the song!”

Jessica smiled sweetly, nodding, then suddenly started dancing excitedly, striking a Hulk pose, and yelled at the top of her lungs, “We are the champions—”

“Wow.”

This list of nominations could be described as steady and uneventful, without any surprises or gimmicks. The media’s enthusiasm seemed to have diminished a lot, with only a few headlines like “Russell Crowe, Tom Cruise, Shawn Penn in fierce competition,” “Sofia Coppola makes history for female directors,” “Meryl Streep’s 19th nomination,” “Scarlett Johansson showcases incredible talent,” “Wang Yang shifts to the small screen,” and so on…

Now, Jeffrey Westhoff of The Northwest Herald has become a thorough “Yang hater.” On his free-speech blog, not only does he belittle “The Devil Wears Prada,” “Firefly,” “The Big Bang Theory,” “Prison Break: Sequel”… anything related to the “laughably ridiculous” Wang Yang, he never forgets to add a heavy dose of sarcasm, determined to trample it underfoot.

In his latest blog post commenting on this year’s Golden Globe nominations, it was no exception: “Do you see any changes?”

Westhoff wrote with mockery, “We can’t find Wang Yang’s name in the film awards section, for he is not a leading actress, but we can find him on the television side! I do not mean to belittle or disrespect television professionals; on the contrary, I believe both film and television are filled with challenges, and I do not believe one person can effectively manage a series, a sitcom, and a so-called blockbuster sci-fi movie all at once.”

“Wang Yang will taste the bitter fruit of his own arrogance and pride, inevitably spreading himself too thin and botching both sides! ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ was just the prelude, can’t he hear it? Poor fellow, poor NBC, poor ‘Firefly’.”

Whether there will be bitter fruit in the future remains to be seen, but the media was dazzled by the amazing Yang’s first foray into television, garnering a nomination for Best TV Series – Drama. This seemed unrelated to “The Devil Wears Prada,” as praises like “remarkable achievement” and “great director masters the small screen” flooded in. On the silver screen, “The Devil Wears Prada” sweetly became the North America box office champion from December 12-18.

No matter how much the black Yang faction derided, cursed, or slandered, “The Devil Wears Prada” swept away an unstoppable $74.6852 million at the box office in its first week, showing in 3056 theaters. “The Lord of the Rings 3,” in second place, took in $51.47 million in just two days at 3703 theaters, clenching almost all market share except for that of “The Devil Wears Prada” in the final two days, making third place a box office disaster zone.

Men and women went to see “The Lord of the Rings 3”; women also wanted to see “The Devil Wears Prada.” With $19.5413 million for “Love is Compromise,” $14.93 million for “The Last Samurai,” $10.19 million for “Close Brothers”… The total North America box office for this week was $201 million, with “The Devil Wears Prada” accounting for 37%, “The Lord of the Rings 3” 25%, leaving other films as victims.

The $74.68 million figure continued Wang Yang’s level of box office success, ranking fourth in his personal opening week record, behind $75.26 million for “21,” $85.09 million for “The Hangover,” and $131 million for “District 9.” Purely in terms of box office figures, there was not a single Waterloo or anything resembling a village named Waterloo.

Since making a statement in an exclusive interview with the Los Angeles Times, although it triggered a war of words, the amazing Yang has kept silent. However, he did not disappoint those who spoke out or defended him. He updated his main battlefield blog with a thank-you post titled “We Are the Champions,” thanking the hard work of “The Devil Wears Prada” crew, the love and support of the audience, and those film critics in his camp.

What excited the entertainment-loving netizens and made them shout “Finally, it’s here!” was the last sentence of this post, a sharp and revealing line.

“These days I keep hearing a very amusing thing, I don’t know who said it, there are too many. They say I’m hyping it up, that I’m scared, that I’m about to cry… because ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ is an unloved child. Please! LOL, Do you think ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ is going to have a global box office of over $400 million? I think it will.”

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PS: Woah, another recommendation for “Who Am I.” The title might not be impressive, but it’s definitely a fantastic read! Everyone can give it a try, and if you like to collect books, please help by adding it to your collection, okay? Thank you, everyone! The book number is 2132124. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to cast your recommendation votes and monthly tickets at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation.)