The Wolf of Los Angeles.

After the preview, Tom Cruise and Eric specially invited Hawke to come to the "Nightcrawler" studio on South Broadway.

Hawke sat on the sofa and asked, "Have the preview statistics come out?"

Eric said: "102 questionnaires were collected, and the average score was A."

Tom Cruise continued, "Paramount is very optimistic about this film. I had a few words with the director of distribution, Mr. Bales. He thinks the film is very interesting and will have good commercial prospects. Although it cannot be compared with mainstream commercial blockbusters, if it is well managed, the North American box office is expected to exceed 100 million."

Hawke agreed with this statement. Although he was not an expert in film distribution, he was well aware that Tom Cruise's appeal was extremely strong in this era.

"What about the prize-winning aspect?" This was another point Hawke was concerned about.

Tom Cruise said: "Paramount and my company will go all out for the awards."

He had discussed this matter with Hawke last year, and reminded him: "We agreed to compete for the prize together."

Hawke naturally remembered and said directly: "The first goal is Best Actor." He looked at Eric and said: "Best Director and Best Picture are very difficult to win. Eric is a newcomer and it is very difficult for him to win the awards. As for Best Picture... the chance seems to be a little higher."

Eric didn't lose his head and said, "This is only my second feature film."

Tom Cruise said: "All these awards have been applied for. There is still time before the award season. We must not only look at ourselves, but also at the situation of our opponents."

Hawke agrees: "Every Oscar has to have a result. If our opponents in that year's competition are terrible in every aspect, we just need to be better than them and we will win."

This is exactly what Tom Cruise wanted to do when he approached Hawke.

He had already thought about it: "The core judges of the academy don't like me very much. Can we make them dislike our competitors even more?"

Hawke gave a thumbs up and said, "Tommy, we have the same idea. I think this is the essence of Oscar competition."

Eric lacked experience in this area and asked, "I know that Hollywood awards require a lot of time, money, and energy to do publicity and public relations, to show our advantages to everyone and let them know that we are better?"

"That's just one aspect of it." Hawke simply explained: "Strictly speaking, the Oscars are a general election in the film industry."

Eric wondered.

Tom Cruise explained first: "In every election, the two sides are not only competing on who is better, but also on who is worse. This trend is becoming more and more obvious. I think it won't be long before the real decision on the election outcome will become who is worse."

I have to say that Tom Cruise has a certain vision to have been popular all over the world for 20 years.

He added: "The competition between the two parties has actually already broken the bottom line, with extremely fierce confrontations and shady tactics emerging one after another."

This reminded Eric of something: "Like Watergate."

He thought for a moment: "And Kennedy Jr."

Hawke backtracked: "With a few months left before the awards season, we need to start collecting information about our competitors, especially those who are preparing to invest heavily in the Best Actor, Best Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture categories."

Tom Cruise responded: "I hired a team to do it."

Hawke had his own purpose in helping Tom Cruise win awards, and reminded him, "I got news in the first half of the year that Brokeback Mountain, produced by Focus Features, will focus on winning Best Actor, Best Director and Best Picture. They have received sponsorship from a foundation and may spend a lot of money."

Eric had heard people talk about this movie before: "A gay movie? Is this kind of movie going to win an Oscar?"

Tom Cruise reacted quickly because he knew that the Oscars were more than just the highest award for Hollywood movies;

Such as social trends and political significance.

Take the Hollywood Best Foreign Language Film for example. The quality of the film is not the first criterion for selection. The most basic criterion is the theme and intention of the film, and whether it sits on the side of Hollywood.

Tom Cruise himself has had rumors of being gay, and he does not shy away from it: "There are a lot of homosexuals in Hollywood. Although many people dare not speak out, they have been promoting the gay movement. Behind this movie..."

"We don't care what's behind Brokeback Mountain or what kind of subject it is. If they compete for these awards, they are our rivals and enemies." Hawke's attitude and way of doing things are the same as before. He looked at Cruise and said, "I think we should focus on this crew."

Tom Cruise was at this point, and what he lacked most was recognition from a major award. He did not hesitate at all: "I will have people keep a close eye on this crew."

Hawke's target is not only the "Brokeback Mountain" crew, but also the San Francisco branch of BlackRock behind the project.

Both sides have seen blood.

There are still traces of last year's explosion on the central street of Covina.

The three discussed for a while, and Hawke prepared to say goodbye and leave.

When Tom Cruise saw him off, he received a call and after hanging up, he said to Hawke, "I just got the news that the Venice Film Festival closed three hours ago, and Brokeback Mountain won this year's Golden Lion Award."

Hawke didn't pay attention to the film's performance outside North America, but he wasn't surprised because Europe has always been ahead of America in terms of homosexuality.

Taking advantage of the latest news, Hawke said: "It looks like Brokeback Mountain is going to be a strong rival for us."

Tom Cruise was much more serious than before and said, "I will have someone collect all the information about this crew."

He asked Eric, "Who is the male lead in Brokeback Mountain?"

Eric knew more: "Heath Ledger, an Australian actor."

Tom Cruise frowned: "I haven't heard much about it." The gap between the two people in terms of status is too big.

Eric said, “I starred in The Brothers Grimm with Matt Damon a few years ago.”

Tom Cruise still looked confused.

Hawke then said goodbye and left. On the way, he called Caroline and asked her to check the situation of the judges and sponsors of this Venice Film Festival.

After work on Monday, Caroline's assistant brought Hawke the latest information.

Because the direction was very clear, it took a little time and Hawke found a lot of what he wanted.

At the just-concluded Venice Film Festival, seven advertising sponsors had investment backgrounds from BlackRock or foundations controlled by BlackRock.

These can be said to be coincidences. After all, although BlackRock's development speed has not been particularly fast since it went public in 1999, it has also gained a certain reputation in the investment field.

This situation may occur if you cast a wide net.

But Hawke continued reading, and the information he found was not ordinary.

The chairman of the jury of this year's Venice Film Festival is John Bowman, a director from the UK who has directed films such as "The Exorcist 2", "Days of Glory" and "The Tailor of Panama".

BlackRock Film Fund is the largest investor in John Bowman's new film, The Tiger's Tail, which is currently being prepared.

BlackRock Film Fund was also one of the largest investors in the Brokeback Mountain project.

Seeing this, Hawke felt like he had learned something.

Winning awards doesn’t just rely on public relations and publicity, you can also do it this way.

The magic of money is everywhere.

But this method cannot be applied to the Oscars.

The three major European film festivals have juries that award prizes, and the jury chairman has enormous power. If the chairman is determined to push a certain, not-so-bad film to win an award, the other judges can hardly stop him.

Some jury chairmen try to balance things out and come up with weird and inappropriate results, such as several people winning the same award at the same time.

The Oscars are decided by voting of more than 5000 Academy members. For example, if Tom Cruise wants to compete for the Best Actor award, he needs the corresponding investment from the actor judges, who number about 1200 people.

Hawke considered which approach to take.

The ideal outcome would be not only that Brokeback Mountain fails to win any of the major Oscars, but that it doesn't even get nominated for any of the major awards.

At that time, the gay community had not yet gained momentum, and "Brokeback Mountain" was still a non-mainstream movie.

Hawke thought that what he was doing was exacerbating the divisions in American society.

The conflict between various social groups and forces?

Hawke picked up the phone, called Tom Cruise, and said, "For Brokeback Mountain, focus on contacting a few actresses, preferably those who are ambitious or greedy for money, and when they come back from Venice, give them a big gift."

Tom Cruise responded: "Leave it to me."

Hawke hung up the phone.

Given the current climate in Hollywood, as long as an actress is willing to speak out, it will never become a slander.

What Hawke is going to launch is naturally a real high-end business war.

At this moment, there was a knock on the office door and Caroline came in wearing red high heels.

Miss Mee pulled out a chair and sat opposite Hawke. She folded her chopstick-like legs and pulled up her professional skirt, revealing her calves in stockings.

She smiled and said, "I have negotiated with the City Hall about the Coast Office Building and the financial subsidies. The City Hall needs you to go over and sign the contract."

Hawke asked, "When?"

Caroline quietly stretched her feet forward: "It would be best if it were this afternoon. I have an appointment with a design company to discuss the decoration of Coastal Building tomorrow."

"Okay." Hawke looked at the schedule and said, "Brian signed on behalf of the City Hall?"

Caroline put force on her foot on the ground, dragged it forward, put her foot under the table, and moved closer: "It's him."

Hawke leaned back slightly, sitting on the back of the chair, and his outstretched foot hit a sharp spot. He couldn't help but look at Caroline: "Your hoof."

Caroline turned the tables first: "You bumped into my high heels."

Hawke seemed to smell a stench of sheep, but his mind was focused on dealing with the Ackerman family at this time, so he said, "Let's talk about it during the random inspection."

Caroline blinked and said, "Call Megan along." (End of this chapter)