America achieves both fame and fortune

Chapter 651 Three Bastards, Five Oscars

As February drew to a close, Hollywood's annual highlight, the Academy Awards ceremony, began.

This year's focus naturally centered on Leonardo DiCaprio, with all the media outlets reporting wildly on whether he, who has been desperately pursuing an Oscar, would finally achieve his goal.

Jack, once a handsome young man, sacrificed his image in real life for the sake of performing arts, turning into a greasy middle-aged man who was dumped by more than a dozen girlfriends. It was really tough for him.

"If Leo wins, I will sincerely congratulate him!"

As Martin walked into the media area, he overheard red carpet host Maria interviewing Nicholson. The old man was wearing a suit and sunglasses, looking quite cool.

His voice suddenly turned stern: "If Leo doesn't win the award, I will set up a separate training session for him and subject him to hellish training."

Maria, alerted by the director, saw Martin approaching and quickly pulled him aside, asking, "Martin, if Leo wins, how will the three of you celebrate?"

This question is clearly tricky, and Martin would never open a bottle of champagne at halftime. He said seriously, "The result is not yet in, and everything is still uncertain. I will answer your question in five hours."

Martin and Nicholson are relatively low-key, helping their best friend build up good karma.

Suddenly, Bruce stepped forward and stood in Martin's side.

Martin reacted extremely quickly, without even thinking, and pulled Nicholson behind him.

Diagonally opposite, Christian Bale had just finished an interview with another red carpet host, Robin Roberts, and turned around to see Martin.

After filming "The Dark Knight" wrapped, he underwent psychological treatment, and all the painful memories were suppressed by the newly built psychological defenses.

Seeing Martin reminded Bell of his divorced wife, his broken family, his torn corpus cavernosum, and so on.

At that moment, Martin suddenly changed in his eyes; his face was automatically covered with white paint, and his blood-red lips were pulled up to his ears.

Bell's voice unconsciously deepened, like Bruce Wayne with a voice changer: "There's something called justice..."

Martin put his hands in his pockets and just watched Bell quietly.

Bell walked over here: "It can make me shine, and it can make me burn!"

Everyone and everything around him stopped moving and turned to look at Bell, thinking he had gone mad.

Martin said nothing and did nothing, waiting for Bell to make his move.

If Bale were to lay a hand on him here, it would be tantamount to cutting himself off from the Oscars and the Academy.

Michael Kane pushed his way through the crowd and hugged Bale tightly. The old man whispered, "Don't go crazy, come with me, come with me now!"

Kate Winslet came over from the other side and tugged at Martin: "Let's go into the theater."

Martin glanced at Nicholson and followed Kate.

Nicholson had planned to persuade Martin to leave at the crucial moment: "Let's go. If a fight breaks out, it won't do you any good. After all, the Oscars are the face of the Academy."

The three of them entered the Kodak Theatre one after the other. Kate said to Martin, "You're too combative."

Martin looked innocent: "I didn't do anything today, I just suddenly ran into this."

"He's got a problem here," Kate pointed to her head. "Don't take it to heart."

Given their frequent interactions, Martin naturally wouldn't hold a grudge against Kate over such a trivial matter, saying, "I'm an easygoing person, not at all combative. Everyone in the industry knows that."

Nicholson added, "Our trio has an excellent reputation; everyone who hears it praises us."

The single Leonardo DiCaprio was waiting ahead. After the group met up, they entered the hall through the guest entrance.

The Oscars have always respected the elderly and favored the young. Nicholson's seat was in the first row, Leonardo DiCaprio's "Shutter Island" crew was on the left, and the crews of the two films starring Martin Scorsese were all on the right.

The three of them separated and went to find their own seats.

Martin went to the second row on the right, shook hands with Nolan and David Fincher, and wished them good luck tonight.

That's what they said, but they all knew they had no chance of winning the Best Director award tonight.

The Directors Guild Award for Best Director was given to David Russell, director of "The Fighter".

Nolan, the director who achieved legendary status with superhero films, still has a long way to go on his path to the Oscars.

Gone Girl is not quite right, and David Fincher himself is not the kind of director that is very popular with the Academy.

Martin greeted the other crew members one by one. Just as he sat down, someone came up behind him and leaned on the back of the empty seat next to him.

Saoirse Ronan had grown taller again: "Teacher, it's been a long time."

Martin turned to look at the mischievous girl and asked, "Why has your face suddenly gotten so big?"

Saoirse rubbed her cheek: "I'm also very distressed. After entering the rapid development period, I became like this, growing wildly all over my body."

Martin glanced at him briefly: "You've grown quite a bit taller."

Saoirse suddenly looked into the distance, her eyes filled with hatred: "The British Academy Award, and two other times, she mocked me, saying I was a defective product."

"Who?" Martin asked, then remembered and turned to look. Sure enough, it was Emma Watson.

Saoirse said, "She said I looked prematurely aged, that I was an ugly child star who looked like an old woman in her forties."

Martin casually made up a story: "It's an inevitable fate for child stars to grow up ugly."

Saoirse almost cried when she heard that.

Martin wasn't much better; he was essentially the same as Nicholson, always looking for trouble. He added, "Next time you see Emma Watson, you'll laugh at her for having a long, narrow face."

Saoirse couldn't understand the last word at all.

Martin gestured with his hand: "An ugly crescent-shaped face."

Saoirse understood this time: "I get it, thank you for teaching me, teacher. I'll see if I can find an opportunity tonight; I'm going to fight back!"

She specifically asked, "Teacher, did you bring any firecrackers?"

Martin asked, "What do you need this for?"

Saoirse learned a lot from Martin: "I would keep an eye on her, and when she went to the restroom, I would go to the next stall and throw firecrackers into her stall!"

"Too bad pets aren't allowed at the Oscars." She was clearly now Emma Watson's sworn enemy: "Maybe I should borrow someone else's pet poop, wrap it up with firecrackers, and throw it at Emma to vent my anger!"

Martin wasn't going to play along with her nonsense: "I don't have any here. You'll have to wait until next time."

Charlize Theron arrived at that moment, and her seat was right next to Martin's, so Saoirse Ronan quickly stepped back.

Charlize glanced at Saoirse, sat down, and said in a low voice, "You have such a wide range of interests, unlike Leonardo who is so single-minded."

Martin shook his head: "I'm very loyal; I only like pretty girls."

Charlize then asked, "You've been feeling down lately, having your film projects snatched away one after another. I remember Elizabeth's away on a business trip. Come over to my place tonight, I can help you cheer up?"

Martin said, "We'll see. If Leo doesn't win, I'll come find you."

With the Kodak Theatre full, the awards ceremony officially began.

Although the Academy claims to have completely reformed, the Oscars still have the same old tune and melody. Too many segments before the awards ceremony are nostalgic, and even actors like Martin Scorsese, who are in their 80s, are falling asleep, let alone the young audience who make up the majority of movie fans.

There are too many people and things they miss, but they have no idea about them, nor are they interested in knowing about them.

In addition, host James Franco's performance was subpar, and Anne Hathaway seemed preoccupied and her performance was disastrous; there was almost no chemistry between the two hosts.

Charlize covered her mouth and whispered to Martin, "James Franco seems to be high."

Martin deeply agreed.

Finally, someone came over to remind Martin that it was time to go backstage to prepare to present the Best Actor award.

Martin went into the passage next door, and Nicholson came over just then. The two of them went backstage together.

Once backstage, the director handed Martin the script card, gave Nicholson the gold envelope, and gave him a few more instructions.

Martin glanced at the script, then turned it over and held it in his hand.

After the previous hosting session ended, Anne Hathaway returned backstage and immediately spotted Martin. Since she didn't need to touch up her makeup for the time being, she specifically sought him out.

Nicholson reminded Martin, "Your old flame is here."

Martin saw it.

Anne approached Martin: "Long time no see."

Martin acted like a complete jerk: "Annie, are you okay?"

"That's not a good idea," Annie said directly. "Could we talk about it sometime tonight?"

Martin thought for a moment: "I'll go to the Oscars party."

On the stage in front, a notification sounded that the Best Actor award was about to be presented.

Martin took the lead and walked ahead.

Before following them, that old bastard Nicholson deliberately said, "If you want to win Martin back, get engaged or married."

When Anne heard this, she was stunned. How could she possibly win Martin back after she got married or engaged?

No wonder people say Jack Nicholson is crazy.

Martin and Nicholson stood in front of the microphone on the stage.

There wasn't much discussion below, because once the Screen Actors Guild Awards were announced, the winners of the major awards were basically determined.

"Jack, you, me, and another idiot are known as the Iron Triangle in Hollywood." In this formal setting, Martin couldn't possibly refer to himself as the Trio of Bastards.

He said, "People often ask me, how many Oscars have you three won in total?"

Nicholson replied, "Four, of course!"

Martin asked, "But they always ask me, 'Does everyone have one?' And then I can't answer that."

Nicholson said, "Because we have to save face for those bastards who don't have Oscars."

The guests and audience burst into laughter; they certainly understood who Martin and Nicholson were talking about.

The main camera then switched to Leonardo DiCaprio, capturing a close-up shot of him.

Nicholson introduced the nominees, then opened the envelopes and showed them to Martin.

Martin announced, "The Best Actor award goes to Leonardo DiCaprio!"

(End of this chapter)