America achieves both fame and fortune

Chapter 724 The Century-Old Problem

Beverly Hills, Hilton Hotel.

The Oscars party is underway, and as one of the winners tonight, Martin is receiving a constant stream of congratulations.

Cheers, clinking glasses, and chatter filled the air.

Leonardo raised his glass and said, "Congratulations to Martin Scorsese on winning the Oscar for Best Actor, cheers!"

Menez shouted, "Boss, congratulations!"

"Thank you!" Martin raised his glass and drank it down, then said, "Come to my place later, Elizabeth's gone back to prepare for the celebration party, I got a lot of good wine."

Those around Martin responded enthusiastically.

Leonardo put one arm around Martin and the other around Nicholson, laughing heartily as he said, "Now, we've both won the Oscar for Best Actor!"

Martin laughed heartily; tonight was a time of celebration.

Nicholson retorted, "This raises another age-old question: the three of us have six Oscars, so how many does each of us have?"

Martin asked, "Leo, you're best at math problems, please give me the answer!"

Leonardo looked at Martin: "You bastard, why do you always make me do math problems?"

Martin laughed: "Because I am a mathematician, please call me Martin Goldbach."

Menez then reminded him, "Tom Sherac is coming."

As the current college president, he deserves some respect, and Martin and his ilk stopped their antics.

Tom Sherac came over, greeted everyone briefly, and said to Martin, "Congratulations on joining the ranks of Oscar winners for Best Actor."

"Thank you for the academy's recognition." It's easy to say a few nice words, but Martin's commercial flattery was as swift as the night wind outside: "Without the guidance of so many seniors at the academy, I wouldn't have achieved what I have today. The academy will always be the benchmark in the industry."

Tom Sherrak preferred Martin to Leonardo, saying, "If you're interested, come visit the Executive Committee sometime, and we can have a good chat."

Martin said, "It's my honor."

The people here are too much of a troublemaker. After a few brief pleasantries, Tom Sherac left.

His assistant then came over and said, "The preliminary ratings data for ABC is out."

Tom Sherac asked, "How are the ratings?"

The assistant said, "The highest viewership was during the Best Actor award ceremony, when the peak audience reached 3940 million, an increase of 140 million from last year."

This is good news for the Oscars, whose ratings have been declining year after year. Tom Sherak nodded in approval: "Martin Davis's appeal and influence are already top-notch in the industry."

Last year's highest-rated time slot also saw Leonardo DiCaprio win Best Actor.

After delivering the good news, the assistant then delivered the bad news: "The awards ceremony averaged 3140 million viewers, a decrease of 120 million from last year."

He lowered his voice: "This year's Grammys had a higher average viewership than the Oscars."

Tom Sherac looked rather grim. A few years ago, the Oscars had always reigned supreme among the four major award ceremonies: the Oscars, the Grammys, the Emmys, and the Tonys.

This year, we were surpassed by the Grammys.

Tom Sherac looked worried.

This news could not be kept secret, and some well-informed people quickly learned of it.

Nicholson remarked with considerable emotion, "Ten years ago, who could have imagined that the Oscars would one day be surpassed by the Grammys?"

He looked at Martin and Leonardo: "These past two Oscars have had two of you, with your huge influence and strong market appeal as Best Actor winners, which boosted the viewership during peak time slots. Otherwise, the average viewership would have been even more dismal."

Leonardo DiCaprio is well aware that "films nominated for major awards have too small an audience."

Martin agreed: "That's absolutely right." He pointed to Nicholson: "Most of the films competing for awards are made for you more than for the general audience."

Nicholson does not deny this: "Today's Oscars are a typical example of how judges force creative output."

Martin nodded slightly.

The core composition of the Oscars, particularly among older white male filmmakers, largely determines what kind of films can win major awards. Producers will naturally cater to this preference by making films that emphasize nostalgia and tributes.

Harvey Weinstein, in particular, is a prime example of this.

The film that Martin didn't see in these two editions almost took nostalgia and homage to the extreme.

A black and white silent film, can you imagine that this was the biggest winner at the 2010s Oscars?

Leonardo asked Martin, "If you were to become the chairman of the executive committee, could you reverse this trend?"

"No," Martin said frankly. "Unless we fire most of the judges, but many of them are our friends and collaborators."

Nicholson said, "Anyone with eyes can see where the crux of the problem lies."

Discussing this privately with two close friends, Martin spoke without reservation: "The rise of entertainment such as video games has meant that movies are no longer the primary form of entertainment for teenagers. If the Oscars stop paying attention to the needs of young people, if they don't quickly rejuvenate themselves, the Oscars will inevitably turn themselves into a niche toy, rotting away day by day."

According to his memory, Oscar is in bad shape now, and it will be even worse in a few years.

Because of the decline of the older white male demographic, Oscar chose a more niche path.

Martin had drunk quite a bit and went to the restroom.

As he came out of the door, a middle-aged man approached and greeted him, "Hello, Martin."

Martin didn't recognize the other person, but smiled and nodded as usual, saying, "Hello."

The middle-aged man, having finally secured a ticket to Oscar night, was already promoting himself. Coincidentally, he ran into Martin, so he decided not to go to the restroom and introduced himself: "I am Denis Villeneuve, a screenwriter and director from Canada."

He knew that important people were very busy and that he needed to get their interest out of there as soon as possible: "I am the director of 'Incendies,' which was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film."

Martin hadn't seen the movie, but he had just attended the Oscars and remembered the title.

Since the other party had approached him, Martin could roughly guess their purpose and asked directly, "Dennis, do you have a new film project in mind?"

Villeneuve smiled. "Could I have a few minutes of your time?"

Martin pointed to a sparsely populated rest area: "Let's talk over there."

The two sat down and Villeneuve said, "A friend of mine wrote a script about drug control at the US-Mexico border. We approached several companies, but they weren't very interested. It just so happens that we met you tonight."

Being a new director is just as difficult as being an actor.

Villeneuve received the first draft of the script for "Incendies," which was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, as early as 2003. He approached several producers and production companies when he wanted to make the film, and the script was revised several times at their request, but it was repeatedly rejected.

After finally reaching a cooperation agreement with Albatross Films, whose resources were limited, the difficulties in fundraising and other aspects need not be elaborated upon.

More than eight years later, Incendiary City was finally released in Canada.

Villeneuve is ambitious and no longer wants to work with the financially strapped Albatross Films.

Martin, who owns a studio, is used to this kind of situation. He held out his hand: "Did you bring the script?"

Villeneuve opened his bag, took out a portion of the printed manuscript, and placed his business card on top: "This is the beginning of the script. The other part is with a friend. If you are interested, I can contact him."

Martin nodded and accepted it; tonight wasn't the time to look at these things: "After I've looked at it, I'll give you a clear answer, whether it works or not."

Villeneuve nodded repeatedly: "Okay."

Leonardo DiCaprio, Nicholson, and the others were still waiting for him. After Martin went over, he handed the script and business cards to Bruce, checked the time, and said loudly, "Guys, now come to my place and continue the celebration."

Menez said, "I'm going to drink the boss's wine cellar dry."

Leonardo gave him a thumbs up: "You're awesome."

The wine cellar at Davis Estate contains at least several hundred bottles of fine wine.

The group left the Hilton Hotel and traveled by car to Davis Estate, located in the northern part of Sunset Boulevard.

A large number of paparazzi followed them.

Even if I can't get into the community, I still want to film what happens along the way.

Hollywood's top stars often lack recognition from professional awards. Leonardo DiCaprio spent over a decade transforming himself from a handsome man into a greasy, overweight middle-aged man, using the strategy of "selling ugliness" to finally win Best Actor.

Martin Davis, however, seemingly won the award quite easily through a science fiction film.

Reporters relentlessly pursued news about Martin.

Around 10:30 p.m., a dozen or so cars entered Davis Estate one after another.

Elizabeth has prepared a party.

Charlize Theron and Stewart family from next door had already arrived.

Kristen Stewart also brought along Sylvester Stallone's three daughters.

Saoirse Ronan and her mother sent their congratulations.

"Congratulations, Martin!" Lily took the Oscar statuette, glanced at it, handed it to Saoirse Ronan, and hugged Martin tightly with both arms: "You bastard, you actually became an Oscar winner! Back in Atlanta, you said you wanted to come to Hollywood to be an actor, and I laughed at you."

Martin felt two soft, yielding masses pressing against his chest. He knew Lily too well; he knew these were the fruits of hard work. He gently patted her back and said deliberately, "You deserve some credit for this award. If you hadn't laughed at me back then, I probably wouldn't have come to Los Angeles."

Lily pushed him away: "Pfft, nobody believes you."

Martin then noticed that Lily had a pretty bow tied in her hair with a shiny plastic ribbon and asked, "Why did you wear such a strange decoration?"

"I won't tell you!" Lily winked playfully. "You'll find out in a minute."

Elizabeth came over and said, "The guests are all waiting for you."

Martin took the glass she offered, went into the banquet hall, and gave a toast.

"Hey guys, fireworks!" Saoirse Ronan called out to the girls who couldn't drink, and led them into the yard.

Soon, trailing sparks flew into the Beverly Hills night sky with a whooshing sound, bursting into a sky full of colorful light.

(End of this chapter)