America achieves both fame and fortune

Chapter 788 The Opponent is Young Pi

Century City, Fox Building.

In an office with the "PI" nameplate hanging on it, director Ang Lee put down the Hollywood Reporter and said, "The media is all hyping up 'Argo'."

Producer Gil Nate added, "This film has received good reviews, meets mainstream demands, and with proper management, it should not be underestimated."

He cautioned, "While the film is credited as a producer to Graham King and Louise Mayer, as far as I know, the person who truly spearheaded this project is Martin Davis."

Upon hearing this name, Ang Lee was reminded of "Brokeback Mountain," which lost a Best Actor nomination because Martin Scorsese chased after Heath Ledger on set and almost bumped into him and Jennifer Aniston.

He even felt that Brokeback Mountain losing to Crash for Best Picture was directly related to this incident.

Jill Nate said, "Martin Davis is a master at running Oscars. Our 'Life of Pi' is also aiming for this year's Oscars, with our primary targets being Best Director and Best Picture. Our main competitor is 'Argo'."

This time, he's clashing with Martin Davis's film again, and Ang Lee can't avoid it: "They have advantages, but they also have weaknesses; it's impossible for them to win 100% of the awards."

Jill Nate agreed: "The film is too political, exaggerating what was originally a rather mundane rescue into a legend. This does increase the film's appeal and commercial value, but it also makes the content far removed from the facts, which will be a fatal flaw during awards season."

Ang Lee had won both of his previous Oscar bids, and he understood what Gilnett meant: "Back then, the key to Weinstein's success with 'Saving Private Ryan' was finding WWII veterans to prove that the film's content was inaccurate."

"That's true." Jill Nate thought for a moment and said, "Let's prepare and see how things go."

Ang Lee offered a reminder: "I saw the premiere report of 'Argo' a few days ago, and I remember that many people who experienced it back then attended the premiere."

Jill-Nate said, "Find out their exact address so we can contact them whenever needed."

Public relations were also key to Ang Lee's first two Oscar wins. The last time he won Best Director, he ate chicken with the judges at a dinner party and the chicken tasted like plastic.

He was well aware of the importance of public relations for winning awards and completely agreed with Gil-Nate's opinion.

It's almost November now, and the North American film awards season, in a broad sense, kicked off in September. With the Oscars just around the corner, we definitely need to act quickly.

The two men recruited their trusted assistants and had them do this preliminary work.

…………

Thanks to positive audience and professional reviews, Argo has maintained a very stable box office performance.

The film spent its second weekend in North America. Although it lost the weekend box office crown to Taken 2, Argo’s second weekend box office only dropped by less than 40%, taking in $2789 million.

Including the earnings from the previous four business days, the North American box office has totaled $9213 million.

Breaking 1 million will only take two or three days.

The film undoubtedly achieved huge commercial success.

Inside the Disney studio, in the film crew's studio.

Martin, David Fincher, Louise Mayer, and Graham King gathered together.

Their outstanding business performance can be put aside for now; the awards season has begun, and they need to focus on winning awards.

Louise posted the names of potential competitors on the whiteboard.

Graham King said, "Although many of these films have not yet been released, most have held test screenings, and based on the information gathered, we can be fairly certain that these will be our main competitors during the awards season."

Louise picked up the metal bar, pointed to the poster for "Lincoln," and said, "Daniel Day-Lewis moved from England to Los Angeles in April and has been mingling with the judging panel for the past six months. He's the kind of actor the Academy loves most, he almost never takes on commercial films, and his public relations efforts started earlier than anyone else's, giving him a very clear advantage."

Graham added, "I saw a test screening of 'Lincoln,' and there were no problems with the role."

Martin had already stated his position: "The primary goals for Argo are Best Director and Best Picture. As for Best Actor, I only need one nomination."

David Fincher's gaze remained fixed on "Lincoln," and he said, "We should pay attention to Spielberg and his film."

Louise Graham had similar ideas, and it's no news that Spielberg wanted to win Best Director again, having tried several times from "Munich" to "War Horse".

But strangely, the resources invested were not much.

This film, "Lincoln," has a unique subject matter and is a standard Oscar-nominated film.

Martin took the metal rod from Louise, pointed it at the poster for "Life of Pi," and said, "I think we should pay attention to this film."

Graham asked, "Ang Lee?"

David Fincher began to ponder.

Louise stood next to Martin: "Tell me about it."

"Spielber has already won two Best Director Oscars, so it will be extremely difficult for him to win another one." Martin specifically mentioned one thing: "In recent years, Spielber's films have attracted a lot of criticism. His overly sentimental and formulaic production methods have resulted in his works receiving only average reviews within the industry."

He thought for a moment: "I've talked to him a few times. Spielberg has two Best Director Oscars in hand, but he's not as eager as the outside world thinks. He'd rather win one more than nothing, but it doesn't matter if he doesn't. It's hard to say how many resources DreamWorks will invest in winning awards."

Graham said directly, "I'll talk to Spielberg sometime."

David Fincher asked, "I remember Ang Lee won Best Director once?"

"Brokeback Mountain." Louise recalled something: "Some people think that Brokeback Mountain lost to Crash for Best Picture because Martin Scorsese was relentlessly pursuing Heath Ledger."

Martin shrugged. "What does this have to do with me? That guy's been through a lot; he almost knocked me off my feet on set. Can't I even get justice?"

Everyone laughed; they still remembered what happened back then.

Martin said seriously, "Don't underestimate Ang Lee. One film, 'Brokeback Mountain,' made him extremely popular among certain groups in the industry, making it easy for him to win votes. You all know the situation in the industry; there are quite a few special groups."

Louise continued, "Many people in the industry see 'Brokeback Mountain' winning the Oscar for Best Director as a turning point in the rise of the rainbow flag in Hollywood. These people have a special recognition of Ang Lee."

Martin added, "Ang Lee won Best Foreign Language Film and Best Director for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Brokeback Mountain respectively. What does this show? It shows that he is not only not an outsider to the Oscar race, but also very familiar with it and understands the rules. He should not be underestimated."

Graham thought carefully and said, "Ang Lee won awards in his first two attempts, which is something not everyone can do."

David Fincher also took it seriously, asking, "Has 'Life of Pi' been released yet?"

"Not yet," Louise said. "There was a test screening a while ago, and the distributor should be Universal Pictures."

Martin asked Graham, "Did you go to the preview screening?"

Graham shook his head, then picked up his phone and made a call. After talking for a while, he hung up and said, "A friend in the critics' circle attended a test screening of that film and said it was a visual spectacle, also incorporating Ang Lee-style philosophical fusion of East and West."

He concluded by emphasizing, "My friend asked several critics and columnists who were with me, and they all thought the film was quite good, even better than 'Brokeback Mountain'."

Martin reiterated, "Pay close attention to the film and news from Ang Lee's side."

Louise nodded: "I will."

Graham added, "If the film is screened again, I'll try to get a few invitations and go check it out."

David Fincher watched the entire Oscar race from the sidelines last year. Although he wasn't particularly familiar with the inside story, he knew that winning wasn't just about who you were; the competition was equally important. He said, "Remember to let me know."

Martin pointed the metal rod in his hand at Ang Lee's poster again: "Hurry up and collect relevant information. Once we have a more detailed understanding, we can make targeted arrangements."

The four-person meeting basically reached a consensus: the main competitors for this year's Oscars are Spielberg's "Lincoln" and Ang Lee's "Life of Pi".

After the meeting, Martin went to Pacific Pictures with Louise.

The two need to discuss the progress of the next few films.

Pacific Pictures has maintained a partnership with Warner Bros., and Lois Lane also invested in "The Dark Knight Rises".

Martin wants to push for a Joker solo movie, and Lois Lane fully supports it, also using her connections to put pressure on DC Films.

In addition, Louise is also pushing forward the script for Split.

After meeting and talking with Billy Milligan several times, Jonathan went to Billy's hometown and the mental hospital where he was treated to gather a lot of outsiders' opinions and information about Billy.

Back in Los Angeles, Jonathan secluded himself at home and began revising the screenplay.

This talented screenwriter, who excels at creating characters and plots with unstable mental states, planned a ten-month writing period for himself.

Over the next two days, Kelly Gray traveled from Atlanta to Los Angeles.

Elizabeth accompanied Lily to an art exhibition in Miami, while Martin stayed at Sherman Oakes Louise's house for two nights.

The three of them seemed to have returned to five or six years ago, with no other thoughts in their minds, just enjoying the most primal joy.

Even with Martin's formidable fighting prowess, he was still thoroughly tormented by those two rascals.

In November, Martin temporarily put aside his work and focused on filming "La La Land".

This was his first time trying a musical film, which was a very novel challenge for him.

(End of this chapter)