America achieves both fame and fortune

Chapter 853 The Shortcut for Black People

Just as Martin and his two colleagues predicted, the first award of this year's Oscars, Best Supporting Actress, was given to the noisy Black actress.

Aniston, sitting in the front row, glanced back at Martin and winked at him. Plan B's "12 Years a Slave" had a successful start at this year's Oscars.

Then came the period when Gravity and La La Land were locked in a battle for supremacy.

These two films won most of the technical awards.

In terms of special effects and visual effects, Gravity basically took the lead.

The artistic effects and the like are mostly attributed to "La La Land".

This year can be considered a weak year for the Oscars, with not many truly competitive films.

When La La Land won both Best Editing and Best Original Screenplay, Martin Scorsese knew that the Best Picture award was practically his.

The four most prestigious awards were completely divided among four different production teams.

Leonardo DiCaprio's attempt to elicit sympathy failed, and the Best Actor award went to Matthew McConaughey.

The Best Director Oscar was won by Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón for "Gravity".

La La Land unsurprisingly won the Best Picture award.

After Will Smith announced the result, Martin and Louise called the entire cast and crew to come up on stage to share the honor.

As for the acceptance speech, Martin stepped aside and let Louise do it.

Half an hour later, the entire crew arrived at the Beverly Hills Hilton Hotel to attend the "Oscar Night" party and celebrate their victory that night.

Director Damien Chazelle was overjoyed. Although he didn't win Best Director, his film won Best Picture, completely changing his fate.

He specifically sought out Martin, clinked glasses with him, and said, "Martin, I'd like to propose a toast to you, thank you for choosing me!"

Martin said with a smile, "We've helped each other succeed."

Damien laughed along with him.

People kept coming to congratulate the film crew, and Martin only had a little free time after dealing with them for nearly half an hour.

Saoirse Ronan came over, handed Martin a glass of wine, and said, "Teacher, I can't drink in public yet."

Martin took it and gently patted her shoulder: "Well done, keep up the good work, and strive to win the Oscar for Best Actress soon."

The promise made Saoirse excited her, and she nodded repeatedly, "I won't let my teacher down."

She looked around, leaned closer to Martin, and whispered, "There's something... well, it's not really appropriate to say it here."

Martin nodded: "When you leave, get in my car."

Saoirse's eyes lit up immediately: "Teacher, I'll go with you tonight?"

Martin thought for a moment and said, "Let's go to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel."

"Okay." Saoirse noticed Jennifer Aniston walking towards them and, remembering her teacher's earnest encouragement, said, "Teacher, if you're bringing other people with you to the hotel, I have no problem with that."

Martin also saw Aniston and said, "We'll talk about it later."

Saoirse left.

Aniston came over and hugged Martin: "Congratulations on winning Best Picture."

"There's no need for such formalities between us," Martin said bluntly. "Am I going to have to spend billions to appease you again?"

Aniston's eyes widened as she exclaimed, "A few billion isn't enough! I want hundreds of billions!"

These words made even Martin's legs clench, but he then realized that even if Julie and Aniston were combined, they would only be defeated in the present moment, and he couldn't help but say, "If you want it, I can give it to you anytime, anywhere."

Aniston pulled Martin to a chair nearby and sat down, her jokes fading. "I recently received a script that looks very interesting, and it seems like it would really appeal to the Oscars. You know the Oscars much better than I do, so could you offer your opinion?"

Martin would have refused anyone else outright, but Aniston's relationship with him went far beyond just coming and going.

He ordered two glasses of juice from the waiter and, after the waiter had walked away, said, "Tell me about the project."

Aniston stated directly: "A Black film, written by Barry Jenkins, the writer and director of the sci-fi series 'Nation of the Future'."

Martin slowly shook his head: "I don't know him."

"He's not very famous; he's only written and directed one film before," Aniston explained simply, adding, "The script by Paris Jenkins mainly tells the story of a Black boy's coming-of-age."

Martin laughed: "Won't all the buffs stack up to the maximum?"

As a key opinion leader of the #MeToo movement and one of those who closely followed Martin's footsteps, Aniston had an extremely profound understanding of Buff: "Pretty much, the male protagonist comes from a black single-parent family, his mother is a serious drug addict and abuses him, he is bullied at school, and has close ties with gang members."

She admired the black screenwriter and director who had a keen sense of smell: "This teenager gradually discovers his homosexuality, but is oppressed by the homophobic groups around him and has to leave his hometown... The rest of the plot is roughly about a black gay man recognizing himself, and the ending is naturally that he no longer cares about other people's strange looks and accepts everything about himself."

Martin slowly said, "Black people, single parents, slums, gangs, drugs, school bullying, homosexuality, and prodigal sons returning home—these combined effects are not to be underestimated."

Aniston nodded slightly: "That's what I think too."

Martin asked, "Does this project have a name yet?"

"Moonlight," Aniston said. "It's a temporary name. Whether it will be changed later depends on whether I finalize the contract with Barry Jenkins."

Upon hearing the name "Moonlight," Martin immediately recalled an incident that had occurred at the Oscars.

About La La Land.

In its previous life, this film was also an Oscar favorite. When the presenter announced that "La La Land" had won Best Picture, and even when the cast and crew went on stage to accept the award, the Academy and the director's team suddenly claimed that they had given the wrong envelope and that the winner of Best Picture was a black film with a lot of buffs, "Moonlight".

This year's Oscars left behind countless controversies, and the level of criticism it received was even greater than that of Shakespeare's Victory over the Soldier in 1999.

Regardless of whether the envelope was actually given to the wrong person, this incident severely damaged the authority of the Oscars.

Martin paused for a moment to think, then said, "You could give it a try. This type of film still has a good market among certain specific groups."

Aniston replied, "I'll go and formally discuss the copyright with Barry Jenkins later."

Martin cautioned, "It's crucial to control the scale of investment. This type of film doesn't lack an audience, but the audience reach isn't particularly large. It's best to keep the production cost in the millions of dollars range."

Aniston kept these words in mind, leaned over and kissed Martin's cheek: "I'll put the hundreds of billions you owe me on the tab for now, and I'll ask you for it after I finalize this project."

Martin smiled. "You can call me anytime."

Aniston got up and left, walking towards a circle where Black people were gathered.

Martin observed for a moment and noticed that Aniston was talking to a middle-aged Black man and a CAA agent.

I imagine the Black man is Barry Jenkins.

Louise Lyle then came over, pulled out a chair and sat opposite Martin. Following his gaze, she looked into the distance and noticed Martin was looking at the Black community. She said in a low voice, "What, you're interested in the Black community? Want me to find you a few Black girls?"

Martin quickly shook his head: "No thanks, I have absolutely no interest."

Louise lightly kicked Martin: "If anything happens between you and that black girl, don't even think about putting that thing in again..."

"Don't worry, I won't," Martin interrupted her, pointing at Aniston. "Jenny just came to ask me about a film project."

He gave a brief explanation.

Louise said, "Won't all the movies in the future be about monsters and ghosts?"

Martin looked away and said in a low voice, "I guess many Black directors, screenwriters, or actors in Hollywood have discovered a shortcut to success, and those with a keen sense of smell have already started to take advantage of it."

"Is this just my imagination? Why do I feel like you've led Hollywood astray?" Louise frowned. "Many directors, screenwriters, and producers in the industry are no longer focusing on improving the quality of films themselves, but instead are studying these strange and unusual things. Isn't that putting the cart before the horse?"

She seemed somewhat worried: "In the short term, this may indeed appeal to minority groups, increasing audience numbers and revenue. But what about in the long term? Will the general public become disgusted by it? Will they abandon these boring things? Or even stay away from movies simply because they see these elements in them?"

Martin said very seriously, "So, we don't play around with all this nonsense. We'll just make movies the way they're supposed to be and maintain our reputation."

In the last few years of his previous life, after Robert Iger stepped down, Walt Disney not only produced films with terrible plots, but also incorporated a large number of LGBTQI elements.

At first, it seemed that the number of viewers had increased.

However, not long after, these films suffered repeated setbacks. Not only did many international markets close their doors to them, but even their core North American audience began to boycott Disney's works.

Many parents in North America, especially those who watch Disney animated films, forbid their children from watching them.

The commercial revenue of Disney and Pixar's non-sequel animated films plummeted after Zootopia, with more failures than successes, and this factor may well be a contributing factor.

Louise then said, "I'm relieved that you think that way." She was actually a little worried: "Over the years, you've benefited a lot through underhanded tactics, but thankfully you haven't become addicted to these methods and have always remembered that the quality of your work is the foundation for attracting an audience."

Martin smiled and said, "I'll only use those shady methods if the film's basic quality is up to par."

Leonardo and Nicholson brought over a large group of people, wanting Martin and Louise to take a photo together.

A group of drunk people fooled around for a while, then gradually dispersed.

As Martin left the Hilton Hotel, Saoirse Ronan got into his car.

Bruce started the car and drove to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.

Saoirse said, "Do you remember Greta Gerwig?"

Martin nodded: "A friend of Mandy Moore, the choreographer of La La Land, one of the lead writers of Beauty and the Beast, and your friend."

"I mentioned it to you last time, she wants to direct her own film, and she has a movie idea based on her own experiences," Saoirse said quickly. "I told her about it, and she's finished the first draft of her script. She gave it to me and wants me to pass it on to you."

Martin remembered these things and asked, "You two were close?"

Saoirse frankly said, "Greta has told me several times that I am very much like her when she was young, the heroine who came from her own experiences, and no one is more suitable than me."

Martin glanced at Saoirse, who was wearing a halter-neck dress: "Okay, give me the script tomorrow."

"I had someone deliver her to the hotel; she's waiting for me in the lobby." Saoirse was prepared: "You'll see her in a bit."

Martin said, "Okay, let's look at the script tonight."

Saoirse added, "And then watch me dance."

Martin reached out and gently stroked Saoirse's smooth, silky blonde hair.

The car arrived at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, and Saoirse went to the lobby on the first floor to pick up the script.

Bruce accompanied Martin upstairs, routinely checked the room, and said, "I'm going to Venice Beach tonight."

Martin knew the Kardashian sisters were there; he'd seen them at the Oscars party. "Go ahead," he said, "I'll give you five days off."

Bruce smiled. "It won't take that long."

Martin deliberately asked, "How many of the sisters came?"

"Uh..." Bruce hesitated for a moment, but still said, "Besides Kim and Kohler Kendall, they're here too."

Martin remembered Taylor mentioning, "Kendall must be eighteen by now, right? Old Brooks, you've got a real talent!"

Bruce quickly denied it: "Don't frame me. Kendall and I are just friends, it's perfectly clear. Don't frame me."

Martin sneered, "I remember a few years ago you told me that you and Kohler were just friends, and look what happened."

Bruce quickly found a reason: "Can Khloe be compared to Kendall? Khloe has such a great figure, and Kendall's figure is the same as Jody's..."

Bruce suddenly shut his mouth when Jody was mentioned.

Perhaps because he had spent so much time with Jody over the past two years, he was somewhat influenced and suddenly felt that Jody's figure was not bad either.

Martin retorted, "Old Brooks, don't I know you? The synergy they create together far exceeds things like their figures."

Bruce couldn't deny it, so he shut up and stopped talking.

Martin patted Old Brooks on the shoulder: "Go on, enjoy your night."

Bruce said no more. After leaving the room, he gave a few instructions to the other bodyguards and headed to Venice Beach to attend the Kardashian sisters' night out.

While driving, Bruce suddenly remembered something: Kylie Jenner is almost 17 years old, isn't she?

He remembered Khloé mentioning that Kelly was born in 1997, and it was 2014 now.

On the other side, Martin sat by the window near the sky garden and waited for a few minutes before Saoirse Ronan entered the room carrying a thick script.

She locked the door, handed the script to Martin, and said, "This is it."

Martin glanced at it; the script cover read "Lady Bird," and the screenwriter was Greta Gerwig.

He knew how to make the girl feel valued, so he put the script aside and said, "Let's watch your new dance first."

Saoirse brought out a lace dance costume: "Wait a moment, I'll go change first."

(End of this chapter)