America Tycoon: The Wolf of Showbiz-Chapter 795 - 788: The Opponent is Life of Pi

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Century City, Fox Tower.

In the office bearing the "PI" nameplate, director Ang Lee put down the "Hollywood Reporter" and said, "The media are all building momentum for 'Argo'."

Producer Gil Netter continued, "The film has good word of mouth, meets mainstream demands, and with proper handling, it should not be underestimated."

He reminded, "The film's producers may be listed as Graham King and Louise Mel, but as far as I know, the real person driving this project is Martin Davis."

Upon hearing this name, Ang Lee thought of the time with "Brokeback Mountain," when Martin chased Heath Ledger around the set nearly causing an accident with Aniston, resulting in "Brokeback Mountain" losing a Best Actor nomination.

Even more so, he felt that "Brokeback Mountain" losing the Best Picture award to "Crash" had a direct connection with that incident.

Gil Netter said, "Martin Davis is skilled at running an Oscar campaign, and our 'Life of Pi' is also aiming for this Oscar. Our primary targets are Best Director and Best Picture, and our main competition is 'Argo'."

Facing Martin Davis's film again, Ang Lee couldn't avoid it, "They have advantages, but they also have weaknesses, it's not possible to win the awards without fail."

Gil Netter agreed, "The film has too strong a political undertone, transforming a relatively mundane rescue into a legend. This indeed increases the film's appeal and commercial attributes, but it also distances the content of the film far from the facts, which could be a fatal flaw during the awards season."

Having won at the Oscars twice before, Ang Lee understood Gil Netter's point, "Back then, Weinstein defeated 'Saving Private Ryan' by bringing in WWII veterans to prove the film's historical inaccuracies."

"Exactly," Gil Netter said after a moment of thought, "Let's prepare first and see how things go."

Ang Lee added a reminder, "I saw the premiere report for 'Argo' a few days ago, and I remember many who had been through those times attended the premiere."

Gil Netter suggested, "Let's find out their exact addresses so we can get in touch with them whenever we need to."

Public relations played a key role in Ang Lee's previous Oscar wins, including the last time he won Best Director and had to endure dinners with the jury that tasted like plastic.

He was well aware of the importance of public relations to the awards race and fully agreed with Gil Netter's suggestion.

It was already close to November, with the broad awards season in North American cinema having kicked off in September, and the Oscars were just around the corner. They needed to act fast.

The two called in their trusted assistants to work on these preliminary tasks.

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With favorable audience and professional reviews, "Argo"'s box office performance was incredibly stable.

The film passed its second weekend in North America, and although it lost the weekend box office crown to "Taken 2," the second weekend's gross for "Argo" dropped by less than 40%, raking in 27.89 million US dollars.

Including the harvest from the previous four weekdays, the North American box office totaled 92.13 million US dollars.

Breaking 100 million was just a matter of two or three days.

The film undoubtedly achieved tremendous commercial success.

At Disney Studio, in the crew's workspace,

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

With outstanding commercial performance to the side for now, the awards season had begun, and it was time to discuss the awards push.

Louise posted the potential competitors on the whiteboard.

Graham King said, "Although many films have not yet been released, most have had screenings, and based on the related information collected, we can almost determine these will be our main competition during the awards season."

Louise picked up a metal stick and pointed at the poster for "Lincoln," saying, "From April, Daniel Day-Lewis moved from England to Los Angeles to live, and for over half a year now, he's been mixing with the jury groups. He's the type of actor the Academy loves, rarely takes on commercial films, started public relations earlier than anyone else, clearly having a significant advantage."

Graham added, "I saw a preview of 'Lincoln,' and there's no question with the role."

Martin had been anticipating this, saying, "Our primary goals for 'Argo' are Best Director and Best Picture, and as for Best Actor, I just want a nomination."

David Fincher's gaze still rested on "Lincoln," and he said, "We need to pay attention to Spielberg and his film."

Louise and Graham shared similar thoughts, as Spielberg aiming for another Best Director win was not news, what with his efforts from "Munich" to "War Horse."

But what was odd was that the investment of resources was not much.

"Lincoln" was a special subject, a standard Oscar-aimed biopic.

However, Martin took the metal stick from Louise and pointed at the poster for "Life of Pi," saying, "I think we should take this film seriously."

Graham asked, "Ang Lee?"

David Fincher pondered.

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Louise stood next to Martin, "Let's hear it."

"Spielberg has already won two Best Director Oscars, and winning another one would be especially difficult," Martin mentioned one thing in particular, "In recent years, his films have attracted a lot of criticism for being overly sentimental and following a templated production model, which has led to average reviews of his work within the industry."

He thought for a moment, "I've talked to him a few times, and with two Best Director Oscars in his hands, Spielberg himself isn't as eager as the outside world perceives. He has an attitude of 'it's great if I win another one, but it's also fine if I don't,' which makes it hard to say how much resource DreamWorks will put into the awards campaign."

Graham said directly, "I'll talk to Spielberg when I have time."

David Fincher asked, "I remember Ang Lee won Best Director once, didn't he?"

"Brokeback Mountain," Louise recalled, "Some people think that 'Brokeback Mountain' losing Best Picture to 'Crash' had something to do with Martin hounding Heath Ledger relentlessly."

Martin shrugged, "What does that have to do with me? The guy was so high, he nearly knocked me over on set, shouldn't I seek justice?"

The rest of them laughed, remembering the incident from those years.

Martin spoke seriously, "Don't underestimate Ang Lee; 'Brokeback Mountain' raised his favorability among certain special groups within the industry, making it easy to pull in votes. You all know what the industry is like, these special groups are not small in number."

Louise picked up the conversation, "Many in the industry see Ang Lee's Oscar for Best Director with 'Brokeback Mountain' as a pivotal moment when the rainbow flag was flown in Hollywood. These people have a special recognition for Ang Lee."

Martin added, "Ang Lee has won both Best Foreign Language Film with 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' and Best Director with 'Brokeback Mountain.' What does that tell you? He's not only not an outsider to the Oscars, but he's also very familiar with it and knows the ins and outs of the game. He's not to be underestimated."

Graham gave it some thought and remarked, "Ang Lee has been successful with his previous awards campaigns; that's not something the average person can achieve."

David Fincher started to take it seriously and asked, "Has 'Life of Pi' been released yet?"

"Not yet," Louise said, "There was a screening recently, and it looks like Universal Pictures is the distributor."

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

Graham shook his head, then picked up his phone to make a call. After speaking for a while, he hung up and said, "A friend from the critics' circle attended the screening of that film. He said it's a visual spectacle mixed with Ang Lee's signature blend of Eastern and Western philosophy."

He emphasized, "My friend asked several of the critics and column writers who were there with him, and they all think the film is quite remarkable, even better than 'Brokeback Mountain' in quality."

Martin spoke again, "Keep an eye on the news about this film and Ang Lee."

Louise nodded, "I will."

Graham added, "If there's another screening, I'll try to get some invitations, and we can go have a look."

David Fincher, who had observed last year's Oscar race from the sidelines, wasn't deeply familiar with the ins and outs but knew that winning awards wasn't just about quality, but also how strong the competition was. He said, "Remember to notify me."

Martin, with a metal rod in hand, pointed to Ang Lee's poster again, "Start gathering relevant information. Once we have a more detailed understanding, we can make targeted arrangements."

This small meeting of four essentially came to a consensus on the main competition for this year's Oscars; Spielberg's 'Lincoln' and Ang Lee's 'Life of Pi' were identified as the key contenders.

After the meeting, Martin followed Louise to Pacific Pictures.

The two were to discuss advancing several film projects.

Pacific Pictures had always cooperated with Warner Bros., and Louise had also invested in 'The Dark Knight Rises.'

Martin wanted to push for a standalone Joker movie; Louise fully supported the idea, and she was ready to exert pressure through her channels on DC Films.

In addition, Louise was also pushing forward with the screenplay for 'Split.'

After Jonathan met with Billy Milligan a few times and visited Billy's hometown and the mental health center where he was treated, he gathered plenty of outside perspectives and materials on Billy.

Back in Los Angeles, Jonathan secluded himself to work on adapting the screenplay.

This screenwriting genius, adept at creating unstable characters and plots, had planned ten months for the creative process.

A couple of days later, Kelly Gray came to Los Angeles from Atlanta.

Eliza went with Lily to an art exhibition in Miami, and Martin stayed at Louise's house in Sherman Oaks for two nights.

The three of them seemingly returned to the carefree days of five or six years earlier, without any other thoughts on their minds except to enjoy the sheer joy of the moment.

Even with Martin's impressive stamina, he was still worn out by the two rambunctious women.

Entering November, Martin put aside his current work to focus on the filming of 'La La Land.'

This was his first attempt at a musical genre and presented a novel challenge.