Chapter 80

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As we entered mid-March, with the Oscars approaching, Hollywood entertainment media outlets devoted significant coverage to the event.

There is no need to elaborate on the status of the Oscars. The annual Academy Awards are a global entertainment extravaganza, with such a significant influence that even ordinary Chinese people are familiar with the name. However, why is this award called "Oscar"? What kind of films can compete for the golden statuette? Who, and through what selection process, ultimately chooses the nominated and winning films? The answers to these questions are not only intriguing and fascinating historical anecdotes of the Hollywood industry and the Oscars but also a window for foreign audiences to glimpse the professionalism and democratic spirit of American filmmakers.

During the filming process, Chen Tian only paid a certain level of attention to the current Oscars, yes, just a certain level of attention.

One reason was that he did not want to be distracted.

Initially, he was only happy for a few days when he received the invitation from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his nomination, which was a rare honor for his first film. Even with a certain degree of public relations and four Oscar nominations, he did not have much confidence in winning. Knowing that he would likely be a mere陪衬 (accompanying figure) in this year's Oscars, he used a phrase that was once popular in the future: he was just there to "buy soy sauce"!

As the highest award in the American film industry, being favored by the Oscars is considered the ultimate honor by most filmmakers. However, like all awards, there is no absolute fairness, and various unwritten rules often come into play.

Many filmmakers have a love-hate relationship with the Oscars. Some are eager to win, while others disdain the awards, and of course, there are those with sour grapes. However, the majority of filmmakers tend to acknowledge and praise the Oscars, as it is an interaction among peers.

However, there are always some independent individuals who ignore the olive branch extended by the Academy and oppose the Oscars outright.

Dudley Nichols, a playwright, was the first person to refuse the Oscar. In 1935, he won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for "The Informer," but just before the Oscar ceremony, the Hollywood Screen Writers Guild was on strike. As a member, Nichols refused to accept the Oscar.

In 1971, George C. Scott won the Best Actor Oscar for his role as General Patton in "Patton." As an unconventional actor in Hollywood, Scott stood out like a crane among chickens. He was tired of the fame and profit-seeking in the film industry and had often harshly criticized the Oscars as a "wonderful competition in a slaughterhouse" and a "two-hour parade of meat," refusing to be nominated by his peers.

Upon winning, after receiving the Academy's invitation to attend the ceremony, Scott chose to stay home and watch a hockey game on Oscar night.

In 1973, Marlon Brando, who won Best Actor for "The Godfather," did not attend the ceremony but sent an American Indian woman to represent him. Initially, people thought she was there to accept the award on his behalf, saying, "Marlon Brando is very regretful that he cannot accept this generous award." However, after listening to her opening remarks and her speech protesting the discrimination against Native Americans in films, people realized that Brando had once again slapped Hollywood in the face.

And so on.

There is no way to understand the intricacies and secrets of this circle without being part of it.

Even with the seemingly strict and fair selection rules set by the Academy, in the eyes of profit-seeking film companies, there is no such thing as a completely airtight wall. They first compete to place full-page ads in the two major industry publications, "Variety" and "The Hollywood Reporter." However, the ads are only effective in promoting the films to the public. To truly win, they must individually lobby the Academy members who hold the votes.

Since the Academy's founding, securing a seat on the jury has been the most effective way for major film companies to win Academy Awards. Under the influence of Louis B. Mayer and Douglas Fairbanks, the Best Picture award for the first dozen or so Oscars was almost entirely won by MGM. After MGM's decline, the competition became fierce, and the selection of Best Picture at each Oscar ceremony was always fraught with tension.

Over the past few days, he gradually learned some of the Oscar's secrets, understanding what type of films the Academy likes and how the voting process works.

Unlike the Cannes, Venice, and Berlin film festivals, which have competition sections, the Oscar judges are long-term and numerous. The official members and a few honorary and associate members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are the "judges" with voting rights for the Oscars. In contrast, most film festivals are judged by a rotating panel of seven to eight invited judges (with the jury president often having a higher voting weight).

In other words, the Oscars are like a general election in the American film industry, while the European film festivals are more like a top-down aristocratic appointment.

When the Academy was first founded, besides the 36 founders like Mayer and Fairbanks, there were about 350 people in the judging circle, mostly film industry professionals. As the Oscars' influence and selection scope expanded, more and more people from various fields joined the Academy's judging ranks. However, the Academy, which operates on an invitation-only basis, does not disclose specific member lists and information, so the detailed list of Oscar judges has never been revealed.

According to a detailed statistical report from 1997, the Academy had 5,371 voting members (basically all official members), including 1,380 actors, 450 producers, 417 writers, 413 sound technicians, 397 honorary members, 354 feature film directors, 352 art directors, 346 journalists, 315 animation and short film directors, 253 composers, 225 editors, 161 cinematographers, 154 special effects technicians, and the remaining 154 members (judges) were mostly leaders of major film companies and well-known lawyers, bankers, and wealthy businessmen closely tied to Hollywood.

At the same time, to ensure the stability of the selection results each year, the Academy also controls the growth of the judging panel.

The number is said to be 6,000, but it is far from that. It is also unknown how many of these judges are still actively involved in the film industry and maintain the habit of watching movies. They do not necessarily watch all the nominated films but still have voting rights.

The first step in the Oscar selection process is the nomination.

The various branches of the Academy list the films eligible for nomination in their respective categories (for example, the actors' branch selects acting awards, the directors' branch selects the director award, and the cinematographers' branch selects the cinematography award). These lists are then verified by the studios, and the branches set the detailed rules for their respective awards, which are approved by the Academy's board of governors.

Next, the members of each branch vote by secret ballot to select the top five films or individuals in their category, and this list is usually announced to the public about a month before the ceremony.

After the nominations are announced, the final voting for the awards begins. Each member of the Academy can cast two votes: one fixed vote for Best Picture and one additional vote for an award related to their own profession (for example, members of the directors' branch can only vote for Best Director, and the four acting awards can only be voted on by actors).

The entire voting process is similar to a democratic election, with each member casting a secret ballot. The counting and tallying are handled by a third-party accounting firm appointed by the Academy (PricewaterhouseCoopers has been responsible for this for over 70 years). The final results, the most suspenseful part, are sealed in envelopes under the supervision of a notary and revealed at the ceremony.

It seems very fair, but in reality, there are many hidden rules. Most of the judges are Americans, and they are mostly older, with a preference for nostalgic and conservative styles, which has been mocked by Hollywood media many times.

Therefore, this year's "Shakespeare in Love" and "Saving Private Ryan" are the biggest favorites, while the horror film "The Sixth Sense," despite having four nominations, is not favored.

As a first-time filmmaker with four Oscar nominations, Chen Tian is still highly regarded. Many people want to interview him, including CCTV, which extended an invitation after the Golden Globes. This time, he chose to decline all of them, citing "filming and not wanting to be distracted" as his reason.

He knew he was likely just a "soy sauce" figure, and he was quite open about it. When the nominations were announced, he simply went out for drinks with a few friends. Chen Tian always believed that the media could be very critical. If he accepted interviews now and won no awards at the Oscars, he had no doubt that the media that praised him would turn around and criticize him.

There is another important reason: filmmakers are proud. "Is the Best Picture really the best?"

Besides the mainstream values of American Puritan white society and the long-standing rules of balancing commercial and artistic merit, the American-style pervasive marketing and "common human nature" behind-the-scenes operations are also unspoken rules.

He could only say, "Haha, there is no first in literature!"

"Alright, let's not go into it."

Based on the current progress, the Matrix space scenes should be completed within three days, and the spaceship interior scenes are even simpler, which he can finish in ten days. By then, the film will be officially wrapped.

Since the film will also use computer special effects, post-production editing is crucial. Therefore, he plans to allocate at least half a month or even longer for post-production and advertising. The smooth shooting process made it difficult for him not to be happy.

Of course, his good mood had another reason: "The Sixth Sense" finally premiered in China, and the box office was reportedly quite good, with positive reviews. Although it could not match "Saving Private Ryan," it was estimated to gross around 50 million yuan.

He finally had his first batch of fans in China.

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