American fame and fortune

On this day, the Lumiere Hall of the Palais des Festivals was once again lively. Among all the films participating in the competition, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", which had the highest investment, held a grand premiere ceremony.

In addition to the main creative staff such as David Fincher and Martin, many stars came to join in the fun.

No way, this is one of the profit projects of the film festival. For films premiering during the festival, red carpet tickets only cost 15,000 euros.

Compared with those unknown literary and artistic films from small countries, the premiere of "Benjamin" has a much greater impact.

Except for the people from the jury and the organizing committee, the crew did not invite any guests. As a result, more than 100 red carpet guests came to cheer for "Benjamin".

The festival made 2 million euros.

In terms of art, you have to work hard to improve your style, but making money is not shabby either.

The jury includes Huppert, James Gray, Shu Qi, Li Dongcang and Aisha Argento.

John Travolta did not come over because he was concerned about Harvey and Quentin, but he was sent a message in advance.

Martin was not worried. Although he did not ask carefully, he could roughly guess that Tom Cruise, the Son of God, contacted Travolta through Hubbard, the leader.

The leader has a greater influence on Travolta than Harvey.

After taking a group photo with the crew and the jury members, they entered the Lumiere Hall together.

Aisha Argento thought of some rumors she had heard in Hollywood and quietly found Martin.

"I was at the premiere of Inglorious Basterds yesterday and I heard someone say that Harvey originally wanted you for the lead role, not Josh Brolin?"

"Yes, I turned him down," Martin said. "Actually, I don't get along with him. It's no secret that there are many problems between the foot gang and the face gang in Hollywood."

Aisha Argento thought of Quentin's old pervert and laughed: "Foot Gang? It's really too vivid!"

Martin shrugged: "Me, Leonardo and Nicholson are the face gang."

Aisha Argento nodded: "I've heard of it."

Martin then entered the theater and found Huppert standing by the third row of aisles, holding the back of the seat, chatting with Menet.

Although Huppert was not particularly fluent in English, he still had a pleasant conversation.

Finally, he accepted Mene's invitation and planned to have a late-night snack together after the movie premiere.

Just like Leonardo to supermodels, Uncle Mene is unique in the eyes of aunt-level women.

Amid warm applause from the audience, Martin, along with the crew and creative staff, came to sit in the front row.

David Finch was next to him and asked: "Is the progress going well?"

"It's not bad." Martin roughly said: "There are many judges who support us."

Because of the strategic abandonment of the Palme d'Or, David Fincher's enthusiasm for competing for the award has inevitably declined. There are some things that he doesn't like and simply no longer participates.

As the movie screening began, the Lumiere Hall quickly fell silent.

The audience follows the plot of the film and enters the strange life of Benjamin Button.

This is a movie full of fantasy and beauty. The plot obviously discusses themes such as time, love and life, and the background is the changes in American society throughout the 20th century.

This is not a typical Fincher movie.

It is more optimistic, magical, touching and positive than any of Fincher's films, with almost no dark elements.

After seeing the ending, director James Gray, also from Hollywood, said to several other judges: "I can't imagine that David Fincher actually put down his butcher knife!"

Li Dongcang agreed with this point of view and said in awkward English: "Finch, the ghost genius who has always been so sinister, has become human!"

Shu Qi said: "Martin's eyes are full of drama."

Aisha Argento echoed: "From old age to a baby, Martin is the same Benjamin. There is no flaw. He is simply challenging the limits of an actor."

As the chairman of the jury, Huppert would not express her opinions easily, but as a literary and artistic person, she admired Martin's performance in this film.

Martin not only successfully interpreted the growth and vicissitudes of the character, but also gave the character a vivid image, and further introduced people into a thought-provoking thinking space, allowing people to follow his performance and explore the incredibleness of life, time and love.

The subtitles appeared and the audience burst into warm applause.

Compared with ordinary premieres, the applause at film festivals is warmer and more lasting. Not to mention the already high-quality "Benjamin", even some barely passing films often receive applause that lasts for more than five minutes.

When a film is promoted and hyped by the audience's applause that lasted for seven or eight minutes at a film festival, don't take it too seriously.

Near the side door of the theater, Melanie walked out, picked up her cell phone and made a call: "Notify the media, it's starting."

As the premiere of "Benjamin" ended, many media reporters and critics rushed to publish their comments about the film and its starring role.

Cahiers du Cinema, France's oldest professional magazine, spoke highly of David Fincher's new work and also mentioned Martin's performance: "Martin Davis, a young Hollywood actor, interpreted Benjamin Button with superb acting skills. In this role, he vividly displayed Benjamin’s complex inner and emotional state through his delicate expressions and body language!”

The entertainment section of Le Figaro also praised Martin's performance: "Martin successfully demonstrated the reverse growth process of the male protagonist. In the transformation from an old man to a young man, he performed with unique charm and depth, which made him Everyone sitting in front of the screen truly felt Benjamin’s growth and changes.”

The official program of the Cannes Film Festival gave "Benjamin" a professional score of eight points, and also published a comment from Isabelle Huppert: "Martin's seemingly plain performance is precisely the return to his original nature of acting. He brought the character to life. The curiosity in childhood, the exploration in middle age, and the thinking in old age are all presented to us in a distinctive performance outline!"

During the opening days of the film festival, at least a dozen films were released in the competition, but there were only two actors that Huppert had publicly commented on - Christoph Waltz and Martin Davis!

The direction of the Best Actor award is gradually becoming clear.

In the conference room of Wuyang Hotel, the crew is holding a daily meeting.

David Finch had withdrawn from the meeting and Bruce joined instead.

Melanie reported the latest situation: "It is now certain that the judges Shu Qi, Li Dongcang, and James Gray will support us, and our biggest competitor is Christoph Waltz from "Inglourious Basterds."

Martin raised the pen in his hand: "John Travolta has already stated that he will support me."

Kathleen Kennedy was quite curious about how Martin convinced Travolta, after all, he had a very good relationship with Quentin and Harvey.

Melanie said: "In this way, there will be support from at least four judges, and the key to the next step is Huppert."

Bruce took over: "Our people are convincing Huppert."

Mene came back very late last night, and according to him, he chatted with Huppert until very late.

Martin had been reading the papers and it was now clear that he and Waltz were well ahead of the other male actors.

Frankly speaking, in terms of role and performance alone, Waltz is not bad at all.

In a running race, two people are ahead by a large margin and there is almost no hope for anyone else to catch up. How can they ensure victory?

Harvey is definitely a good teacher in this regard - getting rid of his competitors.

Melanie, a professional publicist, also thought of this method and looked at Martin: "I have already contacted the media. Where are you?"

Bruce responded: "Ready."

Ivan took many photos, and the first batch was delivered to him last night.

Martin said: "Melanie, you can keep abreast of the jury's dynamics. I suggest releasing it one or two days before the jury makes its decision, so that the other party has no room for redemption."

Melanie thought about it carefully: "Okay."

The brief meeting ended, and Martin went out to join David Fincher for the announcement.

After the premiere last night, actress Cate Blanchett returned to London on the grounds that she was filming a new movie.

Melanie continued to mobilize the media to build momentum for Martin.

…………

In a conference room at the Grand Hotel de Provence, the crew of "Inglourious Basterds" was also having a meeting.

As always, Xavi was in control.

"We have two awards before us, the Grand Jury Prize and Best Actor," he said. "My first goal is Best Actor."

Quentin doesn't care, there is no Palme d'Or, he has no interest in the jury prize.

Christoph Waltz bowed slightly to Harvey to express his gratitude and appreciation.

The deputy, who knew Harvey, responded: "The biggest competitor right now is Martin."

Harvey said: "It's very simple, the old way, to make him stink temporarily!"

He had already prepared and handed a large pile of information to the crew's public relations officer: "Contact the media and send it out as soon as possible."

The public relations officer took a quick look at it and left the conference room to get busy.

Just that afternoon, a French entertainment website revealed that during the filming of "Benjamin", Martin bullied Cate Blanchett more than once, causing Cate Blanchett to be ostracized by the crew and so on.

There are also young actors from the crew who appeared via video to give their own opinions.

These cannot be said to be completely false. The quarrel between Martin and Blanchett is not a secret on the set. The former is more popular on the set, while the latter will inevitably be isolated.

Subsequently, more media joined the ranks of breaking the news.

The website went to London to interview Cate Blanchett, but Blanchett refused to comment on the matter.

This in itself expresses an attitude.

"Screen" magazine claimed that Martin's portrayal of the role of Benjamin did not rely on his own acting skills at all, but relied on a large amount of CGI. Special effects occupied a key part of the character, which is completely contrary to the actor's spirit and performance art promoted by the Cannes Film Festival.

Another media reported that descendants of the original author, Fitzgerald, were very dissatisfied with the film's extensive adaptation, believing that the male protagonist created by Martin was not the character Fitzgerald wrote at all.

Some media said that the production cost of "Benjamin" was as high as 100 million US dollars, and it was a commercial movie through and through.