American fame and fortune

Century City, Fox Tower.

In the office with the "PI" nameplate hanging on it, director Ang Lee put down the "Hollywood Reporter" in his hand and said: "The media are all building momentum for "Escape from Tehran."

Producer Gil Nate responded: "This film has a good reputation and meets mainstream needs. If it is properly executed, it cannot be underestimated."

He reminded: "Although the producers of the film have the names of Graham King and Louise Meyer, as far as I know, the person who really leads this project is Martin Davis."

Hearing this name, Ang Lee thought of "Brokeback Mountain" that year. It was because Martin chased Heath Ledger and almost bumped into him and Aniston on the set, causing "Brokeback Mountain" to lose a best actor. Nominated.

He even felt that the loss of "Brokeback Mountain" to "Crash" in the Best Movie category was directly related to this incident.

Gil Nate said: "Martin Davis is a master at running the Oscars. Our goal with "Pi" is also this Oscar. The first awards to hit are Best Director and Best Picture. The main competitor is this "Pi" Escape from Tehran.”

This time it collided with Martin Davis' film again, and Ang Lee could not avoid it: "They have advantages, but they must also have weaknesses. They cannot win 100% of the awards."

Gil-Nette agreed: "This film has too strong political meaning. It exaggerates a relatively plain rescue into a legend. This indeed increases the appeal and commercial properties of the film, but it also makes the content of the film far away from the facts. This can prove fatal during awards season."

Ang Lee has won two Oscars before, so he understands what Gil Nate means: "The key to Weinstein's response to "Saving Private Ryan" was to find World War II veterans to prove that the content of the film was inaccurate."

"That's true." Gil-Nate thought for a moment and said, "Let's make preparations first and see the specific situation."

Ang Lee reminded: "I watched the premiere report of "Escape from Tehran" a few days ago. I remember that many people who experienced it back then attended the premiere."

Gil Nate said: "Find someone to find out their specific address. We can contact them at any time if needed."

Ang Lee won the first two Oscars, and PR was also the key to winning Best Director the last time. When he ate with the judges, the chicken tasted like plastic in his mouth.

He is very aware of the importance of public relations in winning awards and fully agrees with Gil Nate's opinion.

It's almost November now, and the North American film awards season in a broad sense has kicked off in September. The Oscars are just around the corner, so we must act as soon as possible.

The two found their own trusted assistants and asked them to do the preliminary work.

…………

With good audience reputation and professional reputation, the box office trend of "Escape from Tehran" is very stable.

The film spent its second weekend in North America. Although "Taken 2" took the top spot on the weekend box office list, "Escape"'s box office dropped by less than 40% the next weekend, to US$27.89 million.

Including the gains from the previous four working days, the North American box office has accumulated a total of 92.13 million US dollars.

It only takes two or three days to break through 100 million.

The film was undoubtedly a huge commercial success.

Disney Studios, in the crew studio.

Martin, David Finch, Louise Mayer and Graham King came together.

Outstanding business performance can be put aside for the time being. The awards season has begun, and they want to focus on discussing awards.

Louise posted possible competitors on the whiteboard.

Graham-King said: "Although many films have not yet been released, most of them have held preview screenings. Based on the relevant information collected, we can basically determine that these will be the main competitors we face during the awards season."

Louise picked up the metal rod, pointed at the poster of "Lincoln", and said: "Since April, Daniel Day-Lewis has moved to Los Angeles from England. For more than half a year now, he has been living in Among the judges, he is the Academy's favorite actor. He almost never takes on commercial movies. He started public relations earlier than anyone else, so his advantage is very obvious."

Graham added: "I saw a test screening of 'Lincoln' and there was nothing wrong with the character."

Martin had already made up his mind and said: "The primary goals of "Escape from Tehran" are Best Director and Best Picture. For Best Actor, I only want one nomination."

David Fincher still had his eyes on "Lincoln" and said, "We have to pay attention to Spielberg and his film."

Louise and Graham also have similar thoughts. It is not news that Spielberg wants to win the Best Director again. He has tried several times in succession from "Munich" to "War Horse".

But strangely, not many resources were invested.

This "Lincoln" has a special theme and is a standard Oscar-winning movie.

Martin took the metal rod from Louise's hand, pointed at the poster for "Life of Pi," and said, "I think this movie should be taken seriously."

Graham asked: "Lee Ang?"

David Fincher pondered.

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

"Spielberg has already won two Best Director statuettes, and it is extremely difficult to win it again." Martin mentioned one thing in particular: "In recent years, Spielberg's films have attracted a lot of criticism, and they are too excessive. The combination of sensationalism and templated production mode has led to the average evaluation of his works in the circle."

He thought for a while: "I have talked with him several times. Spielberg has two Best Director Oscars in his hands. He is not as eager as the outside world sees him. It is best to win it again. If he can't win it, it's better." It doesn’t matter, it’s hard to say how much resources DreamWorks will invest in winning prizes.”

Graham said directly: "I will talk to Spielberg when I have time."

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

"'Brokeback Mountain'." Louise remembered something: "Some people think that the fact that 'Brokeback Mountain' lost to 'Crash' in the Best Picture category has something to do with Martin's pursuit of Heath Ledger."

Martin shrugged: "What does this have to do with me? That guy knocked too much and almost knocked me away on the set. I can't ask for justice?"

Several people laughed because they still had memories of what happened back then.

Martin said seriously: "Don't underestimate Ang Lee. "Brokeback Mountain" has made his favorability soar among certain special groups in the industry, and it is easy to win votes. You all know the situation in the industry. There are a lot of special groups.”

Louise continued: "Many people in the industry regard "Brokeback Mountain" winning the Oscar for Best Director as a turning point for the rainbow flag to fly in Hollywood. These people have a special recognition for Ang Lee."

Martin added: "Ang Lee has won the two major awards for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Director for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Brokeback Mountain." What does this mean? Not only is he not a layman when it comes to Oscar competition, he is also very knowledgeable. Familiarity and understanding of its rules cannot be underestimated.”

Graham thought about it carefully and said: "Ang Lee achieved success in his first two attempts for prizes. This is not something ordinary people can do."

David Fincher also took it seriously and asked: "Is "Life of Pi" released?"

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

Martin asked Graham: "Did you go to the preview?"

Graham shook his head, picked up his cell phone and made a call at the same time. He talked for a while before hanging up and said: "A friend in the critic circle participated in the test screening of that film and said it was a visual spectacle, and also mixed with It’s Ang Lee’s philosophy of combining East and West.”

He finally emphasized: "My friend asked several reviewers and columnists who went there with him, and they all thought that the film was quite well shot, and the quality is still above "Brokeback Mountain"."

Martin said again: "Pay more attention to this film and Ang Lee's news."

Louise nodded: "I will."

Graham added: "If the film is previewed again, I will try to get a few invitations and go and have a look."

David Fincher watched the whole process of last year's Oscar competition. Although he didn't know much about the internal situation, he also knew that winning not only depends on himself, but also his opponent. He said: "Remember to inform me."

The metal rod in Martin's hand pointed at Ang Lee's poster again: "Hurry up and collect relevant information. When we know more details, we can make targeted arrangements."

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

After the meeting, Martin followed Louise to Pacific Pictures.

The two will discuss the advancement of several subsequent films.

Pacific Pictures has been cooperating with Warner Bros., and Lois also invested in "The Dark Knight Rises."

Martin wants to promote the Joker's independent movie. Louise fully supports it and will also put pressure on DC Films through her channels.

In addition, Louise is also promoting the script of "Split".

After Jonathan met with Billy Milligan several times and had detailed discussions, he went to Billy's hometown and the mental illness center where he was admitted and treated for on-the-spot interviews, and collected a lot of outsiders' opinions and information on Billy.

Back in Los Angeles, Jonathan stayed behind closed doors and began adapting the script.

This talented screenwriter, who is good at creating mentally unstable characters and plots, planned ten months of writing time for himself.

In the next two days, Kelly Gray came to Los Angeles from Atlanta.

Elizabeth accompanied Lily to the art show, over to Miami, and Martin stayed two nights at Louise's house in Sherman Oaks.

The three of them seemed to have returned to five or six years ago. They had no other thoughts in their heads and just enjoyed the most primitive joy.

Even though Martin's combat prowess was astonishing, he was still tortured by the two sluts.

Entering November, Martin temporarily put down the work at hand and concentrated on the filming of "La La Land".

This is his first time trying a song-and-dance film, which is a very novel test.