Chapter 297: The Oscars (Part 2)
Chapter 297: The Oscars (Part 2)
Billy Crystal patiently waited until the applause died down before continuing, “So Hollywood is a place full of dreams. Whether you’re not yet twenty years old or already over eighty, as long as you truly have talent and are willing to work hard, you will definitely receive recognition.”
Another round of applause erupted, and many people turned their gazes toward Eric.
Obviously, the “not yet twenty years old” Billy Crystal referred to was Eric. The camera naturally followed public sentiment and shifted toward him as well.
Eric calmly applauded along with everyone else, a faint smile hanging at the corner of his lips as a response.
After finishing his remarks, Billy Crystal invited another group of presenters onto the stage before stepping down himself.
Following several more relatively unimportant awards, another legendary Hollywood actress, Jane Fonda, stepped onto the stage.
Eric unconsciously straightened in his seat as well, because the next two awards were the most important honors for him at this year’s Oscars.
Although Eric had directed four films this year, and Firefly Pictures had submitted both Pretty Woman and In the Line of Fire for Best Director consideration, neither had received a nomination.
Therefore, the two screenplay nominations Eric had received for The Others and Scent of a Woman had become the most important nominations he held at this year’s Academy Awards.
Born into a famous acting family, Jane Fonda was about the same age as Morgan Freeman, but in appearance she still looked only in her forties. The black form-fitting evening gown she wore vaguely revealed traces of the elegance she had possessed in her youth.
“This has undoubtedly been a bumper year for Hollywood,” Jane Fonda said. “Not only did the domestic box office surpass five billion dollars for the first time, but even more outstanding films emerged compared to previous years. And no truly outstanding film can exist without a good screenplay. A screenplay is the foundation of a film. So now, let us take a look at the nominees for Best Adapted Screenplay.”
As she spoke, Jane Fonda slightly turned and gestured toward the giant screen behind her before continuing:
“The nominees for Best Adapted Screenplay are: Driving Miss Daisy, by Alfred Uhry; Enemies, A Love Story, by Roger Simon; Field of Dreams, by Phil Alden Robinson; My Left Foot, by Jim Sheridan; and Scent of a Woman, by Eric Williams.”
The faces of the five nominees appeared one after another on the big screen.
Eric stared at the stage without blinking.
Although he repeatedly tried to appear unconcerned, under such circumstances and within such a tense atmosphere, the hand resting on his knee still involuntarily clenched into a fist.
Compared to the four major awards at the end of the night, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Screenplay did not attract nearly as much attention. However, compared to an earlier technical award like Best Original Score, these two screenplay awards carried far more prestige.
After introducing the nominees, Jane Fonda did not keep the audience waiting long. She quickly opened the envelope in her hand, glanced inside, and leaned toward the microphone.
“And the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay goes to… Driving Miss Daisy.”
Amid the thunderous applause, Eric’s heart abruptly sank.
An intense sense of foreboding rose inside him.
Among the nominees for Best Adapted Screenplay, Scent of a Woman had originally been the strongest contender.
After all, everyone knew horror films were not favored by the Academy.
Back then, Eric had considered submitting Sleepless in Seattle or Pretty Woman for Best Original Screenplay instead, since romance films were generally more appealing to Oscar voters than horror movies.
But after much consideration, Eric had ultimately chosen to submit The Others for Best Original Screenplay and gave up on Sleepless in Seattle and Pretty Woman.
After all, romance films had a relatively low chance of winning Best Original Screenplay, whereas although The Others was technically a horror film, the screenplay was unquestionably far more sophisticated than a traditional horror movie. Its chances of winning were therefore higher than those of the two romance films.
Of course, the Academy would not have stopped Eric from submitting all three films simultaneously, and the likelihood of all of them receiving nominations would not have been low. But if he had done that, the votes would only have been split, drastically lowering each screenplay’s chances of actually winning.
But now Eric realized that despite all his calculations, he had still overlooked another fact.
Whether it was Best Original Screenplay or Best Adapted Screenplay, the voters for both categories were members of the Writers Guild.
Therefore, after Eric received nominations in both screenplay categories for Scent of a Woman and The Others, the writers with voting rights would naturally feel that completely shutting him out despite receiving two nominations would be inappropriate. At the very least, many of them would vote for one of the two films.
However, Eric was equally certain that most writers would not vote for both scripts simultaneously. Instead, they would choose either Scent of a Woman or The Others.
Which meant that although Best Original Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay were technically two separate awards, the votes supporting Eric had still been split apart.
And the result was obvious.
If Writers Guild members were forced to choose between the two, then the more artistically accomplished Scent of a Woman would undoubtedly receive more votes than The Others.
Which also meant that if even Scent of a Woman failed to win, then The Others stood even less chance afterward.
Sighing inwardly, Eric slightly shook his head. He quickly suppressed his emotions and looked back toward the stage.
After presenting Best Adapted Screenplay, Jane Fonda did not leave the stage. Instead, she immediately continued introducing the nominees for Best Original Screenplay.
“The nominees for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay are: Dead Poets Society, by Tom Schulman; Crimes and Misdemeanors, by Woody Allen; Sex, Lies, and Videotape, by Steven Soderbergh; The Others, by Eric Williams; and When Harry Met Sally..., by Nora Ephron.”
Eric’s face once again appeared on the giant screen at the center of the stage.
Even though many people in the audience only needed to raise their heads to see him directly, quite a few still turned to look toward where Eric was seated.
Obviously, many of them had also realized Eric’s current predicament.
As for whether some people were secretly gloating, that was impossible to know.
Eric ignored all those irrelevant gazes completely.
Instead, he merely nodded toward the several people from film crews related to him who were looking at him with concern, giving them a reassuring look.