Chapter 514： fan the flames

The American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, welcomed the first rays of the sun on March 24, 2003. Frank Pearson came to the academy office a little earlier than usual. As the current chairman of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Frank Pearson is well aware that the Oscars ceremony ended yesterday, and reporters are bound to come to interview him today.

Frank Pearson, a screenwriter and producer, is seventy-eight years old this year, wearing a black three-piece suit, leaning on a pear wood crutch in his right hand, and his silver-white hair neatly combed back. A small silver chain is attached to the left pocket, which is threaded through the second button of the vest and connected to the inner pocket.

Standing on the side of Wilshire Boulevard, Frank Pearson took out the pocket watch in Zuong's pocket and opened it. It ended at 9:30 in the morning, a little earlier than expected. Look up, and the office building of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is two hundred yards away.

The bustling crowd at the entrance of the office building made Frank-Pearson frown, but he quickly regained his original grace and walked with a cane in hand.

It seems that there are more reporters than expected today, which reminds Frank Pearson of Iraq surrounded by artillery fire, and the rebellious young boy who openly challenged the authority of the college.

son. "Damn it." Frank-Pearson's eyes twitched involuntarily, and he cursed in his heart.

Frank Pearson, who became the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2001, took over as the head of the Oscars. From last year and this year's Oscar awards, we can see that he is a very conservative gentleman. Not to mention his neat hairstyle and clothes, as well as his graceful etiquette and speech.

Similar to any organization within the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, it is divided into old school forces and new school forces. The old-fashioned forces are senior members of the academy. They stick to conventions and are content with the status quo. They are very satisfied with Oscar’s strong influence around the world. At the same time, their choice of films tends to be conservative and more traditional: the new-school forces are in the academy. They are eager to innovate and strive for change. They hope to use the Oscars as a platform to bring more vitality to the film industry. Therefore, their choice of films is more innovative and daring, and they also pay more attention to the new European forces. Inside the academy, how to balance the relationship between the old school and the new school is a constant theme.

Obviously, Frank Pearson is the representative of the old school. Whether it's "Beautiful Mind" at the 74th Oscars or "Chicago, etc.," and "The Pianist" at the 75th Oscars, they all illustrate Oscar's conservativeness. Last year, Oscar won the Best Actor Award with two black actors. Later, it became the focus, but it was also regarded as a signal that Oscar was bowing to politics. Generally speaking, the trend of the entire award is still conservative and flat: this year, in terms of opposing war, Oscar once again chose to be conservative and return to tradition. come up.

Last year, the Oscars set two "records" with the longest broadcast time and the lowest ratings in history: This year, the Oscars' broadcast time accelerated a lot because of the cancellation of the red carpet, but the ratings continued to create new lows, even higher than last year. Much worse, the broadcast ratings did not even reach 30 million, and the segment ratings even lost to the popular "American Idol". This is not a good signal for the old-school forces.

The struggle between the old school and the new school is bound to continue. At present, Frank-Pearson is still in the chairman position, and the situation where the old school has the upper hand will continue.

Only on the red carpet of the Golden Globe Awards, Frank-Pearson was quite critical of Evan-Bell, and he couldn't accept that Evan-Bell actually challenged the red carpet men's formal dress tradition. However, at that time Frank-Pearson maintained his demeanor and did not make any remarks in public.

But this time, Evan Bell actually accused the Oscars should not be held and should cancel the awards ceremony in protest against the US war. Frank-Pearson was naturally angry, and he was outraged. He directly accused "Evan-Bell of grandstanding" in the media with a very tough tone. This also directly led to various conjectures in the media. The most direct conjecture is that Evan Bell will completely miss his first golden man.

Now, the awards ceremony is over. Frank-Pearson also had to admit that the voice of support for Evan-Bell within the academy still prevailed. After all, Oscar himself has always maintained that politics has nothing to do with them. Therefore, Evan-Bell's personal position should not affect the awarding of awards. . In fact, the best supporting actor award is indeed Evan Bell. In addition, the trend of the Oscars is indeed to express the anti-war theme, so the best supporting actor award was given to "anti-war warrior" Evan Bell, which is also in line with the theme of this year's Oscars. The old-fashioned forces represented by Frank Pearson finally compromised.

Thinking of this, Frank-Pearson has already prepared a draft, and he will answer the reporter for a while. When he thinks about it, Evan Bell, who won the best supporting actor, will definitely say some polite words in the media, express gratitude and so on. Therefore, he can completely say that Oscar is fair and fair, does not participate in personal emotions, and only rewards those actors who have real talents in performance, and Evan Bell won this little golden man with his strength... Barbara. This is a great time to build a positive image for the Oscars.

But soon, Frank Pearson found himself wrong, and outrageously wrong. Because, as soon as he met the reporter, he heard the question: "Mr. Pearson, Evan Bell said that he has no regrets about his absence from the Oscars, and he has no regrets at all. What do you think about this?"

The reporter was indeed a master at taking things out of context. He took out Evan Bell's context and left only a specious sentence, which easily stirred up Frank and Pearson's anger. This sentence sounds to Frank Pearson, and the direct understanding is: I don't regret my absence at all, how, you still don't give me the same award. This is a typical act of getting cheap and selling well. How could Frank-Pearson not be angry.

"He should figure out his position, he is just a young actor who has acted in movies for two years, and a world-wide awards ceremony like the Oscar never minds his absence.

In fact, we don't mind the absence of any of the actors! "Frank-Pearson's words are powerful, it's a fact, Oscar doesn't need to see the actor's face, even if the actor's reputation is high, it can't compare to the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which is composed of 6,000 professionals. There is Oscar who has a worldwide reputation. "He has the right to express his position, but in my opinion, he is a clown who uses his words to gain attention. If you have time to play these tricks there, it is better to spend more time on the study of the performance! "

Frank-Pearson is a gentleman, or at least he considers himself a gentleman, so he doesn't lose his head in anger and utter indecent words. After venting his inner anger, Frank-Pearson went on to say, "I think the Oscars have always been fair and impartial. We won't affect professional judgments because of our personal prejudice against actors..." Next, Frank-Pearson It crackled to promote the college. The meaning of the words is very simple: we adults don't remember villains, you Evan Bell is a clown, but the academy is still scrupulous and magnanimous in awarding the golden statues to you.

For Frank-Pearson's answer, when Evan-Bell arrived at the Broadway theater, there were already reporters waiting there, and they were very much looking forward to Evan-Bell's release of some drastic information. But the fact is, Evan Bell didn't get angry at all when he heard the reporter's retelling, but instead laughed, "I know you are making a fool of yourself." Although Evan Bell did not know how the reporter provoked Frank Pearson to be angry , but he knew very well that things were definitely not that simple.

In the communication between people, it is most taboo to have a microphone, because once the middle microphone changes the words, there will be a huge misunderstanding. Therefore, Evan Bell will not let these journalists who only use the world in chaos continue to provoke them.

"I'm really just a little acting nose who has only been in movies for two years, isn't I?" Evan Bell admitted Frank-Pearson's words, shrugged his shoulders, and walked into the Broadway theater, continuing "Nine". practice.

Evan-Bell's reaction, when conveyed to Frank-Pearson from the reporter's mouth, evolved into "Evan-Bell thinks he has nothing to say!" This sentence "Nothing to say" came out of the reporter's mouth, In Frank Pearson's ears, it became Evan Bell's self-righteousness, "If your academy wants to bully me as a young actor, I will admit it".

"Wow", Frank-Pearson's anger jumped up. "He is a self-righteous, ignorant arrogant. Since he is against war, why doesn't he go to the White House door to demonstrate? Why didn't he go directly to Iraq to express No. What right does he have to dictate what the Academy does... Tradition, we're going to follow tradition, he's just a stupid clown!"

The reporters were expressionless, but the microphones in their hands stretched a little to Frank Pearson's mouth. They succeeded at last, succeeded in sowing the air between Evan Bell and the Academy, and succeeded in making the gentleman Frank Pearson lose his sanity and demeanor.

To Frank-Pearson's remarks, Evan-Bell's answer was "Since the Academy is against war, why is there a joyous awards ceremony three days after the outbreak of the war: Now that the awards ceremony is held, why should you brag about it? Compassionately awarding an award to a film with a strong anti-war tone. Isn't that a contradiction in terms?"

"boom"

The media are finally happy because Evan Bell and the Academy are about to go to war. ! .