[Chapter 371: Harvey's Devious Scheme]
Around 9 PM, after the Golden Globe party ended, Link returned to his Beverly Hills mansion with several women. Since Sandra and Renee won awards, they held a celebration at home, enjoying themselves and partying until the early hours of the morning.
After the Golden Globe ceremony concluded, the media reported extensively on the winners, discussing the allocation of various awards. There was quite a bit of controversy regarding Sense and Sensibility winning Best Motion Picture in the drama category. This movie was of good quality and deserved recognition, but it faced stiff competition from classics like The Shawshank Redemption, Braveheart, and The Bridges of Madison County, all of which also had exceptional quality. In terms of artistic merit and public appeal, these films were neck and neck.
The New York Post noted that the films nominated for Best Picture this year had strong awards potential, but unfortunately, they were up against one another, giving Sense and Sensibility a bit of luck in winning.
Another contentious award was for Best Actress in a Comedy. The nominees included Nicole Kidman for To Die For, Annette Bening for The American President, Sandra Bullock for While You Were Sleeping, Toni Collette for Muriel's Wedding, and Vanessa Redgrave for A Month by the Lake.
In terms of performance, they were all fairly equal, but Sandra Bullock had a slight edge in terms of box office success and influence. Media analysts pointed out that Sandra won because she had no strong competitors this year. In previous award seasons, her chances of winning were slim.
The third point of interest was the 8-year-old actor Haley Joel Osment becoming the youngest winner in Golden Globe history, further solidifying Link's reputation as an actor trainer and earning wider recognition.
The fourth noteworthy aspect was that Guess Pictures performed exceptionally well at this year's Golden Globes, with seven films nominated, 19 nominations total, and winning 5 significant awards. These accolades underscored that Guess Pictures not only produced profitable films but also maintained a high standard, indicating that they were leading the industry in production policies and capabilities.
There were also many tabloid reports claiming that Guess Pictures had spent hefty amounts on public relations for the Golden Globes, alleging they spent over ten million dollars to secure nominations, which had significantly contributed to their success.
Some tabloids used this opportunity to stir rumors about Link's relationship with Sandra Bullock and Renee Zellweger, suggesting that he was using this strategy to win over women, determined to elevate all his girlfriends to the status of Golden Globe or Oscar winners.
In response to these discussions, Guess Pictures' public relations department took a selective approach, addressing reasonable controversies but ignoring unfounded speculation. Their legal department warned anyone spreading false information to face consequences.
...
"This news cannot be a rumor, right? Do you want them all to become Oscar winners?" Sofia Coppola chuckled while pointing at a newspaper report in Link's study.
"Of course! But they will become Oscar winners through their own hard work and performances. The media is giving me credit for Sandra and Renee's wins, which isn't fair to them," Link replied.
"What difference does it make? Without your support, they wouldn't have had the opportunity to take on such excellent roles. You are a crucial factor in their success," Sofia countered.
"Alright! How's the preparation for Girl, Interrupted going? When do we start shooting?" Link asked.
"Next Tuesday. If you have time, come to the set to help train the actors. We have many newcomers this time, and I'm worried about their skills," Sofia said as she walked behind him, wrapping her arms around his neck, her cheek resting on his back like a sponge.
"Sure! I'll be there if I have time." Link gently touched her cheek, continuing with his work. He was writing the script for The Rock, and the production team had already begun preparations, including casting, prop creation, and constructing sets, with plans to start filming in March.
---
The day after the Golden Globes, the list of nominees for the 68th Academy Awards was announced.
Guess Pictures had six films nominated, with 27 nominations overall.
The Sixth Sense garnered eight nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Editing, Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Visual Effects, and Best Makeup.
The Shawshank Redemption received seven nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Sense and Sensibility matched this with seven nominations as well, competing in categories like Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay.
The Butterfly Effect received three nominations for Best Supporting Actress, Best Editing, and Best Original Screenplay.
In & Out had one nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
While You Were Sleeping was nominated for Best Actress.
The film with the most nominations this year was Braveheart, leading with ten, followed closely by Apollo 13 with nine nominations, and The Sixth Sense, taking third place.
...
After the Oscar nominations were announced, all nominated film companies began public relations campaigns to secure more awards at the Academy Awards, striving for increased attention and box office returns.
Guess Pictures started their PR work focusing not on the Academy's jury but on the upcoming award indicators, which included the British Academy Film Awards, the American Critics' Choice Awards, and the American Film Institute Awards.
In late January, the American Critics' Choice Awards took place in Los Angeles, an event held jointly by the North American Broadcast Critics Association and the American Broadcasting Journalism Association, renowned for its significant impact and professionalism in North America's film and television industry.
The first Critics' Choice Awards established ten categories: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Young Actor, Best Screenplay, and Best Foreign Film.
At this event, Sense and Sensibility won Best Picture, The Sixth Sense won Best Screenplay, and Renee Zellweger nabbed Best Supporting Actress, while the rest of the awards went to films like Braveheart, The Bridges of Madison County, and Apollo 13.
...
In early February, Link took the crew to London for the British Academy Film Awards. Since this award is based in the UK with British voters, British films and subjects dominated the selection process.
At this year's BAFTA Awards, the British-themed films Sense and Sensibility, Braveheart, and The Madness of King George emerged as popular choices.
After several rounds of voting, Sense and Sensibility won three awards, including Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actress.
Braveheart took home four awards for Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Sound, and the Best People's Film award.
The Sixth Sense managed just two awards: Best Editing and Best Special Visual Effects.
Trainspotting won for Best Adapted Screenplay.
...
On February 10th, the American Film Institute Awards were held in Los Angeles. This referred to the various unions of the film industry, including the Producers Guild, Directors Guild, Screen Actors Guild, Cinematographers Guild, and Writers Guild, totaling thirteen unions.
Each year, the unions select the best-performing films or filmmakers. The Oscar voting body comprises members from these unions, ultimately revealing the winners. The AFI Awards are known as the most reliable indicators for the Oscars.
At the unions' awards, Braveheart won Best Picture, Best Sound Editing, Best Makeup, Best Cinematography, while The Sixth Sense won for Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Editing. Sense and Sensibility scored for Best Adapted Screenplay, and The Butterfly Effect earned Best Supporting Actress; other awards were won by different films.
Based on the indicators from the four major awards, including the Golden Globes, three films stood out as frontrunners for the Oscars this year: Braveheart, Sense and Sensibility, and The Sixth Sense, while the second tier included Apollo 13, Il Postino: The Postman, Leaving Las Vegas, The Butterfly Effect, and The Usual Suspects.
---
"The Shawshank Redemption has good reviews; why has it fared poorly at the various film awards?" Link asked as he browsed through the newspapers in his office.
In terms of public relations, The Shawshank Redemption received the same support as The Sixth Sense and Sense and Sensibility, yet it consistently fell short during award evaluations. This outcome surprised Link.
In his previous life, The Shawshank Redemption missed out on awards due to stiff competition from Forrest Gump, which overshadowed it as a potential Oscar contender. Surprisingly, even with the delay, it still didn't gain favor.
"Link, we analyzed two reasons: first, there were a plethora of good films released last year, making the competition formidable. Secondly, the film's value orientation didn't align properly. Compared to Braveheart's pursuit of 'freedom,' Andy Dufresne's quest didn't resonate with mainstream values, making it a bit lacking on the ideological front," Jon Gordon explained.
Link pondered for a moment and accepted this explanation. A fim needed to embody a standard worldview that aligned with social morality and dominant values. Hollywood films served as an important tool for the U.S. to export ideology and culture and also as a means to promote internal cultural and value standards.
Films that conform to American societal norms tend to receive support from the Golden Globes and Oscars. For example, films opposing racial discrimination, advocating for LGBTQ rights, promoting capitalism, or the struggles of underdogs typically do well.
In comparison to Braveheart, while The Shawshank Redemption had considerable depth and cultural significance, its narrative focus and manner of expression didn't align with mainstream values, appearing relatively niche. Such films likely wouldn't have a chance at Best Picture unless a decade passed without good movies being released.
"Since The Shawshank Redemption had a mediocre showing in awards season, we should reduce PR efforts for it and focus our resources on promoting Sense and Sensibility and The Sixth Sense, aiming to secure more awards for these two films," Link directed towards the three heads of departments present: PR department president Jon Gordon, production department president Daniel DeVito, and PR department vice president Remi Sklar, who was temporarily overseeing public relations in Lily's absence.
"Understood, Link!" responded Jon Gordon and Remi Sklar as they stood to leave.
---
Link remained, discussing the pre-production status of their new film, The Rock, with Daniel. After over a month of preparations, principal actors had been confirmed, including Nicolas Cage, Sean Connery, Ed Harris, and Jon C. Reilly, with Michael White as the art director, and Hoyt Yeatman handling visual effects. They were nearly the same team as the original project.
The film had a production budget of $75 million. Link planned to start shooting in February. Daniel DeVito informed him that Don Simpson was steadfastly opposed to modifying the script and insisted on shooting according to the original draft without major changes; otherwise, the film was bound to lose money.
Link chuckled and assured Daniel not to worry, explaining that Guess Pictures held the script rights and had the authority to modify it as they saw fit. While Don Simpson was the producer, he had no jurisdiction over Guess Pictures' operations.
---
After sending Daniel off, Link checked the time and headed to Girl, Interrupted set to check the shooting progress.
He had heard from Sofia about a conflict between Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie during filming due to their character roles, and he needed to find a way to mediate.
The method of mediation was straightforward; just sleep together, and make up after a fight at the head of the bed.
After all, they were just one big family, and there shouldn't be anything they couldn't work out in bed.
---
After the major awards ceremonies concluded, Harvey Weinstein was also analyzing the award outcomes for his films.
Among the four main films that Miramax had promoted, only a handful received nominations, with none winning any awards -- a rather disappointing performance.
Harvey frowned as he looked towards Scott Greenstein, the vice president of PR, saying, "We've done so much PR work, why didn't any films win awards? Have we identified any reasons?"
Scott replied, "There are two main reasons. First, there were too many excellent films released last year; our films didn't rank among the top ten in terms of box office or artistic quality, which is a fundamental reason. Secondly, Guess Pictures and the major studios were also putting significant PR efforts in, offering more resources and funds than we are. If we want to win awards, we'll need to invest even more."
Harvey furrowed his brow, "Three million dollars in PR still isn't enough?"
"Rumor has it that Guess Pictures has spent over $10 million on their six films, while Paramount and Universal have also invested around three to four million dollars each," Scott shrugged, expressing his helplessness.
Harvey's mood darkened further.
...
Before 1992, when Miramax was promoting for the Oscars, he only had to make a few phone calls to acquaintances, send out some cards, or host a couple of screenings to garner the support of many judges.
Since 1994, after Guess Pictures' films started receiving nominations, Link began allocating large sums for extensively promoting those films, providing benefits to the judges and regarding the Oscar as highly significant.
The ballots in the hands of the Oscar judges had suddenly become very valuable, requiring more substantial incentives rather than just his phone calls to sway them towards voting for Miramax films.
As a result, Miramax's PR work had become more complex, and to win awards, they had to invest significantly more in resources.
Ultimately, the Academy Awards had turned into a capital game, with Guess Pictures having an undeniable advantage due to their ample funds, followed by the big studios, and smaller film companies like Miramax faced increasing challenges to win awards.
If this situation persisted, Miramax's films might not only fail to earn money at the box office, but they also risked not winning at the Oscars, a platform that could have provided them with prestige and recognition.
Without the ability to establish a reputation through the Oscars, Miramax's box-office performance would decline further, corresponding to a decrease in Harvey's influence in the film industry, preventing him from using the Oscars to acquire film distribution rights at a lower cost.
It was a vicious cycle that could ultimately lead to the bankruptcy of Miramax.
...
"Damn Link! Why does he have to oppose me at every turn?" Harvey cursed under his breath.
"Link's not just against us; he's challenging the entire film industry. His goal appears to be to disrupt Hollywood's status quo and position Guess Pictures as the industry leader. This guy is incredibly ambitious," Scott remarked.
Harvey took a deep breath, staring at a newspaper image of Link with an award. He wished he could hire a hitman to take this annoying guy out.
...
After Scott left the office, Harvey stayed deep in thought, unwilling to concede defeat and wanting to prevent Link from reveling in his success.
He called up Michael Ovitz, Ron Meyer, Barry Diller, and others, discussing the expensive PR strategies Guess Pictures was employing for the Oscars.
He hoped the companies would band together to publicize this news, making it known that Guess Pictures was paying for PR, which was unfair to all film companies and filmmakers, aiming to tarnish Link's and Guess Pictures' reputations in the process.
Ron Meyer disagreed with this approach.
PR for the Oscars isn't just something Guess Pictures does; all film companies are doing it. Publicly revealing the industry's scandals, showing audiences the inner workings of the Oscar voting process, could undermine the industry's reputation and is highly inadvisable.
Moreover, stirring up news requires funding. Who's going to pay for that? Are we really going to bear costs just to suppress Guess Pictures, allowing other film companies to reap the benefits? Also, given that films from Guess Pictures continue to sell well, it's one of Hollywood's most capital-rich companies. Their PR teams are experts in promotion.
When facing negative news, they will swiftly handle damage control. If we want to tarnish Guess Pictures' reputation, significant resources will be necessary to wage a war of public opinion against them. The profits from success would be minimal, while failure would result in significant losses.
In summary, this approach is highly inadvisable.
Harvey bit his teeth in frustration at Ron Meyer's words.
For the major studios, competing for the Oscars against Guess Pictures might not be a smart move, but for him and Miramax, it was certainly crucial since Miramax's film performances had been disappointing at the box office. He had hoped to recover through the Oscars while gaining fame and power through that avenue.
Yet, no one seemed willing to cooperate.
If they were unwilling to support action, why did they initially choose him as the leader to challenge Guess Pictures?
Harvey privately reminded everyone that while this matter might not benefit the major studios much, it could be incredibly advantageous for their faction by diminishing Link's influence and power in the film industry.
Link already held considerable power, and if he and Guess Pictures secured multiple Oscar wins, his control within the industry would strengthen.
This would be extremely harmful to their cause.
Barry Diller agreed with his perspective but was against the proposal. He argued that promoting negative news wouldn't significantly impact Link and Guess Pictures.
Guess Pictures' foothold in the industry arose from hit after hit, not from winning numerous awards. As long as their films continued to succeed, Link's influence in Hollywood wouldn't diminish.
The Oscars only served as a bonus to Link and Guess Pictures. Barry Diller urged Harvey to come up with a stronger strategy to combat Guess Pictures' rise rather than resorting to superficial tactics.
Ron Meyer concurred with his statement.
Harvey was left feeling both angry and helpless.
Previously, Michael Ovitz had suggested ways to deal with Link, and Ron Meyer and others concurred, but now, he faced only half-hearted responses.
These guys were so divided that the Jewish community could never reclaim Hollywood.
...
"Harvey, if you want to beat Link at the Oscars, I have a good idea for you," offered Michael Ovitz, acting as an observer.
"What?" Harvey was hesitant to hear Ovitz's words since he had repeatedly failed to contend with Link.
"You know about Cindy Crawford and Richard Gere's divorce, right?"
"Yes. What does that have to do with anything?"
"Earlier this year, a French media outlet reported seeing Link vacationing in Switzerland with Cindy Crawford. It seems she has become part of Link's growing list of girlfriends."
"I saw that too, but it was just tabloid fluff without any photos. Besides, Cindy Crawford divorcing and dating Link isn't remarkable; this kind of news doesn't hurt Link's reputation."
Harvey frowned.
Cindy Crawford was a stunning beauty in the entertainment world -- tall, glamorous, and famous. Many had intended to take advantage of her divorce to ask her out, but they were shocked to see her get involved with Link instead.
When he first heard the news, Harvey had sighed in disappointment, pondering why someone like Cindy Crawford, career-driven and successful, would devolve into being with someone like Link.
"Harvey, don't jump to conclusions. Have you heard about Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise's divorce? Their case has been going on for half a year and is about to be finalized -- pay attention to that." Ovitz chuckled.
"I know, but how is this related to Link?"
Just as Harvey was about to question further, realization dawned on him as Ovitz's intentions became clear.
Cindy Crawford divorcing and then hanging out with Link. Nicole Kidman having a rumored fling with Link not long after working on Batman, and now on the verge of finalizing her divorce from Tom -- a scenario linking both to Link.
Even if it wasn't a direct connection, it could be exploited to frame Link negatively.
Cindy's divorce could be attributed to Link's influence, painting him as not just a playboy but a homewrecker as well, a habitual seducer of wives -- someone with a tarnished reputation.
At this crucial phase of Oscar voting, judges considered not only the film quality but also the nominees' reputations. They wouldn't vote for someone known for negative connotations.
With adequate manipulation, Link might find it challenging to secure an award at this year's Oscars.
"Michael, thank you! This proposal is fantastic!"
"Not a problem; we're all in this together; I wouldn't want to see Link prosper either," Michael Ovitz replied with a laugh.
Ending the call, Harvey summoned Bob and Scott to discuss how to promote negative news about Link.
*****
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