Chapter 180: Why Save Private Ryan

In the suite's living room, Penny Kalis paced restlessly, her gaze occasionally drifting to Duke. He sat on the sofa, taking his time sipping his coffee, clearly unenthusiastic about the Oscar-related topics she kept bringing up.

"Duke, do you want to win an Oscar?" she finally asked.

"Of course I do!"

Setting down his coffee cup, Duke said seriously, "There aren't many people in Hollywood who dislike the Oscar Golden Statuette, are there?"

An Oscar campaign for Saving Private Ryan was the studio's established strategy. Given how unique and suitable the timing was this year, that certainly wasn't going to change. He was entirely in favor of it for a very simple reason: as long as they could bag a few heavyweight awards, the film's revenue would inevitably skyrocket, and his own income would rise along with it.

"What about Best Director?" Kalis walked over and sat opposite Duke. After Tina Fey poured her some coffee, she continued, "Are you really not interested in personal awards?"

Duke pointed at himself. "Penny, I'm only twenty-five! Putting other factors aside, do you think the School would award Best Director to such a young director?"

What a joke. Even though he was of Jewish descent, winning a Best Director Golden Statuette before the age of thirty was something he didn't even need to think about.

"The odds of winning are extremely slim," Kalis said, shaking her head before adding, "but getting a nomination is still possible."

"A nomination doesn't mean much to me." Duke put on that dismissive expression again. "Having it won't raise my quote, and missing it won't reduce the number of companies willing to invest in my films."

"You can't just avoid winning an Oscar forever, right?"

Kalis wasn't stupid; she could tell that Duke wasn't entirely uninterested in the Oscars, his interest was just incredibly mild. "Every nomination is a credential that increases your chances of winning in the future."

"Could I really get a nomination?" Duke knew his situation well. "Don't forget the film critics."

"You only know if something is possible after you try it." Kalis was quite confident and eager, mainly because the awards season usually made up the bulk of PR revenue. "Some issues can be resolved with PR campaigns."

Duke completely agreed with Kalis's last point.

Compared to the Three Major European Film Festivals, which had juries of only a dozen or so people, the Oscars were founded by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and voted on by nearly 6,000 of the School's senior industry professionals across various fields. The entire voting mechanism had been running for years and was constantly optimized, making it arguably one of the fairest film awards in the world.

However, no matter how fair the competition seemed, there was always plenty of room for manipulation behind the scenes. Hollywood produced many great actors and movies every year, but there was only one Golden Statuette for each category. Who would get it?

That depended on everyone's respective tactics.

George Lucas had once blasted the Oscars as a political game, and renowned directors like Spike Lee had publicly criticized the awards, arguing that rather than honoring good movies and filmmakers, the Oscars rewarded those with strong networking skills and deep pockets.

Perhaps these views were a bit biased, but they illustrated a valid point.

Take the original Saving Private Ryan, for example. Even some of the School's core members felt its loss was inexplicable. Of course, this wasn't just a PR issue; there was another major factor. Saving Private Ryan was a movie made for the masses, while Shakespeare in Love was made for a select few.

In ninety percent of cases, the Oscars would choose movies made for a select few.

In Duke's view, if it hadn't been released during such a specific window, the film's aggressive box office run—massive, yet not quite world-crushing—would have been a major Oscar hurdle. Coupled with the bad blood between him and the film critics, another tragedy might very well have been on the horizon.

He could never underestimate the determination of those old men to favor the minority.

"Duke, have you heard of Anne Wilson?"

Seeing Duke shake his head, Penny Kalis explained in detail. "She's a member of the School and an Oscar judge, as well as a member of the Producers Alliance. Although she hasn't produced any commendable works to date, she is a master at networking. She's on good terms with many of the School's core members and can influence their choices. If you can get through to her, you'll gain the support of a significant portion of the Directors Association and the Producers Alliance, which will offset some of the negative impact from the film critics."

"The price?"

His mother's experiences had already taught him that there was no such thing as a free lunch in this world.

"She has a hobby." Kalis looked at Duke, hesitating slightly before saying, "She likes famous men in the industry, especially... well, those with good looks."

"She's a collector," Kalis said bluntly.

Duke shot her a cold look. Kalis sighed. "Alright, we can drop this plan..."

"Penny!" Duke raised his hand to cut her off. "Just tell me how much concrete work I'd have to do if I want that nomination."

If the required time and energy weren't proportional to the payoff, he would walk away, even from a Best Director nomination.

Yes, some people were willing to sacrifice a lot for an Oscar, such as Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, and others. But they were still considered rational; some people could only be described as insane.

Take Judi Dench, 『Madam M』 from 007, for example. In order to please certain people and make a push for an Oscar, she actually tattooed Harvey Weinstein's name on her buttocks. She even publicly claimed that she would drop her pants and show off her rear on the red carpet if Weinstein asked, just to drum up publicity...

This could be considered a microcosm of the bizarre menagerie behind the Oscars.

As much of a pragmatic egoist as he was, Duke was absolutely incapable of doing something like that.

Kalis thought carefully, filtering out the things she knew Duke would never accept, and then said, "First are the film breakdown sessions. There's quite a bit of time between the end of the film's promotional tour and the awards season. You need to organize at least five film breakdown sessions with the studio and invite School members to watch. At the same time, you have to move the film critics to hype up the movie..."

"Then there are various promotional events, PR parties, and PR banquets," Kalis said as simply as possible. "In short, you cannot leave the sight of the media, the film critics, and the Oscar judges."

Hearing this, Duke was already rubbing his forehead. He knew the actual execution would be far more tedious than Kalis made it sound.

That wasn't all. Kalis continued, "The PR isn't just for the Oscars, but also for the bellwether awards leading up to the awards season. These can increase your chances of getting a nomination and even winning."

"Which ones?" Duke was slightly curious.

"I'll just list the main ones."

Even Kalis had to pull a document from her handbag to check. "The Independent Spirit Awards, the New York Film Critics Association Awards, the Gotham Independent Film Awards, the National Board of Review Awards, the Washington Film Critics Association Awards, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, the Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, the Boston Film Critics Association Awards, the Motion Picture Association of America Awards, the Producers Alliance Awards, the Directors Association Awards..."

Duke felt like his head was going to explode. He had known the Oscars would be troublesome, but it was even worse than he imagined.

"The film critics' awards and the guild awards are the focus."

After rattling off that long list, Kalis picked up her coffee and took a large sip. "If you can get nominations from the three major film critics associations and the guilds, combined with some necessary PR tactics, even at your age, there's still a ninety percent chance you'll get a Best Director nomination."

Picking up his coffee cup, Duke took a sip as well. He thought quietly for a moment, seemingly weighing the pros and cons, before asking, "Does that mean I won't be able to do anything else for the next few months? I have to pour all my time and energy into the Oscars?"

"If you want to guarantee a nomination, this is the safest way." Kalis gave him a direct suggestion. "After returning to Los Angeles, it's best if you don't leave. Cooperate fully..."

"Wait!" Duke cut off the publicist. "Penny, I never agreed to do this!"

Seeing Kalis look at him in confusion, Duke didn't hide his thoughts. "My time and energy are extremely precious. I won't waste them on this kind of game."

"After the promotional events, I'm going on a long vacation!"

Duke said this with absolute conviction, as if a vacation were more important than the Oscars. "I also have an advertising deal with the Lauder Group..."

Three million dollars to shoot a commercial—of course he had no reason to refuse.

"Even though my next movie has been pushed to next year, I still have to do some preliminary prep work." Duke spread his hands. "My schedule is tight. I can't afford to waste time."

Going through all this trouble just for a Best Director nomination with no guarantees was absolutely not worth it in Duke's eyes.

Besides, he had never underestimated the influence of film critics on School Faction awards.

Given Duke's current track record and status, even a veteran publicist like Kalis couldn't just casually hand down forceful demands. She asked helplessly, "Then what are your thoughts?"

"We'll cooperate with the studio," Duke said nonchalantly. "Let the studio's PR take the lead. If we get the nomination, great; if not, it doesn't matter."

Although the co-producers' main PR push would inevitably be for Best Picture, they would also submit for Best Director and invest a moderate amount of resources. After all, the more major nominations and Golden Statuettes they won, the greater the film's future revenue would likely be.

"According to your director's agreement with the studio," Kalis reminded him, "you must attend the major PR parties and PR events."

"I know." Duke nodded.

Compared to the massive list Kalis had mentioned, there weren't many events like that, and they wouldn't drain too much of his energy.

Penny Kalis had arrived in a hurry and left in a hurry. Her Oscar campaign strategy was largely rejected by Duke before it could even be implemented, leaving her no choice but to depart with a sense of regret.

Afterward, Duke pushed the Oscar matters to the back of his mind. Together with Tom Hanks, he worked hard to promote the film to suppress the old cowboy Clint Eastwood's newly released The Bridges of Madison County, fighting to hold on to the box office champion throne for a second week.