Chapter 244: Severe Shortage of Votes

"Chicago is a successful commercial adaptation, a typical cinematic carnival in the style of Duke Rosenberg. In essence, it is no different from popcorn flicks like Independence Day and The Rock. It is simply a vulgar, mediocre commercial film cloaked in the trappings of a musical. Its artistic merit is practically nonexistent. Aside from its gorgeous visual impact and cheap laughs, there is exceedingly little worth praising. Ultimately, it is a pseudo-musical sorely lacking in art and traditional musical elements!"

—Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times.

In the run-up to Christmas, a slew of articles attacking Chicago flooded the media. Film critics led the charge, and remarks like Roger Ebert's were far from rare. They exhausted every word in their vocabularies, desperately trying to push the film into a purely commercial box.

Just as Harvey Weinstein had predicted, two massive box-office hits, Forrest Gump and Saving Private Ryan, becoming consecutive Oscar winners had inevitably touched a sensitive nerve among the School's conservatives. In their entrenched mindset, popular inevitably meant vulgar. Films too heavy on commercial elements were bound to displease them, especially with the precedent set by the past two years.

The Harvey Weinstein of today was not yet the Harvey Weinstein of the future, but he had still grasped the mentality of the conservatives who dominated the School.

That was only one aspect. On another front, Harvey Weinstein targeted Tom Cruise. Media reviews like "Cruise's performance is as terrible as ever" and "His singing and dancing are as ridiculous as a duck" emerged in an endless stream.

A terrible actor would directly impact a film's overall performance during the awards season. Given that the other two female leads were not quite famous enough yet, and Duke had practically no vulnerabilities to exploit aside from his romantic affairs, was there a better target than Tom Cruise?

Moreover, in the eyes of those old men, Tom Cruise—a representative of the "greenhorn clique" of actors—had always been synonymous with having no acting skills and getting by on his looks alone. If they didn't smear him, who would they smear?

Besides, Tom Cruise had far too many areas open to criticism.

Perhaps drawing on the experience of Duke having someone smear Cruise a few years ago, during this sensitive period crucial to the entire awards season, many gossip tabloids once again brought up Tom Cruise's faith. Although faith could not be used as a primary reason to attack someone in this supposedly free land, the foremost prerequisite for the Oscars was political and value-oriented correctness. The tenets promoted by Scientology were truly difficult for mainstream society to accept.

Many tabloids also dragged Nicole Kidman into it along the way, pointing out problems in Tom Cruise's family. They claimed his marriage to Nicole Kidman was a sham, asserting that his divorce from his ex-wife Rogers and subsequent marriage to Nicole Kidman were completely manipulated by Scientology. They alleged he wasn't an independent Hollywood star at all, but merely a puppet used by Scientology for propaganda.

The School had over six thousand members. Half of them, or even more, wouldn't even watch the films before voting—not even a single clip. Winning their favor and securing their votes often took considerable effort, but provoking their disgust only required a single reason to dislike someone.

Examples of hating a film because of hating an actor were countless.

Even more outrageously, some tabloids questioned Tom Cruise's sexual orientation. This was not the future; even Jodie Foster, who had never lacked courage, didn't dare to publicly disclose her sexual orientation. Homosexual actors were a taboo for the Oscars.

Oscar competitions in the past had always been fierce, but attempts to smear opponents usually knew when to stop. Everything seemed to have changed starting with the previous Oscars.

Mel Gibson's fall from an Oscar favorite to a forgotten loser showed many people a good way to win awards: take out the competition to climb the ranks!

Harvey Weinstein, that Oscar opportunist, was naturally a standout among them.

Unfavorable remarks about Chicago circulated everywhere. Warner Brothers and Duke Studio were certainly not sitting idle; while the opposition attacked, they continuously counterattacked.

Since many judges wouldn't watch the relevant films and might still vote blindly despite massive lobbying efforts, some media outlets questioned whether The English Patient had Nazi-sympathizing tendencies.

Whether it was true or false didn't matter. What mattered was that it could influence some people's choices.

At the same time, many ghostwritten reports subtly hinted that it was a film about Europeans, that Anthony Minghella was gay, and so on...

In short, Miramax was smearing Chicago, while Duke Studio and Warner Brothers attacked The English Patient. Neither side used any fewer dirty tricks than the other.

As if receiving some kind of hint, the media supporting The English Patient spent the following days constantly blasting Duke for making Chicago too commercialized, claiming it had lost the proper essence of a musical.

As if to validate the media's attacks, Chicago's North American box office easily surpassed $100 million. After passing its fifth weekend in theaters just before Christmas, its cumulative box office reached $111.05 million!

Judging solely by its box-office trajectory, Chicago looked every bit like a pure commercial film.

With Christmas fast approaching, Duke did not go to New York. His mother was coming here to attend a reception party jointly hosted by George Lucas and Lucasfilm. They would spend Christmas in Malibu this year. Unlike previous years, there were two extra people spending Christmas Eve with them.

The first was Catherine Zeta-Jones. Although he had been having Penny Kalis actively plan to end their relationship, she wasn't going out of her own accord, and Duke couldn't exactly kick her out on Christmas Eve.

The other was Aerin Lauder, who had come from New York to attend Lucas's dinner party. She came to Los Angeles not only to accept George Lucas's original personal invitation, but also to represent the entirety of Estee Lauder. These cosmetics and luxury companies had always maintained close ties with Hollywood, and the entertainment industry was also their high-end consumer market.

"So you're planning to sponsor this year's Oscars?"

As he carved the roast turkey, Duke asked Aerin Lauder, who was sitting next to his mother, "Is it already settled?"

"I came to Los Angeles this time not only to attend Mr. Lucas's party, but also to handle this work."

Aerin Lauder offered an elegant shrug and said, "Actually, it was settled today. Once the Christmas holiday is over, I will formally sign the contract with the Film Academy on behalf of Estee Lauder."

Duke handed over a plate of turkey meat. Once she took it, he added, "Your products will appear in the Oscar Gift Bag?"

"The turkey tastes quite good."

This type of food had always been a major taboo for dieting women. Aerin Lauder merely took one bite before setting it aside, then answered Duke, "The latest Lauder skincare set."

She gave Duke a playful smile. "Of course, you won't need it. What was in last year's?"

"I didn't look at last year's Oscar Gift Bag." Duke handed another plate of turkey to Zeta-Jones and continued, "I gave it to Tina right after I received it."

The Oscars provided a gift bag for nominees and invited guests attending the awards ceremony. The bags generally came from various brand sponsors. Items ranging from cosmetics to men's underwear to hotel discount vouchers frequently appeared. The gift bags also differed depending on each person's status and the nominations they received, with values ranging from thousands to tens of thousands of dollars.

For someone of Duke's tier, these gift bags were usually casually given away to their assistants or entourage companions.

The rumors surrounding the Oscar Gift Bags in recent years also reflected just how wildly obsessive this nation—founded on tax protests—could be when it came to collecting taxes. Rumor had it that the IRS already had its eye on the Oscar Gift Bags and would tax the recipients!

"Duke..."

Mrs. Leah set down her knife and fork at this moment and said, "When I was coming over from New York, the president of Victoria's Secret asked me to invite you to next year's annual Victoria's Secret runway show. Also, the shareholder meeting is coming up soon. If you aren't going to attend, it's best to find a proxy."

"I know, Mom." Duke nodded.

With his current status in the film industry, just by sitting in the Victoria's Secret venue—even if he said and did nothing—he could elevate the prestige of the runway show.

"Hey, darling, you're a shareholder of Victoria's Secret?" Aerin Lauder deliberately winked at him. "I bet a lot of men will envy you."

"What is there to envy?"

Hearing Duke's words, Aerin Lauder raised an eyebrow at him. Duke could read the expression perfectly; she was clearly saying, "I know you."

Sitting silently at the dining table, Catherine Zeta-Jones found that she was completely an outsider. She couldn't insert herself into their conversation, and even if she spoke up, she rarely got a warm response. Moreover, she had no access to most of the topics they discussed.

For example, the upper-class New York circles Duke and Aerin Lauder talked about, or the investments Mrs. Leah occasionally mentioned, had absolutely nothing to do with Hollywood.

This stemmed from differences in background, status, wealth, and ethnicity. Zeta-Jones was no naive little girl. This country was hailed as a paradise of freedom and equality, but in reality, the barriers between classes were exceptionally pronounced.

In the end, she and they were people living in two different worlds.

For some unknown reason, Catherine Zeta-Jones suddenly had a bit of an epiphany: when a person stood high enough, they naturally saw more things.

This small dinner party didn't end until very late. Duke called for a driver to take Aerin Lauder back to her hotel.

"We'll get to see the new Star Wars members tomorrow?"

Stepping out of the Eye-Shaped Villa, Aerin Lauder asked Duke, who was seeing her out. Although she was more mature and astute than before, her love for movies had not entirely faded. "You mentioned last time that it's the story of Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala? Will we get to see their new actors?"

"They will reportedly be attending."

Stepping quickly ahead, Duke opened the car door for her. "My mom and I will come pick you up tomorrow. Also, you might be disappointed. Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala are still just two little kids."