Chapter 670: Hollywood Philanthropy

"The three of us are standing up here today," Francis Coppola began, "because we all know the thrill of winning Best Director."

"It was the most magnificent moment of my life," Spielberg chimed in.

"Hold on..." George Lucas looked back and forth between the two of them. "I've never won that award."

The theater erupted in laughter.

Over the laughter, Spielberg asked, "Then what are you doing here?"

"I have no idea." George Lucas smoothly steered the conversation back to the awards. "But I do believe it's better to give than to receive."

"Yeah, right!" Spielberg and Francis Coppola said in unison.

Wrapping up their little stand-up routine, the three announced, "Here are the nominees for Best Director: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen for No Country for Old Men, Martin Scorsese for The Departed, Duke Rosenberg for The Dark Knight, Tony Gilroy for Michael Clayton, and Paul Thomas Anderson for There Will Be Blood."

"And the winner is..." Spielberg tore open the envelope, the result carrying zero suspense. "Martin Scorsese!"

Only Old Martin himself truly understood what he was feeling in that moment. The entire audience and all the guests rose to their feet to give him a thunderous standing ovation.

Up on stage, Martin Scorsese hugged George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and Francis Coppola in turn before stepping up to the microphone.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you..."

A long string of gratitude tumbled from his lips. The director, who had brushed past the Oscar Best Director award time and time again, had finally realized his dream through a gangster film that earned astronomical praise across the North American Region.

"Could you guys check the envelope one more time? Did I really win? I mean, holding this award from the Academy, I can hardly control myself, and to have this honor presented to me by my old friends! We've known each other for thirty-seven years. I'm so moved. So moved."

"First, I want to thank Warner Brothers for giving me the adaptation rights to this script. I also want to thank the cast and crew who worked with me..."

After a lengthy list of names, Martin Scorsese seemed ready to sum up the past few decades. "I also want to say thank you to all the people who have wished me well over the years. Many of them were strangers. In the past, I'd walk down the street and people would say things to me. I'd walk into a doctor's office, or wherever, and it would happen."

"They'd say, 'You deserve an Oscar Trophy.' I'd go get an X-ray, and the doctor would tell me, 'You should win an Oscar.' I'd say 'thank you' to them. My friends who have walked with me for years, and many of my friends here tonight, all wished for me to win this award. My family did too. I thank you all. This moment is for you."

With his wish finally fulfilled, Martin Scorsese was undeniably the biggest winner of the night, going on to hoist the Golden Statuette for Best Picture.

Unsurprisingly, The Dark Knight became the night's biggest also-ran. Out of nine nominations, it only took home two trophies. Duke's filmmaking style was clearly not favored by the Academy.

"Change my style?"

Sitting at the "Oscar Night" party hosted by Vanity Fair, Duke shook his head at George Lucas. "I won't change just for an Oscar."

Lucas stood up and lightly patted his shoulder. "Duke, you have always been rational and resolute. Follow your own ideas. Keep going down your path."

Just as Duke wouldn't change himself for the Oscars, Lucas believed that a director who refused to make their work niche just to win an award would have an even broader path ahead of them.

"I'm heading out," Lucas said, giving a slight nod to him and Scarlett. "You two carry on."

George Lucas left, but the crowd gathered around Duke didn't thin out in the slightest. People like Brad Pitt and George Clooney sat at his table, striking up conversations. The former's film studio needed Warner Brothers for distribution, making it quite necessary to win the support of a board member like Duke; the latter was passionate about politics and hit it off perfectly with Scarlett Johansson, who shared the interest.

Naturally, Duke was the center of attention. Perhaps because The Dark Knight had largely walked away empty-handed tonight, they steered clear of film topics. The main subject was philanthropy; after all, the news of Duke and Scarlett establishing a children's charity foundation had been heavily covered by the media for quite some time.

Furthermore, in Hollywood and the broader entertainment industry, philanthropy was an eternally fashionable topic. It was also one of the best ways to elevate one's prestige.

Anyone with even a slight understanding of this circle knew that Hollywood was nothing more than a "DreamWorks" for celebrity charity.

When the public saw Angelina Jolie visiting ragged refugees in Afghanistan, or George Clooney visiting starving children in Africa, did they ever suspect that these deeply touching humanitarian acts were entirely orchestrated by talent agencies?

In today's Hollywood, celebrity philanthropy was all the rage. It would be simply unthinkable for a Hollywood heavyweight to have never participated in charity work. Even obscure Second-Tier Stars and third-tier actors scrambled to open up this "second front for fame."

Even minor starlets who had just debuted were eager to try, hoping to join the massive army to "Aid Africa" or "Save the Earth."

Talent agencies bundled their stars' acting careers with their charity work before pushing them into the market, forging Hollywood's "new culture."

Look no further than the International Creative Management Company, or ICM, helmed by Nancy Josephson.

Headquartered on Wilshire Street in Beverly Hills, ICM was an eye-catching white building that looked a lot like a law firm.

The company's most famous client was undoubtedly Duke, alongside a multitude of first- and Second-Tier Stars like Charlize Theron, Jennifer Aniston, Anne Hathaway, and Brad Pitt.

How to further advance their clients' careers was undeniably a question every talent management agency had to consider. Philanthropy was an excellent route. The International Creative Management Company had a department dedicated exclusively to this, and they had even established the International Creative Management Company Philanthropic Foundation.

Over the past decade, as Hollywood grew increasingly obsessed with philanthropy and social causes, the influence of this philanthropic foundation had skyrocketed.

The person in charge of the foundation under Nancy Josephson had once worked for a senator from California and was highly adept at fundraising. She was even a frequent guest of the Washington Authorities, regularly meeting and communicating with government officials at the Pentagon and the White House. She traveled all over the world with United Nations officials and NGO leaders to inspect various public welfare projects, then returned to Hollywood to report to the company on what crises had occurred where, where plagues had broken out, and what new aid projects were available...

Acting as a bridge between various charity projects and huge stars who never read books or newspapers and knew nothing about the "outside world"—this was her primary job.

Like a "matchmaker," she first sought to understand each project, then recommended trustworthy organizations to the stars and offered guiding advice.

Just like a film studio greenlighting a movie, this process didn't happen overnight. Long-term collaborative projects mostly required thorough, effective communication.

The secret to the success of this "marriage-style" charity lay in pinpointing the common ground between the star and the philanthropic project. Otherwise, conflicts were inevitable. For example, a star might urgently need charity work to improve their image and status, but if the project was unsuitable and clashed with their background or temperament, forcing the issue would bring quite a few unknown risks to the reputations of both the star and the agency.

Charity was not as simple as walking the red carpet and spouting a few polite pleasantries.

It was inevitable that stars doing charity work would spark criticism for "putting on a show." For instance, last year, the Hilton Hotel heiress Paris Hilton was sentenced to a brief stint in jail for drunk driving. Shortly after her release, she announced that she was visiting Rwanda with a charity organization, accompanied by a massive camera crew because she liked to document everything.

Regarding the purpose of the trip, this wealthy descendant was remarkably blunt: she had too much negative press, and she needed to turn her public image around.

There were certainly people in the industry who genuinely did charity work, but even Duke had to admit that agency-led philanthropy was basically all a performance.

Moreover, these days, an agency's ability to get its clients on the "charity express" held massive appeal.

A while ago, one of CAA's clients defected to ICM for exactly this reason. The biggest bait Nancy Josephson had dangled was the promise of building a tailor-made charitable career for them. The tactic worked perfectly.

Today, various "charitable" endeavors were deeply embedded in Hollywood, and had even crossed borders. All major United Nations agencies had Hollywood "Goodwill Ambassadors." Angelina Jolie was a "Goodwill Ambassador" for the United Nations Refugee Agency, Drew Barrymore was an "Ambassador Against Hunger" for the World Food Programme, and George Clooney was a United Nations "Messenger of Peace"...

These philanthropic identities were immensely helpful to the stars. Even if one of their projects flopped, or if they went years without a standout film, the prestige they farmed through charity was enough to ensure they wouldn't plummet from stardom overnight.

In Duke's eyes, Hollywood stars swarming toward charitable causes was also tied to a profound shift in their "self-awareness."

In the past, being an actor was about reaping worship and adoration.

But now, Hollywood stars were surrounded by agents, PR personnel, and even assistants holding MBAs, making them feel that acting was a childish profession.

After all, in the past, agents used to be high school dropouts just like them.

Therefore, having a career outside of acting allowed Hollywood stars to reclaim, to some extent, the "specialness" and "superiority" they once felt as actors.

Of course, this didn't apply to everyone.