Chapter 791: Completely Lacking Highlights

"And the award for Best Original Screenplay goes to..."

On stage, Robert Downey Jr. opened the envelope and read a result that didn't surprise Duke in the slightest: "The King's Speech, David Seidler!"

This was practically a bellwether for Best Picture. Coupled with its earlier win for Best Film Editing, The King's Speech had all but secured the Golden Statuette for Best Picture.

Barring any accidents, The King's Speech was highly likely to win.

Previously considered its main rival, The Social Network had only picked up a single Golden Statuette for Best Adapted Screenplay by this point in the ceremony.

The big winner of the Golden Globe Awards seemed destined to be the loser at the Oscars.

Across the technical categories, Gravity emerged as the biggest winner. Following its initial wins for Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction, it went on to collect four more Golden Statuettes for Best Original Score, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Sound Editing.

By the time the awards ceremony reached its midpoint, Duke's team had already harvested six Oscar Golden Statuettes.

However, the crucial Best Screenplay and Best Film Editing awards had fallen into the hands of others.

The ceremony continued. Perhaps because the recent hype over the leaked information had been too fierce, the Academy made a special point of addressing it.

Cheryl Boone Isaacs, the rotating chair of the Academy, took the stage. Using the big screen, she gave a brief explanation of the Oscar voting process. In recent years, claims that the Oscars had devolved into a game of money and public relations had grown louder, and the Academy seemed to want to clear its name through this presentation.

Interspersed within the presentation were comments from various judges, including George Clooney, John Travolta, and Michael Bay. Going by their words alone, the Oscars were an absolutely fair, open, and just set of awards.

Unfortunately, insiders knew that beneath the glamorous surface of the Oscars lay a swirling hub of sex, money, and connections. Outstanding works and roles were nothing more than the most basic prerequisites for entry.

Will Smith, one of the interviewees in the video, even put on a comedic display: he covered his eyes and threw a pen at a list full of nominees...

He perfectly illustrated the widely known method of voting blindly.

"A secretary prints out the final tally, seals the envelopes, and then gets dragged out and shot. We take the envelopes, and the results are kept absolutely confidential."

Amidst a wave of laughter, this segment came to a close, and the awards ceremony got back on track.

The next few awards presented were in categories like Best Original Song, which had little to do with Duke. Neither of his two most recent films, Inception and Gravity, used a singer for a theme song.

This year's Oscars had made some changes, but the Academy remained fundamentally conservative. For instance, they had recently rejected the creation of a Best Stunt Coordinator award for the twentieth time.

Although the Academy's executive committee always paid lip service to appreciating the contributions stunt coordinators made to film, they were unwilling to make any actual changes. Even when the stunt coordinators compromised, offering to accept the award before the televised broadcast of the ceremony, the committee still firmly refused to establish the category.

Stunt coordinators held a vital position in film, making unique contributions to the production process.

On the sets of a genre director like Duke, stuntmen were always a critical presence.

They were specifically responsible for designing a wide variety of complex and dangerous action sequences in film and television works—including car chases, fights, explosions, underwater operations, high-altitude dives, and more—which were then executed by stunt performers or professionals.

Up to this point in the ceremony, the stage wasn't exactly lively, and the audience's reaction was somewhat tepid. If it weren't for the camera lenses trained on them, many people probably would have been yawning.

As time passed, the judges who had still been relatively young in the 1990s grew old. This directly resulted in the 83-year-old Oscars appearing more aged with each passing year. Perhaps the Academy had realized its own problem and specifically brought in the young duo of James Franco and Anne Hathaway to address it, but even they couldn't salvage this inevitably dull ceremony.

When it was first announced that the young actors James Franco and Anne Hathaway would host the Oscars this year, many moviegoers believed the pair would undoubtedly bring plenty of highlights to the stodgy ceremony. Unfortunately, their hosting was completely lacking in highlights and failed utterly to reverse the dull trend of the gala.

Perhaps the jokes written by the planning team fell flat, but the duo's on-stage performance was poor. Anne Hathaway tried her best to be lively, even playing Wolverine on stage, frequently changing dresses, and telling jokes, but to little effect. James Franco was even worse, standing on stage like a block of wood and reacting coldly to all of Anne Hathaway's banter.

This year also canceled the segment invented for the past few ceremonies where five previous acting award winners would each introduce one of the five nominees.

This segment had been hugely popular in preceding years, but because it was too massive an undertaking and wasted time, they simply reverted this year to having the previous year's winner read out the five nominees. Furthermore, the Academy seemed intent on controlling the overall runtime of the ceremony. Whenever a winner's acceptance speech exceeded the allotted time, they were constantly reminded and rushed from offstage. The result of this rushed pacing was that many of this year's winners didn't even get to finish their speeches.

"The Oscar awards ceremony is going downhill year by year. The elderly judges aren't even willing to rack their brains for a better concept. They're probably all just thinking about handing out the awards so they can hurry home to sleep."

Hearing Scarlett Johansson's bored complaint, Duke felt she had a point.

If the Academy and the Oscars didn't actively reform to save themselves, it wouldn't be long before they slipped out of the top five, or even the top ten, in North American ratings.

How embarrassing of a result would that be for Hollywood?

After years of evolution and rehearsal, the Oscars had essentially achieved a surface level of clinking glasses and extravagant luxury. Every star appeared to love peace and all of humanity, endlessly thanking the judges and their parents.

Beneath the highly formulaic spectacle, the rules and the unspoken rules had reached a certain level of harmony, leaving insiders with nothing to complain about. Even if a massive box office hit failed to win, the art film that did take the prize was absolutely respectable, and vice versa.

But the audience didn't want to see this. What they needed more were the thrills of novelty and surprise. They needed the films and actors they personally endorsed to win.

However, the Oscars would not change based on audience preferences. Ultimately, it wasn't the "Teen Choice Awards" or the "People's Choice Awards".

Therefore, Leonardo DiCaprio had to play the also-ran once again.

"And Best Actor tonight goes to..."

On the stage, Sandra Bullock tore open the envelope and took just one look. "Colin Firth, The King's Speech. Congratulations!"

Just as it had gone throughout the entire awards season, Leonardo DiCaprio lost to Colin Firth. Leonardo DiCaprio had once again lost to Colin Firth...

Duke specifically turned to look at Leonardo. Leonardo's expression was calm, showing nothing unusual, as if he had already grown accustomed to going home empty-handed.

On the internet across the Pacific Ocean, a chorus of voices cried out in injustice for Leonardo.

"Xiao Li's performance in Inception was so outstanding! Why couldn't he win?"

"This is unfair. The Oscar judging isn't fair at all!"

"Popular people and films losing to people and films nobody cares about—does that make any sense?"

Reading these online comments, Wang Ziming could only sigh. There truly was no fairness to be found at the Oscars.

He thought it over and left his own opinion online.

"What truly defeated Leonardo DiCaprio wasn't Colin Firth or The King's Speech itself. In mainstream American values, aging conservatism and the Puritan spirit have always prevailed. Therefore, Colin Firth's role and The King's Speech were based on constructing the image of a classical, relatable, clumsy, yet brave leader, using a petty-bourgeois sense of intoxication to move the Oscar judges, whose average age is over 50. By contrast, although Duke and Xiao Li were both born and bred in America, their stories and characters have clearly drifted far from the contexts and realities acceptable to the old guard of the Film Academy."

"Duke won't go home completely empty-handed, will he?"

The online discussion quickly pivoted to a topic they were even more concerned about.

"What award is being presented next?"

"Best Actress!"

Inside the Kodak Theater, the tall and robust Jeff Bridges stepped onto the stage. The winner of Best Actor at the previous Oscars stopped dead center.

"Tonight, it's my honor to bring you the nominees for Best Actress." He looked out at the audience below the stage. "Annette Bening. The characters you've crafted throughout your outstanding acting career are full of power and vividly lifelike. They never cease to amaze, and your role in The Kids Are All Right is no exception."

"Nicole Kidman. Year after year, you consistently deliver brilliant performances. Your characters are real and flawlessly portrayed, and your performance in Rabbit Hole has been hailed as a personal best."

"Jennifer Lawrence. The depth of character you show on screen far exceeds your age. Speaking for everyone, I am greatly looking forward to your future achievements in acting. Your breakthrough performance in Winter's Bone makes us anticipate them all the more."

"Natalie Portman. Through the many roles you've played, you have conquered fans of all ages. No matter what character you take on, your passion for the acting profession is unmistakable. In this year's Black Swan, your portrayal of Nina is the finest testament to that."

"Scarlett Johansson. Your hallmarks are authenticity, bravery, and natural grace. Regardless of the role, you use your calm and expansive state of mind to resonate with the audience. This year, you have once again won the audience's approval with your phenomenal performance in Gravity..."