The Best Director

Chapter 445: Chapter 445: Fly!

“Penelope Cruz introduced ‘The Squid and the Whale’ as a nominee for Best Picture – Musical or Comedy,” “And here comes Best Foreign Language Film! Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker make their entrance, and it might be disappointing for the audience in China—’Paradise Now’ from Palestine has won the award.”…

The 63rd Golden Globe Awards ceremony is more than halfway through, moving towards the film categories that draw more attention. Live TV and online broadcasts are going on around the world, and as Parker said, “For the global audience of the Golden Globes, this is one of the most important awards.” However, it’s disappointing for Chinese viewers, as despite having two out of the five nominations, they still missed out, and most are feeling sorry for ‘Kung Fu Hustle’; as for ‘The Promise,’ no one can understand how it got nominated in the first place?

In fact, this includes North American critics, considering it has current Rotten Tomatoes scores of 40%/33% and an audience score of 41%, while ‘Paradise Now’ is at 89%, ‘Kung Fu Hustle’ 90%, ‘Joyeux Noël’ 76%, and ‘Tsotsi’ 82%; “stupid,” “ridiculous,” “incoherent plot,” and similar comments are all over the place, ‘The Promise’ is just a bad movie. Now that it’s out of the running, many people laughed slyly, it seems that the judges do have a sense of proportion and haven’t made a bigger mockery.

“How many awards did Amazing Yang win?” Saixiao2001 asked in the Golden Globe Awards forum. Liling’er↗ replied, “None so far, ‘Brokeback Mountain’ 1, Firefly 3.” Although there’s a bunch of “looking for video live stream links” posts, Saixiao2001 just wouldn’t check the live text broadcast for details and asked again, “Did he say anything when he went up there?” Xiayudongxue, annoyed, replied: “Can’t you just go and look on sites like Sina, Sohu, Tencent, NetEase?”

“Breaking News: ‘Brokeback Mountain’ wins Best Screenplay” — Sina Entertainment; “Detailed Report: Larry and Diana deliver acceptance speeches, praising Ang Lee and Wang Yang” — Tencent Entertainment…

It’s a sunny morning here on Earth, but it’s a deepening evening there. The ballroom of the Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles is still bustling, the legendary 62-year-old French actress Catherine Deneuve, once dubbed “Europe’s most beautiful woman,” took the stage to introduce ‘A History of Violence,’ as Julian McMahon and Rosario Dawson teamed up to announce the Best Original Score!

“Nominated are Alexandre Desplat, ‘Serenna’; James Newton Howard, ‘King Kong’,” the voiceover announced as the big screen at the venue played clips from the nominated films, accompanied by their representative musical themes, “Jan Kaczmarek, Hans Jimo, ‘Firefly’;” the stirring score from the battlefields of New Shanxi suddenly rose, a wonderful blend of oriental flute, high-pitched vocals, percussion, symphony, and electronic music, igniting the enthusiasm of the entire audience, and thunderous applause burst forth: “Whoosh—”

“Gustavo Santaolalla, ‘Brokeback Mountain’;” the melancholic guitar melody echoed through the ballroom, calming the crowd; “John Williams ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’.”

“And the winner is…” McMahon called out, Dawson opened the envelope, and all eyes in the venue and the audience were on them. There was hardly any suspense for this award, regardless of public outcry, media predictions, and award season scoring rankings, ‘Firefly’ was expected to win. It was considered the consolation prize that ‘Firefly,’ with its six nominations, should at least win if the two top awards were missed.

The two “sure-win nominees,” Kaczmarek and Jimo, were smiling in their black tuxes with bow ties as they listened to Rosario announce, “Jan Kaczmarek, Hans Jimo, ‘Firefly’!”

The stern and intense melody resounded once again! For a moment, the entire banquet hall was filled with an exhilarating battle spirit, which was instantly swallowed by overwhelming applause and cheers. Jan Kiefer Sutherland’s second Golden Globe for Best Original Score (2/4), and Hans Jimo’s third (3/7)! Both master composers winning was expected by all, and even competitors like Alexandre Desplat and Gustavo Santaolalla had no complaints. Losing to them and to a soundtrack like “Firefly”, which was both thrilling and heart-penetrating, was certainly not shameful or unfair.

“YEAH!”, “Fantastic!”, “It’s about time!”… Fans of the space cowboys had finally waited for this moment. Many clenched their fists with excitement and waved them in the air. Fly, Serenity!

“Thank you, thank you!” Amidst the praise and congratulations from all around, both Jan Kiefer Sutherland and Hans Jimo were naturally elated. The glory of the moment was the best recognition and reward for their past efforts! After embracing with the beaming Wang Yang and Joss Whedon, the two rose to accept their awards on stage. After thanking the association, fire, their fellow musicians, and their friends and families respectively, it was Kiefer Sutherland who spoke last, “We especially want to thank one person who has been of great help to us in scoring the music, Wang Yang.”

The live camera swiftly turned to Wang Yang in the audience once more, and a wave of applause erupted from the hall, full of fans and admirers of the magician Yang. He flashed a toothy smile, as Jan Kiefer Sutherland spoke warmly, “It’s hard to express how wonderful it is to work with him. His intuition and understanding of music are sometimes astonishing. His explanations and suggestions have sparked our inspiration, and his patience and encouragement… Now, we have this moving effect, we must thank him.” Hans raised his award and leaned into the microphone, “Thanks, Yang, thank you!”

“Hurrah—”, amidst the enthusiastic applause of the audience, the two masters headed towards the backstage passage. Natalie, clapping her hands, turned to Wang Yang and remembered his wail-like singing. She couldn’t help feeling impressed, “It’s hard to believe you have such an amazing musical sense.” She shrugged, “It actually has nothing to do with singing itself.” Everyone in the crew knew Wang Yang sang by shouting. Initially, Joss Whedon had a headache from his spur-of-the-moment suggestion, “Why don’t I sing the theme song?” though thankfully, the impulse quickly passed.

“You just don’t appreciate it, many people have praised my singing. You know Simon Cowell? He said I was good, GOOD!” Wang Yang gave himself a thumbs up. Jessica pouted slightly, acting as if “I know nothing at all”, while Natalie continued to ask, “In which aspects?” Wang Yang hesitated, and Jessica continued clapping for the next presenter to come on stage, answering for him, “In movies, and lyrics.”

But it seemed the judges had a better option. The Best Original Song award, presented by Mariah Carey, went to “A Love That Will Never Grow Old” from “Brokeback Mountain”. Gustavo Santaolalla (composer), Bernie Taupin (lyricist), and Emmylou Harris (performer) won. On stage, the awardees Santaolalla and Taupin also specially thanked Ang Lee for his help, giving the Chinese director another chance to appear on screen.

Although “Firefly” suffered its third defeat, the warm and lively Wang Yang household was still filled with laughter and cheers. With Wang Yang’s family rooting for him, spirits were high. Joshua then suggested, “It’s almost time to feed Keke. Why don’t we bring her out to watch the last part of the awards? Maybe Yang will get the Best Director!” Everyone unanimously agreed with this suggestion and Danny, who was lying on the floor, looked up as Joshua stood up and walked towards the baby’s room.

“His achievements are astounding, he left us with countless memorable moments and perfect performances…” A pregnant Gwyneth Paltrow stepped onto the stage to present the Lifetime Achievement Award, which this year went to the 68-year-old film master Anthony Hopkins. The screen showed clips from his compelling performances in movies like “The Lion in Winter”, “Magic Affinity”, “Silence of the Lambs”, and last year’s “The Evidence”. He had acted in 100 movies.

Tim McGraw took the stage to introduce the heavy favorite musical/comedy “Walk the Line”, and then John Travolta came up to present the Best Actor in a Musical/Comedy. He said, “Those nominated include Pierce Brosnan in ‘The Matador’; Johnny Depp in ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’;” The applause grew louder, and the hitherto expressionless Depp finally smiled at the camera, his lips pursed and teeth still hidden; “Joseph Gordon Levitt, ‘500 Days of Summer’;” The applause continued as Joseph, appearing on screen, smiled with his eyebrows inverted.

“Nathan Lane, ‘The Producers’; Cillian Murphy, ‘Breakfast on Pluto’; Joaquin Phoenix, ‘Walk the Line.'” Instantly, roaring applause was accompanied by screams, “Joaquin, the younger brother of River Phoenix,” was tonight’s shoo-in favorite for the award, but at the moment, his face was expressionless.

“And the Golden Globe goes to…” John Travolta opened the envelope and glanced inside before looking at the audience with a smile, “Joseph Gordon Levitt, ‘500 Days of Summer.'”

What!? Upon hearing “Joseph,” Joseph was stunned, completely unexpected! He had won Best Actor!? “Wow!!” Wang Yang’s eyes bulged as he abruptly stood up to applaud, surprised! “Whoa!!” Jessica, Natalie, and others also burst into laughter as they got up; meanwhile, Rachel excitedly raised her hands clapping; the entire venue erupted into a frenzy of congratulations: “Whoo—”

“YES! YES! YES!” Countless Yang fans were exuberant, an unexpected windfall! “Tom” won the award! This was another upset tonight, but who dares to say Gordon Levitt didn’t deserve this award? On the contrary, he had ample reason to win, with his explosive, lifelike performance, and ‘500 Days of Summer’ being hailed as “the best romantic comedy of the past two decades.” Coupled with a robust promotional campaign, the Best Actress and Best Film in the musical/comedy category couldn’t compete with the biographical film ‘Walk the Line,’ and the judges’ affection for it was momentarily concentrated on the leading man.

The atmosphere in the banquet hall was boiling, Joseph and Wang Yang hugged each other excitedly, barely touching the ground, this duo, with a combined age of just 49, created glory together! Who would now say “Magical Yang doesn’t understand how to make a romance film”? The cheers around them were growing louder, and Joseph’s laughing face looked almost tearful, he hugged Natalie again and then quickly walked towards the podium. The live broadcast camera panned over the other nominees who were out of the running; Brosnan smiled, Depp was expressionless, Lane smiled, Joaquin was expressionless, but all four were applauding.

“WOO—” Zacary Levi, Harry George, and others in front of the TV were very happy; little Keke also understood what this meant, her young face full of sweet smiles; Nancy was shouting loudly, amazing!!! All the crew members who had worked on ‘500 Days of Summer’ were overwhelmed, their hearts beating with anticipation, waiting for Gordon Levitt’s “thanks to everyone in the production team.”

“Thank you.” Joseph took the shiny Golden Globe trophy from Footloose, gripped it tightly, and lifted it, looking even cooler than Captains Han Solo, Mal, and Top-Captain! Joseph really felt an urge to sing aloud and dance to his heart’s content, his step was light as he approached the microphone, looked at everyone seated below, tried to speak but laughed instead: “Wow, oh my god, wow… I can’t believe I’ve won the award, wow… my mind is completely blank, thank you, I completely… I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do.”

A wave of supportive applause came from below, and Joseph breathed out softly: “Yes, thanks? Right!” The audience immediately laughed, and the laughter actually helped Joseph to regain his composure, he laughed and said: “Thank you to the association, thank you to my family, my parents, and my brother Daniel, thank you to my friends…”

“Oh! This man, Magical Yang, half of this award belongs to Magical Yang.” Joseph suddenly relaxed his brows and looked seriously towards a table on the side; Wang Yang’s smiling face appeared on the big screen behind him, and his thanks calmed the suddenly loud cheers: “Your directorial talent is incredible, you kept telling me the right things, as if kicking my butt forward, I learned a lot.” The light laughter of the audience did not interrupt Joseph’s heartfelt words: “It feels so good, you’re not just a director, you’re like my brother, my friend… I’m really very, very grateful to you.”

Wang Yang smiled and applauded, his heart touched, and he felt like shouting: “Please, Joseph! Don’t think you can get away with this. If you had just dug a little deeper into the breakup emotions, you would have been the favorite already!” Natalie, Jessica, Rachel, Ledger, Downey, and other collaborators all agreed, he held a unique charm on set.

“And to the entire team at Flame Film, thank you Natalie for being such a wonderful screen partner, your performance was stellar, and I didn’t dare let my guard down. Also to Zachary and Keke—collaborating with so many talented actors is just unbelievable…” Joseph wanted to say more, but the staff signaled that his time was up, so he laughed a few times before he was forced to end with, “This award means so much to me, all thanks to your support. Thank you!!”

Joseph raised the trophy, his eyebrows arching with his smile as applause erupted throughout the hall: “Whoo-whoo—” The acceptance speech of an unexpected winner tends to be disorganized but somehow more touching.

The great news of “Tom” being crowned Best Actor in a Musical/Comedy quickly spread across the globe. Fans and enthusiasts from different countries congratulated him online. Joseph Gordon Levitt, at 24 years and 11 months old and with 13 years in the business, shone once again, having been a dazzling child star. This was also the third Best Actor born from a collaboration with Wang Yang, following the footsteps of Will Smith (Oscar) and Robert Downey Jr. (Golden Globe).

The award ceremony continued, and after Mandy Moore’s introduction of “500 Days of Summer,” amidst continuous thunderous applause, Renée Zellweger came on stage to present the Best Picture in Musical/Comedy. Indeed, the producer Cathy Konrad of “Walk the Line” excitedly accepted the trophy. Despite the highest fresh rating of 92% on Rotten Tomatoes and rave reviews, “500 Days” still missed out. The four leads of “Will and Grace” then took the stage together to announce the last television category of the night: Best Drama Series, which was won by ABC’s new show “Lost.”

This year ABC is naturally the big winner with a huge haul, sweeping the two major television series categories with “Desperate Housewives” and “Lost.” The live broadcast network NBC could only sigh in resignation, thankful that shows like “Prison Break” and “The Big Bang Theory” had solid ratings.

Now, only four ultimate movie awards remained a mystery, suggesting that the real show was just beginning. The audience, aware that time was ticking, picked up their remotes to switch to NBC. Just in time, they saw Dennis Quaid come out to introduce “Brokeback Mountain.” He said with a smile, “Hello, everyone. The last film we’re introducing tonight tells the story of two young cowboys who meet one summer in 1963, and then develop an unexpected and lifelong bond. It proves the power and endurance of love.”

“This is a controversial film, of course, with not much said about the girl’s story,” Dennis Quaid, gesturing toward the “Brokeback Mountain” team’s table, continued, “The cast includes Jake Gyllenhaal, the nominated Heath, Michelle Williams, all of whom made this film incredibly moving and memorable. Director Ang Lee added a touch of mystery to a story full of contradictions. Let’s take a look at ‘Brokeback Mountain’.”

With the melancholic strumming of a guitar, the audience watched as the big screen on stage showed Jack and Ennis herding cattle on horseback amid stunning scenery, followed by clips of their individual weddings. As the segment came to an end and applause filled the hall, there wasn’t a single moment that could be complained about.

“Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the star of the upcoming film ‘Flags of Our Fathers’ and the most outstanding director, Clint Eastwood!”

“Whoo-whoo—” The banquet hall immediately boiled over with excitement again. The 75-year-old Eastwood stepped out from the right side of the stage with an envelope in hand, embodying the rugged spirit of an old cowboy. The camera swept over the smiling faces of people like Spielberg and Wang Yang, then Eastwood approached the microphone and said, “Thank you, thank you.” He waited for everyone to settle before continuing, “I can only congratulate all the nominees and wish them good luck. Now, here is the situation with the Best Director nominations…”(To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to qidian.com to vote, cast monthly votes; your support is my greatest motivation.)