Tonight's 60th Academy Awards ceremony will begin at 6 p.m. Western time.
Janet rushed over from Malibu before five o'clock and helped Simon get ready in the office of Daenerys Film Headquarters. The two of them got into the extended limousine prepared in advance and rushed to Los Angeles. The Sacred Civic Auditorium in the center.
Due to the writers' strike, many aspects of this awards ceremony have been simplified even though it is the 60th birthday of the Oscars. At around 5:30, Simon and Janet rushed outside the Holy Civic Auditorium. The red carpet in front of them was only a short section of less than 20 meters, leading directly from the road to the entrance of the auditorium.
The limousine stopped at the entrance of the red carpet. As soon as Simon and Janet got off the car, the media reporters and guests on both sides of the red carpet noticed the two people. The intensive flashing lights, accompanied by the shouts from the stands on both sides, would linger on the red carpet. Many guests on the carpet attracted their attention.
Pat Kingsley, who arrived early, also came over at this time and stayed beside Simon to remind him and Janet to stop and take photos with the media.
A moment later, Simon heard some voices coming from the stands on both sides again. He turned around and saw Sandra Bullock, wearing a white off-shoulder evening dress, walking toward Simon and Janet with her skirt in hand.
The media reporters who had already taken enough footage suddenly became commotion again when they saw Sandra appear.
Noticing that Simon only hugged Sandra gently and planned to move forward with Janet, a reporter immediately shouted: "Simon, Sandy, can we take a photo together?"
Before Simon spoke, Sandra had already nodded in agreement, and then looked at Janet, who was holding Simon's arm. Janet smiled and let go of Simon's arm, stepping back to the side, and Sandra immediately hugged her.
With a somewhat stiff smile as he cooperated with the reporters to take photos, Simon slightly twitched the corners of his mouth while changing positions, almost speaking to Sandra in a ventriloquism voice: "Do you really want to see Jenny cook me?"
When Sandra heard this, she leaned closer and even leaned her head on Simon's shoulder. Facing the reporters' obviously more excited shouts, she responded nonchalantly: "Yes."
Simon could only sigh that he was not a kind person.
After finally finishing taking photos, Simon no longer stopped and quickly led the two women across the red carpet and directly into the auditorium. He was somewhat grateful that the red carpet tonight was short enough, otherwise something might have happened.
Although it was the annual box office champion last year, "Run Lola Run" only received a dispensable nomination for best editing. Therefore, only Simon and Sandra were invited from the entire crew, and they will also serve as presenters of the Best Photography Award tonight.
Of course, Oscar's important guests can bring their partners. Simon brought Janet, but Sandra came alone.
Entering the auditorium, Simon once again discovered that the Oscar organizers, who were obviously worried about the chaos in the world, had specially connected the seats of the three of them, with Simon in the middle, Janet and Sandra on the left and right.
There was still some time before the awards ceremony started. Simon spent more than ten minutes in the auditorium chatting with some familiar guests before he still had to return to his seat. Originally wanting to let Janet sit inside, the woman smiled, shook her head, and pushed him into position.
When Simon sat down, Sandra immediately came over as if nothing had happened: "Simon, are you ready to give your acceptance speech?"
Simon was a little confused: "Huh?"
"Nominated for Best Editing?" Sandra reminded him, and patted him lightly on the shoulder: "You are pretending to be stupid on purpose, right?"
Simon really didn't expect this. He shook his head and said: "There is nothing to prepare for this kind of nomination with an almost zero chance of winning."
"Maybe you can win the award," Sandra said, and soon said with a bit of aggrieved tone: ""Lola Run" could have received more nominations, they are all old-fashioned."
Simon smiled and made a silent gesture, winked at everyone around him, and said, "Keep your voice down. If others hear me, I won't be able to get nominated."
"Haha," Sandra smiled nonchalantly, but added: "If you really win the prize, remember to thank me."
"no problem."
Sandra nodded with satisfaction and added: "By the way, what will you do after the award ceremony?"
Simon said: "Go home and go to bed."
"No way? So boring, like an old man," Sandra said. She couldn't help but glance at Janet on the other side and said, "How about we go to Warner's party together?"
"Um?"
"You know, I did Dangerous Liaisons from Warner Bros."
"oh."
Simon nodded, remembering the film based on a French epistolary novel that is also a favorite for next year's Oscar nomination.
Sandra let him read the script some time ago, and Simon remembered that the role she got was supposed to belong to Michelle Pfeiffer, who also received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
After a few casual inquiries, Simon learned that Warner had indeed intended for Michelle Pfeiffer to play that role. However, the matter goes back to the beginning of the year when WMA Vice President Ed Limato took a large number of stars such as Mel Gibson to ICM. Then, WMA easily used resources to snatch this role. Warner compared the popularity of Sandra and Michelle and made a decisive choice.
Of course, as a period literary film with a supporting role, Sandra naturally cannot charge too high a price. This kind of script is just for the sake of gaining qualifications and gaining nominations.
Sandra heard Simon say "Oh" and then stopped responding, and pushed her shoulder against him again: "Are you going?"
Because she only received one nomination, Daenerys Pictures did not prepare a party. Simon did receive invitations to after-parties from Warner, Orion and other companies, but he did not plan to attend. Listening to Sandra's questioning at this time, Simon had no choice but to look at Janet on the other side and repeated Sandra's question: "Are you going?"
"Go ahead," Janet nodded, rolled her eyes at Simon, and looked at Sandra, who had been treating her like nothing just now: "Sandy, haven't you ever thought about finding a boyfriend?"
Sandra said without any secret: "We are working hard."
Janet turned sideways and leaned against Simon, baring her little white teeth and threatening in a low voice: "You will get scratched if you do this."
Sandra shrugged indifferently, moved closer to Simon, and whispered: "In that case, I will have to rely on Simon for the rest of my life."
Janet glanced at the person who was leaning against the back of the chair, pretending that she didn't exist, and said, "I'll scratch his face too, do you still want it?"
Sandra smiled and said: "You cook him and I want it all."
Janet's beautiful eyes narrowed and she teased: "Are you keeping it for the winter?"
Sandra nodded: "Well, remember to add more salt when cooking."
Seeing the two women standing next to him smiling and saying words that sent chills down the spine, Simon raised his hands and made a gesture of surrender, and said, 'begging for mercy': "How about we change the topic, something more positive."
Janet and Sandra rolled their eyes at him at the same time. Just as they were about to continue, the staff began to remind the guests to sit down, and the two women became quiet.
At six o'clock, the award ceremony officially began.
After the opening song and dance and Academy President Robert Wise's 60th anniversary speech, Chevy Chase, the host of this year's ceremony, took the stage.
Chevy Chase is one of the most well-known comedy stars in Hollywood in the 1970s and 1980s. He was born in "Saturday Night Live" and became famous with the 1978 annual box office third place "Animal House".
However, perhaps due to the writers' strike, Chevy Chase's performance on stage seemed lackluster. The five-minute talk show opening was basically just a straightforward introduction to the various nominated films of this year, occasionally mixed with A few bad jokes that are obviously not very funny.
Compared to Chevy Chase's hosting style, which favors cold humor, Simon still prefers Billy Crystal. However, it would still be a few years before Billy Crystal would start hosting the Oscars in living memory.
Although this award ceremony basically had nothing to do with Simon, feeling the fiery atmosphere at the scene and occasionally chatting about interesting things with the two women next to him, Simon did not feel bored.
After more than half an hour, as the best photography award was about to be awarded, Simon and Sandra left their seats and entered the backstage.
Simon did not participate in the rehearsal in advance, but only got a warm-up line. Under the guidance of the staff, Simon and Sandra took the envelopes containing the award results and stood at the exit of the stage to start the backstage.
Looking at the winner of the Best Animated Short Film who was making a speech on the stage, Sandra reached out to hold Simon's arm, raised the envelope in her hand and said: "You should have been included in this nomination. It's really unfair. .”
Simon smiled and said: "Actually, I like this unfair world very much, Sandy. Only people at the bottom of the pyramid will pursue or fantasize about fairness."
"Are you really not angry at all?"
"I find that I rarely feel angry, or many other emotions," Simon shook his head and said, "This may be due to a lack of emotion or something."
Sandra was stunned for a moment and asked: "So, do you love Janet?"
Simon nodded without hesitation: "Love."
"Do you love me?"
"do not love."
"But, I love you."
"Thanks."
"Asshole," Sandra casually pinched Simon's arm and said bitterly, "I won't let you go."
The two whispered, and the winner on the stage finished his speech. After the music, Chevy Chase's voice sounded again: "Hollywood has always been a place full of miracles. In the past year, miracles have happened." The frequency seems to be higher than ever before. Some people personally took on the director, screenwriter, photography, lighting and other tasks to complete a very good movie. Some people shot the first movie and won the annual box office championship. Some people completed the movie. In the blink of an eye, he became the youngest billionaire in the world. The most miraculous thing is that the creators of these miracles are actually the same person. Welcome Simon Westeros and Sandra Bullock."
Amid warm applause, Simon and Sandra walked to the stage together and stood in front of the microphone.
When the applause ended, Simon looked at the dense crowds in the auditorium. After waiting for a moment, he found that Sandra had not started speaking her lines yet, so he quickly raised his hand and patted her back comfortingly.
Feeling Simon's movements, Sandra came back to her senses, stabilized her emotions, and said: "Photographers are always the first people we get to know after joining the crew. For actors, maybe we want them to It’s more beautiful to shoot yourself, but in fact, they can do more. Even if you just run simply and boringly for more than an hour, they can use countless methods to perfectly show your running on the big screen.”
Amidst the chuckles off the stage, Simon continued: "Excellent film works always have an excellent photographer, who have made an indelible contribution to establishing the artistic style of a film. So, this year's Oscar is the best The nominees for Best Photography are:”
"Alan Daviau, Empire of the Sun."
"Vittorio Storaro, The Last Emperor."
"Michael Bauhaus, Broadcast News."
“Philippe Rousselot, The Glory Days.”
“Haskell Wexler, ‘Front of Fury’.”
After introducing the five nominees alternately, Sandra handed the envelope in her hand to Simon. Simon opened the envelope with a smile, took out the result, took a look at it, and announced into the microphone: "The winner is, Vito Leo Storaro, The Last Emperor.”
There is no doubt about the result.
Vittorio Storaro took the stage to a round of applause and received the statuette from Simon. Oscar left a short time for speeches for technical awards. After a simple speech, Simon and Sandra quickly accompanied Vittorio Storaro backstage.
The staff welcomed Vittorio Storaro to install the nameplate and take photos for the statuette, and Simon and Sandra were free.
Because of the small mistake at the beginning, Sandra was still a little nervous. Simon did not rush back to the lobby, but took her to find a sofa in the backstage to sit down. He asked for a bottle of water from the staff, opened it and handed it over. , asked: "How do you feel?"
Sandra took a few sips of water before saying worriedly: "Simon, did I mess up?"
"Of course not, you just reacted a little slower," Simon shook his head with a smile and said, "Besides, no matter what happens if you screw up, as long as you remain a big star, the Oscars will definitely continue to invite you to be the award presenter in the future. "
"I thought it would be a very easy thing. You know, I have acted in stage plays in New York." Sandra recalled the situation just now and said: "However, I have never seen anything appear in front of me all of a sudden. So many people.”
Simon has not paid attention to the number of spectators, but judging from his memory just now, there are at least two thousand people in the entire Sacred Civic Auditorium. Coupled with the fiery atmosphere of the entire award ceremony, Sandra, who is on this stage for the first time, It’s not that strange to feel nervous.
After drinking some water again, Sandra finally relaxed, glanced at the man next to her, and asked, "Aren't you nervous at all?"
Simon wondered: "Why should I be nervous?"
Sandra couldn't help but hit him: "Okay, you are indeed an emotionally deficient guy."
Simon smiled, continued chatting with Sandra for a while, and then said: "Then, if you have no problem, let's go back. If we continue to stay here, Jenny will think that I am having an affair with you."
Sandra was about to nod subconsciously, catching a certain joke word in Simon's words. She rolled her eyes, glanced around, and suddenly leaned over.
Simon felt the woman's cool lips kiss the corner of his mouth, and immediately thought of the last experience, and said quickly: "Don't bite."