As the gazes of both sides briefly met, Natalie Portman quickly looked away, her exquisitely made-up face instantly tightening. Over there stood the biggest obstacle to her goal!
Originally, everything had gone smoothly, all unfolding contrary to expectations. She had almost won every Best Actress award in the pre-Oscar award season, with only one exception the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role!
Although she already held the Golden Globe, Natalie Portman clearly understood that the race for the Oscar Best Actress was hard to predict. If it were just Scarlett Johansson, she believed her chances were good. But with the man beside Scarlett Johansson, claiming the odds were fifty-fifty was merely self-comfort…
"Nate, don't worry!"
Her mother reached out and gently patted Natalie Portman's arm in comfort. "Many people, including Martin and me, promised you'd definitely get Best Actress."
"Definitely get it?"
Natalie Portman's eyes lowered and fell on her protruding belly. Perhaps this was her greatest guarantee for winning?
Then she shook her head. If those news hadn't appeared, that would indeed be a guarantee. But since that woman began recklessly exposing things in the media, how much could that guarantee still hold? Even she had lost confidence.
Thinking of this, Natalie Portman couldn't help but turn her head to the other side, where her fiancé was. Seeing that face, a deep resentment involuntarily arose in her heart. If he hadn't hesitated and ended things with his ex earlier, none of these troubles would have followed…
"Are you uncomfortable, darling?" Benjamin Miller asked with concern.
Natalie Portman shook her head. "I'm fine."
After all, she was a rational person and knew it wasn't entirely her fiancé's fault.
Through the layers of crowd blocking her view, Natalie Portman almost instantly spotted that person's figure. His posture was upright, seemingly never bent by pressure; his face was firm, as if fearless of any difficulty; his expression calm, as if even the world collapsing wouldn't change it…
That… was her nightmare! Her inner demon!
Leaning back in her seat, Natalie Portman thought of the grudges between them. The fiery passion in her heart for the Oscar slowly turned cold. Perhaps she had realized that she was only a step away from becoming Best Actress, but that small distance would be very hard to close this year's Oscars.
Across the Pacific on the internet, many Oscar watchers were engaged in heated discussions just before the ceremony. The topic gradually shifted to Best Actress.
"I hope Natalie Portman wins!"
"Me too!"
"Nat will definitely win! She is the perfect embodiment."
"Hollywood has never had a female star as outstanding and unique as Nat."
"Nat is already a winner in life and will be tonight's Oscar winner."
Undoubtedly, despite not having any outstanding works in recent years, Natalie Portman had won the support of a vast number of fans worldwide by carefully crafting her positive image.
As a fan of Duke, Wang Ziming couldn't sit quietly and typed a line:
"I think Scarlett Johansson's chances of winning are greater!"
Immediately countless replies followed:
"Scarlett Johansson is just a big-breasted, dumb blonde. How can she compare to Nat's acting?"
"A vase like Scarlett Johansson getting an Oscar nomination is truly a joke…"
"Scarlett Johansson is just a homewrecker. Becoming Duke's girlfriend was nothing but a way to climb up as a mistress!"
Likewise, Scarlett Johansson also had a large fan base that launched counterattacks. The arguments never ceased until the awards ceremony started.
Such quarrels would never have a conclusion, while inside the Kodak Theatre, the Oscar March had already begun!
At the center of the lavish stage was a huge screen playing a comedic short film that edited the hosts into this year's nominated films.
Unlike before, this year's Oscars had two hosts, James Franco and Anne Hathaway.
The spoof included scenes from Inception, The King's Speech, True Grit, Black Swan, The Social Network, Gravity, and the classic 1985 time-travel movie Back to the Future.
The short film was based on the theme of "dream stealing," where Anne Hathaway and James Franco infiltrated former Oscar host Alec Baldwin's dream to steal hosting tips. The airplane scene from Inception was recreated, with Alec Baldwin himself making a cameo. In an elevator scene, Lawrence Fishburne appeared, saying, "Alec Baldwin wants me to narrate the dream because I have the voice that's insanely cool."
Then the plot reversed: it wasn't Alec Baldwin's dream but James Franco's own dream because Baldwin had "implanted" the idea of hosting the Oscars in his mind.
After the short film ended, Anne Hathaway and James Franco walked on stage. Neither were professional comedians nor had the usual Oscar roasting style; everything proceeded very smoothly and evenly.
Duke watched for a while and confirmed that the ratings for this year's Oscars ceremony were probably not looking good. An excellent host is crucial for boosting the Oscars' ratings.
Anne Hathaway and James Franco's performance could only be described as average, still quite a distance from being truly outstanding.
Since it was an awards ceremony, the theme was naturally the awards.
Tom Hanks, who had seriously gained weight, was the first presenter to take the stage.
The large screen on the stage background displayed classic scenes from Gone with the Wind. Tom Hanks blew a kiss and walked energetically to the front of the stage, slightly turning around to look at the background image of Gone with the Wind, then said, "Gone with the Wind was the first film to sweep Best Picture, Best Cinematography, and Best Art Direction. For a film to become an everlasting classic, it must present its story through visual concepts and design, and be brought to life by the art director and cinematographer..."
He paused slightly, as the stage background lit up a new image, and said, "Other masterpieces that later won these three awards include Ben-Hur, Lawrence of Arabia, Schindler's List, and Titanic. The most recent film to sweep these three awards appeared just a few years ago..."
At that moment, the classic soundtrack Old Friends from The Lord of the Rings trilogy began to play, and the stage background switched to Minas Tirith.
The audience burst into applause throughout, and the camera gave Duke a close-up shot. He smiled slightly and applauded with the others.
Tom Hanks continued, "This is The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King by Duke Rosenberg. Through this epic masterpiece, he showed everyone how much the cinematographer and art director contribute to creating breathtaking classic scenes."
"This year, four films were nominated for more than three awards. Let's get started." Tom Hanks's expression turned serious. "The nominees for Best Art Direction are Robert Stromberg for Alice in Wonderland, Stephanie McMillan for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Eve Stewart for The King's Speech, Jess Gonchor for True Grit, and Hannah Selrina for Gravity."
After reading the nominees, Tom Hanks opened the envelope, "The winner is Hannah Selrina for Gravity!"
Cheers immediately broke out around Duke, and people around congratulated Hannah Selrina. Duke hugged her briefly, but Hannah herself wasn't particularly excited since this wasn't her first Oscar for Best Art Direction.
The crew got off to a good start, which made Duke very happy. What surprised him was that the second award also went to his side.
After Hannah brief acceptance speech, Tom Hanks once again stood center stage, "The nominees for Best Cinematography are Matthew Libatique for Black Swan, John Schwartzman for Gravity, Danny Cohen for The King's Speech..."
Then Tom Hanks announced, "The winner is John Schwartzman for Gravity!"
Again, cheers erupted from the seats of both the Gravity and Inception crews. Duke's team swept the first two awards, but like Hannah, John Schwartzman was not overly excited it wasn't his first win either.
Seeing John Schwartzman walk up to the stage, Duke frowned slightly. Among the technical awards, some carried more weight than others. Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction were undoubtedly two of the most prestigious technical awards, and the Academy had just given both to Gravity all at once.
It was well known within Hollywood circles that Hannah Selrina and John Schwartzman were Duke's most important assistants. With these two already having Oscars, the Academy handing them two more could not help but make Duke think.
This undoubtedly represented two possibilities.
One was that the Academy truly favored Gravity, and that Duke, a non-Academy style director, was actively reaching out, aiming to create a big winner at the ceremony.
The other was the scenario Duke didn't want to see, which was the most common treatment for big box-office films like Inception and Gravity at the Oscars missing out on the heavyweight awards, and instead being given a few consolation technical awards to avoid controversy.
What kind of treatment he was getting, Duke couldn't say for sure. He could only patiently wait and see.
...
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