[Chapter 424: From Today On, Abstain]
Applause!
With a burst of enthusiastic applause, the 54th Golden Globe Awards ceremony successfully concluded.
The English Patient won three awards: Best Drama Film, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actress, making it the biggest winner of this year's Golden Globes.
Dead Man Walking took home Best Actress, awarded to Susan Sarandon.
Kolya received Best Foreign Language Film.
Tom Cruise won Best Actor for Jerry Maguire.
Out of the 12 Golden Globe awards in the film category, films from Guess Pictures snagged six, accounting for 50% of the total.
...
After the ceremony, the media eagerly reported on the awards.
Because Guess Pictures' films won so many awards, some media outlets declared that Hollywood had entered the Guess Pictures era. The Big Seven Studios were not only lagging behind in box office receipts but also unable to compete with Guess Pictures in terms of awards.
Some critics also praised Link for winning Best Director.
Over the past five years, Link had consecutively received the top awards or Best Director accolades at Europe's three major film festivals. Now, having won the Golden Globe for Best Director and Best Film, he was only one Oscar Best Director award shy of achieving a grand slam in the film award scene.
Media and industry insiders speculated whether the Academy would award him the Best Director Oscar this year.
...
Some predicted they would.
In the past three years, Link had been nominated twice for Best Director for Se7en and The Sixth Sense, essentially earning two points.
Moreover, last year's The English Patient was critically acclaimed and outperformed its contemporaries at the box office.
Link was qualified to receive the Best Director Oscar.
...
But some media believed otherwise.
They argued that Link was too young, too wealthy, and had too many scandals, including recent rumors involving Princess Diana. The Academy's voting members were predominantly older white men who held Princess Diana in very high regard -- some admired her, others were infatuated. Now, Princess Diana was living in Link's villa and had publicly expressed her wish to have his children.
These voters' favorability toward Link was less than 10 out of 100.
Besides, Link had a youthful body, inexhaustible wealth, and hundreds of young beautiful girlfriends.
These were things those older white male voters could only long for and never attain.
They found it hard not to envy Link.
Therefore, Link's chance of winning the Oscar for Best Director this year was slim.
...
Additionally, Link's acceptance speech received considerable praise within the film community.
Previously, competition in the film industry often lacked etiquette and disregarded the future of the entire industry, engaging in destructive practices like monopolies, casting couch, box office fraud, and excessive commercialization.
Though such practices might bring short-term profit to studios, they harmed the entire industry and all its workers; such behavior was utterly unacceptable.
Link addressed these issues in his speech, showing he was mindful of the problem and thinking for the whole industry.
This was beyond what any film industry administrator had done before.
Helmut Voss, president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, commented in the Los Angeles Times, praising Link's speech as visionary but expressing hope that Link would take more concrete steps to lead the industry forward and truly become a leader in Hollywood filmmaking.
---
Slurp, slurp.
"Don't be naughty, don't hurt yourself," Link said.
In his office, he put down the newspaper Lewinsky had brought him, exhaled slowly, and wrote a few lines in his notebook.
His speech at the Golden Globes wasn't just empty words or flattery; he genuinely wanted to unite all his peers.
His vision was to manage the film industry as if running a business, applying scientific and rational methods to improve industry standards, increase movie production, and expand market share, making Hollywood's film industry flourish even more.
Only if Hollywood thrived could he make more money, produce more movies, and win more awards. If the industry became niche and films went unseen, profits would shrink and staff numbers would dwindle.
That would be terribly unfavorable for him.
Therefore, having gained some stature in the industry, he started using his influence to correct problems within the film business and promote orderly, stable, and healthy growth.
Looking ahead 30 years, Link saw that the greatest threat to the industry's health was Marvel-style commercial movies.
Though lucrative for investors, these movies seriously harmed the industry.
The Ten Sins of Marvel-Style Commercial Films:
1. Overly Simple and Brainless Plots
2. Strong Protagonist Halo
3. Homogeneous Content, Lack of Innovation
4. Poor Acting Skills of Actors
5. Heavy Reliance on Special Effects
6. Aesthetic Fatigue
7. Endless Sequels and Franchising
8. Squeezing Out Other Film Genres
9. Formulaic Humor and Tone
10. Consumer-Driven Storytelling
To address this, Link had long planned to acquire Marvel Entertainment along with all its superhero characters.
Henceforth, Marvel characters would only appear in Guess Pictures' films, with just one or two releases annually, strictly controlling quantity and quality.
Under Guess Pictures' supervision, it would be tough for such movies to overwhelm the market.
He also planned to tightly control other famous franchises, including Pirates of the Caribbean, Fast and Furious, Harry Potter, Twilight, and more, securing their copyright to further curb the proliferation of commercial films.
With these preparations, he believed the global film market would become more prosperous and diverse over the next four or five decades, and Guess Pictures would rake in more dollars.
...
"Alright, Monica, you don't need to do that anymore," Link said, putting down his pen and leaning back.
Lewinsky stood up, wiping her face.
"Link, didn't I do well?"
"You did great, just don't take too long. You could get hurt."
Link ruffled her thick hair and handed her a bottle of water.
"It's fine, I just want you to be comfortable."
Lewinsky blushed, her eyes softening seductively.
"I know, you're the best girl. Good girls deserve candy."
Link patted her lower back. Lewinsky smiled coyly and obediently leaned over the desk to organize some files; the black knee-length skirt outlined her generous curves.
Under the 82°F Los Angeles sun, the office temperature rose, and the atmosphere became heated and passionate.
After over half an hour, Lewinsky left, visibly flushed. Link continued to review his documents.
...
Ring, ring!
The phone on the desk rang. Link answered; it was Clinton congratulating him on becoming the youngest Golden Globe Best Director and inviting him to the upcoming inauguration ceremony.
Last November, Bill had won reelection, and next week in Washington the ceremony would happen. Clinton invited Link to attend.
Link gladly accepted.
During the campaign, he had just donated some money and coordinated with CAA, UTA, and WMA to support Bill; otherwise, he had done little.
Yet Bill personally called to invite him, a favor that had to be reciprocated.
...
[T/N: Gong Li called and arrived with Joey Wong to discuss The Sino-Dutch War 1661's premiere which was going to be held in China for their new year.
Joey Wong opened a high-end therapy spa on Hollywood Boulevard on Link's advice. The spa also offered beauty treatments, offering acupuncture, massage, and skincare products. She offered to massage Link and he accepted.
Over an hour later, Gong Li and Joey supported each other out the door.]
...
Link looked back at the towering stack of files on his desk and sighed deeply.
'If things keep up like this, I won't finish my work before February,' he thought. So from today on, he would abstain from sex.
*****
https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.