Chapter 580： congratulations from old cowboy

On February 16th, the 75th Oscar nominations were announced, and the newly formed new media giant, New Universal Group, once again shined in the entire film and television entertainment industry!

Best Supporting Actress nominees: Kathryn Zeta-Jones for "Chicago," Kathy Berci for "About Schmidt," Meryl Streep for "Adapted Screenplay," Quinn for "Chicago" Latifah, Julian Moore of The Hours.

Of the five nominations, New Universal has the third!

Best Actress nominees: Nicole Kidman for "The Hours," Rachel Weisz for "Chicago," Julian Moore for "Far From Heaven," Salma Hay for "Frida" Yerk, Diane Lane in "Infidelity."

Of the five nominations, New Universal holds the second!

Best Director nominees: Roman Polanski for The Pianist, Martin Scorsese for The New York Times, Rob Marshall for Chicago, Pedro Almodóvar for Tell Her, "The Moment" Stephen Dedley.

New Universal holds four of the five nominations!

Best Picture nominations: "Chicago," "New York City," "The Moment," "The Pianist," "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers."

New Universal holds four of the five nominations!

In addition, for the best actor nomination, New Universal has the second place; Best Supporting Actor nomination, New Universal has the second; Best Adapted Screenplay, New Universal has the third; Best Cinematography, New Universal has the third; Best Costume Design, New Universal won the fourth place; Best Film Editing, New Universal won the fourth...  

Viewing the entire list of nominations, New Universal has almost monopolized the Oscars with the four films of "Chicago", "New York City", "Every Moment" and "The Pianist"!

Plus "Spider-Man 2," "Pirates: The Curse of the Black Pearl," and two films from Universal.

This year's Oscars, New Universal won a total of 45 nominations!

Among them, "Chicago" won 13 nominations, "The New York Times" won 10 nominations, "Every Moment" won 9 nominations, and "The Pianist" won 7 nominations!

Although the 45 nominations are from different studios, including Rose Pictures, Dunn Pictures, Focus Pictures, Marvel Pictures and Universal Pictures.

But everyone understands that behind these film companies, there is a group company, that is New Universal!

This kind of situation where the Oscars are almost monopolized by a company is not unprecedented in history, but it was in the golden age of Hollywood, decades ago.

Back then, in Hollywood, MGM dominated half of the country, and in every Oscar, almost half of the nominations would go to MGM.

But times have changed, and MGM has long lost its style.

Could it be that……

Is New Universal's influence in the film industry comparable to that of MGM?

As soon as the Oscar nominations were announced, there was an immediate uproar in the industry.

Newspapers and magazines including The Movie Review, The Hollywood Reporter, The Complete Movie, Entertainment Weekly, The Village Voice, The Audiovisual Club, The New Yorker and others have written articles to analyze the shocking result. .

Even comprehensive publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington/Washington Post, and The Times highlighted this extraordinary event.

It can also be seen from this incident that the influence of the Golden Globe Awards is still slightly smaller.

A month ago, New Universal's films were invincible at the Golden Globe Awards, and did not cause such a big shock.

But the announcement of an Oscar nomination list immediately ignited the powder keg.

Oscar and New Universal have become the hottest topic of the moment!

Many Hollywood industry insiders can only accept it if they don't recognize it, and if they don't accept it, they can only accept it through gritted teeth.

Dunn Walker, a young man, has been in the industry for just a few years. Not only has he been resolute and crushed in the box office market, but he has also reached out to the awards season.

The afterlife is terrifying!

Episodic horror!

The mighty MGM at that time has already flowed into the auction market, waiting for acquisition.

But things change.

Today's New Universal, the power and limelight, is no less than the MGM of the year!

With the announcement of the nomination list, Dunn's congratulatory calls never stopped.

Some unfamiliar or less experienced filmmakers congratulated Dunn one after another by emails and text messages; those filmmakers with qualifications and prestige in the industry called directly.

"Clint, congratulations, I've had too many calls, you know, I don't care about the courtesy."

Dunn received a call from director Clint Eastwood. He was no longer perfunctory like a few calls just now, but started a conversation on purpose.

Eastwood is 73 years old this year. He is still strong, energetic, vigorous, and active in the front line. He shoots one movie every year. The efficiency is higher than Spielberg, and it ranks first in Hollywood!

Tang En also knows that the old man is 90 years old, still insisting on making movies, still getting divorced, dating, and falling in love. He is a pure old cowboy.

"Dawn, you rejected my "Mystic River"."

Father Eastwood's voice was slightly hoarse, but hearty.

Dunn said angrily: "Mystic River? Clint, are you kidding me? Nat is the Oscar queen, she can't play a supporting actress in a movie!"

Last year, when the filming of "Mystic River" started, Eastwood invited Natalie to play a role, but Dunn refused directly.

On the one hand, her studies are very tight, and on the other hand, there is really little room for this role.

"Mystic River" was originally a film dominated by men, and there was no room for female characters to play.

Eastwood laughed: "Just kidding, 'Mystic River' is okay, but I said when 'Space Cowboy' came out that I would do a film with Natalie Portman, I think... ... the next film, there is a possibility of cooperation."

"Oh? Finished the post-production of Mystic River?"

"Not yet, but there are plans for the next film."

"So fast?"

Dunn was startled.

This old man is indeed a famous fast shooter!

Making a movie is like assembly line production.

"Mystic River" has just started the post-production, and the next movie has already been planned.

An average of one movie a year, behind the amazing efficiency, it really is the project preparations that follow one after another.

Eastwood laughed: "In fact, the next project has been negotiated with Warner, and they will definitely invest."

When Tang En heard this, he pouted and said helplessly: "Clint, you know what I mean, I hope New Universal will have a chance to cooperate with you, even if it's a movie!"

"What about the budget?" Eastwood asked.

Dunn said sincerely: "You are a film predecessor, a film master, do you need to have a budget limit for the film you make? Just like the cooperation with director Martin Scorsese, I will not set any obstacles for him. Don't forget, Clint, I'm essentially a director and an artist too!"

Eastwood pondered slightly, "Next movie... I also agreed, the partner and DreamWorks."

"what?"

Dunn's eyes widened, and he was speechless in shock.

This old cowboy, the process on the notepad is too advanced, right?

Are the shooting plans for the next two movies ready?

Eastwood said: "In 2000, there was a war novel, you must know, called "The Banner of the Fathers: Heroes of the Battle of Iwo Jima." After the novel was released, many people snapped up the film rights, and eventually It was taken by me and Steven. After consultation, it was decided that the film adaptation of this novel would be produced by him and directed by me, and completed together.”

Dunn's face is not very good-looking.

The right to adapt this book, the copyright department of Dunn Pictures, also tracked the quotation, and it was jointly won by two master directors, Spielberg and Eastwood.

Dunn Pictures failed to have a chance to reach out.

Three years later, is this project coming back?

Dunn asked: "This kind of war blockbuster has a high investment risk, especially "Black Hawk Down" and "Wind Whisperer" have suffered massive box office failures.

Eastwood said: "Yes, I have discussed with Steven, if this movie invests, our plan is that DreamWorks will co-investWarner Bros. will invest. If you have investment intentions , you can contact DreamWorks. The copyright of the novel is in the hands of Steven and I."

Tang En said decisively: "No problem, DreamWorks is a partner of Universal Pictures. As I said, as long as it is your film, no matter how big the risk and the big investment, I am willing!"

In the past few years, all the movies produced by DreamWorks have been distributed by Universal Pictures.

But since three years ago, DreamWorks has established its own North American distribution division.

Since then, the movies produced by DreamWorks have been distributed by DreamWorks in North America, but the overseas market is still under the responsibility of Universal Pictures.

Spielberg and Universal have been friends for decades.

His success in Hollywood was the opportunity provided by Universal Pictures, which allowed him to take on projects like Jaws at the age of 27.

Therefore, as long as Eastwood is finished, the film "The Banner of the Fathers" will definitely be settled in New Universal.

but……

Dunn suddenly thought of something, and said, "Clint, what type of director is your subordinate?"

Eastwood said: "It's a film about sports and boxing. The investment should not exceed 20 million US dollars at a small cost."

After a pause, he asked strangely: "Don, don't you regret it? Don't look at this as a small cost, but this is a female-oriented film, which will definitely give your little girlfriend a full Performance space!"

Dunn's face was a little weird.

Of course he is not worried about Natalie, because the other party's film must be the famous "Million Dollar Baby"!

As Eastwood said, the heroine of the film is very challenging and has room to play.

What he is worried about is "The Departed"!

(Sanqi Chinese)