Chapter 133: Golden Globe Awards Venue

Chapter 133: Chapter 133: Golden Globe Awards Venue

"Ella Walker refused on the grounds that she already has actors with similar acting paths under her management who are developing better, and she doesn’t want internal competition." Shelly Ovitz shrugged.

Irene: "..."

What a terrible excuse. It seems Reese must have reached out to her.

"Then where is Rachel signed now?" Irene asked curiously.

Shelly Ovitz: "I introduced her to an acquaintance at the WMA William Morris Agency."

Irene was surprised. "I didn’t expect you to have acquaintances at WMA. I thought talent agencies were at daggers drawn with each other."

Shelly calmly picked up the red wine glass on the table and took a sip. "The taste is not bad, but not as good as the one from your home. The relationship between agents is not as tense as you think. People at talent agencies jumping ship doesn’t only happen among the artists you sign."

"If you like red wine so much, after the ceremony ends, I’ll have someone send you a case when I get back."

Francis Coppola’s film career is basically abandoned now, but his red wine business is booming, so apart from videotapes, his house is filled with red wine.

The lights at the awards ceremony gradually dimmed, with only the spotlight in the center of the stage shining brightly.

The host did some warm-up, and then the presentation of film category awards began.

The first award presented was Best Foreign Language Film, with nominations including: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Amores Perros, One Hundred Steps, Malèna, and Captain Corelli’s Mandolin.

According to Irene’s memory, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon should be the winner of Best Foreign Language Film.

Sure enough, 3 minutes later, Ang Lee stood in the center of the stage, and nothing unexpected happened.

Later, when the host announced the nominations for "Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy," Irene subconsciously looked at Reese not far away. Her hands were clasped on her lap, her smile was still radiant, but there was an undisguisable nervousness hidden in her eyes.

"The winner of this year’s Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy is — Juliette Binoche, Chocolat!"

The spotlight instantly turned towards Juliette, and the whole venue erupted in warm applause.

Irene saw the smile on Reese’s face stiffen for a moment, then it quickly returned to normal. She clapped hard, but the expression seemed somewhat perfunctory.

Immediately after, the Best Supporting Actress was announced. When Rachel McAdams’s name was called, she sat up straight, a glimmer of hope igniting in her eyes.

But when the host finally read out "Kate Hudson, Almost Famous," it completely extinguished that expectation.

Rachel’s emotional control was clearly not as good as Reese Witherspoon’s. The corners of her mouth sank quickly, and after clapping perfunctorily a few times, she silently placed her hands back on her lap, her fingertips turning slightly white.

But they were not the only ones disappointed at the scene. Irene’s mood also gradually sank.

Two of the four performance award nominations had been announced, and Mean Girls had missed out on both.

When the award for "Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy" went to Almost Famous, she had almost concluded that this Golden Globe Awards trip would end empty-handed.

Forget it, she comforted herself in her heart. Being able to get four nominations was already an unexpected joy. She was still young, and compared to other nominated works, Mean Girls was not that "perfect" to begin with, so not winning was normal.

Afterwards, her thoughts drifted away involuntarily. Shelly had said before that if there could be one or two awards to back them up, it would be helpful for the subsequent negotiations with Disney, but now that they were destined to return empty-handed, she had to think of other ways to gain their recognition.

Perhaps she could take the initiative to help design a Disney theme park, or if all else failed, sell herself and make two movies for Disney?

She was so deep in thought that even the host’s speech on stage became background noise, and her fingers tapped lightly on her legs.

Shelly beside her seemed to say something, but she didn’t hear it clearly and just gave a vague "Hmm."

Until there was a sudden burst of applause, and a hand suddenly wrapped around her shoulder, with force that carried irrepressible excitement. Shelly stood up abruptly and hugged her tightly. "Irene! It’s you! You won!"

Irene was completely stunned, looking up at the stage blankly. The spotlight was shining directly on her. Leonardo DiCaprio didn’t know when he had stood on the stage holding an envelope, repeating with a beaming smile:

"The winner of this year’s Golden Globe Awards for Best Screenplay – Motion Picture is — Irene Coppola, Mean Girls!"

The applause at the venue rang out again, and the people around her cast friendly smiles.

Reese and Rachel looked at her at the same time, their eyes full of surprise, then they also stood up and applauded.

Irene stood frozen, her mind blank, until Shelly pushed her back and urged in a low voice, "Go up! It’s time to accept the award!"

She then woke up as if from a dream, adjusted her red Valentino satin gown, took a deep breath, and walked towards the stage step by step.

Her high heels clicked crisply on the carpet, interweaving with the applause and cheers in her ears.

Walking to the center of the stage, she took the trophy. The cold metal touch made her regain her senses instantly. An indescribable emotion surged in her heart: surprise, relief, and a trace of disbelief.

After Leonardo gave her a hug, she took the trophy. It was quite heavy. What if someone got too excited and dropped it?

Throwing these messy thoughts out of her mind, she cleared her throat at the microphone, her voice carrying a trace of imperceptible confusion.

"Thank you to the Golden Globe Awards judges for the recognition. To be honest, I really didn’t expect to win this award. After all, whether it’s Stephen Gaghan, Cameron Crowe, Steve Kloves, or Kenneth Lonergan, they are all seniors who have been working hard in Hollywood for a long time. Perhaps the judges felt that I was the only woman and wanted to encourage me, so they awarded it to me."

Laughter came from the audience, and she smiled as well, continuing: "Mean Girls is a movie about growth and sincerity. Thanks to Reese, Rachel, and all the actors for their wonderful performances, thanks to Shelly for the consistent support, and even more thanks to my family. They are always my most solid backing."

She paused, her gaze sweeping over the area where the executives from Fox and Disney were sitting, her tone becoming firm.

"This award is not just an honor, but also a responsibility. It makes me believe that sincere stories always have the power to touch people’s hearts. In the future, I will carry this recognition and continue to polish better works."

After speaking, she raised the trophy, bowed deeply to the audience, and walked off the stage amidst the applause.

When she returned to her seat, Shelly was still muttering excitedly,

"Too unexpected! Best Screenplay! You actually defeated Stephen Gaghan and won Best Screenplay. You know he was a super favorite! This is one of the awards with the highest gold content! Fox must be extremely happy. Our hopes for the upcoming negotiations are even greater now!"