Chapter 310: Gossip Forum

Chapter 310: Chapter 310: Gossip Forum

The lights at the Kodak Theatre suddenly dimmed, leaving only the spotlight in the center of the stage shining as bright as day. The host, Steve Martin, dressed in a black suit, walked onto the stage with brisk steps. A few humorous opening remarks instantly dispelled the solemnity brought by the shadow of war, and the 75th Oscars officially kicked off.

The first award to be presented was Best Art Direction. Clips of the nominated films flashed quickly across the large screen, from the gorgeous song and dance scenes of Chicago to the retro street sets of Gangs of New York. Every one of them had a great visual impact.

Irene watched intently, occasionally exchanging a few low-voiced words with Hilary beside her, while Nicolas Cage leaned in and whispered a complaint, "Look at the sets in Gangs of New York. The details are really good. Although the buildings and street scenes are all temporary constructions, the sense of history in them is still very realistic. It probably cost a lot of money."

"Art direction is about aesthetic presentation, not about who spends more money," Irene rolled her eyes at him but still couldn’t help nodding. "But this sense of reality indeed helps a lot in shaping the film."

As the awards were presented one by one, technical awards were revealed in turn, with Best Cinematography, Best Sound, and Best Makeup being awarded to their respective winners.

Whenever a winner went on stage to give an acceptance speech, Irene would clap politely, while Nicolas took advantage of the gaps to continuously feed her gossip: "Look at that Best Makeup winner. They had a falling out with a certain director last year, but who would have thought they’d win this year?" "I heard that the team for Chicago pulled a lot of strings with the judges in private to campaign for awards." The two sat with their heads close together, enjoying themselves immensely, completely ignoring the cameras that occasionally swept over from both sides of the stage.

The performances interspersed throughout were spectacular. The reenactment of scenes from the musical Chicago brought thunderous applause, and the performances by talented singers also drew rounds of cheers.

But this didn’t affect Irene and Nicolas’s "gossip symposium" in the slightest. Nicolas even pulled out his phone and secretly showed her photos he had saved of Hollywood stars at private parties, whispering, "Look at Leonardo DiCaprio and Gisele Bündchen. Something seems off lately. I heard from a friend that they’ve been fighting a lot recently. As expected, that playboy Leonardo won’t settle down easily. It’ll be a bit difficult for Gisele to tie him down. He was overshadowed by Daniel in Gangs of New York to a point that was painful to watch, so he didn’t even show up to the Oscars this year."

Irene leaned over to take a look. She had just seen Leo gossiping about the Cruise couple on Facebook earlier, and she hadn’t expected to hear gossip about him so soon.

She was just about to comment when she heard the host, Steve Martin, joking on stage, "I say, Irene and Nicolas, you two have been chatting since the opening. What secret topic are you discussing? Could you share it with everyone?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the eyes of the entire audience instantly focused on the first row. A camera was aimed directly at the two of them, and a staff member quickly stepped forward and handed the microphone to Irene.

Nicolas immediately shut his mouth and began winking and making faces at the camera, while Irene composedly took the microphone with a mischievous smile on her face.

She cleared her throat and said slowly into the microphone, "Actually, it’s no earth-shattering secret. It’s just that after watching so many excellent movies, I couldn’t help but want to share some knowledge with Nicolas on ’how to pick a reliable script’."

A wave of light laughter immediately erupted from the audience. Steve Martin raised an eyebrow and pressed further, "Just that? I don’t believe it. Your chat was much more exciting than the awards."

Irene changed her tone, her voice carrying a hint of a joke, "How about this: the organizers keep this microphone with me and give me a fixed camera. I can provide full live commentary for this year’s Oscars, like whose dress is the most beautiful, whose speech is the most sentimental, and whose facial expression management failed the most. I guarantee it will be more exciting than the awards themselves, and more importantly, I won’t even charge for it."

With a "Boom," the entire venue erupted into thunderous laughter. Even Steve Martin laughed so hard he couldn’t straighten up, saying into the microphone, "That’s a fantastic suggestion! I think for the next Oscars, we can directly invite you to be a special guest commentator. The ratings would definitely double."

Irene smiled and handed the microphone back to the staff member, winking playfully at the camera. Beside her, Nicolas slapped his thigh and laughed, "Not bad, Irene. With this improvisation, it’s a pity you’re not a stand-up comedian."

"It’s better than some people who only know how to gossip," Irene retorted, though she secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Being suddenly called out just now had caught her a bit off guard. Fortunately, she reacted quickly, using a joke to defuse the awkwardness and even enlivening the atmosphere.

After that bit of teasing, the atmosphere in the venue became even more relaxed.

During the subsequent award presentations and performances, Irene and Nicolas toned it down a bit, but they would still occasionally whisper a few words when the camera wasn’t paying attention.

And although the broadcast director didn’t give Irene a fixed camera, the frequency of sweeping over her was still much higher than before.

After a while, Irene started talking to Nicolas about the script concept for Transformers and asked him if he was interested in a cameo as a voice actor for a robot. As expected, Nicolas was quite interested. He thought he was suitable for the voice of Megatron and pestered Irene, wanting to see the script first.

As time passed, the ceremony gradually reached its climax, and important awards like Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress were revealed one after another.

The host, Steve Martin, announced loudly, "Next, we will reveal the winner for Best Supporting Actor!"

The spotlight shifted to the presenter. Jennifer Connelly, whom Irene had met once before, walked onto the stage. After saying a few brief words, she opened the envelope and read out without hesitation, "Morgan Freeman, Million Dollar Baby."

The entire creative team of Million Dollar Baby immediately stood up, their faces full of excitement and joy.

Irene also stood up, her gaze fixed on Morgan Freeman not far away. The Black actor, dressed in a dark suit with a tall and upright posture, was being surrounded by people as he walked toward the stage.

To be honest, Irene hadn’t chosen him to play Eddie out of personal preference back then. She valued his steady acting skills and reputation in the industry more. Choosing him was almost a "safe, standard answer." Looking at it now, that choice was indeed correct.

Morgan Freeman walked onto the stage and took the Oscar statuette, his mellow voice echoing through the venue via the microphone.

He sincerely thanked the crew and the director. When he mentioned Irene, his tone was full of praise: "I want to thank Irene, this young yet extremely talented director. She gave me enough creative space to let the character of Eddie be vividly presented."

Irene stood by her seat, smiling and clapping. Until Morgan Freeman walked off the stage, she took the initiative to go up and gave him a polite and sincere hug: "Congratulations, it’s well-deserved."

Morgan Freeman patted her back, his eyes showing recognition: "This is also thanks to your hard work, Irene."

This was the first award won by Million Dollar Baby tonight. The morale of the creative team was instantly ignited, and even the air seemed to hold a bit more jubilation.