Chapter 440: Scarce Resources

Chapter 440: Chapter 440: Scarce Resources

Time flew by, and the gentle warm winter sun of Los Angeles sprinkled down as the day for the announcements of the 77th Academy Awards nominations arrived as scheduled.

For all of Hollywood, this was the most nerve-wracking moment of the industry year. Major production companies and creative teams waited through the night for news, terrified of missing the nomination results, while industry media, film critics, and fans all kept a close eye on the list amidst a bustling uproar.

But for Irene, having already experienced several Oscar races, she had long since shed the tension and anxiety of waiting for her first nomination.

She did not need to get up early at all to wait for the news. In fact, because she went to bed late after a meeting the previous night, she even forgot to go for her morning run the next day.

At ten in the morning, dressed in minimalist loungewear, Irene sat in the transparent dining room of her villa, enjoying an exquisite breakfast accompanied by the warm sun, taking her time, relaxed and leisurely.

Fresh fruits and vegetables, warm toast, and coffee were placed on the table, looking casual and relaxed, completely unaffected by the Oscar nominations.

When the final list settled, "Brokeback Mountain" captured seven heavyweight Oscar nominations in one fell swoop, perfectly replicating the peak glory days of "Million Dollar Baby" back then.

It was shortlisted for seven core awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and Best Adapted Screenplay. With no fringe nominations and an elite lineup across the board, it firmly secured its position as the top Oscar-contending seed of this year’s Academy Awards.

Compared to the awkward predicament of most films in the industry receiving sporadic nominations just to make up the numbers, the gold content of "Brokeback Mountain"’s seven nominations was extremely high.

Covering all dimensions including film quality, directorial skill, actor performances, lens texture, and script polishing, it was the Academy’s highest recognition of the film’s comprehensive strength.

Irene calmly scanned the complete nomination list, overjoyed in the depths of her heart.

Most people assumed the director of this film was Ang Lee, and that the core creative credit belonged to the director and the creative team, while she was merely a titular Producer standing behind the scenes who contributed a decent script.

But insiders who truly paid attention to this film and knew their stuff were well aware that "Brokeback Mountain" was a project pushed forward single-handedly by Irene Coppola.

It was her unique vision that chose Ang Lee to be the director when he had not yet recovered from the blow of Hulk, and it was her Echo Pictures that independently produced the entire film without interference from other capital, resulting in such a perfect work today.

Even though she was now trying her best to downplay her contributions, as long as the film could win the finale award of Best Picture, she, as the titular Producer, would still be able to stand on the highest podium of the Oscars once again, securing yet another top-tier Oscar statuette for the company and thoroughly consolidating her absolute status as Hollywood’s number one Producer.

Prior to this, she had already conducted an in-depth review and precise deconstruction with her agent Shelly of all the opponents in this year’s Oscars, the awards season situation, and the Academy’s aesthetic preferences, making the most comprehensive and accurate judgment on the probability of winning the championship.

The five works shortlisted for Best Picture this year each had their own strengths and vastly different styles: "The Aviator," which led the nomination list with eleven seats; the biographical inspirational masterpiece "Soul Singer"; the niche realistic art film "Sideways"; the heartwarming healing work "Finding Neverland"; and "Brokeback Mountain" with its seven high-energy nominations across the board.

Among them, "The Aviator" directed by Martin was undoubtedly the biggest favourite and strongest competitor, leading the entire field by a landslide with eleven nominations.

Its subject matter focused on the legendary life of Hollywood’s Golden Age, being retro, gorgeous, and grandiose in scale. It extremely suited the aesthetic preferences of senior Academy judges, naturally carried circle goodwill, had extremely strong vote-pulling power, and was universally recognised as the heavy favourite to win.

The remaining films each had their shortcomings: "Soul Singer" focused on a character biography with brilliant actor performances, but the film’s overall scale was rather small and the narrative was single-tracked; "Sideways" was niche, delicate, and realistic in style, yet its audience circle was narrow, lacking universal recognition and grand award bearing; "Finding Neverland" was warm, healing, and aesthetically pleasing, but it was too gentle, lacking the tension and depth to compete for major awards.

Although it seemed surrounded by powerful enemies, "Brokeback Mountain"’s confidence in winning far exceeded everyone’s imagination.

Throughout the awards season pre-battles, "Brokeback Mountain" forged ahead through all obstacles and concluded with a near grand slam, sweeping the Best Picture awards at almost all major award ceremonies globally, including the Golden Globe Awards, BAFTA, and the Independent Spirit Awards.

Its word-of-mouth, professionalism, and humanistic depth crushed its peers across the board, locking down the vast majority of professional ballots well in advance.

In her previous life, the reason "Brokeback Mountain" regretfully missed out on the Oscar for Best Picture was not due to a lack of texture in the film, but rather because it collided that year with "Crash," an opponent with pioneering concepts, attuned to contemporary public opinion, and hailed as a defying dark horse. Coupled with thematic controversy and public pressure, it ultimately lost by a narrow margin.

But in this lifetime, the trajectory of time and space had already been rewritten. Irene had invited Ang Lee in advance to produce "Brokeback Mountain," and now "Crash" had not yet appeared. The only variable capable of suppressing "Brokeback Mountain" was completely cleared to zero.

Looking at all the shortlisted films this year, not a single work could rival "Brokeback Mountain" in humanistic depth, lens texture, narrative scale, and awards season word-of-mouth.

You must know that in order to steadily capture this Best Picture award, Irene had truly been moving step by step with cautious calculation.

She specifically instructed the Echo Pictures team to deliberately downplay her identity as a Producer in all public materials, submission documents, and promotional lists, actively pushing co-Producer Robert Smith’s name to the front and moulding him outwardly as the core production person in charge of the film.

She knew very well the inherent mentality of the Academy judges: they were unwilling to award heavy-weight prizes to the same person consecutively, and they also resented practitioners who achieved fame at a young age and were overly prominent in the spotlight.

She actively hid behind the scenes and lowered her sense of presence, avoiding the judges’ aesthetic fatigue and resistance, and ceding exposure and limelight to others, all to minimise the resistance to winning, pave the way for the film’s award chase, and steadily secure the final grand prize.

After the nomination results landed, Irene officially entered a busy phase of dual-line parallelism.

On one hand, she carved out fixed times to regularly attend various Oscar industry cocktail parties, judge meet-and-greets, and circle lobbying events. She low-key cultivated connections and maintained circle goodwill, quietly stabilising votes and building reputation for "Brokeback Mountain," steadily advancing the layout for the final stage of the Oscar race.

On the other hand, she poured her core energy into the acquisition negotiations of Lucasfilm, steadily pushing forward this top-tier capital transaction that was enough to shake her entire business layout.

Unlike back then when she acquired Future World Pictures, which was small in volume and simple in structure, Lucasfilm was a top-tier media giant that had deeply cultivated Hollywood for decades, with profound heritage and a massive system. Its volume, assets, industrial chain, and IP value were completely on a different tier.

The assets controlled in George Lucas’s hands were every single one of them top-tier scarce resources in the industry.

In addition to the full copyrights of "Star Wars" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark"—two super top-tier IPs that spanned the globe, swept across decades, and endured everlasting vitality

He also held Industrial Light & Magic, the pioneer and industry ceiling of global film visual effects, as well as top-tier sound production teams like Skywalker Sound, a full set of film and television industrial production systems, cutting-edge visual effects technology patents, and mature industrialised production processes.