Chapter 494 Oscar for Best Director
"Link, something happened."
In mid-February, while shooting on the Fordham University set in New York City, Link received a call from Sean Tang.
Sean's tone was urgent, and Aishwarya immediately handed it to him after receiving the call.
"What's up?"
"Just received news that Harvey Weinstein committed suicide in Los Angeles jail last night."
"Suicide? Are you sure?"
"Not sure yet, this is the news I received."
"Contact Bob Weinstein and seek professional forensic identification. This matter should not be that simple."
Harvey originally agreed to attend tomorrow's court hearing and submit evidence and testimony to prove that Jeffrey Epstein was also involved in the terrorist attack against Link.
At this time, Harvey committed suicide in prison.
This happened so suddenly, there must be something behind it.
This incident also reminded him of the ending of Jeffrey Epstein, who was later imprisoned for the Lolita Island incident and committed suicide while awaiting trial in a Manhattan prison.
There are many similarities between the two.
But did Harvey commit suicide?
If it wasn't suicide, who was the murderer?
What is the murderer's purpose?
etc!
These matters still need to be investigated.
After Link received the call from Sean Tang, he received another call from Joseph Schmidt, the head of Blackwater's intelligence department.
Joseph also learned about this through the company's channels and told him that Epstein had visited Harvey in prison in the past few days and the two sides had a dispute.
Afterwards, Harvey had a new cellmate, and it was suspected that Harvey's death was related to his cellmate.
Blackwater Intelligence is investigating the relationship between the inmate and Epstein. As long as they can find evidence of their connection, there will be a chance to convict Epstein.
Link told them to rest assured in their investigation and that he would provide them with certain support in terms of funding, legal affairs and connections.
——
Shortly after Link received the news, the media also received the news and reported the matter through various channels.
Some media believe that Harvey committed suicide.
After going to prison, Harvey's reputation and career were ruined. Perhaps out of shame, he ended everything by committing suicide.
Some media believe it was homicide.
Bob Weinstein said in an interview that his brother Harvey would never commit suicide, and that someone was worried that the truth would be exposed, so they killed him to silence him. He said he would continue to investigate and make sure the murderer was punished.
According to information provided by the police, Harvey behaved calmly in prison and showed no signs or reasons for committing suicide, so the probability of his death being murdered was extremely high.
There are several suspects.
Including Link.
Some media reported that Link sent a killer to kill Harvey in prison out of revenge.
However, this view was refuted shortly after it appeared.
Harvey has gone bankrupt and is in jail, and is about to be convicted and receive the punishment he deserves.
Link is a man of status, there is no need for him to risk doing such dirty things.
The second suspect is Jeffrey Epstein. There are reports that he and Harvey conspired to hire someone to assassinate Link. Now that Harvey has been arrested, the next step will be to testify against him.
It was at this sensitive time that Harvey died of suspected suicide.
According to the principle that the biggest beneficiary is the most suspicious, Jeffrey Epstein is the most suspicious.
Other suspects include Michael Ovitz, Barry Diller and others.
There are rumors that they were also involved in the assassination attempt on Link.
Killing Harvey and making him unable to speak is the safest thing for them.
After these doubtful voices emerged, Epstein, Ovitz, Barry Diller and others made clarifications, expressed regret for Harvey's death, and claimed that they were good friends of Harvey and would never do such a thing.
Epstein also publicly supported Harvey's family in finding out the truth, and if it was not suicide, make the murderer pay the price.
After Harvey's death, many filmmakers who had worked with him publicly expressed their regret.
Harvey has been in Hollywood for nearly three decades, with both good and bad reviews.
He did many bad things during his lifetime, including defrauding movie copyrights, bullying actresses, hiring killers to kill people, etc.
He did good things too.
This includes the successful release of many independent films, which were initially unknown and only screened in a small circle. Later, Harvey saw that the films were good, bought the film rights at a low price, re-edited and released them. The films sold well, and the film industry flourished.
He also discovered many outstanding independent film directors, including Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh, Giuseppe Tornatore, etc., and after cooperating with Miramax Films, his reputation in the film industry emerged.
In an interview with the media, Quentin Tarantino expressed regret over Harvey's death, praising Harvey as an excellent filmmaker and his death was a great loss to world cinema.
Directors Soderbergh and Woody Allen, actors Jack Nicholson and Michael Douglas and others also expressed their condolences publicly.
Harvey probably never imagined that his already terrible reputation would become less bad because of his early death.
After Harvey's death, the FBI said it had set up a special task force to go to Los Angeles to investigate the truth of the matter and give an explanation to the deceased's family and the public.
——
Link didn't ask much about what happened next, he continued filming with the New York crew.
In March, on the eve of the 71st Academy Awards, Link paused his work and returned to Los Angeles to attend the Academy Awards ceremony.
This year's Academy Awards were held at the Dorothy Tent Theatre in Hollywood.
Guess what - MGM Studios has 12 films shortlisted, including "American Beauty", "As Good as It Gets", "The Last Thing", "The Last Chance", "Family Love", "Kill Bill", "Tomorrow Never Dies", "Rush Hour 2", "There's Something About Mary", etc.
It received a total of 48 nominations, which is more than the nominations received by the six major film studios combined.
"Guess What Movies is too scary. They not only monopolize the box office market, but now they are also trying to monopolize the Academy Awards. If things continue like this, Hollywood will probably become a small kingdom of Guess What Movies in the future."
Fox Film President Barry Diller lamented during the Oscars telecast.
"What can we do? The films produced by Guess What Pictures are of very high quality. Many of them have been very successful in both word-of-mouth and box office after they were released. We can't learn from them even if we want to, let alone compete with them."
Langmeyer spread his hands, looking helpless.
"Don't be so pessimistic."
Ovitz smoked a cigarette, watched TV and said with a smile, "Link took an open and inclusive attitude in film investment, and cooperated with other film companies with a positive attitude, such as Columbia Pictures and New Line Cinema. They have cooperated for more than seven years. Later, Disney and Warner Bros. Pictures also had many cooperations with Guess What? Pictures and achieved good results. Other film companies can follow suit."
"But if we do this, we can only make money behind Link and will never be able to surpass Link and guess what - MGM Pictures. Are you willing to accept this?"
Barry Diller asked excitedly.
"When facing a strong person, you must learn to obey. If you are not willing to do so, Universal Pictures and Fox Pictures may fire you."
Ovitz reminded calmly.
Barry Diller remained silent. The contract they signed with the company was only five years, and if they didn't do a good job, the board would end its cooperation with them.
By then, let alone surpassing Link, after they leave Hollywood, they won’t even be qualified to catch up with Link.
Langmeyer sighed and smoked silently.
"Link has been nominated for Best Director again. Do you think the Academy will give him the award this time?"
At the award ceremony, Quentin asked, stroking his chin.
"Of course. American Beauty is so high-quality that no other movie released last year could compare to it. The Best Director Award will only go to him."
Director Steven Soderbergh said.
"Not necessarily. Link is only 27 years old this year. In the history of the Oscars, no one has ever won the Best Director Award before the age of 30. Besides, he has a lot of negative news. Sometimes he was assassinated, sometimes he got a new girlfriend, and sometimes his girlfriend gave birth to a child. The Academy appreciates professional directors more than directors like him who like to mess around."
Quentin said.
"That would be Link. Link shoots three movies every year, including commercial movies and high-quality art films. In the film industry, no one is more professional and hardworking than him, and no one is better at making movies than him. So no matter what, this award belongs to Link."
Rodriguez said.
"Hmph! Then we'll just wait and see. If you lose, you get some ice cream."
"Eat ice cream? You don't even want to spend the money for a bottle of beer?"
Director Rodriguez was surprised at his stinginess.
"My money has a purpose and cannot be wasted."
Quentin said without blushing.
Rodriguez was too lazy to waste words with him and looked up at the podium. Last year's Best Director winner, James Cameron, walked out from behind the scenes with an envelope in his hand. He talked about how he felt about winning the award last year, which caused a burst of laughter.
After the interlude, he opened the envelope, took a look, and shrugged.
"The winner of the Best Director Award at the 71st Academy Awards is Lin Ke for American Beauty. Congratulations to Director Lin Ke."
The audience was silent for two seconds, and then erupted into thunderous applause and cheers.
Almost all the guests at the scene stood up and applauded, looking forward or back at Link, who was wearing a dark suit, had a tall figure and an extraordinary aura.
Many people shouted "Link is awesome" and "Link, congratulations" and so on, and the atmosphere was very lively.
"Haha, I guessed right, Link is awesome."
Robert Rodriguez yelled.
"It was such a surprise. When I saw Director Cameron shrug his shoulders, I thought Link wasn't going to win the award, but I didn't expect he still got it."
Quentin stood up and clapped his hands lazily.
"Haha, I told you Link would definitely win the prize, you shouldn't doubt it."
"Okay, I owe each of you an ice cream cone."
Amid the cheers of thousands of people at the scene, Link waved and walked up to the podium.
"James, your posture just now scared me."
"Haha, you said shrug, I meant it was expected, no surprise at all."
"Well, it's an honor to receive this trophy from you."
“It’s my honor too.”
Link shook hands with James Cameron, took the golden statue and stood in front of the microphone.
There was another burst of prolonged applause at the scene.
Link pressed his hands down several times, and the applause gradually died down.
Link smiled softly, "It's a nice day today."
Hahaha~
Although this sentence is very plain, it seems very humorous since he said it, and many people at the scene laughed.
"When I left home in the afternoon to attend the award ceremony, Monica told me to remember to prepare my acceptance speech in advance, as I had a great chance of winning. She pointed to the Los Angeles Times and told me that this is what was written in the newspaper."
Link shrugged.
Hahaha~
The audience laughed.
"I said no, I wrote my acceptance speech when I first picked up a camera in 1992 when I stepped into this magical land of Hollywood. Every time I attend the Academy Awards, I will put the card with my acceptance speech in my pocket to prevent the Academy from suddenly giving me the award.
Unfortunately not.
In the past seven years, I've attended five Academy Awards ceremonies and missed the Best Director award four times.
I took out the acceptance speech in my pocket four times, and finally had to put it back to applaud other winners. Now this acceptance speech has absorbed too much sweat and turned into a ball of paper sauce. "
Link spread out his palm, and sure enough, there was an unknown object in his palm.
The audience laughed, many people applauded and cheered, and many people who had the same experience as him laughed to tears.
"The acceptance speech I wrote seven years ago is no longer applicable today, but there is one sentence I always remember: when we are mediocre, honor will not favor us. When we are good enough, the goddess in the temple of heaven will bend down and kiss our foreheads. So come on, everyone. Every dog has his day!"
Link waved and left the stage.
Thousands of audience members stood up and clapped loudly.
The huge sound wave almost blew off the dome of the Dorothy Tent Theater.
"Link, what you said is very good, why can't I feel it?"
Ben Affleck pouted and clapped.
"What's important is not his speech, but his behavior. Link was just an ordinary person at first, with a lower starting point than us, but he didn't give up. He continued to work hard and persevered. After more than seven years of hard work, he finally stepped onto the Oscar podium and won the highest honor of Best Director.
Link's actions tell everyone that we should not care about our background or complain about bad luck. As long as we persevere, we can achieve the success we have longed for. Link's example is so inspiring that he should be rated as the world's greatest inspirational idol, on par with Lincoln, Washington, Martin Luther King and others. "
Matt Damon clapped his hands excitedly.
Joaquin Phoenix, Edward Norton, Ryan Phillippe, Mark Wahlberg and others nodded in agreement.
"Isn't your interpretation too much? Link is not an ordinary person, and he never has been. How can an ordinary person have a continuous hit movie from the first one? How can anyone become a billionaire by investing the box office share?
No one can do it.
Because Link is not an ordinary person, he is a genius, a super genius, and a super lucky man. His template for success cannot be copied.
You'd better wake up and not be misled by Link's story."
Ben Affleck said.
"Don't worry, we know who to learn from better than you do."
Matt Damon and the others looked at Link with admiration.
Ben Affleck slapped his forehead, knowing that his words were in vain.
"My dear, you said it very well."
After Link stepped down from the stage, his girlfriends came up to him and gave him hugs and kisses.
The filmmakers around him also congratulated him in person, saying that he won the award and that he deserved it, and they also praised his acceptance speech as very touching.
Link smiled and thanked him. His acceptance speech was a product of his impromptu speech.
With his current status, he doesn't need to be like an ordinary actor who, after winning the Oscar, carefully gives an acceptance speech to thank the Oscar, the producer, and everyone in the crew, trying not to offend anyone.
Accept this award as if it were a reward.
He can improvise, say whatever comes to mind, and not thank anyone.
When other people heard this, they not only did not think he was arrogant, but instead felt that it was reasonable.
Bang bang bang!
The applause and cheers lasted for more than four minutes until the host Whoopi Goldberg came on stage to intervene and the applause slowly died down.
Other awards continue to be given out.
(End of this chapter)
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