The Best Director

“Thank you, Yang, really thank you.” Now every time James Schamus saw Wang Yang, a string of thanks followed. He felt that he didn’t thank him enough on stage earlier. If someone had told him about today three years ago, would he have believed it? Back then, “Brokeback Mountain” couldn’t even secure a $5 million investment, and then Wang Yang and Flame Entertainment came along.

“Young man, you really scared me!” Harrison Ford, with a look of mock horror on his face, opened his arms wide against the backdrop. Three years ago, he presented the Best Director Oscar to Wang Yang. Now, three years later, was he about to receive another one? “Ha ha!” Wang Yang laughed and looked back, “You’ve been scaring me for twenty years.” Flashes burst into life as the reporters wouldn’t miss this funny moment. As Clint Eastwood approached, everyone quickly pulled the elderly gent beside Wang Yang for the San Francisco media to frantically snap the side-by-side image of the two Best Directors, one old, one young.

After taking several commemorative photos with Jessica, Natalie, and others, Wang Yang finally left the backdrop to head to the next stop, the Kiss the Trophy charity event. The Golden Globe trophy had already been cleaned in advance, so Wang Yang could kiss it to his heart’s content, and the reporters even caught photos of him playfully biting the trophy.

“Happy, honored, excited, satisfied… this is an unbelievable moment,” Wang Yang said for what felt like the umpteenth time while expressing his award feelings. The female host Hart immediately asked with a smile, “Why would you make a funny face?” Wang Yang shrugged on the couch, “Do I need an explanation? For my daughter, I can’t use words to tell her how much I love her, and she can’t understand it yet, but as soon as I make a funny face, she’s happy. She has just learned to laugh!” His thoughts clearly brought a radiant smile to his face, “I want to share this joy with her. It’s very important.”

“Wow, that’s touching,” the hostess exclaimed, but Wang Yang shook his head, “No, maybe, I don’t think it’s a big deal. Aside from the stage, it’s just a father telling his daughter ‘I love you, my angel,’ as simple as that. Every normal dad would do the same.” Hart earnestly responded, “But it was really touching at the time. You’re a good father.” Wang Yang thanked her with a smile but didn’t continue the topic. Seeing that time was running short, Hart asked, “How do you feel about three years later? Will you come back again?” At this, Wang Yang laughed, “WOO! That’s a long, long time from now, I don’t know, I hope so, and I’ll try hard.”

As the night’s biggest winner, there was no reason for Flame not to spend lavishly on hosting a grand Flame celebration party, so they spared no expense in inviting stars, celebrities, and media reporters to attend; there were also HBO parties, Warner Brothers parties…

“The Hilton sisters shine together at the HBO party, seductively stealing the spotlight,” “Charlize Theron attends the WB celebration, stunning and graceful,” “Natalie Portman makes an appearance at the party, short hair charmingly cute,” “The pure and sweet actress Amy Rosen shines at the Flame party,” “Sandra Weida attends the celebration in a pink mini dress,” “Mary Kate Olsen shows up at the WB party,” “Wang Yang and his wife arrive fashionably late to the Flame party,” “George Clooney holding his trophy appears at the WB party,” “Anne Hathaway attends the Flame party”…

The Flame party wasn’t graced with the presence of several renowned “Party Queens” like Paris Hilton, Nicky Hilton, Mischa Barton, and others, yet the venue was dazzling with uncountable truly popular stars and superstars from movies, TV, music, and other fields. Everyone mingled, chatting and enjoying fine wines and delicacies, or posing for media and cameras, creating an extraordinarily lively scene. When Wang Yang and Jessica walked into the brilliantly lit party hall, he effortlessly became the center of attention, merely standing there as person after person or couples came up to offer congratulations and to chat.

Not only because he was the boss of Firefly, but also because he was the charming Wang Yang with max charisma.

“You are so funny! I haven’t even heard that much, and I’m already in tears from laughing, haha!” “I think your performance in ‘Firefly’ was absolutely fantastic!” “Yes, I think so too! Magic Yang, are you going to act in any other movies?” … For some reason, Wang Yang found himself gradually surrounded by a crowd of young beauties. He felt as though he were a coach, but the girls seemed to be crowding around a star athlete, the smiling Amy Rosen, the grinning Dakota Johnson… Wang Yang replied with a laugh, “No film offers for now.” The girls burst into laughter, and he couldn’t help but mutter to himself, “Am I really that funny?”

“Hehe!” As she watched him chatting happily with the adolescent girls, Jessica sipped her juice lightly with teasing and affectionate smiles on her face – her YANGELA was so popular! Rachel, who was standing beside her, nudged her elbow and said enviously with a smile, “Yang is very cool.” Jessica nodded and replied with a smile, “Yes, very cool.” She suddenly remembered three years ago when Paris Hilton came running over, blabbering, and then he appeared, “Stay away from my girlfriend, get lost.” He even told Hilton he would beat her up, lacking any gentlemanly demeanor, but it was so handsome.

Jessica asked Rachel, “Did you see Paris Hilton?” Rachel shook her head, puzzled, “No, I don’t know her. What happened?” Jessica’s eyes twirled as she looked at the Best Director trophy in her hand, and smiled smugly, “Nothing… just want to tell her ‘you’re the fool’, and I’m Best Director again! Hahaha, I’m so bad.” Rachel, full of curiosity, urged, “What exactly happened? Tell me?” And Jessica began to whisper the gossip quietly.

“What are the two beautiful ladies talking about?” Just then, Natalie walked over with an empty-handed smile. Jessica and Rachel quickly brought her up to speed with the gossip. Natalie gave an “Oh” of realization, followed by her taking a dive into the crowd, to give Sweetheart a sense of presence, security, and self-identity. She looked at Jessica’s laughing face, wondering to herself, “Whose presence could be stronger than hers?” Jessica then somewhat angrily said, “Yang really should kick Mizrahi’s ass.” Rachel frowned and commented, “Don’t bring up that jerk. Disgusting.” Natalie snorted coldly, “I really want to pull a condom over his head and stuff him into a manhole cover.”

“Oh ha!” All three of them burst into laughter, striving to maintain their composure while greeting people passing by. Natalie looked around, “Where’s Magic Yang?” His presence couldn’t possibly be that unnoticed here! Especially since there are three kinds of dishes here that he likes.

“Yang? Over there.” Jessica and Rachel turned to look, but they did not see his tall figure. Only Rosen and others were still chatting merrily. Where was Magic Yang? “Hey, ladies!” Hearing the familiar voice, Natalie smiled, knowing exactly where to find him.

It wasn’t until the deep of the night that Wang Yang and Jessica left the Hilton Hotel and returned home, ending their long, busy, and joyful day. “Welcome back!!” “Congratulations!” “We are proud of you!” As the couple stepped into the house, the BAM BAM of noise erupted, with colorful confetti flying everywhere. Joshua pulled another tube of fireworks, causing even more paper to fly. Dad Wang, Mom Wang, Mark, Kathy were also there, clapping vigorously, their faces beaming with joyous smiles.

“Wow! Thank you.” Wang Yang spread his arms and embraced his parents. Jessica proudly waved the golden trophy overhead, “Dang dang dang dang! What is this—?!” Joshua exclaimed excitedly, and after Wang Yang hugged the four parents, he hurried over excitedly, “Where’s my precious daughter?”

“I’m going to see Keke too. I’ve been thinking about her all night.” Jessica followed him quickly, as the family naturally understood their emotions. However, a gown is always slower than pants. When Jessica walked into the dimly lit baby room, she saw Wang Yang bending over the crib, quietly watching his daughter. She walked over slowly. He looked up and gestured for silence with a “shush,” as Keke was sleeping sweetly – her little face suddenly breaking into a spontaneous smile.

The two exchanged smiles without saying a word and kissed. After watching Keke for a while, they placed the Best Director trophy on the chair next to the baby crib and walked out quietly.

As the day began to brighten and the sun soared into the sky, rat-tat-tat-tat, rat-tat-tat-tat! Stacks of freshly printed newspapers were placed on shelves, with the entertainment sections and entertainment newspapers all reporting on the Golden Globe Awards.

“Golden Globes conclude, Hoffman, Hoffman, the marvelous Yang!” — The Los Angeles Times; “The greatest director of the 21st century? In the making.” — The New York Times; “Eastwood’s award to Wang is a passing of the legend” — San Francisco Chronicle; “British filmmakers gain prominence, Wang Yang creates another miracle.” — The Times of the United Kingdom; “Young Master Yang seizes the rice, ascends to godhood again!” — Hong Kong’s Apple Daily; “Chinese director Wang Yang wins the Best Director at the Golden Globe Awards.” — China’s People’s Daily…

Overall, this year’s Golden Globe Awards adopted a style that was both open and conservative. The judges did not shy away from sensitivity and controversy, nor did they allow science fiction films to sweep the victories unprecedentedly.

In public opinion polls conducted by various media outlets, audiences were rather satisfied with the list of winners. Compared to three years ago, when more than forty percent opposed Wang Yang winning Best Director, this time in a similar poll by Yahoo Entertainment, those who chose “Satisfied, no issues” reached a high of 76%, fulfilling the public expectation. The most controversial, without a doubt, was Best Picture. The conservative voices calling for a boycott of “Brokeback Mountain” grew louder, and countless movie fans were extremely infuriated and discontent with “Firefly” losing out.

“Unbelievably disappointed! ‘Firefly’ is so much better than ‘Brokeback Mountain’, are all those judges gay? I won’t watch the Golden Globes again next year.” Yahoo user, Lena, seemed nearly driven mad with anger, “Marvellous Yang should have taken Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Song—all of them!” Marissa wasn’t speaking sarcastically, and Lindy said, “If it weren’t for MY, I would never have stayed up all night in front of the TV, His performance did not disappoint me, it was too much fun! But can someone tell me why he only received one award?” Andre said: “Can science fiction never win Best Picture? What a load of crap!!”…

However, amidst a cacophony of opinions, everything settled. This edition of the Golden Globe Awards enjoyed quite favorable ratings. According to Nielsen, on average, 24.7 million viewers watched the award ceremony. Although it did not surpass the 26.8 million from ’04, it was a significant surge of 8 million viewers over the previous year. The highest viewership periods were when Wang Yang presented and received the award, with 28.5 million and 30.16 million viewers tuning in respectively. Media joked, “NBC should think about how to invite Wang Yang to present all 24 awards next year” because without him, the viewership would be grim. As compensation, he was the person with the highest screen time.

Besides the Golden Globe Awards themselves, the “Mizrahi incident” drew the most attention, attempting to touch breasts, asking embarrassing questions, pulling at dresses… He and E! channel both faced severe condemnation and denunciation from the media and the public, and so far neither has issued a statement or response. Several victims also opted not to comment much during interviews, simply stating, “Thank goodness Marvellous Yang was there to help”; while movie fans applauded Wang Yang for teaching Mizrahi a lesson: “Well done!” “Great hero!”

The Television Parental Guidelines, however, believed that as an idol with strong influence over adolescents and children, Wang Yang should have found a better way to handle the situation rather than let fly a punch according to his mood — especially since the situation was far from necessitating physical action. Clearly, Mizrahi posed no significant threat to him, yet he strategically provoked before “retaliating,” leading to a very bad influence, thankfully E! is not a broadcast channel.

“I don’t know what E! is planning for Oscar night, but if they show signs of repeating their behavior from the Golden Globes, we will have a serious talk with them,” said John Pavlik, spokesperson for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which organizes the Oscars. The Academy will not tolerate Mizrahi’s antics on the Oscars red carpet. He continued, “I can say for certain that if those actions occurred on our red carpet, we’d be exceptionally angry! I can’t guarantee what our response would be afterward.”

The 78th Oscars will be held on March 5 this year, while the nomination list will be announced on the morning of January 31. Perhaps by then, the fog surrounding the award season will gradually dissipate.

And coming up on January 19, the annual Sundance Film Festival will kick off. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to go to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets, your support is my greatest motivation.)