HWI 451

Hollywood What If Chapter 451

Despite having few heavy hitters, the 77th Academy Awards still received a good reception. Every year, millions of people watched this show.

The Academy Awards were about rich celebrities receiving accolades, and for some reason, ordinary people loved watching it. Perhaps they just wanted to see the celebrities they supported win awards.

The ratings of the program, telecast by ABC, averaged 42.14 million viewers. It was 3% lower than the previous year. Well, The Lord of the Rings trilogy had ended last year.

LOTR fans had supported the movie passionately, hoping that The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King would win multiple awards. Their hard work paid off because the film won 11 awards. It took home Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Visual Effects, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Film Editing.

Honestly, it looked like someone from The Lord of the Rings had bribed the Academy to shower the film with awards.

But considering how The Lord of the Rings lost many awards in the past, it was fitting that it won last year… Sort of like the Academy (AMPAS) pity-fucked the movie out of guilt.

The show went on, and more awards were presented and announced. So far, most of the awards were being won by The Aviator and Million Dollar Baby.

"The Best Visual Effects Award goes to..."

Jake Gyllenhaal, the presenter of the Best Visual Effects Award, opened the envelope to announce the winner.

As the award for Best Visual Effects was being revealed, Kazir, who was sitting on the couch next to Scarlett, sat up slightly straighter. He wanted to hear which movie would win the award.

Spider-Man 2 received a nomination for Best Visual Effects, so he became interested. The Best Visual Effects Award was given to films that delivered stunning visuals. Spider-Man 2 was one of the frontrunners of visual effects in the early 2000s and deserved appreciation.

You couldn't deny that Spider-Man 2, a movie released in 2004, had better CGI than most films in the 2020s. The Spider-Man trilogy undoubtedly had better CGI than MCU Phase 4.

So yeah, Kazir had a good idea which movie would win. Spider-Man 2 only had two real competitors in this category: Harry Potter and I, Robot.

"The Best Visual Effects Award goes to... Spider-Man 2!"

Just as he expected, Jake Gyllenhaal announced Spider-Man 2 as the winner of Best Visual Effects.

"Woohoo! Yeah—!"

Kazir celebrated by punching his fist in the air. Winning this relatively small award was still a major victory. Scarlett giggled as she watched him. She thought he resembled a small child sometimes.

Most of the time, Kazir was a serious person, so it was entertaining to see the director act so joyfully.

The people responsible for the film's visual effects stood on stage and thanked the Academy for acknowledging their work.

Kazir was proud of them. They truly deserved to win that award.

The show moved on to the major awards.

Morgan Freeman won Best Supporting Actor for his role in Million Dollar Baby.

Cate Blanchett won Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Aviator.

Then came the announcement for Best Actress. Brianna Evans faced tough competition. She had to compete against Hilary Swank, Kate Winslet, Annette Bening, and Imelda Staunton.

Sean Penn was the presenter of the Best Actress Award.

"Congratulations, Brianna Evans, for winning the Best Actress Award!"

The camera focused on Brianna's expression. From shock to joy to excitement, she glowed as she accepted the award and held the golden statue.

"I want to thank everyone who supports me. Thank you to Director Fremont Smith for creating an amazing musical. Thank you to Ryan Gosling for being such a great partner on set. To my agent, Salvatore, thank you. And to Director Grey, for writing a masterpiece!"

The audience clapped.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!"

If Kazir had been happy earlier and raised his fist, then Scarlett was practically bouncing around the room. She was celebrating joyfully. She was thrilled that Brianna had won the Best Actress Award.

Kazir smiled, finding her absolutely adorable.

When Scarlett came back to her senses, she realized how childish she had just acted. She glanced at Kazir, who was grinning at her.

"...Don't make fun of me."

She was blushing, clearly embarrassed by her excitement.

"Of course I won't. You're adorable."

She pouted and returned to her seat which happened to be Kazir's lap... Then, she kissed him on the lip before turning her attention back to the show.

The award show continued, and the Best Actor Award was about to be announced.

Ryan Gosling's facial expression was being closely monitored by the cameras, waiting to catch his reaction when the winner was announced. Of course, all the nominees were being filmed the same way. They were all under scrutiny.

Charlize Theron, last year's Best Actress for her role in Monster, was the presenter for the Best Actor Award.

"Congratulations, Jamie Foxx!"

Another standing ovation erupted.

The actors who didn't win still clapped respectfully. Ryan Gosling kept his composure despite the disappointment.

There were five nominees, but only one winner. The four actors who didn't win were clearly not happy, even if they smiled.

Ryan Gosling, Don Cheadle, Johnny Depp, and Leonardo DiCaprio, none of them looked genuinely pleased.

And now came the final two major awards: Best Director and Best Picture.

Julia Roberts held the envelope. Inside it was the name of the Best Director winner.

Fremont was nervous, and so was Kazir. As Fremont's mentor, Kazir wanted nothing more than to see him succeed.

Unfortunately, Fremont's competition was tough. He was up against veteran directors like Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood, Taylor Hackford, and Alexander Payne.

Julia Roberts opened the envelope, smiled at the audience, and announced the winner.

"The winner of the Best Director Award is... Fremont Smith!"

The Black director stood up, shook hands with Ryan Gosling, and hugged Brianna before heading to the stage.

"Yes!"

This time, both Kazir and Scarlett cheered together. They both said "Yes!" at the same time.

+++++

The result of the poll was that both Fremont and Brianna would win their respective awards, so here it is. By the way, I'll post a poll tomorrow about a possible new movie franchise for the CCU. I feel like the CCU needs another movie injection or something. You can comment on which action movies you want me to include in the poll.

[Third chapter of the day.]