Chapter 174 Unsurprisingly

"Transformers has a very rich, long history, which became a source of motivation for us to make this movie. There's no doubt that each of us harbored an identical idea and were fascinated by the mythology that underpins the story. One of the most difficult things to overcome in the human vision of robots is the fact that the audience watches the movie with no idea what this particular story is really about... So, my partners and I worked as fast as we could to define the basic framework of the movie: to make a work that highlights humanity. Whether it's us, or fans in general, everyone has high expectations for this movie, so we wanted to find the best director and actors."

"In order to highlight the theme of humanity, the whole movie is not only a big war between the Autobots and the Decepticons, but humanity is also involved in this war. The leading man in the movie becomes especially crucial. We needed a leading man with box office appeal and the kind of young actor who is a fan favorite. I can't think of a second person in Hollywood who is better suited for this important role than you."

"I know you're an actor who is very careful in picking roles, and I have a strong feeling that we should be in the same category!" The time for the awards ceremony was almost up, and the guests waiting on the periphery of the venue had already begun to enter, and Spielberg had to end the conversation with a sense of entitlement.

Spielberg has an unrivaled seriousness about the subject of Transformers, and he strives for perfection at every turn. There were only two people in Hollywood who really interested him, and one of them was Lin Mingyang.

Despite the fact that Spielberg showed great sincerity, Lin Mingyang didn't take a stand right away, and his hesitation at this point could be seen in his eyes. The other Spielberg "favor" a lot of people, directly do not buy the old man's account. The guy even declared that the live-action Transformers movie is just a "stupid toy movie".

Spielberg is not discouraged, they are going to Rhode Island next week to visit the 'Hasbro' company base, this trip is mainly to persuade the guy who refuses to buy the account, this time the old man simply even Lin Mingyang also sent out an invitation.

There is a deeper reason for doing so, that is, Spielberg wants to see, these two in Hollywood are known for arrogance of the guy together, will collide what kind of sparks. If the two didn't get along very well, he'd have to consider dropping one of them, and of course that would be the last thing he'd want to see.

"You're saying... this visit was specially arranged for us?" A strange gaze flickered in Lin Ming Yang's eyes, "I'm curious, besides me, who else does this 'we' include?"

"That person you should be familiar with!" Lin Ming Yang took the initiative to raise this query, and Spielberg nodded with satisfaction, "He is Michael Bay, an outstanding director!"

----

Sitting in the front row were the finalists of the Grand Prize, but also the crowd that the photographers' lenses loved to patronize, their favorite thing to do was to capture those familiar celebrity faces in the crowd. When they saw the camera pointed at them, most of them could only suppress their nervousness in their hearts, with a ritualistic smile on their faces. Everyone's expressions were cooperative, with the exception of one guy.

Lin Mingyang, who was sitting in the center of the front row, had been holding his hands since he sat down, his gaze downcast, a thoughtful expression on his face, looking as if he was thinking about something, his attention not at all on the stage in front of him.

The awards ceremony a hilarious way to start, the stage's narrator claimed that several famous presenters couldn't make it, and then the real presenter of the night, John Stewart, finally appeared, lying on his bed next to Harry Berry, and then after that suddenly switched to George Clooney, who were all persuaded to host the awards, which could be considered as a very funny start.

In order to soothe the nerves of the nominees, John Stewart, who had just risen from his "sick bed", couldn't wait to show his humor at the beginning of the show.

"Ladies, gentlemen, and Felicity Hoffman, hello!" Outside of the genders, John Stewart made it a point to add a Felicity Hoffman, as the actress played a transgender character in this year's inductee movie.

The snide comment had the effect of a nice opening line, and when it came time to introduce the award winners, John Stewart purposely joked, "This year we're going to introduce the award winners in order of talent."

Everyone on stage was amused by him, except for Lin Mingyang who sat in the crowd without any reaction. His expression was not only clearly captured in the lens by the camera in charge of the live broadcast, but it was also seen at a glance by John Stewart, who was standing on the stage.

"Everyone laughed just now, but there was one exception!" John Stewart waved his hand in the direction Lin Ming Yang was sitting, "It seems that only Felix took my words seriously, he kept his head down just now, could it be that he was thinking about where he would be ranked?"

Lin Ming Yang was still dazed, Keira Knightley who was sitting next to him gently elbowed him, he then came back to his senses and then raised his head in bewilderment, the camera's lens just happened to be pointed at him at this time.

Lin Mingyang's expression of embarrassment smiled, John Stewart cleverly uncovered the topic, and then continued to play his talent for humor on stage, extreme gags, amusing the audience on stage bursts of laughter.

In this light-hearted atmosphere, John Stewart and Spielberg said hello, and then teased George Clooney, followed by a lot of western movie clips on the big screen behind the stage, all spoofing all the previous westerns, making them all "homosexualized", because this year people have been teasing the "Brokeback Mountain" is homosexualized. The movie "Brokeback Mountain", which is the Oscar-winning movie of the year, is a gay movie.

Nicole Kidman, dressed in a simple girl-next-door outfit, opened the envelope for the Best Supporting Actor award, and the winner, Nicole Kidman, opened the envelope for the Best Supporting Actor award. She opened the envelope and the winner was George Clooney. Once again George and Nicole Kidman came in for an intimate hug and they kissed each other on the cheek. Nicole Kidman handed him the trophy along with the stage and she descended from one side of the stage as host John Stewart stood to the side waiting for George Clooney to give his acceptance speech.

"It's nice, it's nice, not to win an award as a director. A lot of people ask me what exactly is my job? It goes back to 1997, 'Batman Begins,' 'The Matrix of Tomorrow' and so on. I appreciate the outstanding performances of the other three supporting male actors. Finally, I'm proud of Hollywood, with its many famous directors, like Spielberg, and its many great actors. I'm also proud of the Academy and thank them for their careful and rigorous selection."

After he stepped off the stage, attention returned to host John Stewart, "Thank you George for your wonderful speech, but I always had a strange feeling that there would be a 'crash' at today's awards ceremony, because we also have one of the winners' people's picks sitting on the stage, who got nominated for Best Actor, but he is also a director himself. I've even guessed George's acceptance speech from what he said."

John Stewart deliberately mimicked George Clooney's emphasis when he spoke, "That's great, that's great, but as an old favorite of a director that, a lot of people ask me what exactly is my job? This goes back to 2002, Follies, Pirates of the Caribbean, etc... Oh my God, is Hollywood going to usher in an era of all-around talent?"

After he finished speaking these words, the live camera lenses and most of the people on stage focused their attention on Lin Mingyang's body, and it was obvious that John Stewart was referring to him. But Lin Ming Yang himself didn't have the slightest bit of the self-consciousness that should come with the collective attention, he was still frozen in his own thoughts at this time, directly ignoring the host's banter and the gazes thrown his way by the people around him.

Regardless of how Lin Ming Yang on stage reacted, John Stewart continued his banter, "Don't be surprised if everyone finds out next year that the host of the Oscars has been replaced by a plumber, because this is the era of all-round talent!"

The next guest of honor was Tom Hanks, who hilariously taught the newcomers on the spot how they should deliver their acceptance speeches, and then Ben Stiller came out in a wacky green outfit, and he teased about the blue screen technology while presenting the award for Best Visual Effects, which the movie "King Kong" took away.

The awards were handed out in turn, and Lin Mingyang was in a state of confusion during the process, his entire mind was pondering over the content of his previous conversation with Spielberg, and he had no idea that those films had won awards in the end. He didn't even put the bet between himself and Kate on his mind, but Kate, who was watching the live broadcast in front of the TV at this moment, got nervous. She was holding a newspaper clipping filled with marks, which was the proof of her bet with Lin Ming Yang.

For every correct guess Lin Ming Yang made, Kate would put a red checkmark behind the mark. So far the awards ceremony had gone on for most of the day, and of the awards revealed, Lin Ming Yang's guesses had all hit the mark. Looking at the newspaper that had already been marked with a number of red ticks, Kate began to silently pray for accidents in the next awards.

When Morgan Freeman, last year's Oscar winner for Best Supporting Actor and veteran black movie star, made his entrance, a loud applause rang out from the stage. Even Lin Mingyang, who had returned to his senses, joined in the applause when he realized that it was Morgan Freeman standing on the stage to show his high respect for the veteran actor.

Over the decades of being in the movie industry, old Morgan had witnessed all the experiences of a glorious era in Hollywood. He has witnessed the wonders and dreams that this star-making factory has brought to the world, and he has read which faces full of hope came to Hollywood to realize their dreams. He belongs to Hollywood, belongs to the movie, belongs to that a quiet and melodious American "old times".

After the applause subsided, Morgan Freeman opened the envelope, and Rachel Weisz took the trophy for Best Supporting Actress as she wished. She thanked those who have given their lives for justice in her acceptance speech as she took the stage to receive her award. This year's Oscar winners gave middling acceptance speeches, most of them posting big emotional appeals and whatnot.

Brokeback Mountain won the award for best soundtrack, and Ang Lee sat in his seat with a calm smile, a typical expression of the educated Chinese class. The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Robert Altman, with a standing ovation. Robert joked as he came up to receive the award, "I always thought that getting an award like this meant you were finished."

Best Original Screenplay was picked up by the drama feature film Crash without a doubt, and Lin Mingyang had a calm expression on his face. Next to him, Keira Knightley worriedly glanced his way several times, only to finally realize that the guy really didn't seem to care about it. While complaining about his own excess worry, Lin Mingyang also became a "heartless" guy in Keira Knightley's heart.

Despite being out of form, Lin Ming Yang didn't forget his duties as he was nominated for Best Actor and was also the guest of honor for Best Adapted Screenplay. The screenwriter of Crash gave his acceptance speech and rubbed shoulders with Lin Mingyang downstage as he was preparing to go on stage. The encounter was an interesting one, with no condescending gesture from the winner and no look of discouragement from the loser, as the two men came in for a friendly hug, a gesture that sent those around them into a tizzy.

Lin Mingyang, who walked up to the front stage, was not prepared to say too much, he was directly ready to open the envelope to announce the results of the award, but was interrupted by the host John Stewart, who spoke out of turn.

"Felix, having just lost the award for Best Original Screenplay, you don't seem to look lost at all?"

"Am I supposed to come up crying and then complain with a belly full of grievances to the judges on stage that you guys made a stupid decision and that this award should have belonged to me?" Lin Mingyang's "humorous" answer made John Stewart freeze in embarrassment.

John, who had always been known for his wit, was stuck in his shell at this time, and his expression at this time was adorable. Lin Ming Yang laughed and patted him on the shoulder, helping him out by saying, "Well, it was just a joke because the script for Crash was really well written, and it's only natural that it would win awards, and I'm very happy to see such a failure because it can really show me that I'm lacking in certain areas." He looked at the host, "Can I announce the results now?"

"Of course!" John Stewart nodded his head in a hurry, his heart saying that it was a fluke.

Lin Mingyang opened the envelope, the expression on his face was like a weight off his shoulders, and before he announced the results, John Stewart caught this subtle change in his expression and curiously questioned again.

Aiming at the camera of the live broadcast, Lin Ming Yang smiled slightly, "I know you must be watching the live broadcast, just now when I was opening the envelope, I suddenly got a little nervous because I thought of that bet, it's a pity that this upcoming result will be a little disappointing to you, well, this time I won again!"