Chapter 453: 453: It's Possible

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“‘Firefly’ leads the Oscars with 14 nominations” — Yahoo Entertainment; “The 78th Oscars nominations announced, ‘Firefly’ ties the record with 14 nominations” — Sina Entertainment…

Big news! Big news! After 2 months of various preliminary battles, the much-anticipated 78th Oscars finally announced the nomination list on January 31, kicking off the 06-07 award season with the Oscars Hall of Fame. ‘Firefly’ garnered a total of 14 nominations, equalling the record held by ‘Comet Beauty’ (1950) and ‘Titanic’ (1997), becoming the third film in history to receive 14 Oscar nominations.

The 14 competing nominations include: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Original Song, Best Cinematography, Best Makeup, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Editing, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Visual Effects. The nominees include Wang Yang, Joss Whedon, Heath Ledger, Jan Kaczmarek, Hans Jimo, Varese Furst, Greg Cannom, Kevin Cavanaugh, Margaret Goodspeed, Sean Walsh, Richard Kidd…

A great victory for the team! A great victory for science fiction films! Naturally, the interstellar cowboys were overjoyed. In history, ‘Comet Beauty’ ultimately took home 6 trophies (6/14), while ‘Titanic’ claimed 11 (11/14), tying with ‘Benure’ (11/12, 32nd) and ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’ (11/11, 76th) for the first place in film history.

The most recent film to earn 13 nominations was ‘Chicago’ in 2003, which only took home 6 trophies, including Best Picture (6/13). This year ‘Firefly’ is also up against several strong contenders. ‘Brokeback Mountain’ follows closely with 8 nominations; third place is tied by ‘Good Night, and Good Luck.’ and ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’ with 6 nominations each; ‘Capote’ and ‘Walk the Line’ received 5 nominations each for fourth place; ‘Munich’, ‘King Kong’, and ‘Pride and Prejudice’ are tied for fifth place with 4 nominations each; and tied for sixth place, ‘500 Days of Summer’ has 2 nominations (Best Actor, Best Editing)…

This is Wang Yang’s second nomination for Best Director at the Oscars (1/2), and both times with a science fiction film! George Lucas once, Steven Spielberg twice, Stanley Kubrick three times; Wang Yang twice, at the ripe young age of 26.

Taking a lesson from history, ‘Star Wars’, adorned with 10 nominations, won 6 awards (6/10) at the 50th Oscars, but they were all technical awards. The 4 missed awards were Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Original Screenplay; that year’s Best Picture was ‘Annie Hall’. If ‘500 Days of Summer’ could defeat ‘Firefly’ at the Kodak Theatre, it would almost be a repeat of history. Sadly, ‘500 Days’ did not make the cut for Best Picture, which meant that Wang Yang’s on-set cry to “take down ‘Firefly'” did not come to fruition.

“This is the biggest omission of the year,” the Los Angeles Times commented, “‘500 Days of Summer’ died for not being controversial enough.” The New York Times review echoed this sentiment, leaving the media and public expressing dissatisfaction and regret. ‘500 Days’ certainly had the strength to be nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay, but with only 5 slots available, choosing which of the nominated Best Pictures to leave out is truly a dilemma.

‘Dr. Strange’ 0/4 (37th); ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ 0/4 (41st); ‘A Clockwork Orange’ 0/4 (44th); the 50th’s ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ took home Best Cinematography, Editing (2/8); the 55th’s ‘E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial’ had 9 nominations, but ultimately fell short in Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, and Editing, claiming only Sound, Sound Editing, Visual Effects, and Original Score (4/5); the 75th’s ‘District 9’ remarkably won Best Director (1/7). Now 3 years later at the 78th?

But that year was truly a miracle for the young, so-called because miracles cannot be replicated. It is the fruit of the combination of perfect timing, location, and people. No one would believe that the Oscars would from then on open its arms to science fiction films. Thus, ‘Firefly’ has a high chance of winning in all the technical categories. However, overcoming the “SW wound” and the “ET wound” for Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actor and Original Screenplay will be much tougher. Of course, there’s still a chance to win—the unpredictable world witnessed the magical ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’ sweep 11 major awards two years prior.

In contrast to ‘SW’ and ‘ET’, ‘Firefly’ has been praised by the film critique community as a “grand epic.” All three films are highly esteemed but for different reasons. The ‘SW’ series is undoubtedly great, yet its intellectual content has always been criticized, with the prequel trilogy being smashed by Rotten Tomatoes as a children’s movie; the pure and beautiful ‘ET’ lost to ‘Gandhi’ (8/11); however, ‘Firefly’ uses a theme of “political systems and political philosophy,” classified as a political subject. Moreover, it represents political correctness and profound political ideas, unlike the “Future Trilogy,” which is far more dated and controversial. Therefore, it has its own reasons to be anticipated.

This year’s other Best Picture nominees are: ‘Brokeback Mountain’ (homosexuality), ‘Capote’ (homosexuality), ‘Good Night, and Good Luck’ (political persecution, McCarthyism), ‘Munich’ (politics, terrorism, assassination).

Additionally, there are films with controversial and sensitive political and social themes such as ‘Transamerica’ (transgender), ‘Serenna’ (oil politics), truly defining this as “the year of controversy.” Moreover, ‘Kung Fu’ and ‘The Promise’ were both left out of the Best Foreign Language Film nominations; Fire Flame Films’ ‘Kung Fu Panda’ failed to enter the Best Animated Feature nomination list…

How many little gold men will ‘Firefly’ ultimately take home? Who will hold up the little gold men for Best Picture, Best Director? The whole world wants to know the answer, and this year’s Oscars ceremony will be held on March 5.

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“David Fincher will direct ‘The Marvelous Director.'” — Yahoo Entertainment. Just as Wang Yang’s career greatly took off, ‘The Marvelous Director’ announced a new development. Paramount told the media that the film would be directed by David Fincher, who had just completed his latest movie ‘Zodiac.’ The 43-year-old Fincher began his career by directing commercials and music videos and is known for his sharp style and distinctive personality. Excluding the yet-to-be-released ‘Zodiac,’ he has already directed five films, from his cinematic debut ‘Alien 3’ (1992), ‘Se7en’ (1995), ‘The Game’ (1997), ‘Fight Club’ (1999), to ‘Panic Room’ (2002).

‘Alien 3’ garnered a worldwide box office of $159 million (with a production budget of $50 million), Rotten Tomatoes ratings of 39%/57%/55%, turning a classic series into a mess; ‘Se7en’ with box office receipts of $327 million (production budget of $33 million), ratings of 85%/65%/94%, mixed reviews from critics, but overwhelming praise from the audience; ‘The Game’ with $109 million box office (undisclosed budget), ratings of 71%/58%/82%, a continuation of Fincher’s style; ‘Fight Club’ with $100 million box office (production budget of $63 million), ratings of 81%/63%/95%, maintaining his style; ‘Panic Room’ with $196 million box office (production budget of $48 million), ratings of 77%/71%/61%.

Setting aside the poorly received debut, Fincher’s subsequent three films all received decent ratings from general audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, but hovered around the rotten threshold from well-known critics. This is because reviews from well-known critics, mostly published long ago, represent the immediate reaction of the film critics upon release. However, as Rotten Tomatoes began incorporating newer online reviews from general critics over time, the ratings improved, reflecting the film criticism world’s reaction months or even years after the release.

In other words, David Fincher’s style was to get smashed with rotten tomatoes upon release, but with time, his films were increasingly appreciated and retroactively acclaimed as classics.

This “ahead of its time” approach meant that he has hardly had any notable award nominations over the years, with just two Best Director nominations from the Saturn Awards (for ‘Alien 3’ and ‘Se7en’) worth mentioning. But it seems that Fincher is gradually finding ways to be successful from the get-go, or rather, he might be slowly shedding some of his less popular personal styles. Unfortunately, the audience doesn’t seem to be buying it. His self-described “more mainstream thriller,” “date movie,” “very good B-movie,” ‘Panic Room,’ was suddenly met with a barrage of popcorn vomit from the audience.

With an average global box office of $178 million across five films, this independent-minded director is still exploring how to win unanimous applause from both critics and audiences. Could ‘The Marvelous Director’ be that film?

“Not bad at all!” A large number of Yang’s fans are quite satisfied with the choice of director. Fincher is considered young and talented, most importantly, he’s cool and CULT! He’s not the type to direct commercial films by the book, so him taking on the task of directing the unofficial biopic of the marvelous Wang Yang seems very fitting. However, on the other hand, the “divorced, older artiste” Fincher is a mainstay of the dark alliance, and given Fincher’s good relationship with Brad Pitt and Wang Yang’s poor relationship with Pitt, having him direct the sunny and charming tale of a marvelous creature? You must be joking!

Thus, another large group of Yang fans are dissatisfied, especially the female fans who are quite agitated: “If Fincher portrays the marvelous Yang as a dark figure, I won’t watch it.” “I will kill him!” “Yang and Rachel McAdams are just good friends!!” “Fincher, please don’t mess this up, or I will curse you!” …

“It will not be R-rated; the film is about the 18-year-old Marvelous Yang, a core, positive, inspirational story, so it’s definitely going to be PG-13,” said producer Scott Rudin in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. An R rating would mean losing out on many teenage viewers, which wouldn’t be good. Moreover, there’s no need to make ‘The Marvelous Director’ an R-rated movie to leave a strong impression. Rudin further revealed that, if all goes well, the film could be released globally as early as this December.

This depends on whether filming can start before June; otherwise, it might not meet the audience until the end of 2007. Currently, preparations are going smoothly, except for the biggest issue: the cast.

Casting work began actively last year. Minor roles such as the CEO of Lionsgate, reporters, the little girl who was nearly scared to death, and others have not caused any setbacks. The problem is with the leading roles. There are already candidate lists for Jessica Alba and Rachel McAdams, but casting Wang Yang is still an extremely, extremely tricky problem of the century. Daniel Wu, whom Paramount was reportedly interested in, immediately made it clear: “I’m not interested because I simply can’t play Wang Yang.”

“Wang Yang is a charismatic person; even when he was an 18-year-old teenager, he was just like that—smart, funny, confident, well-read, passionate, unpredictable… good at sports, knows Kung Fu; you can see both rationality and wildness in him, which gives him a unique charm. To portray him well, one must possess immense self-confidence, which is crucial. Plus, matching looks make it indeed difficult to find the right person,”

said Director David Fincher. He has reviewed all of Wang Yang’s early materials, especially from when he was 18, including videos, photos, articles, as well as high school graduation speeches and yearbooks, gaining a deeper understanding of Wang Yang and getting a sense of “reaching into his heart.” Both Fincher and Rudin have stated that they will find the perfect lead actor, no matter what. They don’t believe that there aren’t talented Chinese-American actors in America, but rather that such talents are buried due to lack of opportunity. Through widespread casting efforts, ‘The Marvelous Director’ will find a satisfying Marvelous Yang for the world to admire.

Fincher also said he would handle the story normally, meaning he will not tiptoe around just because the story’s protagonist is Wang Yang. As for his own contacts with Wang Yang, they are limited, but he admires Marvelous Yang and his movies. Regarding the new developments of ‘The Marvelous Director,’ Wang Yang’s side has not issued any statement.

It’s clear that “The Amazing Director” was released at the end of the year to coincide with this year’s “Firefly,” which could potentially sweep the Oscars, and Wang Yang might win Best Director again, creating a huge sensation. Therefore, the promotion is like spending double the money for triple the effect; meanwhile, if “I Am Legend,” one of the “accidental trilogy” released in the summer of 2007, had failed, and if Wang Yang really got his brain damaged by hitting the overhead compartment, “The Amazing Director” would become inappropriate. Before that, there were also the “The Green Hornet” and “Iron Man,” which he produced & adapted—it was really fraught with crisis!

So, it was beneficial for the box office to release “The Amazing Director” to the screen while his record of success hadn’t ended yet. To make a splash during the awards season, “The Amazing Director” had to be released in the winter slot of 2006 or 2007—at least it would be guaranteed to avoid Wang Yang’s personal sniping…

January 27 to February 2 has come to a close, and Fox’s new comedy “Big Momma’s House 2,” despite a pitiful 6% freshness rating, still took the top spot at the box office in its opening week with $32.06 million. Another new film, “Nanny McPhee,” ranked second with $16.73 million; third place went to “Underworld: Evolution” in its second week with $14.44 million. “Brokeback Mountain,” with 500 additional screens and powered by its Oscar nominations, saw its box office trend decline only by -5.1%, earning $10.22 million at 1,751 theaters to place fourth, totaling $61.22 million. “500 Days of Summer” made only $3.74 million (-45%), entering the final phase of its North American box office run with $230 million.@@novelbin@@

With a new weekend coming, Wang Yang’s family was still on their vacation in San Diego, planning to enjoy his 26th birthday on the 5th, Sunday, and return to Los Angeles on Monday to end their trip.

“Let me think, yes, I’m interested, but I’m too busy, no, we don’t want to hire a nanny for now… I’ll think about it.”

Under the night sky in La Jolla Village, San Diego, calm reigned with the pleasing sound of the lapping waves. Along the beautiful and charming coastline, on the balcony of the hotel suite, Wang Yang sat in a rattan chair and watched as Jessica put down her phone, suddenly expressing his interest, “Interesting, what do you think?” Jessica shrugged indifferently and sat down in the rattan chair. She calmly responded, “What do you think?”

Even while happily vacationing, they couldn’t completely break away from business. Usually, it was Wang Yang who found time to reply, command, make decisions, and the like, but now it was Jessica’s turn. She had received an invitation from the MTV Movie Awards to host the ceremony on June 3rd. Should she accept?

As the currently most popular “American Sweetheart,” her starring role in last year’s “Firefly” had swept everything, and “River,” fierce and sexy, was a global sensation. It was perfectly normal for the youth-oriented MTV Movie Awards to extend this invitation to Jessica. They didn’t invite the busy Wang Yang, probably knowing he would surely refuse; however, Jessica was different, she didn’t have any film contracts at the moment, nor was she pregnant, making her available for a comeback.

“Of course, I support your wishes,” Wang Yang said with a smile and a shrug. It would be a memorable and pleasant experience, wouldn’t it? He knew she was capable, letting her act seriously had many problems, but she was good at spoofing and talking endlessly. He took a sip of chilled juice, extending his fist over, and said with a laugh, “I could make a spoof video for you, which movie should we choose? ‘Firefly’? Or ‘Harry Potter’, ‘King Kong’, ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’, ‘Star Wars Prequel’…”

“Hmm…”, Jessica tapped his fist in return, listening to him list one popular blockbuster from the past year after another, her heart also stirred. It did sound like fun and games. She could say a lot about him and “Firefly” on stage. But hosting wasn’t just a matter of showing up at Shalan Theater for one night; there would be rehearsals, involvement in scriptwriting, participation in MTV Movies Awards promotion interviews, and filming spoof videos—so many things!

And he was preparing for “I Am Legend.” With so many other tasks, who would take care of Keke? She didn’t want Keke’s closest person to be a nanny. Some emotions could only be given to Keke by her parents…

Besides, they could be off to New York to prepare for the film at any time. Thinking of all this, the excitement Jessica had felt dissipated instantly. She shook her head with a smile, “No, let’s forget it. I need to take good care of Keke.” Wang Yang couldn’t help feeling disappointed. Of course, Keke needed to be well taken care of, but still, he said, “Hey, I think we can manage all these. It’s not like we are busy all day. When you’re working, our mom can help look after our baby, and we could hire a nanny…” Jessica rolled her eyes, interrupting him, “No! I told you, no.”

“Oh.” Wang Yang said no more, looking out at the boundless sea. After a while, he said, “Let’s think about it after we get back home, I really think we can arrange the time.” Jessica laughed helplessly, her pretty face immediately turned serious, and she said sternly, “It’s a matter of principle. I don’t want to neglect our baby for a few hours of an awards ceremony. I don’t want to! I don’t want to make our lives so busy, both of us? Just thinking about it is a disaster.”

With a roll of her eyes and a shrug of her shoulders, Jessica exhaled deeply and earnestly, “Didn’t we agree earlier? You make the money, I take care of the house, and I wait for you to come home at six o’clock, understand?! No more talk.” She firmly waved her hand and continued, “I’m stubborn! And… after thinking about it, hosting an awards ceremony isn’t that much fun after all, taking care of my own daughter is much more interesting.”

“Oh.” Wang Yang nodded with raised eyebrows, what else could he say? Seeing her calm face, he knew that although she was resolute and without regrets, she was not particularly happy either. He understood that she couldn’t completely idle away her time; she needed a sense of presence in her career. “HEY!” When she turned to look at him, Wang Yang revealed mysteriously, “I want to invite you to make a comeback and star in a comedy, not now, but later.”

Jessica’s eyes widened in excitement at first, and after a blink, she suppressed her excitement and waved her hands, “I’ll think about it, why do you think I would definitely act? I might not be interested.” Wang Yang shook his head with a smile, “No, you’ll definitely be interested.” Jessica couldn’t contain herself instantly, her face blooming with a bright smile of surprise she asked repeatedly, “Really? Will you direct it? What kind of comedy? I love comedies! I’m really funny, look!…” Wang Yang watched her make funny and fierce faces playfully and couldn’t help but burst into laughter. After laughing for a while, he responded, “It’s not certain yet, not definite.”

Wang Yang was referring to the R-rated comedy “Bridesmaids,” and that character “Helen” was simply perfect for her.

“Helen” is a wealthy friend of the bride “Lillian,” a housewife with money to spare and eager to be the perfect bridesmaid, as well as to plan and arrange baby shower gifts, wedding dress shopping, bachelorette parties, and other wedding activities and preparations. In contrast, the protagonist “Annie” is a mess of an older single woman, also Lillian’s best friend. When Annie faces the situation of Lillian suddenly getting married, with Helen rushing to be the head of the bridesmaid group, a hilarious and sharp struggle begins.

If “Helen” was slightly modified, such as the name, the role was guaranteed to immerse Jessica fully into it, immersing into it as if she were playing herself, unleashing her comedic potential to the fullest.

Originally, “Annie” was played by Kristen Wiig, a key figure not only as a writer of “Bridesmaids” with Annie Mumolo, but also for her genius performance that was nothing short of stunning. She could be considered an essential member of the possible “Bridesmaids series.” Wang Yang had already made contact with Wiig, who is currently a regular on “Saturday Night Live,” to meet and discuss this after the holidays. However, it was obvious that there was still a long time before Jessica’s comeback, and the production of “Bridesmaids” was in no rush.

Yet there were others who were anxious. Recently, Flame Films received a call from Hong Kong from the producer of “Infernal Affairs,” Liu Weiqiang, who inquired about the American version of “Infernal Affairs.” Would it really be made? It had been nearly three years since FF assertively bought the adaptation rights and yet there had been no movement… When will FF start this project? How will it be adapted? Who will direct, who will star? Liu Weiqiang also tentatively asked if Wang Yang was interested in directing?

“Me?” Wang Yang was somewhat dumbfounded, the American version of “Infernal Affairs” indeed hadn’t had news for a long time, and it wouldn’t be surprising for people to think FF intended to shelve it. He personally called Liu Weiqiang to express his confidence and expectations for “Infernal Affairs.” But when asked about directing, he didn’t know how to respond. He wasn’t entirely disinterested, just where would he find the time? He was really overextended. He didn’t give a clear NO, nor a YES, leaving a possibility open, but he once again assured that the American version of “Infernal Affairs” would definitely be made, and might even be scheduled soon.

Speaking of “Saturday Night Live” and parody shorts, that evening Natalie called Wang Yang, naturally because she had something to discuss. Once the call connected, she laughed, “Hi, Yang, am I disturbing your vacation? OK, to make a long story short, you know I’m scheduled to promote ‘V for Vendetta’ on ‘Saturday Night Live,’ and I agreed to do a parody RAP…” She wanted to ask him for any music video ideas and if he had time, would he be interested in shooting it for her along with the “SNL” production crew?

“Oh! Interesting, let me think…” Wang Yang found the idea very amusing, a parody rap full of energy? He thought for a moment, and immediately had an idea: “Just show the devil inside you, that’ll be a surprise for everyone! Juno, Amanda, Summer, Eve, bring them all out!” He then enthusiastically shared some of his ideas.

“Hahahahahaha!” As she listened to him, Natalie couldn’t stop laughing, “Yes, bring them all out…” She gradually stopped laughing, her voice rising from low to high: “My parents always tell me to work hard, and not to be a jerk, but…that’s completely impossible!!!”

“Then be a super jerk!” Wang Yang cheered, whatever was the opposite of Natalie Portman’s usual image, bring it out, that’s what parody is all about! He said, “If I have time, I can help you shoot it, I think ‘SNL’ wouldn’t mind, but my schedule is really tight right now, you know I can’t make you any promises.” Over the phone came Natalie’s even more raucous laughter, “Well said! Should I say ‘how do I quit you?'”

Wang Yang shrugged and answered lifelessly, “Stop kidding, I’m not cannabis…” Natalie laughed, “Clearly, I’m high, and, in any case, let’s really shock the world.” Wang Yang laughed, “You’re crazy.”

“By the way, happy birthday!” Before ending the call, Natalie solemnly wished him, and Wang Yang looked at the beautiful night scene, the endless ocean, and said, “Alright, it’s actually tomorrow, but thanks, good night.” (