"Eric, isn"t there a movie that Firefly does not find a distributor?" Robert moved on to the topic Firefly"s films involuntarily after talking about some other things.
Eric looked around, thinking that The Scent of A Woman just finished its last cut, entering a stage of post-production. He had seen Alfredo Pacino who nodded at him just now when he was chatting with Robert.
Although there were many people greeting him when they saw him, he didn"t find Alfredo Pacino and had to turn his eyes to Robert quickly: "As an art film tipping for Oscar, it will get a stunning box office performance if it can win the award. But it will be hard to predict the box office if it fails to win. Though Alfredo Pacino presents an amazing performance in that film, there are so many films competing for Oscar that excellent movies don"t necessarily get an award."
Robert knew that Eric did not trust his connections in Hollywood: "Eric, I admit that my connections are inferior to that of the top 6 film companies, but it does not mean that they can get Oscar award. With this advantage, they could at best improve the performance of box office and sales volume of the subsequent videos after receiving more nominations. Last year, Working Girl had won a series of nominations, but it ended up getting no award, which was a result of the publicity of Fox Studio. To win an award requires an actual strength. The publicity of a film is important, but it does not mean everything. Eric, just think if big companies distribute The Scent of a Woman, they won"t concentrate on this film because they also need to take care of others, while I can mobile all resources to distribute the film.
Eric was thrown into a moment of hesitation.
Robert knew that Eric"s mind had been shaken and he hastily said: "Eric, don"t you find that this year is a typical tiny Oscar year?"
"Eh.." Eric felt confused. He seemed to know there was a saying like that, but he didn"t know the reason.
Robert explained to him patiently: "Last year, a standard grand Oscar year, saw a number of blockbusters emerge such as Rain Man starred by Dustin Hoffman, The Accused of Jodie Foster, he Accidental Tourist, Mississippi Burning and Dangerous liaisons and three actresses had won Golden Globe Award for Best Actress at the same time never seen before. However, two thirds of this year had pa.s.sed and there was not even an Oscar-buzzing film until now. Maybe you think that they will be released at the end of this year. But as far as I know, there won"t be any new films of well-known directors or actors released at the end of the year. That"s why I am certain that this year will definitely be a tiny year. As you have mentioned, Alfredo Pacino gives a stunning performance in The Scent of A Woman, it"s hard to imagine whether he will get the reward finally given the fact that he has been nominated the best actor for Oscar several times before.
Eric was lost in thought. He did not care that Robert had neglected the potential of Milk Money and Running Out of Time in Oscar. It would be a desirable result if his films could get nominations since he knew that the conservative film academy wouldn"t present any award to him, a young director less than 20 years old.
What he cared about was the "tiny Oscar year" the Robert had mentioned. Robert"s introduction reminded Eric of the "grand Oscar year" and "tiny Oscar year" in his previous life. He remembered that The Scent of A Woman only won the Best Actor of Oscar, knowing not which movie had been nominated Academy Award for Best Picture. The movie might become the top contender for Best Picture at Oscars if this year was a small Oscar year.
"Eric?" Robert reminded him when he found that Eric still didn"t respond to him after some time.
Hearing his name, Eric took back his thought suddenly. The red wine in his gla.s.s almost splashed out when his wrist shook involuntarily: "Oh, sorry, Robert, I am lost in thought."
Robert replied: "How do you like it?"
"Yes?" Eric didn"t get it after Robert"slengthy explanation.
"About the distribution of The Scent of A Woman?" Robert seemed to explain to him patiently.
Eric was in a dilemma. If it was a tiny Oscar year, it would be safe to authorize the distribution of the film to top seven film companies.
Big film companies had dominance over others in the publicity of Oscar award before Weinstein Brothers became the excellent producers of movies winning Oscar award. In the meantime, he knew that none of the top seven film companies would concentrate on the publicity of The Scent of A Woman unless he gave away much of his interest to them. However, isn"t winning an award for their interest?
Eric was about to promise him before he found that Alfredo Pacino come from nowhere and walk towards him. It occurred to him that he had made a promise to Alfredo that this movie was created for him to win Oscar award. If he accepted Robert"s advice and authorized Newline to distribute the film, he would bear certain risks in the publicity of the award. What if Alfred missed the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role again due to the b.u.t.terfly effect, though it was very unlikely to happen? If it happened, it would create a barrier between Alfred and Firefly. Eric paid attention to the cooperation with Alfred as Firefly could reap more benefits from the box office and Oscar award by maintaining a good relationship with him. Besides, 1990s also saw an apex in Alfred"s career.
Then it was all up to Alfred. Though there was a high possibility that he would agree with Robert, he would be unlikely to take his anger out on Firefly even if he didn"t win the award this year.
"Robert, I agree with that." Eric replied and then he continued before Robert showed any expression of happiness: "I have promised Alfred that he will win an Oscar award by starring in The Scent of A Woman in order to invite him to play a role in Temptress Moon. I can"t break my promise even if he has received many awards due to Temptress Moon. So you need to convince him if you want to retain the distribution right of The Scent of A Woman. Oh, there he is."
Putting the goblet on the tray of a waiter pa.s.sing by, Eric went towards Alfred: "Al, long time no see."
Greeting Eric with a warm embrace, Alfred said: "Eric, long time no see. You look more mature and handsome now, being more attractive to young girls. Don"t forget to give some chances to us old man."
"Haha, can"t you catch beauties with you tricks? Eric and Alfred had a simple conversation before introducing them: "Al, this Robert. This is Al."
"Actually you don"t have to introduce us. We know each other." Alfred said, shaking hands with Robert: "Hi, Robert, I believe it is a right choice to cooperate with Eric."
Robert smiled: "I hope so too."
"We are just talking about The Scent of A Woman. You can talk with each other and I need to go to the bathroom." Eric pointed to the corridor not far away. Though he wanted to continue chatting with Eric, Alfred had to nod his head when seeing the direction to which Eric pointed.
Greeting guests along the way, Eric pa.s.sed through the crowd and walked slowly towards the entrance of the banquet hall. As he stepped into the corridor, a delicate body wearing red clothes b.u.mped into him accidentally, falling backwards with a gentle sound. Eric hurriedly stretched out his hand to hold the girl, holding her in his arms.
"It"s you. Your name is… Gab…" Eric recognized her at first sight, but couldn"t come up with her name. Although copying his memories in the previous life miraculously, his body never possessed the capability of photographic memory.
"Gabrielle."
She gently replied. She felt pleasant when she found that it was Eric who was holding her, but then her feeling was reduced to sorrow after knowing that Eric didn"t recognize her. Holding her hand to Eric"s chest, she almost forgot to let go of her.
Eric just recalled that she was the one flying from England to Los Angeles to attend the audition of a chance encounter in Running Out of Time and she was also the heroine presenting an amazing tango performance in The Scent of A Woman.
A middle aged man lowering his head turned to the corridor from the banquet hall, looking at them strangely. When Eric turned around, the man recognized him at first sight, retreating back swiftly with a mirthless smile. Eric recognized that he was an employee of Firefly. Though he was overactive, it was understandable to shy away from the situation in which Eric was hugging a woman who was not his girlfriend in case that his boss made things hard for him.
"Sorry for that, Ms Anwar." With such an interruption, Eric released her hastily, putting her hair on her forehead involuntarily.
"It"s alright." The girl shook her head, a slight flush crept into her face with the movement of Eric"s fingers on her forehead.
But soon she found that Eric was so square that he simply left away after apologizing to her.
Feeling a little angry, she stamped her feet lightly and had to open her mouth to call him: "Hey."