Chapter 452: 452 Leading the Oscars

“I can’t understand why ‘Firefly’ couldn’t win the Best Ensemble award; it has great characters, great performances, and we got so many classic screen personas! Is it just because it’s a sci-fi film?” Roshan-C said, clearly disgruntled; “My God! This is a sad outcome. There will be no better ensemble than ‘Firefly’; they should have won the award!” Lukas-Z was similarly dissatisfied; “Mal and Storm are the sexiest men in the history of sci-fi films, I love them! HEHE.” said Sarah-J;…

The 12th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards announced on the 29th were quite controversial, particularly because the year’s biggest award for Best Ensemble didn’t go to ‘Firefly,’ which had the loudest clamor for it. According to a public opinion poll by Yahoo Entertainment, only a mere 16% of voters were satisfied with ‘Good Night, and Good Luck,’ and 55% hadn’t even seen the film. Another survey showed that a whopping 67% of the public thought ‘Firefly’ deserved the award.

But these were now unchangeable facts, and movie fans could only respond with disappointment and hissing. Another incident occured at the award ceremony: Heath Ledger, previously criticized by the media and now transformed into a tamely domesticated prodigal after his ‘magical’ transformation, made a blunder. He and Jake Gyllenhaal went on stage to introduce ‘Brokeback Mountain’ and suddenly burst into foolish laughter. Although the atmosphere at the Xuelan Exhibition Center was good at the time, the next day the Los Angeles Times criticized him for being disrespectful: “What was Ledger trying to say with his laughter while introducing such a sensitive-themed and serious story movie? Does this guy even know what kind of movie he acted in?…”

“I am very sorry, it was not meant in bad spirit.” Heath Ledger’s relationship with the media wasn’t great; he was a notorious troublemaker, and even when restrained, he often still carried an air of nonchalance. But this time, he honestly admitted his mistake. Ledger issued a statement saying, “At that moment I wasn’t laughing at anything funny, nor was it out of disrespect to ‘Brokeback Mountain.’ In my heart, it is a genuine film; otherwise, I wouldn’t have taken the role. Obviously, I don’t have the grace and talent of Spielberg, and I just inadvertently did something wrong.”

Was this still the same Australian troublemaker? The media and the public were quite surprised, especially Ledger’s fans. Being engaged and having a daughter really changed him! When had he ever admitted a mistake before? And to imply that his mistake was due to being unaccustomed to the award ceremony stage? The proud Ledger had actually bowed his head.

“Heath created an atmosphere in an inappropriate manner at an inappropriate time, but I am clear that he truly had no ill intentions, and I know he gave a lot to ‘Brokeback Mountain.’ That’s why we could see his genius performance,” Wang Yang expressed his support for Ledger to the Los Angeles Times. He was well aware that Heath was genuinely uncomfortable to the point of losing comportment; after all, the guy sometimes even seemed foolish during ordinary media interviews, so his SAG stage performance was actually pretty normal.

Heath Ledger took the initiative to apologize, and Spielberg reached out to help, so the incident did not cause much of a stir.

January 29th was also the closing day of this year’s Sundance Festival. ‘Coming of Age’ won the Dramatic Jury Prize, while ‘Million Dollar Murder Game’ took home the World Cinema Dramatic Jury Prize. The record-setting ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ and ‘The Illusionist’ did not receive any awards. However, Wang Yang and the crew from Flame Films knew that their trip to Sundance was a huge success! Films like ‘Rich Old Friends,’ ‘Alpha Dog,’ ‘Sleep Science,’ and ‘Midnight Listener’ all found distributors. Fox Searchlight, Warner Independent, and Miramax Films also went home satisfied, and over the coming year, the whole world would know who the real winners were.

Wang Yang and his family then continued to San Diego for their wedding anniversary/honeymoon, adding to their vacation memories the beautiful beaches, golf courses, and national parks where they left footprints along with their baby’s stroller.

Of course, the zoo filled with rare and exotic creatures can’t be missed, though however grand its scale, there are no prehistoric animals in sight, other than a beautiful movie poster hanging in the bathrooms and restaurants: “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs,” featuring a squirrel with bulging eyes innocently looking at the visitors.

“Ice Age 3” is set to be released globally in April, and no one doubts that it will perform well, especially Flame & Blue Sky, who deeply believe in its success. The best proof of this is that the production of “Ice Age 4” has already been scheduled.

This sequel will continue to be crafted by the original “IA Team.” Due to normal changes in the creative process, only Michael Berg (IA3) and Mike Thurmeier (IA1, IA3) remain in the scriptwriting team; Steve Martino (IA3 art direction) and Mike Thurmeier (IA1 writer, IA3 co-director) will serve as co-directors. Martino also has prior experience directing short films about the squirrel. Furthermore, Wang Yang seems to have full confidence in both men, agreeing to Blue Sky’s plan without much consideration. Thus, the production preparations for “IA4” are as efficiently underway as ever.

But after all, the team has undergone major changes, with veterans Chris Wedge and Carlos Saldanha having left the team. And since “IA4” is Martino’s directorial debut, the production will require much more patience. Flame & Blue Sky initially set its release date for the summer of 2009.

It was time to start planning a new animation! As early as last autumn, leaders like Wang Yang, Mark Strong, and Chris Wedge had discussed this topic. Launching a new animation was inevitable, but the question was what kind of story and theme? Chris Wedge was still enthusiastic about robots, especially after a conversation with children’s book author and illustrator William Joyce. They originally discussed adapting Joyce’s “Santa Calling” into a CGI animation film, which led to their brainstorming session producing a new idea about robots.

It’s a fantasy world of robots, where robots are akin to humans, working, living, and pursuing their dreams just the same; it’s also a hierarchical society, where a robot’s status depends on its manufacturing material. Rodney, the protagonist made of copper, is the most lowly of them. However, Rodney is not inferior. He believes he has the brain of an inventor…

In truth, the story isn’t very novel. It’s about the life of an ordinary, even useless, youth transforming, becoming a hero to defeat villains and gaining love, friendship and more in the process—a cliche traditional narrative. However, as the saying goes, old wine in new bottles often matters, like “Kung Fu Panda.” Without judging its quality, “Robot World” is a highly malleable “bottle” capable of containing all sorts of wild and creative ideas. Wedge and Joyce ambitioned to turn it into the “new ‘Toy Story.'”

At 48-years-old, William Joyce was one of the concept artists and art designers for “Toy Story” and “A Bug’s Life.” Besides that, last year he co-founded Aimesworth Entertainment with Reel FX Creative Studios to produce animated films, video games, and books. He even announced the production of three animated films: “The Guardians of Childhood,” “The-Mischevians,” and “Dinosaur Bob and His Adventures with the Family.” However, as of now, they have not achieved, nor taken action to achieve, these goals.

What Joyce was most anxious about was “Robots” (“Robots”). First off, Flame & Blue Sky’s finances had nothing to do with him. If “Robots” was a success, he would make a name for himself and further familiarize himself with film production, as he would be the film producer and art director, assuming “Robots” went into production.

“Interesting, we need to be interesting!” At that time, a draft of the script already existed. Wang Yang believed that the theme of youth and inspiration was not an issue, and the bottle of a fully robot world was quite attractive. However, the assembly-line style script truly lacked surprises and emotion—it was so cliched that it failed to excite anyone. Some jokes were even boring to the point of tedium. Why start with a mess? “Cute, we need to be cute!” On the other hand, he was very dissatisfied with the preliminary character designs—neither cute nor cool. What exactly were they aiming for? He couldn’t help but ask, “Chris, William, do you really think children will like this?”

If it were any other theme, it would be fine, but youth inspiration is like a youth campus musical; humanoid robots further intensify the human aesthetic immersion. Those robots are like the leading actors—who would like the leads of a youth movie to be ordinary-looking? Not cool! Plus, if they are ugly, the posters will drive young people away.

Wang Yang knew that the original Fox & Blue Sky 2005 version of “Robots” had only a $260 million global box office (North America $128 million), which was barely sufficient to cover its $75 million production costs, plus the revenue from DVDs and VHS. It was a break-even affair; the Rotten Tomatoes ratings of 64%/69%/60% were barely passable. This resulted in Fox & Blue Sky not daring to release a sequel, as issues with the script and character design smothered that novel world.

Of course, he did not want the Firefly & Blue Sky version to reap the same fruit. Being well-received and box-office hits was their style, so it was essential to resolve both major issues!

In terms of script revisions, he provided some suggestions and ideas. As for how humanoid robots could be considered cute or cool? Wang Yang didn’t know; he wasn’t a visual designer or art director, and being busy with “500 Days of Summer” he didn’t have much time to discuss it. But what he was certain of was that the character designs of Pixar’s “Cars,” released in the summer of ’06, were indeed cute. In any case, without a satisfactory script and character design, he would not agree to the production of “Robots.”

Since Wang Yang was neither a visual designer nor an art director, even though he was “Magical Yang,” William Joyce still felt quite defiant—ugly? Stiff? Outdated? He didn’t agree. Chris Wedge was more moderate; he didn’t think the problems were that severe, but striving for perfection was right. However, filmmaking can sometimes be a very subjective thing. Whether character designs are beautiful or not is even less standardized. How should a robot made of metal parts be considered cute, beautiful, or cool…? Currently, the project is at a standstill.

Despite this, Firefly & Blue Sky had another unanimous project: an animated animal film! Wang Yang, Wedge, and others were eager to continue leveraging Blue Sky’s strengths. Talking about fur mapping and other technical aspects concerning animals, even Pixar was no longer a match for Blue Sky. As for Blue Sky’s ace Brazilian director Carlos Saldanha (IA1, IA2, IA3), where would he head after completing “IA3”? Wherever it was, he would be the director for the new animation, because it was a project he initiated.

“Nominees for Best Cinematography include, ‘Brokeback Mountain’, Rodrigo Prieto; ‘Firefly’, Wally Pfister; ‘Good Night, and Good Luck’, Robert Elswit; ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’, Dion Beebe; ‘The New World’, Emmanuel Lubezki.”

“Nominees for Best Original Score include, ‘Brokeback Mountain’, Gustavo Santaolalla; ‘Firefly’, Jan Kaczmarek, Hans Jimo; ‘The Constant Gardener’, Alberto Iglesias; ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’, John Williams; ‘Pride and Prejudice’, Dario Marianelli.”

The sky was incredibly clear in the early morning of January 31st, and the 78th Oscars nominations were being announced! The space cowboys who got up early to watch TV weren’t disappointed as they watched “Firefly” snag one nomination after another, their joyous shouts of “YEAH!”, “COOL!”, and “GREAT!” filling the air!

At the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, the President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Sid Ganis, and actress Mira Sorvino announced the nominations to over eight hundred journalists from around the world. At 38, Sorvino was the 69th Oscar’s Best Supporting Actress, and she held a BA in Chinese Literature from Harvard University in 1989, speaking fluent Chinese—a clear decision by the Academy given that “Brokeback Mountain” and “Firefly” were both directed by Chinese filmmakers.

The Academy did not heartlessly overlook “Firefly”; on the contrary, it was leading the nomination tally, followed by “Brokeback Mountain,” “Good Night, and Good Luck,” “Capote,” “Walk the Line,” “Munich”…

“The nominees for Best Supporting Actor are George Clooney, ‘Serenna’; Paul Giamatti, ‘Iron Man’; Jake Gyllenhaal, ‘Brokeback Mountain’; William Hurt, ‘A History of Violence’; Heath Ledger, ‘Firefly’.” The ABC live broadcast of the announcement showed Ganis and Sorvino standing in front of the glass podium, beaming as they read out the names. As their voices filled the room, the five square screens behind them each revealed the nominee’s photo.

“YEAH—” When the eerie, smiling blue glove appeared in the lower-right screen, the space cowboys in front of the TV erupted into cheers. Another one! Soon after the Best Actor/Actress nominations, it was time for Best Director! Even though Yang’s fans were certain of his spot among the finalists, there was still a hint of tension as the names were read out, one by one: “George Clooney, ‘Good Night, and Good Luck’; Ang Lee, ‘Brokeback Mountain’; Bennett Miller, ‘Capote’; Steven Spielberg, ‘Munich’…”

A self-assuredly grinning Clooney appeared in the top right corner, with Ang Lee in his cap at the bottom left, the contemplative Bennett Miller at the top left, and the calm-faced Spielberg at the bottom right. Then, Sorvino announced with a smile, “Wang Yang, ‘Firefly’.” And the center screen lit up with a big-grinned Wang Yang.

“Yang, Yang! Come out and look, what are you doing!? We’re leading in nominations! Woah—oh!” In the elegant hotel suite living room, Jessica hopped and jumped excitedly, shouting as she ran towards the bedroom: “Oh my God! So many nominations!” Wang Yang walked out of the bedroom with his hands behind his back, his face also full of joy: “I heard, it’s truly thrilling, but…did you forget something?” Jessica, halting her celebratory antics, feigned confusion: “What?” Wang Yang growled through gritted teeth, feigning anger: “I am very angry.” Jessica let out an “Oh,” slapping her forehead with a smile: “Oh, our wedding anniversary! Of course, I remember…so what?”

“What do you think.” Wang Yang reached out his right hand to caress her cheek, and with a sudden, swift twist, he magically produced a bright red rose, offering it to her with a smile: “For you.”@@novelbin@@

“Wow!” Jessica’s eyes widened in surprise. She quickly took the flower and smelled its scent, not bothering to check his long-sleeved shirt, her love-filled eyes looking back at him, she asked with a toothy smile, “When did you learn to do that?” Wang Yang shrugged and said, “I am a magician,” flicking her ear swiftly, and just as suddenly produced another rose. Jessica laughed and accepted it, holding one rose in each hand and combining them to take a deep breath, “Anymore?”

Wang Yang laughed and said, “You guessed right.” He suddenly lifted his left hand to her ponytail, delving in and pulling out a fragrant lily. Jessica couldn’t help but exclaim, “Wow—”(

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