Two years ago, after "Shakespeare in Love" unexpectedly knocked out Spielberg and DreamWorks' "Saving Private Ryan," the Academy seemed to have seen a backlash.

In the past two years, it has been quite difficult for films produced by Miramax to win awards at the Oscars, not to mention even nominations.

But Sid knew that this was just a short-term backlash from the Oscar cadets in order to avoid telling the truth. Of course, this is also related to the fact that in recent years, there have been many good films, and the entire North American film market seems to be thriving.

However, after the future big-budget films and award-winning literary films have become more and more divergent, and the students' old white straight male tendencies have become more and more obvious. Weinstein's influence on the Oscars will rise to a level that makes people feel "terrifying".

This is due not only to the reason why the Oscars themselves are out of touch with the times, but also to the wrist of Harvey Weinstein himself.

After all, if you look back at the Weinstein brothers' public relations skills, you will find that in addition to the usual methods of sending movie DVDs to the judges, gifts, phone bombing, and holding internal screening receptions were all excellent means for them to win votes.

While gift-giving and phone bombing are now banned by the Academy, in-house screening receptions are still an important part of the vote-winning process.

Even in "Historically 2012", in order to make the "big cousin" Jennifer Lawrence's "The Happiness Line Behind the Dark Clouds" successfully reach the top, the Weinstein brothers even hired Obama's campaign team to promote their public relations in order to achieve a strong influence in the media.

The Weinstein brothers' manipulation of the media to influence the judges' perception is one of their most well-known methods. The Weinstein brothers, on the other hand, recognized the influence of the media on the final outcome of the Oscars a long time ago.

The most famous example, of course, can't be avoided from "Shakespeare's Love History", which made Gwyneth Paltrow, the most beautiful actress in history, the top.

In the face of the powerful opponent "Saving Private Ryan", the Weinstein brothers not only hired a professional "water army", but also smeared "Ryan" in the city.

On the other hand, Harvey Weinstein also made Shakespeare's love story a lot of hard advertising, invited the jury to all kinds of free cocktail parties, held private screenings attended by various celebrities, and bought out several entertainment media columns to report on his films.

Someone has made statistics that around 1998, the Oscar public relations cost of an average independent film was about $250,000, and the public relations cost of a film in a major studio was about $2 million, and Weinstein dropped $5 million for "Shakespeare in Love", and it involved some illegal operations.

One example is that after Shakespeare in Love was nominated for an Oscar, Harvey Weinstein quickly prepared a series of parties for John Madden, the director of "Shakespeare".

Among the invitees were three influential members of the Academy's jury – renowned director Sidney Lumett, screenwriter Jay Pryson Allen and fellow screenwriter David Newman.

In fact, this is already against the Academy's selection rules, which prohibit producers from hosting social events for nominees that are attended by members of the Academy.

Harvey Weinstein's explanation for this was: "I'm sorry to have three members of the academy here, but it's a news scene, and if you want to make news, you're going to have to get a few celebrities." ”

In the same 2012 poll, Weinstein Pictures sent "For Your Consideration" email to subscribers of The Hollywood Reporter.

It quotes critic Thelma Adams: "It's been 29 years since Meryl Streep last won the statuette!

In fact, this should also be against the rules, because the "For Your Consideration" message does not allow references to past awards. However, Weinstein took advantage of the loopholes in the rules through a third party.

Playing a sideline kick against the rules is clearly not a one-time trick for Weinstein.

Taking advantage of the loopholes caused by the rule change, "City of God" received four Oscar nominations in 2004, and in 2002, it was not even nominated for Best Foreign Language Film.

Harvey Weinstein told Entertainment Weekly: "We made the sober decision to keep the film in theaters for 54 weeks. And in order to participate in the Oscar selection in terms of release time, Harvey Weinstein even re-released "City of God" three times.

And in addition to manipulating the media, bombarding the judges with phone calls to recommend films. It is also a common trick of the Weinstein brothers.

In the 1997 New York Times, a judge who had experienced Weinstein's PR tactics firsthand wrote: "According to some members of the Academy, Miramax called early and diligently. John Erickson, a retired actor living in Santa Fe, New Mexico, said he had received several calls from representatives of Miramax recently. ”

On the first call, they asked him if he had received "Switchblade" and urged him to watch it as soon as possible. ”

A few days later, the representative called again to assess Mr. Erickson's impression. The delegates also highlighted Billy Bob Thornton's stellar performance in the film, in which he wrote, directed, and starred as a mentally ill murderer who had just been released from the hospital and who had killed his mother and her lover with a switchblade 25 years earlier. ”

"The representative said, 'Don't you think he's great? I hope this is enough for a nomination. Erikson recalled.

By chance or necessity, Miramax's lobbying proved successful.

Mr. Erikson excitedly nominated Billy Thornton for Best Actor on the ballot, even though he hadn't heard much of Switchblade before he got the call, and he thought it was a Sylvester Stallone movie.

Miramax's persuasion of Mr. Erickson did not stop there.

After learning that there was another member of the Santa Fe (Oscar) Academy, Miramax arranged a screening for them in early February. This time, Erickson and others were able to see "Marvin's Room," "Switchblade" and Woody Allen's "Everybody Says I Love You" on the big screen in their local theaters.

The public relations activities of telephone bombardment of judges have now been expressly prohibited, but public relations companies can still directly influence the selection of judges by holding private movie viewing parties, internal promotion meetings, celebrity charity activities and other ways.