A few days after Eric arrived in New York, the 65th Academy Awards were held at the Los Angeles Music Center, and "Schindler's List" became the undisputed winner, with a total of 12 nominations, 8 statuettes, and Steven Spielberg finally got his wish to win the Oscar for Best Director.

Steven Spielberg has been in the industry for 25 years since he first pretended to be a Universal Pictures employee and entered the studio in Burbank, and then created a series of box office results with films such as "Jaws", "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark".

Although it was close to midnight Eastern time, the two women accompanied Eric through the entire awards ceremony, and when she noticed Spielberg's action of wiping away tears, Virginia whispered to Eric if he would win an Oscar in the future.

Eric remembered how he felt two years ago when he won the Best Adapted Screenplay Award for "Smell a Woman", when he thought that he, as a person who had lived a lifetime, would be very indifferent to the attribution of the award, but in the adrenaline-pumping atmosphere of the awards ceremony, it was almost impossible to maintain a calm heart. However, Eric is sure that if he really wins the Oscar for Best Director in the future, he will definitely be excited, but it is unlikely that he will cry like Spielberg, because Spielberg still maintains a childlike innocence in middle age, but Eric has long lost any childish heart.

Last year's "Tornado" unsurprisingly won the award for Best VFX. Stan Winston was present to receive the award. Because of the absence of Eric, the director and heroine Joanna. In addition, there were no major nominations, and apart from a few technicians for best sound and Stan Winston and others, the main members of the crew of "Tornado" were not present at the Oscars. "Tornado" won a technical award is better, and the other shortlisted films of Firefly Pictures all returned empty-handed.

Therefore, consciously or unconsciously, after the Oscars, in addition to congratulating Spielberg, who finally achieved his merits after more than 20 years, many media turned the finger to Firefly. Criticizing Firefly Pictures' films for being too commercialized, even Disney has become mercenary, only knowing how to make profitable commercial films to make profits, and forgetting to pursue the artistic and social factors of the film itself.

Eric basically glanced at these sour articles, and in the final analysis, it was because Firefly Pictures had a strong performance last year, with 27% of the total box office share in North America combined, which is more than the second and third places combined, and it is not surprising that other studios feel like they are on pins and needles. Thinking of the few films that have started the summer promotion, Eric thinks about this year. The other big six are expected to be even more popular, but sooner or later they will definitely get used to this situation.

After April. Virginia and Joanna are both on due date, and everyone in the small manor, including Eric, has become cautious, because two women are pregnant with children at the same time, although the probability of children being born at the same time is very low, Eric still prepared two identical delivery rooms in the villa, and even the team of doctors has prepared two teams.

It was April 9, what was supposed to be an ordinary Friday, and Eric had lunch and went to his study as usual to work on some papers from Los Angeles. Joanna sat near Eric with a book in her hand, reading quietly.

In the face of the media's criticism of the over-commercialization of Firefly Pictures, although Firefly has been very cold from top to bottom, no matter what the outside world says, it has not made a public response, but within Firefly, after several meetings and discussions, the management agreed that the Oscars are an important part of Hollywood after all, even if it is to maintain a public image, Firefly should not be overly ignored. After a few days of discussion, management came up with two options.

One is that Firefly has set up a special art film department, and every year it invests in or buys several art films for the Olympics. Another option is to buy a second- or third-tier film company specializing in art films, and Michael Lynn and others even have a target, Miramax.

Eric wasn't surprised to see the name, in previous years, Miramax had only managed a few peripheral awards such as Best Foreign Language Film, but in recent years, as the Weinstein brothers have become more experienced in awards and public relations, they have tried to win the core Oscars such as Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor and Actress almost every year. And this year, although Miramax is also facing losses in terms of performance due to the aggressive expansion of the production and distribution business, and has to choose the road of sale, but its operation of "Crying Game" still brought Miramax three heavyweight Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor, if it were not for "Schindler's List", it would not be impossible for "Crying Games" to win one or two of these awards.

However, seeing the documents in his hand, Eric no longer has much interest in acquiring Miramax, perhaps because of the media remarks during this time, the Weinstein brothers thought that the Fireflies' intention to acquire Miramax was more 'urgent' than that of several other competitors, so they offered a price of 100 million US dollars, and also hoped to retain a certain stake and keep Miramax operating independently.

A few years ago, the reason why Eric chose the two film companies of New Line and Miramax as the acquisition targets to expand Firefly is mainly because both film companies already have relatively mature distribution channels, although the scale is very small, but as long as there are good movies, the expansion is very rapid, and finally chose the new line, mainly because the scale of the new line is larger.

And now, Eric doesn't have the same heart for Miramax as he had at the beginning, and after seeing the conditions proposed by the Weinstein brothers, he is even more lacking. If after the acquisition of Miramax. If the Weinstein brothers were also allowed to run the film company alone. The two brothers are unwilling to only make an Olympic award film and are bent on expanding Miramax's mind. In the future, Firefly and Miramax will definitely repeat the mistakes of Disney and Miramax in the same plane, and parting ways is almost a certainty.

Eric didn't plan to drag these two brothers into the Disney system to make a block for himself.

After thinking about it, Eric decided to go with the first solution.

With his mind in mind, Eric turned on his computer and began typing his comments on a blank document.

Just after tapping a few lines of text, there was a sudden knock on the study door, Eric frowned and before he could respond, a maid pushed the door directly and came in. With an anxious face, he said, "Mr. Williams, Madame's amniotic water has broken." ”

Eric stood up suddenly, "Did you call the doctor?"

"Madame has just felt some discomfort in her stomach, and Ms. Paquin has just arrived to examine her, and now Madame has been sent to the delivery room. ”

Eric turned his desk and was about to walk out, taking a few steps before turning his head to look at Joanna, "Joan, do you have ......?"

Joanna closed the book, stood up with a smile and said, "How can it be so coincidental, you don't care about me, go and see." ”

"Then you can rest here, and you don't have to go there. Eric said, following the maid outside.

Walk through long corridors. All the way to a south-facing room at the other end of the villa, Eric had already heard Virginia's voice of pain outside, and was about to push the door in, when a nurse dragging a tray came out of the other room, and saw Eric's actions and hurriedly grabbed him: "Mr. Williams, you can't go in like this, you have to put on a sterile gown first, Mary, help Mr. Williams get some clothes." ”

Eric agreed, hurriedly changed his clothes, and finally walked into the delivery room.

The renovated delivery room was no less than the high-end wards of any hospital, all the equipment was brand new, and Eric almost lost his temper of excitement when he promised the personal doctor in charge of the two women that he would donate all the equipment in the delivery room to each other after using it.

Virginia, who was lying on the hospital bed, saw Eric appear, and immediately stretched out her little hand: "Eric." ”

"I'm here," Eric stepped forward to hold the woman's small hand and comforted him before looking at the middle-aged woman with a mask next to him, "Ms. Paquin, that, how's it going?"

"Don't worry, Mr. Williams, there will be no problem with me, and Eliza will come over later. ”

The middle-aged woman said that Eliza was a doctor from another team, and Eric nodded, looking at the busy appearance of the doctor and nurse, and did not bother anymore, and quietly stayed by Virginia's side.

When a woman gives birth to her first child, it always takes a long time, and Eric was still prepared for this matter, but Virginia started from the breaking of the amniotic water in the afternoon and tossed until the early hours of the morning, and the little guy was reluctant to come out.

Virginia, who was a little pale, heard Eric whispering to the doctor that after twelve hours had passed, the little one would have a caesarean section without moving, she immediately cried out in a low voice: "Eric, I don't want a caesarean section, I heard that the child will be stupid then." ”

"Don't talk nonsense, how can you be stupid, you lie down well," Eric sat down next to the woman again, took her hand and whispered reassurance.

"Yes, yes, I don't want a C-section anyway. ”

Eric said a little helplessly: "Then you work hard and let the little guy come out quickly." ”

"Hurt ......"

"Then a caesarean section. ”

"Woo...... It's all your fault. ”

"Yes, yes, blame me, don't cry, relax, relax. ”

"I'm hungry. ”

"I've got porridge in the kitchen, I'll get it for you," Eric said, hurrying out of the delivery room.

The hostess was in labor, everyone did not rest, the whole villa was brightly lit, Eric passed by the living room, Joanna was still sitting on the sofa accompanied by a maid and whispered this, seeing Eric come out, Joanna hurriedly asked, "Eric, how is it?"

Eric shook his head: "Doctor Paquin said for twelve hours, if there is no movement, it is better to have a caesarean section." I'll help Vicky get something to eat, Joan, and you'd better get some rest. ”

"It's okay, I can't sleep either," Joanna shook her head slightly, her hand gently stroked her abdomen, perhaps under the influence of Virginia, she felt a slight pain in her stomach, but it was just a normal phenomenon many times before, in order not to worry Eric, she didn't say it, and continued: "Gina just asked if she wanted to eat, you can go to the kitchen and get it." ”

Watching Eric go into the kitchen, and soon come out with another bowl in his hand, the maid who was standing by Joanna's side whispered, "Mr. Williams is really considerate. ”

"Yes," Joanna said softly, feeling the tingling pain in her abdomen again, frowning slightly, reaching out to fumble with the remote control placed beside her, wanting to turn on the TV to divert her attention, she moved her body slightly, and when she touched the remote control, she also saw a faint water stain on the sofa.

The maid was about to say something, but she looked at Joanna's blank gaze, and suddenly covered her mouth and shouted, "Oh my God." ”

With that, the maid got up and ran nervously towards the delivery room.

Joanna's amniotic water also broke...... Eric was almost at a loss when he heard the news, but the doctors calmly divided into two small teams, guarding one person on each side.

To be on the safe side, Dr. Paquin suggested that Eric contact one or two more doctors. When it came to such a coincidence, Eric didn't think about any secrecy at all, and immediately agreed to the other party's suggestion, and Dr. Paquin saw that Eric agreed, so he recommended two of his colleagues to Eric.

The residents of the neighborhood had already noticed the brightly lit manor, and after the two helicopters flew in and landed on the small manor, they became even more curious, and some of them even came to inquire enthusiastically, but they did not get an answer from the doorman.

Eric spoke briefly to the doctor who had just arrived in a helicopter and was a little surprised to see him, and then went into Joanna's delivery room.

Seeing Eric coming, Joanna, who had been biting her lip slightly, immediately stretched out her little hand to him.

Seeing the man holding his little hand and comforting him softly, Joanna, who had been quiet, couldn't help crying: "Eric......"

"It's okay, it's okay, it's going to be soon, don't worry. Eric reassured in a flurry of reassurances, reaching out to wipe the corners of Joanna's eyes.

Joanna shook her head slightly, and said timidly, "No, Eric, I mean, I, my child is not called Hawaii. (To be continued......)