Lance and Charlize walked side by side into the Kodak Theatre, and walked up the red carpet all the way up the stairs, and in the distance you could see a man standing at the entrance, dazzling lights spilling down from the resplendent ceiling, blurring the figure, leaving only a rough outline, but still recognizable at a glance. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Tom Cruise.

"You owe me a bottle of red wine." Tom greeted him with a smile, patted Lance's arm vigorously, then turned his head to greet Charlize politely, and then continued, "You keep it so secretively, I really thought you were going to be absent tonight, and everyone came to ask me, but I didn't know anything." You owe me a bottle of red wine, and as for what kind of wine it is, it depends on your sincerity. ”

Lance couldn't help but give Tom a hard punch in the chest, "This time I found a bottle of a 1997 Roance-NTI in Casablanca, and it will be cheaper for you." "The 1997 Romanée-Conti, from Burgundy, France, is currently the owner of the most expensive bottle of red wine - except for the rare red wines at auction, the market reference price is around 1,500 US dollars, but the most precious part of this red wine is not the price, but the scarcity of production, only about 2,000 to 2,500 bottles a year, even the world's top elites have to queue up to buy this wine, and the average waiting time is more than six months. Among them, 1997 was an excellent year. That's why Lance used the word "Tao".

"I heard Cole say, you brought your female companion tonight, why didn't you see it?" Lance looked left and right and saw that Tom was just one person.

"Katie is already seated." Tom pointed in the direction of the banquet hall and turned his head to see Jack Gyllenhaal oncoming him, Tom lowered his voice and said jokingly in Lance's ear, "Your unexpected arrival, this great surprise has disturbed the waters of the lake." ”

"Hey, Lance." Jack walked up quickly and gave Lance a big hug with excitement on his face, "Wow, I thought I wouldn't see you tonight." Unexpectedly, you actually arrived! Those big eyes were filled with surging excitement, and they showed it without any concealment.

"I don't want to miss a showdown with you." Lance's ridicule made Jack stunned, and then he laughed heartily - in "The Day After Tomorrow", Lance was the director who promoted Jack, but now the two of them are both shortlisted for Best Supporting Actor, and they will compete for the little golden man. Lance patted Jack on the back, "Let's go in first, we're already late." ”

"Of course, of course." Jack said cheerfully, "By the way, I'll introduce you to Lee later, we talked about you in the crew before...... Oh, I'm sorry, Tom, I'm Jack Gyllenhaal, Miss Theron......" The group greeted as they walked into the banquet hall.

The banquet hall, decorated in red, looked solemn and solemn, with a low and noisy discussion swaying in the air, a warm current of breath blowing in the face, and the residual sea breeze on the surface of the skin suddenly peeled off.

Lance could clearly feel that the gaze was projected from every corner, with anticipation, speculation, banter, excitement, rejection, and sharpness...... A wide web of all kinds of eyes was woven into a web that locked Lance firmly in place from the moment he entered the hall.

In front of everyone's eyes, Reese Witherspoon raised her right hand high and shook it vigorously, her jubilant joy clearly written between her eyebrows; Jeff Daniels was stepping out of his seat, but he didn't want to meet Alexander Payne, who was also standing, and the two couldn't help but smile at each other, pointing in the direction of the entrance, and talking as they moved; Jennifer Aniston was already standing in the aisle, looking back and whispering to Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves, but her eyes were always on Lance's actions.

Meryl Streep then raised her voice and shouted, "Hey, young man, if you don't hurry up again, I'm going to kick your ass/stock." The heroic shout caused everyone around her to chuckle, and Meryl shook her head with a big smile on her face and said, "I only made a bet with Scott last week, and now it looks like this guy made me lose the bet." Scott here is obviously referring to Scott Rudin, a big-name Hollywood producer.

Lance walked forward quickly, Meryl raised the fingers of her right hand and shook it, pursing her lips slightly, looking like an old naughty boy, "You made me lose an important bet, so you have two choices now, either leave me a role in the next movie, or act as my flower messenger on Oscar night tonight." ”

Lance had met Meryl several times before, but their friendship was not deep. Tonight, however, Meryl was clearly giving Lance a strong voice, and from this detail alone, it can be seen that the turbulent undercurrents beneath the surface of the awards season are far beyond imagination, as evidenced by the different reactions of the people in the banquet hall at this time; What's even more surprising is that there are a lot of people on Reims's side, especially before the list of winners is announced, there are people who are willing to take a stand, and this friendship is really valuable.

"Ma'am, it's a bit difficult for me." Lance wrinkled his nose and looked embarrassed, which made Meryl stunned, as if she hadn't expected such a reaction, and then heard Lance say, "Can't I choose both?" I thought, maybe I can do it, at least I can try. ”

Meryl paused, then burst out laughing, turned to the people behind her, and said, "Looks like he's the big winner tonight." ”

Judy Dench, who was sitting not far away, raised her voice and said, "He's always been a lovely person, hasn't he?" ”

"Jazz." Lance took the initiative to say hello, "I hope I didn't offend you by using your name to attract attention." Lance was talking about the previous conversation on The Tonight Show, where they had already met in the West End. But at that time, Lance was just a small character.

"If you don't say it, I don't remember you at all." Judy waved her hand and said lightly, which quietly struck Lance and made everyone laugh.

After a long round of greetings, Lance and Charlize were able to sit down.

On occasions like the Oscars, all seating arrangements are well placed. For example, Lance and George would never have been arranged together, and even if ABC wanted to create a gimmick, it wouldn't have been so risky; For example, Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise are also definitely unlikely to sit too close. This is also the reason why the college needs to confirm whether the guests are present in advance.

Due to too much uncertainty in the filming of "Fury Road", Chaos Pictures has always prepared according to the absence of two people from the Oscars, and ABC TV still made preparations before getting the confirmed news, but because of Chaos Pictures' attitude, they still carried out according to the absence of two people on the whole. Now, Lance and Charlize are shining at the last minute, and ABC TV is not in a hurry, but it does have some minor troubles.

Lance and Charlize are seated next to each other, but not in the first row, nor in the center, but in the second row near the left side of the stage, where the panorama and close-up view would not be visible at all if it were not for the camera's care.

The arrangement of ABC TV is understandable, it was originally in the second row, and it was not completely arranged to the most marginal corner, even if the two people were really absent, then such a hidden position would not be discovered by the audience. But now, it's a little embarrassing, not to mention that Lance is the bearer of tonight's suspense, it can be said that he is the focus of almost every award, just to say that Charlize is a contender for the actress, but hiding in a place that the camera can't take care of, which is also laughable.

What's more, George was placed in the middle of the first row by the aisle, next to Felicity Hoffman and behind Meryl Streep, so to speak, the center of the center. With such a contrast, how can people not think cranky? ABC TV is now suffering and can't say it.

The staff at the lead looked a little embarrassed, but Lance was calm and politely greeted Noah Baumbach and Emanuel-Lubezki, who were sitting next to him, one competing for the screenwriting award and the other for the photography department; Behind him are Amy Adams, who made it to the top for Best Supporting Actress, and Luc-Jacquet, who was nominated for Best Documentary Feature on his debut.

In front of him are Frances McDormand and Paul Giamati - these are old acquaintances, Charlize and Francis teamed up for "North Vice" and compete for this year's leading actress and supporting actress category; Lance and Paul greeted each other with a smile, and Paul pointed in the direction of the other side, "Alex was talking about why you didn't show up before leaving." Said Alexander Payne.

It can be seen that this corner is full of nominees, but none of them are the favorites, and none of them are core awards. As a winner of four nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Original Screenplay, Lance sits here and looks like an outlier.

Before the awards ceremony officially began, a tense atmosphere spread through the Kodak Theater, as if everything was taken for granted, but as if everything was starting to go wrong, no one knew exactly when it started. Now, it's too late to retreat, so we can only continue with our heads, and no one knows what will happen next.

Lance didn't realize it, lowered his voice and communicated with Noah on the right hand, although "Squid and Whale" was distributed by Chaos Pictures, but today is the first time Lance and Noah have officially met. After a while, the lights slowly dimmed, which also signaled that the live broadcast time was coming.

The gears of fate began to turn slowly. (To be continued.) )