The 2004 awards season is coming to an end, and now the Oscars are left with only the last two awards – Best Director and Best Picture – yet to be announced. This year's awards season is basically the "Million Dollar Baby" and "Flyer" Double Dragon Rush for pearls, the first half of the "Flyer" took the lead, the second half of the "Million Dollar Baby" is a strong rise, the Golden Globe Award can be said to be a watershed.

On top of the Golden Globe Awards, "The Aviator" won the Best Picture in the Drama category and the Best Actor in the Drama category, but "Million Dollar Baby" won the Best Actress and Best Director in the Drama category. Even though everyone knows that the Golden Globes like to share the cake the most, you can still see the upward momentum of "Million Dollar Baby", and sure enough, the Directors Guild of America Awards revealed the answer: Clint Eastwood has been favored by the Directors Guild for the second time in his career.

In the 67-year history of the Directors Guild Awards, as of 2015, only seven Directors Guild winners have not won the Oscars for Best Director, which is a reflection of the authority, professionalism and purity of the Directors Guild Awards, which is also in stark contrast to the two extremes of the Screen Actors Guild. This year, the Directors Guild of America Award chose Clint, which is also the most direct proof of the counterattack momentum of "Million Dollar Baby".

Whether it's the acclaimed Alexander Payne, or the latecomers Mike Lee and Lancelot Strello, none of them have the competitiveness to change the whole landscape in the best director department. In particular, the works of these three directors have their own shortcomings, which cannot be ignored, and even Lance, who has received numerous accolades in the past year, is still an accompaniment in the department.

The nomination for two consecutive years is already the highest honor for Lance, and it has been shortlisted for the final five of the Directors Guild of America for two consecutive years, which also proves that Lance has a strong reputation among professional directors. But if you want to break through and win, whether it is the "City of God" or "borrowing a knife to kill", it is still a breath of air.

This year belongs to Martin and Clint, the former is a long journey of thirty years of dreams, and the latter is a sparkle of humanity, and whoever wins will write a legend. However, judging from the choice of the Directors Guild of America, the balance of victory and defeat seems to have changed......

Sure enough, award presenter Julia Roberts announced the final results, "Clint Eastwood, 'Million Dollar Baby.'" ”

In an instant, the audience once again gave Clint a standing ovation, and the tsunami of applause and whistles truly reached the climax of the evening, more turbulent, more boiling, and more enthusiastic than any previous award.

As one of the few directors in Hollywood who can be compared with top existences such as Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas, Clint is more popular, and the glorious history of actor is an indelible mark on Western movies, and the image of a tough guy cowboy is even more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people; After turning to a director, behind his tough directing style, he deeply analyzes and explores the intricacies of human nature, and it can be said that he is now standing at the door of the legendary palace.

So, Clint's victory was historic, and it really made him a legend, and the loud applause was nothing less than the respect and admiration of the Lifetime Achievement Award.

It's just that Martin, who is standing in the shadow of Clint, is more and more choked - Martin, who proved himself as early as the seventies, has never been recognized by the academy after working hard in Hollywood for more than 30 years.

In the wave of loud applause, countless eyes fell on Martin's body, and the mixed emotions such as sympathy, regret, and comfort fell like broken stars, making Martin's old shoulders look more lonely and lonely.

Lance also stood up, maintaining a polite social mask, and smiled and applauded Clint, but couldn't ignore Martin's figure. He only saw that Martin straightened his back, his gentlemanly demeanor could not find any flaws, he clapped his hands politely, and his eyes were always on Clint on the stage, showing his respect, and he couldn't see Martin's loss and frustration at all.

It wasn't until everyone was seated one by one that Lance and Martin were seated.

Martin turned his head, and then he saw Lance's curious gaze, no pity, just sincere concern, even if Martin noticed the gaze, he remained calm. This made Martin's tense heartstrings loosen slightly, and if he had detected the slightest sympathy or pity in Lance's sight at this point, he would have only returned the favor with a smile and turned his head politely, but Lance did not.

"Not an unexpected result, is it?" Martin lowered his voice and spoke briefly, but it seemed meaningful.

Martin's entire career has been denied an Oscar, but what is hidden behind it is that he has never won the approval of the Directors Guild of America. So, after missing out on the Directors Guild of America Awards again this year, Martin may have anticipated tonight's situation. But even so, there was still a glimmer of hope in my heart and I came to the award ceremony, and until this moment, the bubble of the dream was punctured.

Lance fell silent.

Turning his head to look around, he could see that there were many people with sympathy in their eyes, as if Martin was a beggar who needed handouts to prove himself. What a ridiculous situation, Martin doesn't need charity, he doesn't need mercy, he is a brilliant director, and there is no doubt that he has long occupied a place in film history with his practical actions. But in Hollywood, or rather, in modern society, people are always accustomed to labeling, using money, status, awards, certificates, and academic qualifications to measure a person's value, rather than his work, his works, and his strength.

It's hard to imagine how much pressure Martin was putting on his shoulders; There is no way to guess what kind of emotions Martin is in his heart at this time. In a trance, Lance somewhat understood Martin's etiquette without any loopholes.

After snatching the two weighty trophies of Best Actress and Best Director in a row, "Million Dollar Baby" has returned to the same starting line with "The Flyer". Although "The Aviator" has won five trophies so far, only Best Supporting Actress and Best Film Editing are the core departments, and Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design are all trophies in the technical department, which have little impact on the direction of the best picture due to their professionalism and specificity. This also means that the "Flyer", who led the whole night and even the entire awards season, was overtaken by the "Million Dollar Baby" at the last moment.

If you add the Best Supporting Actor award won at the beginning, the three trophies of "Million Dollar Baby" are not inferior, making up for the shortcomings of quantity with quality, and even faintly surpassing "The Flyer" to become the most powerful candidate for the winner tonight, the situation has really changed dramatically.

It's like a marathon, and no one can say it's a winner until they cross the finish line.

The only thing that is certain is that three of the top five films in the best film have fallen behind in advance and withdrawn from the competition, "Wine Life" and "Soul Singer" each won a trophy, and "Looking for Neverland" has not received any pieces, and it is basically certain that it will not win the final award. The winner of Best Picture will only be between "The Flyer" and "Million Dollar Baby", which will carry the theme of the awards season to the end.

Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand took to the stage hand in hand to reveal the suspense of the final award of the night.

Lance turned his head to look at Martin next to him, but found that Martin was not the slightest nervous, but he didn't know whether he had given up, or expected the ending, or if he had calmed down. Perceiving Lance's gaze, Martin looked up and smiled calmly, as if to say, "Normal." Then Martin looked back at the stage.

Dustin opened the envelope, Barbara revealed the answer, and the trajectory of history was temporarily deviated from the track in the Best Actor Award, and then returned to the original track again, "Million Dollar Baby" carried a powerful voice, completed the counterattack on the "Aviator", successfully topped the Oscars, and won the Best Picture!

Lance and Martin stood up once again and watched as the crew of Million Dollar Baby took the stage en masse to receive the highest honor, Best Picture, and the 2004 awards season officially came to an end.

The awards ceremony is over, everyone is starting to prepare to leave one after another, although the awards have found their respective owners, some are proud, some are disappointed, but life will go on, Oscar night is coming, it is another battlefield. This is Vanity Fair, and the war never ends.

Lance stood in front of Martin and stretched out his right hand, "It's a pity that you weren't the last to take the stage." The teasing with a shallow smile made Martin laugh, and there was a hint of bitterness in his hearty laughter.

"I'm lucky, that's true." Martin took Lance's right hand and shrugged his shoulders, at least "The Flyer" won five trophies, and in terms of the number of trophies, he was still the biggest winner of the night, "Unfortunately, Leo was a little bit of luck." "Relatively speaking, Leonardo, who missed out on individual awards, is really embarrassing.

Lance smiled dumbly, "I refuse to make any comments on this matter. "Pretending to be serious only makes the atmosphere more relaxed." So, see you at Oscar night? ”

Martin didn't answer, just smiled and nodded. Perhaps, he still needs a little more time to digest this defeat. Just as Lance was about to say goodbye and leave, Martin continued, "Where is your hometown?" ”

Lance obviously didn't expect the source of this question, was stunned, and subconsciously replied, "San Francisco." Instead of answering Green Bay, he didn't answer New York, he chose San Francisco. This is also the data he filled in the public information.

Martin nodded meaningfully, revealing the elder's loving smile, "Good place." Then he patted Lance's arm, and without saying anything more, he turned to socialize with the others.

Lance thought about it carefully, but still didn't have a clue, so he could only take a step and slowly leave the Kodak Theater with the crowd. (To be continued.) )