"The 72nd Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement, let's welcome Mr. Ernst Lechmann!"

Although the award had been announced long before the ceremony, when Jane Fonda announced the answer, the audience stood up en masse and greeted Ernst with thunderous applause. Unlike the controversy when Ilya Kazan took the stage last year, generally speaking, those who can win the Lifetime Achievement Award are highly respected in the industry, and they are bound to usher in the support of the audience. Like tonight.

Ernst walked onto the stage in a black suit and white shirt with unwavering steps, and took his own trophy from Jane's hands.

Ernst stood where he was, looking at the little golden man for a long time, once upon a time, he had spent a lifetime, always tirelessly chasing this trophy, but it was always so close and so far away, he had given up, completely given up, just stayed on his side of the world and complained, complaining, this almost became a demon in his heart, making him become an appearance that he could not even recognize.

But today, the little golden figure was so real and heavy in his hands, that he thought it would be heavier, and he couldn't help but toss it slightly, as if he wanted to feel the weight of the trophy - almost carrying the weight of his life's quest - but he was disappointed, because it was not enough, it was not enough.

Standing in front of the microphone, Ernst looked at the crowd standing en masse at the bottom of the stage, most of whom he no longer recognized, and the Hollywood of today was no longer what he was familiar with twenty years ago. Until he saw Hugo, and Charlize, it was a figure he was familiar with. His gaze lingered on the two men for a moment, then retracted it.

"I thought I'd never get a chance to stand here and say that in my life, but fate is an interesting thing, isn't it?" The corners of Ernst's mouth slightly outlined a smile, and his rough and impatient voice still did not change, "But I didn't expect that two years ago, a young man spoke those words in my place, and today I have the opportunity to stand here in person. ”

The young man from two years ago...... Everyone knew who Ernst was talking about.

"I want to say that the script is always the foundation of a good movie, and a good story in the hands of any director, even if it is completely ruined, can still reach above the standard; But a good director, when he encounters a terrible script, no matter how good he is, there is no room to play. Ernst said seriously, these words have been hidden in his heart for many years, but they have never been taken seriously by Hollywood, "but when I really stand here today, and say this, I feel that everything is no longer important, because I am not the only smart person in Hollywood." ”

Ernst's self-deprecating words caused a chuckle to erupt in the scene, and he looked again at the surging crowd and the bright and dazzling lights. He had fantasized countless times about himself standing on this stage, but after actually standing here, he found that more important than the little golden man in his hand were the scripts he had written, and what he loved was the script, which was always ...... And not this trophy.

Thinking of this, Ernst was relieved, and the knot that had entangled him all his life was finally relieved, "Thank you, thank you for the college's affirmation of me." After that, Ernst didn't stop there, turned around and left the stage.

When he returned to the sidestage, Ernst felt that his eyes were a little warm, and he had to stand in the shadows, close his eyes slightly, and quietly feel the sound of his heart beating, the slightly unsteady beat, but it was so beautiful and moving.

This year's Lifetime Achievement Award was won by Ernst Lechmann, which obviously has special significance, which also marks that after the commercial films led by "Titanic", the academy still focused on the script, hoping that more works similar to "Truman's World", "Perfection", and "The Sixth Sense of the Supernatural" will appear.

After Ernst left the stage, two important trophies for the screenwriting department were about to be revealed, and this arrangement was also very meaningful.

Compared with the original script department that gathered strong players in the previous two years, although the competition for the best original script this year is still fierce, the whole pattern is small, and more of them are still ghosts, Charlie Kaufman of "Puppet Life" and Paul Thomas Anderson of "Magnolia" The two rookies occupy people's main attention, and M-Knight Shyamalan of "The Sixth Sense of the Supernatural" is still slightly inferior Although the performance is good, it is still slightly inferior, as for Mike Lee of "Singing and Playing" and Woody Allen of "Sweet and Humble". , this year should be a spectator.

The results also proved the previous speculation of the awards ceremony, "Puppet Life" and "Magnolia" launched a bayonet competition, and in the end, Paul relied on "Magnolia" to surprise everyone to win the championship in one fell swoop, once again recreating the style of Quentin Tarantino back then, and pushing the strong momentum of independent films to a new peak.

The entire "Magnolia" crew was arranged in the corner, except for Tom Cruise and his wife, who were still sitting in the first row, everyone else was hidden in the corner, in order to let Paul go on stage to accept the award, everyone in the crew walked out and stood in the aisle, which allowed Paul to go on stage smoothly, and the chaotic battle also made people cry and laugh.

Compared with the excitement and excitement of the entire "Magnolia" crew, Paul himself seems relatively calm, but this genius director has always been arrogant and uninhibited, and it is not surprising that he has a normal heart for the little golden man.

The failure of "The Sixth Sense" in the Best Original Screenplay category is reminiscent of last year's work "The Thin Red Line", when it also lost to "Gods and Beasts" in the best adapted screenplay, and finally the entire award ceremony went home empty-handed. This time, "The Sixth Sense" is the only work in the original department to make it to the Best Picture race, and if this award cannot be earned, it can basically be declared out early.

And so it turned out. However, for a horror movie, the defeat of "The Psychic Sixth Sense" did not cause too many surprises, and people seemed to have been mentally prepared for this result for a long time. At least, "The Sixth Sense" is better than "The Thin Red Line" and won a Best Supporting Actress award. However, it is unknown whether the trend of the award ceremony will be as expected after that.

Immediately after that, Kevin Spacey took the stage to present the Best Adapted Screenplay Award, which is different from the Best Original Screenplay department, which can almost be said to be the key to the trend of the entire awards ceremony. Because, if "A Beautiful Mind" wins the award, then the follow-up suspense will basically disappear - the two awards in the protagonist department, the Best Picture nominees are not the most powerful contenders, which means that the "Beautiful Mind" in the hands of the three little golden men will be unbeatable.

But if it's not for "A Beautiful Mind", any other work wins the award - even if it is "The Genius Ripley" wins, it also means that everyone in the next protagonist department and director department still has a chance, as long as one work can win two statuettes, the trend of best picture is still unknown.

More importantly, in the competition for the best adapted screenplay, Hugo became the strongest contender with "A Beautiful Mind", and the excellent quality of the work was unanimously affirmed, and even Hugo was nominated for Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay at the same time.

However, the double nomination will also push the vote-sharing crisis to the peak, especially the influence of the "Hollywood cancer" cannot be underestimated. In the previous Writers Guild of America Awards, "Puppet Life" and "Campus Election" won respectively, which shows that the Writers Guild's affirmation of "Beautiful Mind" has not reached enough height, which further weakens Hugo's chances of winning the award.

But now that "Puppet Life" lost to "Magnolia" at the Oscars, and "Campus Storm" simply did not win the nomination, the results of the Writers Guild of America cannot be used as a reference. On top of the Golden Globe Awards, the last laugh is "puppet life", but it does not belong to the adaptation department at all, which makes the results of the Golden Globe Awards have no reference value.

Therefore, when Kevin Spacey walked on the stage, he could clearly feel that the eyes of the audience were focused on him, as if he was a thousand pounds of burden, which made him a little breathless. "I didn't expect the award presenters to be so nervous, which I didn't expect." Kevin made the atmosphere a little lighter in a teasing way.

However, this is only a momentary relief, and the tense atmosphere soon gathers again, and the battle of the five works of "The Law of the Cider House", "Beautiful Mind", "Green Miracle", "Shocking Insider", and "Genius Ripley" is about to reveal a result, which is likely to be the key to tonight's victory or defeat.

At this time, Hugo was not so nervous, not only because after many consecutive experiences in recent years, he became more experienced, and his mentality gradually stabilized; And because Hugo knows that he is not the favorite to win the award, no matter how serious the "Hollywood cancer" trend is, it is certain that he has already won all the awards he should have won, and his mood is naturally relatively calm.

Charlize, who was sitting next to Hugo, looked even more nervous, his hands clenched into fists, staring intently at the envelope in Kevin's hand, his heart beating almost to a standstill, just waiting with bated breath for the results to be announced. Even Hugo held her cold left hand, she didn't notice it. Because Charlize clearly knows how much Hugo put in the process of writing the script "A Beautiful Mind", and how much effort Hugo has put into this work, she hopes that Hugo can get his affirmation - even if she herself ridicules Hugo for winning the award, but she still stands firmly by Hugo's side.

Kevin looked at the crowded crowd under the stands, took a deep breath, opened the envelope, the red envelope seemed to be ready to burn at any time, the raging flame was beating in Kevin's palm, "The winner of the 72nd Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay is ......"