The first half of the Oscars came to an end, and there was a sense of restlessness and irritability throughout the room, everyone could feel that something big was happening, but no one could say why, not the Weinstein brothers, not Steven, not Hugo.

When Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro presented the award to Ilya Kazan, more than half of the audience was cheering, and a third were applauding enthusiastically, and the chaotic scene pushed the restlessness of the awards ceremony to the peak.

Although there is no direct connection between art and morality, Ilya's act of betraying his friends for glory does not define his contribution to the film industry; But Hugo still refused to applaud him, and the last time the two met at the Berlin Film Festival, Hugo did not get too close to the film master. The same is true tonight.

Tom Cruise, who was clapping, glanced at Hugo, as if to ask "Do you applaud or cheer", but Hugo shrugged his shoulders and showed a nonchalant expression. This made Tom laugh and shake his head, but after a moment of applause, he lowered his hand and whispered to Hugo, "The agent's request." It seemed to explain what he had just done.

After a brief riot, the Oscars enter the main stage, which is also the link that determines the direction of the final awards tonight: the award of the best adapted screenplay and the best original screenplay, followed by the announcement of the best director, then the suspense of the best actor and best actress, and finally the best picture.

The first to appear was the Best Adapted Screenplay Award with a slightly weaker suspense, and the five works "The Thin Red Line", "Gods and Beasts", "Windfall", "Strategy Master" and "The Wind and Clouds" were shortlisted for the final competition.

These five nominees are all works that performed well at tonight's awards ceremony, and in addition to the best adapted screenplay, they were all shortlisted for at least one other award, and the average quality is still very outstanding. However, before the awards ceremony began, almost everyone thought that the "thin red line" would be invincible, and there would be no competitors at all.

In fact, at the previous Writers Guild of America Awards, "Shakespeare's Love History" and "Strategy Master" won the Best Original Screenplay Award and the Best Adapted Screenplay Award respectively, which made the two works generally favored. "Shakespeare's Love History" also successfully won the Best Screenplay Award at the Golden Globe Awards, but the "Strategy Master" was not even shortlisted for the Golden Globe Award nominations, which is also really intriguing.

After entering the Oscars, "Thin Red Line" sprung up and became one of the main contenders for Best Picture with an absolutely strong performance. In this context, the other four works in the Best Adapted Screenplay department are difficult to attack the "thin red line", and it is estimated that the result should be no suspense.

Hugo and Curtis Hansen, the winners of last year's Best Original Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay, were invited to be the presenters of this year's screenwriting department.

"Not long ago, I talked to a screenwriter friend about the importance of scripts, and we were both lamenting that the status of screenwriters has been re-emphasized, and there have been many wonderful adaptations of scripts for two consecutive years, as well as even better original scripts." Curtis took the initiative to start the conversation and said with a smile, "So...... What do you think? ”

Hugo was listening attentively with his hands behind his back, and then he was stunned, "Oh, you're asking my opinion?" Curtis nodded, and Hugo showed a disappointed expression, "I thought you were going to say that I contributed an important boost in the process that cannot be ignored, and I was ready to be humble." ”

Hugo's words made the audience burst into laughter, it is worth mentioning that at this time, the number of viewers who had fallen below the threshold of 40 million was slowly recovering, and after Hugo took the stage, the number of viewers quickly jumped to 43 million, and it was still slowly rising, which made the program broadcast team begin to be excited.

"Of course, the screenwriting job will always be an important part of the filmmaking industry - no, Ernst, I can't say the word 'most', it's a betrayal of my work as an actor, sorry, that's my limit." Hugo suddenly raised his hands, shook his head and said, making everyone stunned, but before everyone could reflect it, Hugo continued, "It is precisely because of the countless whimsy of the screenwriters that I will not be unemployed, so I think I should solemnly thank them for their hard work." ”

At this time, people reacted, and the audience applauded and laughed.

Hugo paused slightly, waited for the laughter to subside a bit, and turned to look at Curtis, "So, have you seen the works on the list of nominees?" How does it feel? ”

"Oh, excellent, very good. But, I'm looking forward to your work even more, and I recently heard that you're working on a brand new screenplay. Curtis's words fell, and many people at the scene began to laugh. It has long been no secret that Hugo is writing a new script, but no one has known the details of the script yet.

Hugo raised an eyebrow and tapped his chin slightly, "If I were you, I wouldn't be looking forward to it that much." I'm not sure if I'll be able to stand here next year, so you'd better go to the cinema while you remember. With that, Hugo pointed his finger down and pointed to where his feet were standing.

At first, everyone didn't understand what it meant, but seeing Hugo's vivid expression, his eyes kept drifting to the little golden figure in Curtis's hand, and in a blink of an eye, they understood: Hugo was hinting that he hoped that his script would also be nominated next year, and even win an award; At the same time, it is also ironic that if it were not for the Oscar nomination, many filmmakers would not have gone into the cinema at all.

At this moment, the scene completely became a sea of laughter, and it couldn't be stopped at all.

It was only with great difficulty that the noise calmed down a little, Hugo coughed lightly twice, bowed his head and said, "Curtis, I hope Whoopi won't be angry that you robbed her of her hosting job." This time he threw the black cauldron at Curtis, and before the audience could laugh at Curtis's face full of mistakes, Hugo quickly said, "Let's watch the list of nominees for the best adapted screenplay tonight, please look at the big screen." ”

As a result, everyone could only lock the laughter in their throats, and it was extremely hard to hold back laughter, and no one even noticed the movement of the big screen. Before you know it, the number of viewers of the awards ceremony has returned to more than 45 million, and the strong pull force of the "Hugo effect" has finally made ABC TV finally breathe a sigh of relief.

After watching the short films of the five nominated films, the next step is back to Hugo and Curtis. Hugo was holding a red envelope in his hand, he didn't deliberately hang his appetite, he opened the envelope directly, took out the card inside, peeked at it, and then raised his eyebrows, and the smile on the corner of his mouth was really interesting, "The 71st Oscars, the winner of the best adapted screenplay is ......"

Then Hugo handed the envelope to Curtis, who leaned over and looked at the envelope, then at Hugo, and then into the microphone and said, "'Gods and beasts,' Bill Condent. Condon）。 ”

…… Silence, or silence. Almost no one expected such an outcome, not a "thin red line", not even a "strategist", but "gods and beasts", and such a result was not only appalling, but directly equivalent to announcing the "thin red line" out of the race for best picture - because the winning department was lost, and the "thin red line" could hardly compete with the competition in the remaining awards.

First, "Beautiful Life" won the Best Foreign Language Film Award and was out of the ultimate battle; Then the "thin red line" was defeated by the "gods and beasts", and then he was out of the ultimate battle, which is really incomprehensible. Or to be more precise, the whole direction of the Oscars tonight is incomprehensible.

At present, "Saving Private Ryan" and "Shakespeare's Love History" are leading strongly, and "Truman's World" has only won a little golden man with the best soundtrack, which is not painful. Each of the next awards can have a myriad of changes, which can have an unpredictable impact on the final Best Picture award.

The award for Best Original Screenplay that followed, was crucial.

This is different from other previous awards, the importance has directly climbed several levels, and even Xavi, who has always been calm and calm, is nervous. The success or failure of "Shakespeare in Love" tonight was maintained in the two awards of Best Original Screenplay and Best Actress, and they ran the entire awards season for this time - all the weight was concentrated in the red envelope in Hugo's hand, the air began to tense, and the unspeakable heat made the sound of sweat droplets sliding down so clearly.

"Shakespeare in Love", "Saving Private Ryan", "Truman's World", "Life is Beautiful" and "Braggart Customer", five works will compete for the Best Original Screenplay Award, except for "Bragging Customer" is slightly weaker, the other four works in the awards ceremony are definitely thin ice winners, unlike the shocking upset of the best adapted screenplay, in the original department, no one can pack a ticket to say that it will win, and no one can confirm which work is a dark horse.

After last year's fierce competition for the Best Original Screenplay category, this year once again presents an unprecedented prosperity for original screenplay. However, compared with last year's hard power showdown, this year is more of a showdown of momentum - "Truman's World", which has an absolute advantage in the strength of the script, is not the favorite to win the award, but the "Shakespeare Love History" and "Saving Private Ryan", which have the upper hand in the heated discussion, are ahead, but at the same time, the unpredictability of the whole momentum has also made the competition for the award more and more intense.

When the brave meet on a narrow road, the brave wins, but what about the brave when they meet?