Beverly Hills, Windsor Castle Restaurant.

At the booth, the waiter delivered a variety of exquisite meals and placed them in front of the two customers.

Kenneth Turan, one of the most famous critics in Los Angeles, tied up his napkin and looked at Martin across from him: "A meal here costs a lot." ”

Martin also tied up his napkin and said, "When old friends get together, they always have to eat something different." ”

In fact, Kenneth Turan was very satisfied with Martin's choice of this restaurant, which cost nearly a dollar per person, at least as a sign of respect.

If you go to any random restaurant on the street to eat barbecue, what is the style of the No. 1 film critic in Los Angeles?

Martin specially invited Kenneth to dinner, with a very clear purpose, and did his homework: "All the while, I remember your guidance and help to me. ”

Kenneth waved his hand: "It's not a guide, it's just a few film reviews." ”

Martin, when he is shameless, his skin can become as thick as mantle rocks: "When I first came to Hollywood, I was like a fly without a head, and there was no standard for film selection, but fortunately, I was lucky, the horror wax museum and the eyes of the mountain were successful, so that I could gain a foothold in Hollywood, and I was even luckier that I met you." ”

Kenneth recalls carefully, as if he had spoken to Martin after the premiere of Eyes on the Mountain.

That's what Martin said: "Your words made me understand how to go in the future, actors must have artistic pursuits, but at that time I didn't even have a foothold, so I could only make money first." ”

Kenneth nodded: "This is understandable, give priority to ensuring life, and live a worry-free life, so that you can concentrate more on art." ”

Martin said: "I have never forgotten the artistic pursuit of actors, so even in the face of many difficulties, I still tried to compete for the role of director Scorsese, I spent half a year practicing Boston accent, spent nearly a month in the Boston Police Department to experience life, followed the people of the police department to arrest gangsters and traffickers, and finally impressed director Scorsese." ”

Kenneth affirmed Martin's actions: "That's what an actor should look like, and you're doing a great job, and the characters in the film are so good because you're prepared." ”

"Yes, it was an extraordinary experience." Martin has given people an in-depth understanding of Kenneth Turan in the past two years, and has found out his personality preferences: "Director Scorsese and Jack Nicholson gave me a lot of guidance on the set, which took my acting to a higher level, and my acting skills improved a lot......"

Kenneth watched the film and said, "Your character in The Departed is better than any previous film, and it has improved so much that it has even surpassed Leonardo. ”

At this moment, Martin is more proactive than in the face of beautiful women: "Progress, rise, I can feel it, so I don't want to stop, I took over the male lead of a purely literary film, "The Reader" directed by Sam Mendes and led by Kate Winslet. ”

Kenneth had paid attention to the relevant information before, saying: "Sam is a leader among mainstream art directors, Kate has not taken on commercial films since "Titanic", and she is dedicated to honing herself in the field of art, and sooner or later she will be recognized." ”

"They're all outstanding artists." Martin also had something to say about what he could: "My character in 'The Reader' went from 16 to 50 and it was too difficult to interpret, and Sam and Kate helped me through the process. ”

Kenneth was somewhat surprised: "The role span is so large? ”

Martin nodded: "Yes, because of the guidance and help of two outstanding artists, I was able to master this role." ”

His face was full of admiration: "In the crew, getting along with Sam and Kate made me understand what an artist is, what is a performing art, and what kind of efforts and what price outstanding artists can make for the art of film." ”

Kenneth heard Martin's desire to further improve his acting skills and his pursuit of film art, saying, "Martin, you are not doing badly, and you will be able to catch up with them one day." ”

Martin told the truth: "Compared to Sam and Kate, I'm really much worse, and I feel like I'll never be able to catch up." ”

Kenneth felt that he had to give some encouragement to the aspiring young man: "But you've been working hard and you've been improving!" ”

Martin just nodded vigorously and didn't say anything like he would do what Sam and Kate could.

Because of those, he couldn't do it anyway.

Too focused and fanatical.

Artists are really not something that ordinary people can do.

During this meal, the two talked and laughed happily and chatted very happily.

Martin settled the bill and didn't go to see Kenneth Turan, who cherished his feathers so much that he didn't want to be photographed eating with the stars during awards season.

By the time Kenneth Turan had walked for ten minutes, Martin had entered the mall through another door of the restaurant and down to the underground parking lot, where Bruce drove Thomas to arrive on time.

Getting into the car, Martin asked, "Have you eaten?" ”

"I've eaten it a long time ago." Thomas asked with concern, "How's the talk?" ”

Martin said directly: "I'm an actor with artistic aspirations, and Kenneth Turan appreciates that very much. ”

Thomas breathed a sigh of relief: "Among all the film critics association awards, the most important are the two major film critics association awards in Los Angeles and New York, more than seventy percent of the Oscar judges live in Los Angeles and New York, and the first thing to pay attention to is the news of these two cities, we have no way to do it in New York, but Los Angeles has to take the initiative." ”

"You've already talked about it on the Hollywood Reporter columnist Todd McCarthy, and I don't have a bad reputation in the mainstream media in Los Angeles," Martin said. ”

Bruce participated in the award for the first time, and couldn't help but sigh: "It's really troublesome, before I came to Los Angeles, I thought that the Oscar selection was simply a vote based on the character and the quality of the movie, but the result is not the same at all." ”

Thomas said: "Almost all people who are interested in Oscar heavyweights and even nominations are trying to do PR marketing, and we don't do what others do, let alone get on the nomination list, and they can't even get the nomination." ”

Martin simply gave a more intuitive analogy: "Lao Bu, you can understand it as a Hollywood-style Washington Oval Office campaign." ”

Bruce nodded slightly: "Fortunately, we did our work in advance. ”

Thomas lowered his voice: "In the past two years, we have dealt with them a lot, we have expressed our hearts many times, and now the works and characters are excellent, of course they will say that the credibility of critics is much more important than that of stars." ”

On the other side, Kenneth Turan came to the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.

As a columnist for the largest print media in the City of Angels, and has always been friendly with senior film critics such as Todd McCarthy, he is the most influential critic in the association.

Awards season has begun, and it's time for critics to play the most.

Six heavyweight film critics from various Los Angeles media outlets gathered to discuss the Film Critics Association Awards, which will be released next month.

Someone proposed: "The little sunshine beauty is a good ......"

Todd McCarthy retorted: "But a film like this can't hold up the award for Best Picture." ”

The others nodded one after another, although the little sunny beauty is good, but for the awards season, it seems that there is something missing.

Another said: "The Departed or the Queen are good, the former is better, and Scorsese hasn't made such a good movie in a long time since Goodfellas." ”

Todd McCarthy said: "Martin Davis and Jack Nicholson have both outstanding roles, the latter voluntarily declared that he will not compete in the awards season, and the former is too junior and chose to avoid the fierce competition for Best Actor in favor of supporting actor. ”

A young film critic named Justin said: "Very wise choice, strictly speaking, he has only been in the industry for three years, and he is an actor who came to Los Angeles at the same time, and he is still working as an extra, he is not from a acting family, he does not have the support of his godfather, and he is not Jewish......"

Kenneth Turan coughed, reminding him that there were some things he couldn't say to his face.

Justin immediately changed his words: "He is very lucky to have today, his mind is still very clear, and he knows that he has to do things step by step." ”

Kenneth Turan said: "As far as I know, Martin Davis took over an art film directed by Sam Mendes called 'The Reader', in which he played a character from the age of 16 to his 50s, and the time span is amazing, I called Sam today, and Sam thought his performance was quite amazing! ”

Todd McCarthy continued: "Sam is an artistically minded director, has won the Academy Award for Best Director, has worked with a number of actors with excellent acting skills, and has a very high vision, and if he can give such an evaluation, Martin Davis must have come up with a convincing performance." ”

Another older film critic said: "Commercial films have been successful many times, and Martin Davis has not been lost in business, which is very rare for young people. ”

Kenneth Turan summed it up: "It's a good thing for young people to have artistic pursuits, and we have been holding Hollywood and the relevant practitioners to avoid them being overly commercialized, and this kind of aspiring young people should be encouraged." ”

Todd McCarthy said: "I agree. ”

The two bigwigs spoke, and the others had no opinion.

The Film Critics Guild Awards are different from others, there is not so much public content, and the results are decided by internal voting, and then the results are announced.

Kenneth Turan said: "The bills are sent to the members of the association, and you do a good job of communicating and trying to get the results next week, we have always been ahead of the other film critics associations, and we can't let the New Yorkers take the lead." ”

There are three major film critics association awards in the United States, and the ranking is only determined by the third, and the first and second places have not been publicly judged until now.

In late November, after the Gotham Indie Awards were presented, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association announced the results of the Guild Awards in the Los Angeles Times.

The Departed won two awards, Scorsese for Best Director and Martin for Best Supporting Actor.

(End of chapter)