Century City, Fox Tower.

As soon as Ang Lee got to work, producer Jill Nate came to him.

Both were in a good mood.

"Life of Pi" was released over the Thanksgiving weekend, and although the box office champion was taken away by the latest installment, "Twilight", the film still won $30.57 million at the North American box office including the Thanksgiving holiday.

As of yesterday, the North American box office has accumulated more than $60 million.

More importantly, the film's audience reputation and professional reputation are very good, and the scores in all aspects are not weaker than the main competitor of the awards season, "Escape from Tehran".

If the awards season works well, Jill Nate and Ang Lee are confident that Life of Pi will recoup their entire investment at the box office alone.

Therefore, the Oscars are very crucial.

"Disney Studios and David Fincher held three pull-up sessions in a row after Thanksgiving, and many of the old judges who live in Los Angeles attended," Ang Lee said. ”

Jill Nate reassured him and said, "We're going to start pulling tabs soon. ”

"Now that a number of outpost awards have been awarded, the situation is gradually becoming clearer." Ang Lee pointed to the newspaper on the table: "'Lincoln' is not much of a threat, their main target is on Best Actor, the Outpost Award for Best Director and Best Picture winners, focused on David Fincher and 'Escape from Tehran.'" ”

He is almost certain: "Our biggest competitor is definitely this "Escape from Tehran". ”

Gil-Nett said: "Don't worry, I have already sent people to find those people back then, one of them is a fourth-class retired and has a bad life. ”

This was a plan agreed upon by the two together, and Ang Lee fully agreed, but also had concerns, saying: "Martin Davis is very difficult to handle, we only target the film, not the individual." ”

Jill Nate responded: "It's not about individuals, we're targeting 'Escape from Tehran' and its story, not someone involved in the production. ”

"There are still 20 days left before the ballot is distributed, and we need to hurry," Ang Lee said. ”

…………

Seattle, WA.

Security guard Ron Stern leaves the office from work and drives quickly to an ordinary neighborhood.

The car entered the parking lot near the neighborhood, but instead of getting out of the car immediately, he opened the window, lit a cigarette, and smoked.

The economic situation has been bad in recent years, and his wife lost her job a year ago and has been taking care of her two children at home.

The son, who is nearly 30 years old, is addicted to drugs and can only gnaw at home.

The daughter, who is less than twenty years old, was born with low intelligence, and when she was a teenager, she was able to take care of herself, and now she can't even take care of herself.

Ron was under tremendous pressure to shoulder all the household expenses alone.

He flipped down the visor and looked at the old photographs sandwiched in them, a group photo of six people.

This is a group photo they took together after fleeing Tehran that year.

After returning, Ron also had a brief time, but when he returned to his hometown, the fourth class of marines, did not receive much care, and only found a job as a bank security officer.

More than 20 years have passed.

I get up in the morning and go to work in the company, the company often works overtime, and when I get home, I have to help take care of the children, which is very busy.

Just before going home after work, in the car, Ron can smoke a cigarette alone, empty his brain in a daze, and get real relaxation without thinking about the mortgage and living expenses.

It was cold in Seattle in December, and a man in a leather jacket got out of a nearby car.

He walked over to Ron and said, "Mr. Stern, I'm Fortes from Los Angeles and I called you yesterday. ”

Ron remembered that this man had indeed called him yesterday and asked, "Is there something wrong with you?" ”

Fords rubbed his hands and came from Los Angeles, not very used to the cold of Seattle: "Can you get in the car and talk?" ”

Ron gestured to the co-pilot.

Foster got into the car, took out an envelope, and placed it directly on the armrest box: "A little greeting gift." ”

Ron looked at the open envelope and saw the green bills, "What do you mean?" ”

"I want Mr. Stern to do me a favor." Foster had a detailed understanding of Ron's family situation, knew that the other party was very short of money, and did not go around in circles at all, and said: "You were one of the parties involved in the Tehran incident back then, right?" ”

He smiled: "If I'm not mistaken, in October you accepted a joint invitation from Martin Davis, David Fincher and Tony Mendes to the premiere of 'Escape from Tehran.' ”

Ron said, "yes, I went for three days and then I came back. ”

In addition to bearing their travel expenses, the filmmaker also warmly entertained them, stayed in high-end hotels, participated in banquets continuously, and gave them valuable gifts before returning.

"I've seen you on premiere coverage." Foster asked, "Is the content of that movie the same as what you experienced?" ”

Ron didn't speak, what happened in Tehran back then was at most two or three percent similar to what the movie was filmed.

Foster's fingers tapped on the envelope on the armrest box and said, "All these things you have experienced together, you have been taken out to make a movie, and the movie is now almost 200 million US dollars at the North American box office alone, Tony Mendes has made a lot of money, and the company that invests in the film has also made a lot of money, and you ......"

"Tony saved my life!" Ron's gaze suddenly sharpened: "If you want to say something, you can go, I didn't see you." ”

Foster immediately changed his words: "I didn't mean to target Tony, I just wanted you to tell the truth about the movie." ”

He pushed the envelope containing the money towards Ron: "You don't need to lie, you don't need to make it up, you just need to tell the media what happened back then, and point out the fiction and exaggeration in the movie." ”

Ron glanced at the envelope, "What do you want to do?" ”

"Let the audience know what happened," Foster said. ”

Ron stopped talking.

"We know you're a good person, so you're ostracized in the company because you don't like to tell lies." Foster said something nice, and pulled out a large, extraordinarily thick envelope and placed it on the armrest box, the opening of the envelope still facing Ron's side.

He pressed his hand on the top of the envelope: "I know a recuperation center, drug rehabilitation is particularly specialized, and it is difficult for ordinary people to enter, but I have a place here." ”

Ron asked, "Just tell the truth, don't do anything else?" ”

Foster laughed, "Mr. Stern, you are the master of your mouth. ”

"Okay, I'll do that." Ron was still mindful: "But I'm only in Seattle for interviews, and I won't go to any other cities." ”

Foster picked up the hand that was pressed against the envelope and said, "Keep the communication open, you will soon receive a call from a professional nursing facility, and I will call you again when your son is settled." ”

Ron picked up the envelope, pulled out the money, examined it carefully, and said, "I will." ”

Foster opened the door and got out of the car and quickly got into another car.

Ron watched the Volvo drive out of the parking lot, then got out of the car and went home, and before he could get to the door, he received a call from a nursing facility, and the two sides agreed to meet tomorrow to discuss in detail.

After talking the next day, Ron was truly relieved.

A few days later, when his son's affairs were dealt with, he received a call from Foster and made an appointment for an interview with the media.

Just after the Christmas holidays, The Hollywood Reporter, the most influential newspaper in the Hollywood industry, published a prominent column.

"The exaggeration and fiction of 'Escape from Tehran'!"

"Since its release in October, the film has been highly acclaimed, has been high at the box office, and has been a huge commercial and word-of-mouth success with the help of the promotion of the real historical adaptation! But how much truth is the content of the film? We spoke to Ron Stern, a former Marine who witnessed it at the time. ”

The following content was published in the form of a question and answer session.

Without exaggeration, Ron Stern points out many factual inconsistencies in "Escape from Tehran" based on the events he has experienced.

For example, no one chased them to death back then, because in the eyes of the other party, 71 hostages were no different from 65; The film severely downplays the role of Canada's diplomatic service; They were not under siege in Tehran, boarding at the airport went very smoothly, etc.

As for the details of the movie that are completely incompatible with the real experience, there are countless of them.

At the end of the interview, the reporter specifically asked: "Mr. Scott, how much do you think the film is more in line with the real content?" ”

Ron replied: "At most, the incident itself is true, and it was Tony who brought us out of Tehran, and I have been very grateful to Tony all these years, but there are too many false elements added to the content of the film adaptation, so that I, the witness, feel that this is a completely irrelevant thing to me." ”

The report caused a strong response, and in addition to the press, the video of Ron Stern's interview was also broadcast on television, and was put on YouTube and topped the hot search list.

Follow-up reports quickly followed, with newspapers chasing the wind and shadows, and the mainstream view of historians that Iran had reached a secret agreement with Ronald Reagan's campaign at that time to release the relevant hostages at the cost of unfreezing $8 billion in Iranian assets.

This statement has been agreed by many people, saying that the so-called rescue itself is a cover, and the United States and Iran are acting for the world to see.

According to other newspapers, the Iranian side reached a deal with the Washington authorities at that time, and the authorities provided spare parts for the F-14 Tomcat fighters purchased from the United States, and then the two sides acted together......

In short, there is only one purpose of these statements, even the incident itself is doubtful, how can the movie stand?

If "Escape from Tehran" is just a purely commercial film, if it wants to obtain box office and commercial revenue, these will not have much impact, after all, there are always various criticisms behind the big sales of every commercial film.

For example, "The Matrix", "Inception", "Avatar", etc., the voices about copyright and plagiarism have not been interrupted over the years.

But the film plays the banner of adapting from real events, and if the authenticity of the Oscar is doubtful, it will be very difficult to win the Oscar.

(End of chapter)