The Best Director

Wang Yang, who was sitting on the sofa and chatting on his phone, responded without much expression, “No, no.” Hearing her voice, he smiled and gave a thumbs up, silently conveying, “It looks good just like that.”

It must be yet another Christmas party invitation, right? These days, the invitations just kept coming non-stop. Having settled on the placement of the wreath, Jessica turned and picked up a red Christmas stocking from a chair. At that moment, Danny, dressed in a little red Christmas outfit for dogs, gave a little hop, eager to snatch the stocking away. Jessica bent down and petted his head, pointing towards Wang Yang on the sofa, she whispered in the dog’s ear with a chuckle, “Sweetie, go bother that lazybones over there!”

Danny cocked his head to the side, puzzled. Jessica did the same, muttering to herself, “You don’t understand me, do you? YEP!” She laughed, then stood up and continued looking for the perfect spot to hang the stocking.

“Come on, please?” Listening to the pleading voice of the girl on the phone, Wang Yang still declined with a “Thank you, but no,” as it was indeed an invitation to a Christmas party. This wasn’t the first invitation, and now it was Paris Hilton on the line, a rather promiscuous IT-Girl. Paris had gotten his number a long time ago—Wang Yang vaguely remembered that she had invited him to a party during the times of “High School Musical” a few years ago.

And in the past few days, she had suddenly called several times. But he had no desire to go. It wasn’t that he never attended parties—he had his own—but his style was very different from that of an IT-Girl’s party.

Like a nightclub, Paris’s party was a kind of feverish, noisy dance club, with colorful lighting and a huge dance floor packed with people. Men and women in so-called fashion attire, gyrating and flirting with each other, blasting rock music, crazy DJs, hallucinogenic drugs, hysteria… No, thank you! For him, that chapter of his life was long gone.

Now and then, going on a bender with friends was still fun, but if he had to spend all his time in that kind of environment, he would go insane; if he happened to have a Gatling gun in hand, he would mow down all those noisy people on the dance floor.

Now, he had evolved into a more homebody type of animal, preferring a casual bar or a country retro pub, where the atmosphere was calm and relaxing, the music gentle and pleasant. People would play their own music, dance without noise, and rather than offer full bottle service, would share a jug of wine with friends.

But Paris Hilton and her crowd were all about traditional disco or techno clubs, so Wang Yang had no interest in attending her parties or getting to know her friends. When he heard Paris say, “Why? Please! Why do you have to be so cool? You’re not a priest!” he couldn’t help but laugh and declined, “Of course, I’m not, obviously no priest would drink alcohol. But really, it’s a no, okay?”

“What would it take to get you to come to my party? Tell me!” Paris paced back and forth in the luxurious presidential suite at the Hilton Hotel, phone in hand, visibly irritated. How could that guy be so difficult! If it were anyone else, she would have said goodbye long ago, but this was the amazing Yang! Thinking of his tall, enchanting build, his Asian allure, and the unbelievable movies and accomplishments, she felt thrilled all over; she’d wanted to meet him for so long!

But the amazing Yang, still speaking in a detached tone on the other side, said, “I don’t know, maybe.” Paris stamped her foot in frustration, walking to the floor-to-ceiling window while pretending to cry, “I really, really love ‘The Hangover.’ It was so incredible, I almost died laughing!” This was the truth; she couldn’t breathe from laughing when she watched it the other day. It felt so good!

This also made her feel that she absolutely had to meet the amazing Yang, such an interesting, impressive, and handsome man of the same age, a 22-year-old Best Director. What a joke it would be not to know him!

Paris pleaded sincerely, “Amazing Yang, I really, really want to meet you. I love your films, you know that! Ever since ‘High School Musical,’ I’ve just adored them, ‘The Pursuit of Happyness,’ ‘Juno,’ ‘District 9,’—I’ve watched all of them several times!” She sighed heavily, unwilling to give up, crying out, “Why are you rejecting me? What did I do wrong?”

Seeing how persistent she was, refusing to give up after so many rejections, Wang Yang felt puzzled and quite helpless, sarcastically thinking to himself, “SHIT! I’m so popular!” He was like a combination of Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, and Johnny Depp, he chuckled and shrugged, earnestly replying, “Paris, let me put it this way, I don’t avoid parties, I just don’t like the noisy ones… with lots of people. I like them quieter, old-fashioned.”

“Playing jigsaw puzzles, sharing reading insights, and then telling each other stories about our grandparents…” He wiped his forehead; of course, this was just an excuse, a typical nerd party, which he was not.

He looked over at Jessica, who was smiling while arranging the Christmas decorations, and said into the phone, “This is my kind of party.” And indeed, one was about to start—Joshua, Zachary, Eileen, and Rachel would be coming over soon to watch the Golden Globe nominations. Jessica was confident about ‘District 9’ and ‘The Hangover,’ so she invited them to celebrate together.

Then he thought about rounding up the gang from ‘Paranormal Activity,’ who were still in Los Angeles, to get the old crew together. A few good friends chatting, drinking wine, singing and dancing, playing games… This was his type of old-fashioned party.

“Can I come to your party, then? Why don’t you invite me?” Paris seemed to have a great idea, her voice brimming with interest. Before Wang Yang could respond, she quickly said, “Oh! Do you think I’m not good enough to be your friend? You think I’m some spoiled rich girl? No, no, that’s not the real me! Those are all lies, you know the magazines love to lie, I’m a very hardworking person! I stopped using my family’s money when I was 18!”

“`

“Of course you are,” Wang Yang murmured gently, scratching his chin, and said, “Paris, I’m not sure you’d like my party. Maybe we can talk about it another time?” He wasn’t interested in who she really was.

Paris ignored his words and went on, “I really loved your movie, and you! You’re so surprising, so cool and unique…” She laughed like she was savoring chocolate, and said suggestively, “You know, I just want to get to know you. It doesn’t have to be a party, we could go out for dinner. I have a lot of questions about the film industry, and I want to be a good actress.”

“We actually already know each other,” Wang Yang rolled his eyes upward. What was this person up to? Whatever! He didn’t want to get entangled with her any longer, so he stood up and said, “Sorry, I have something to do, so bye!” He pressed the end call button and walked over to Jessica, saying, “Sweetheart, what’s going on? Paris Hilton keeps inviting me to some party.”

Jessica furrowed her brows upon hearing this and menacingly waved the Christmas stocking in her hand, saying roughly, “She wants to steal my boyfriend? I’ll kill her!” Wang Yang cupped her face and planted a forceful kiss on her, laughing, “No one wants to steal your boyfriend, don’t worry!” Then, he picked up a Christmas hat and walked away to find a suitable place to put it. Jessica pouted, hoping it really wasn’t the case.

“And let me say it again, don’t just beat people up!” Wang Yang turned around, pointed at her with a serious face.

“I can’t hear you.” Jessica stuck out her tongue with a smile, then made a fierce face and raised her fist, saying, “Old man, keep nagging and I’ll hit you too, the nerve! Don’t think I won’t hit an old man!” Wang Yang exclaimed in astonishment, widened his eyes and said,” Then your teacher really can’t guard against that, but don’t you want to have a baby?” Holding back her laughter, Jessica rolled her eyes thoughtfully a few times, before flashing a toothy smile, “Okay, I’ll let you off this time!”

※※

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is the 60th annual Golden Globe Awards nominations announcement,” a blonde in a red evening dress walked up to the standing microphone on the TV screen of NBC channel. She was Hayley Giraldo, the Golden Globe Ambassador for that year, her mother being the famous rock musician Pat Benatar. Hayley Giraldo was in charge of announcing the nominations for the Globes.

At that moment, countless movie fans and viewers were sitting in front of their TVs, as were this year’s favorites and film companies, all watching nervously, because the Golden Globes are the weathervane for the Oscars and various other awards. Whether they would win anything in the next year depended on the next few minutes. There were many favorites this year, and the media’s predicted lists were all different, so nobody could say what the final results would be.

Like all film companies with popular movies, the PR department of Flame Films had made a lot of necessary efforts, like sending beautifully produced DVDs of “District 9,” “The Hangover,” and “Mr. Hughes” to each of the jurors, because “District 9” was a movie from several months ago that couldn’t compare with the Oscar-bait films released during Christmas in terms of momentum and impression.

Furthermore, jurors had to watch countless movies contending for awards every year, and they often got exhausted. The outward packaging, the impressions of critics, and the impression of film companies and crew could all influence their judgments. Anyway, all the necessary efforts had been made, and now it was time to accept whatever results came their way.

In the living room decked out with Christmas decor, Danny lay lazily beside the Christmas tree adorned with colorful lights and ornaments, his round eyes fixed on the group of people on the sofa watching the TV. Standing behind the sofa with his hands pressing nervously against the backrest, Joshua spoke quickly, “No worries, no worries, there’ll definitely be lots of nominations! Lots and lots!”

On the fabric sofa, Wang Yang leaned on the far right, with Jessica sitting next to him in the middle, followed by Eileen and Zachary casually dressed. Zachary, with a serious face, said, “Yes, definitely!” Eileen nodded. Rachel, dressed in a light purple shirt and jeans, blonde hair tied into a ponytail with bangs, sat on the sofa’s armrest. With a smile, she patted Wang Yang’s shoulder without saying a word.

Wang Yang looked up at her, knowing she meant “It’s great either way,” and smiled back, saying, “Guys, thanks, everything is OK! Of course, it’s great to have a nomination; but if not…” He gave a slight shrug and laughed, “Just look at the box office charts and cheer up.” Rachel showed her dimples with a light smile, “I’m not happy.” Wang Yang laughed, “But I’m the drunkard, not the hottie.”

Everyone laughed together, and Jessica held his left hand tightly, knowing that Yang had been under a lot of pressure and even ridicule last year. He seemed to care more compared to when he did “Juno.” If he could get a Best Director nomination, it would definitely be a huge thrill; but if not, the company and encouragement from everyone would make him less dejected, which was why she invited everyone over.

But now they all looked so nervous, and if there were no nominations… would she have messed up? Jessica tightened her grip on that sturdy hand and took a deep breath in secret, believing there would be a nomination.

“Let’s begin announcing this year’s nomination list!” On the large LCD TV screen, Hayley Giraldo opened the envelope in her hand and began to read with a smile, “First, we have the film awards. The candidates for ‘Best Original Song’ are ‘DIE-ANOTHER-DAY’ from ‘Die Another Day,’ composed by Madonna/Mirwais Ahmadzai…” As she spoke, the screen behind her displayed the nominees’ photos and names one by one.

The Best Original Song is always just an appetizer, and Hayley Giraldo quickly finished announcing the five nominees for this category and continued with the Best Original Score: “Elmer Bernstein for ‘Far from Heaven’; Terence Blanchard for ’25th Hour’; Philip Glass for ‘The Hours’; Elliot Goldenthal for ‘Frida’; Jan Kaczmarek for ‘The Ninth District.\'”

“WOO——” The sofa erupted into cheers as Joshua, like a boxing champion holding up his belt, shouted excitedly, “YES, YES!” Zachary and Eileen high-fived to celebrate; Jessica nearly jumped up, cheering, “We’ve got one nomination!” Wang Yang and Rachel were also beaming happily, as though it was a Best Director nomination.

“`

This is Jan Kaczmarek’s second time being nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Original Score, with the previous time being for their first collaboration on “The Pursuit of Happyness”; this time, the score for “District 9” is both tension-filled with grand scenes and sorrowfully poignant with solitary monologues, showing the same level of masterful performance. It was because of this score that the audience felt genuinely moved, striking a chord in their hearts.

Among the five nominations, four are for dramatic academy films and one science fiction movie, which seems quite bizarre; but we will only know who will take home the Golden Globe after January 19 next year.

Then Hayley Giraldo announced the nominations for Best Supporting Actor and Best Actress, and Firefly Films was missing from both categories. She flipped through the list she held and said with a smile, “Next, here are the nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay.” Jessica and the others immediately held their breath; with “District 9” being a strong contender in the media’s prediction list, it had a high chance of being nominated for this award!

“Bill Condon, ‘Chicago’; David Hare, ‘The Hours’; Charlie Kaufman/Donald Kaufman, ‘Adaptation’…”

Since the nominees were listed in alphabetical order by last name, for any award, if there was “Young-Wang,” it would generally be at the end unless there were XYZ names following. Now only two spots were left. Everyone’s eyes were fixed, Jessica unconsciously squeezed Wang Yang’s hand, Rachel adjusted her sitting posture, Joshua’s hands readied to be raised high in victory…

“Alexander Payne/Jim Taylor, ‘About Schmidt.\'” Hayley Giraldo seemed to sense their tension and paused before saying with a smile, “And for ‘District 9’, Wang Yang.” As soon as she finished speaking, the bottom right corner of the screen behind her displayed an image of a black-haired youth with a director’s viewfinder, surprisingly using a photo from two years ago.

“Wow, wow, wow!” Joshua cheered jubilantly, raising both hands and then rubbing Wang Yang’s hair while bouncing around and laughing, “Dude, Amazing! Amazing!” Zachary was excitedly whistling, Eileen applauding; Jessica relaxed completely, weakly held up two fingers with a breathless laugh and said, “Guys, two nominations!” Rachel smiled and playfully pushed his head with her thumb, “Congratulations to you!”

Wang Yang smiled, allowing them to mess with him, his body being pushed around as he laughed, “Thank you, I am proud of you all, you are the best! Okay, stop pushing me, I’m getting dizzy…”

The award ceremony then announced the nominations for Best Foreign Language Film, including France’s “Balzac and The Seamstress,” Brazil’s “City of God,” Mexico’s “The Crime of Father Amaro,” China’s “Hero,” Germany’s “Nowhere in Africa,” and Spain’s “Talk to Her.” This made Wang Yang and Joshua happily exchange high-fives. Then, quickly, the nominees for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy and Best Actress were announced, with no mention of “The Hangover.”

“The nominations for Best Musical or Comedy Film include ‘About a Boy’, ‘Adaptation’, ‘Chicago’…”

A wave of tension enveloped the entire living room sofa as all six knew that this nomination could play an important stabilizing role for the box office of “The Hangover,” making it easier to become the “highest-grossing R-rated comedy of all time”; and for those who deemed it vulgar and boring, a Golden Globe nomination for Best Comedy would solidify its status as a classic.

“The Hangover!” Joshua couldn’t contain himself and shouted, “The Hangover!” From the sofa, Zachary also yelled loudly, “The Hangover!” Eileen also called out yearningly, “The Hangover!” Jessica clasped her hands tightly under her chin, Rachel had her hand on Wang Yang’s shoulder…

On the TV screen, Hayley Giraldo smiled into the microphone and announced, “‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding,’ and ‘The Hangover.\'”

The living room was quiet for a second before a wave of excited, piercing cheers erupted, like a pauper winning a super lottery jackpot with a Powerball ticket! Joshua laughed wildly with joy; Wang Yang too raised his hands, looking around with a smile, saying, “Happy moments!” Rachel pushed his head again, smiling, “Cool!”

“Yes, too cool!” Jessica shouted hoarsely with excitement, saying, “We have three nominations now!” Now with nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Musical or Comedy, no matter what came next, it was worth celebrating! She smiled and looked at the bottle of champagne sitting on the coffee table in front of them, ready for use!

Then came the nominations for Best Actress in a Drama, including Salma Hayek, Nicole Kidman, and others; meanwhile, the nominees for Best Actor in a Drama were Adrien Brody for “The Pianist,” Daniel Day-Lewis for “Gangs of New York,” Leonardo DiCaprio for “Catch Me If You Can,” Jack Nicholson for “About Schmidt,” and Robert Downey Jr. for “District 9.”

When Hayley announced Downey’s name, the living room once again erupted in exultation! Wang Yang pumped his fist in the air, Zachary shouted with enthusiasm… and Joshua, holding up four fingers, excitedly shouted ahead of the rest, “Four nominations now!” Jessica turned and glared at him, giving him a warning look that said, “I know kung fu!” She clapped her hands, laughing with joy, “We have four nominations now!”

Rachel couldn’t help but laugh as she looked at Joshua, giving him a comforting thumbs-up; Joshua was once again filled with emotion, thinking, “Why isn’t she my sister instead of this barbarian!” He clenched his fists and made jabbing motions towards Jessica’s head.

But they quickly quietened down as the last two major film awards were about to be announced, Best Picture in a Drama and Best Director. Hayley Giraldo looked at the list and announced with a smile, “The films nominated for Best Picture at the 60th Golden Globe Awards are, ‘About Schmidt,’ ‘District 9’… ‘The Hours,’ ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers,’ ‘The Pianist.\'”

From the moment the shrimp-like alien poster from “District 9” flashed on the TV screen, everyone couldn’t help but shout out loud. Countless movie fans in front of TV sets, the entire crew of “District 9”, friends… everyone went wild!

“Five nominations ——!”

“District 9” broke into the Golden Globe Awards! A science fiction film has broken into the Golden Globe Awards!

Just like the Oscars, the last time a science fiction film appeared in the Golden Globe Awards was with “E.T.” in 1982! That was 20 years ago! It takes 20 years for a crawling baby to grow into a tall adult; the headlines in newspapers read “Aliens Enter the Golden Globe Awards”, and then 20 years later, it’s “Aliens Enter the Golden Globe Awards” again.

“Next up is the nomination for Best Director, the final film award.” Hayley Giraldo smiled as she flipped through the list and with a smile said while looking down, “This award always attracts a lot of attention every year. Let’s see which great directors are selected for the Golden Globe Awards this year. The six nominees are Stephen Daldry, ‘The Hours’; Peter Jackson, ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers’; Rob Marshall, ‘Chicago’…”

Everyone was either holding their breath or breathing rapidly. Jessica was clutching Wang Yang’s hand tightly, looking scared and afraid to watch; Rachel was nervously covering her mouth with her right hand, her left supporting her right elbow; Wang Yang pursed his lips, his heart beating faster, as the wrinkled face of Old Man Wu flashed before his eyes. He closed his eyes and took a breath. Is life like a box of Chocolate? Then Joshua muttered from behind, “Jesus!”

“Alexander Payne, ‘About Schmidt’; Martin Scorsese, ‘Gangs of New York’; and…” Hayley Giraldo turned to look at the big screen behind her and said with a smile, “Wang Yang, ‘District 9’!”

“YES! YES! YES——” The first one to scream excitedly was Joshua. He jumped up with his fists clenched and laughed, “Best Director for a science fiction film!” Meanwhile, Rachel, with her right hand covering her face, let out a long sigh of relief before opening her eyes and gently saying with a laugh, “Yang, you did it! You crazy guy!” Zachary yelled uncontrollably, and Eileen also wore a joyful smile for Wang Yang, saying, “That’s truly remarkable!”

The moment she heard Young, Jessica let out a high-pitched scream, uncontrollably jumping up, waving her arms and kicking her legs as she shouted, “WOOO —— amazing! Six nominations, Best Director! Yang got Best Director! Oh my God, haha! This Christmas is amazing!!!” Her smile was radiant with joy.

Seeing their owner jumping and bouncing in excitement, Danny, who was lying next to the Christmas tree, happily got up and wagged his tail, rushing over to join in the fun.

“Thank you, thank you all!” Wang Yang bit his lip, feeling a pain that made him feel as if a stone in his heart had suddenly been lifted, a moment of joy! He smiled as he stood up from the sofa and opened his arms to hug Jessica tightly, then hugged Rachel, Zachary, and Eileen in turn, petted Danny, and finally, he gripped Joshua and said through gritted teeth with a smile, “Thank you so much! I love you, buddy!”

Joshua, despite having some muscles, still felt quite uncomfortable being hugged by his martial body and quickly said, “Hey, you’ve got the wrong person! I’m not Jessica!” Everyone burst into laughter, and Wang Yang released him, pretending to be confused and looking at him, laughing, “You’re not? Oh, I must be crazy with happiness!”

“Magical Yang! Magical Yang!” Jessica suddenly started clapping her hands and shouted with a laugh, “Magical Yang! Magical Yang!” Eileen, Zachary, and Rachel also clapped their hands and chanted in unison, “Magical Yang, Magical Yang!” Joshua blew a few whistles for harmony and also shouted, “Magical Yang!” Wang Yang looked defeated, covering his forehead and laughed, “You guys are really…stunning! I’m at a loss for words!”

While they were laughing and shouting, Jessica picked up the champagne that had been prepared on the coffee table. Her face beaming with pride and excitement, she shook it with a mysterious air and said, “It’s time to celebrate!” Suddenly the cork popped out with a “pop”, soaring like a rocket towards the ceiling, which she hadn’t expected at all due to the pressure!

In the blink of an eye, the cork rebounded from above and soared directly towards Wang Yang. If you were to watch in slow motion, you would see everyone’s mouths agape in surprise as the cork kept falling down…

“Ha!” After all, it was just the speed of a rebound. Wang Yang quickly reached out his hand with agility and firmly caught the fast-flying cork, and everyone let out a “God” in relief. He looked at the stunned Jessica and laughed, “See? That’s the benefit of learning kung fu.”

“Wow ——!” Jessica also heaved a sigh of relief, really too careless! Thankfully, no harm done! She laughed as she pressed her thumb on the bottle of champagne and shook it vigorously, moving her thumb away while laughing and saying, “So, how about this one then!”

※※

PS: 7,500 words, wow the effort continues, asking for monthly tickets in an annoyed way, and also, would love a good cry, come on, smash two tickets for the guy who has worked hard despite no achievements, thank you!