King of Hollywood-Chapter 186 - : He Is Still Young

Chapter 186 -186: He Is Still Young

“Perhaps some would say that compared to last year when he didn’t win a single award, Adrian has already received an Oscar statuette, and there aren’t many who can receive the highest honor in the film industry at the age of 25. But the problem is, almost everyone knows that with his outstanding performances, he could have won even more awards.

Well, let’s not talk about Best Director. Although there were two nominations, Clint Eastwood did perform well. It’s rare for someone to excel as both an actor and a director, and ‘Unforgivable,’ like ‘Dances with Wolves,’ offered a reinterpretation of the fading Western genre from a different perspective, so winning both Best Director and Best Picture is acceptable.

But the issue is, with the astonishing directorial approach of ‘Pulp Fiction,’ especially the circular narrative that connects the beginning and the end, and the interesting setting where the main character of one story might be a minor character in another, couldn’t it have won Best Editing if not Original Screenplay, right?

Once again, the Oscars have fallen short of fairness. Although we all know absolute fairness is hardly possible, bias is inevitable regardless of who it is. However, reflecting this bias twice on Adrian can’t help but make people wonder if the judges at the Film Academy don’t quite like this young director.

Fortunately, compared to last year, Adrian had at least received the Best Adapted Screenplay Award as a consolation. Besides that, he successfully helped Al Pacino achieve his long-desired Best Actor, also led Emma Thompson to the Best Actress throne, and even got John Travolta a Best Actor nomination, as well as a Best Supporting Actor nomination for Samuel Jackson. Moreover, all these were for three films of different styles. God, I suddenly want to act in Adrian’s movies!

Speaking of this, although Adrian faced misfortune at the Oscars again, he really shouldn’t take it to heart. He is so young and so talented, with plenty of opportunities ahead. His brilliance is already quite dazzling, and becoming even more so wouldn’t be difficult. Alright, that’s all for today, thank you for watching the program hosted by Joe Kaufman. Tomorrow at this time, I will continue to explain.”

The content above is from a CBS midday program, hosted by Joe Kaufman who is known for his adept commentary. Although his analysis of this year’s Oscars was not brilliant, it was decent. NBC’s ‘Saturday Night Live’ was much more scathingly satirical. In that episode, the host and a guest acted as Adrian and an Oscar judge. Whenever the one playing the judge announced Adrian’s winning, he always found various excuses to give the award to someone else, leaving the one playing Adrian baffled and helpless. Their comical performance made both the live audience and the viewers at home burst into laughter.

In summary, as previously mentioned, all media sided with Adrian, believing the Oscars were unfair. They all acknowledged that ‘Unforgivable’ was a good film and deserved Best Picture for revitalizing the Western genre. However, Best Director was debatable, and Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing were clearly better suited for ‘Pulp Fiction.’

This time, the Film Academy’s judges couldn’t sit tight like last year. Firstly, Adrian impressively secured over a dozen nominations with three films of different styles, including several repeat nominations. Secondly, they truly didn’t have a better or more sound reason for Original Screenplay and Editing.

Thus, soon, a spokesperson for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences declared the voting to be ostensibly fair. Of course, such a statement didn’t satisfy the media, and the spokesperson soon confidentially revealed that, according to the accounting firm’s statistics, the vote count for Best Original Screenplay, Best Editing, and Best Director was almost identical, hence Adrian’s loss was indeed due to mere luck.

Most people accepted this explanation, given the accounting firm’s credibility, and considered the Oscars to be fairly just. Nonetheless, some people continued to mock and tease.

“Clearly, this further shows that the Oscar judges have biases. Adrian is just too young and yet so talented, and the aging Film Academy naturally wouldn’t like that,” the New York Post mockingly declared.

Such satirical comments were plenty, and although the Oscars often had moments of unfairness, it had rarely unfairly targeted the same person for two consecutive years. Moreover, if it was just one specific award category, it wouldn’t be a big deal, suggesting merely that his works didn’t suit the tastes of the Oscar judges. But for someone like Adrian, with multiple nominations and movies that received strong critiques, still only getting a consolatory award seemed… it could only be explained by biases of the Oscar judges, right?

Journalists, naturally ecstatic, considered the Film Academy’s blatant expression of bias a rare occurrence, even from its founding days. How could they not indulge in sharp sarcasm! What an opportunity! Regardless of whether there was an attempt to stir dissent or what the truth was, what mattered most was their speculations and guesses that attracted numerous viewers.

However, the Film Academy had seen numerous scandals, and having already provided an ostensibly reasonable response to this year’s Oscars and receiving a majority’s forgiveness, even with still much debate about the awards, it was merely an itch they could easily scratch away.

As for Adrian Cowell, the other protagonist affected by this aftermath and now firmly known as the Miracle Director, beyond saying through a spokesperson that he respected the choices of the Film Academy’s judges, he didn’t make any further fuss. He wasn’t foolish enough to think that media support meant he could openly oppose the Film Academy.

The media, unsatisfied with his neither light nor heavy response, couldn’t do anything as Adrian disappeared from public sight after the awards ceremony, rejecting all interview invitations. While entertainment journalists were skilled, they weren’t omniscient; even at the turn of the 21st century with diversified means of tracking and paparazzi, there were still people they couldn’t catch, let alone now in the early ’90s.

So, what is Adrian doing now? Oh, he’s working on something he had planned for a long time.”

“Hello, I am Adrian Cowell, and I have an appointment with Mr. John Bryce,” Adrian, dressed in a suit, said to the female secretary sitting behind the desk, accompanied by Charlize, who was also in formal attire.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Cowell, Mr. Bryce is currently dealing with other matters. Could you please rest over there for a bit?” the female secretary replied with a professional smile.

“Of course.” Adrian nodded and took a seat with Charlize on a nearby sofa. The secretary swiftly brought over two cups of coffee. After politely expressing their gratitude, Adrian took the opportunity to chat with Charlize about minor matters.

About ten minutes later, the office door opened, and a young woman stepped out. While she was neatly dressed, the way she involuntarily lowered her head upon seeing the people outside, the remaining blush on her ears, and her stride, so unlike that of an average young woman, made it entirely clear to Adrian what had transpired inside before.

Quite the enjoying type, Adrian thought, glancing at the young woman’s retreating figure—quite upright, and not a bad figure either, her auburn hair also fairly uncommon. But well… his gaze shifted back to Charlize beside him.

She was a true blonde with blue eyes, and her features were very delicate, coupled with a suitable physique; she was definitely a beauty in every sense of the word, even if her youth lent her a touch of baby fat—no wonder everyone loved blond beauties.

“Hi, Ed, so good to see you. I thought you would come a little later,” John Bryce, the head of the Disney TV department, came out of the office two minutes after the secretary and gave Adrian a warm hug.

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“The newspapers these days are all about you; almost everyone thinks you were unfairly defeated this time around. Those old folks at the Film Academy really should retire,” Bryce joked.

“It’s okay, there will be other chances, just like some people say—I’m still young, aren’t I?” Adrian laughed lightly, then subtly shrugged.

“Of course, of course,” Bryce laughed heartily, “but you should be saying these things to the reporters; they’ve been complaining that you refuse to give interviews.”

“I answered plenty of their questions on Oscar Night—now, John, I didn’t come here today to discuss this,” Adrian reminded him.

“Yes, of course, we should go now. The kids are having a gathering on the fourth floor before going to record a new song,” Bryce nodded, then noticed Charlize standing next to Adrian, his eyes immediately lighting up. “And who is this?”

“My personal assistant, Charlize Theron,” Adrian introduced.

“Nice to meet you, Miss Theron, you are indeed beautiful,” Bryce immediately extended his hand.

“Thank you.” Charlize smiled faintly and lightly shook his hand, but before Bryce could react, she had already deftly withdrawn hers.

Watching Bryce’s somewhat astonished expression, Adrian couldn’t help but chuckle inwardly, knowing full well that even he found it difficult to hold onto Charlize’s hand. For some reason, Charlize seemed adept at handling such situations, skillfully avoiding any slightly intimate gestures, always giving off an elusive feeling. Especially after the Oscar ceremony, this feeling had intensified, which made the already enthusiastic Adrian more drawn to her.

“John?” Adrian cleared his throat at that moment, then discreetly raised his eyebrows at Bryce, as if making a declaration.

Bryce, of course, didn’t miss the cue, showed a hint of regret as he shrugged his shoulders, exchanged a few words with the secretary, then gestured with his hand, “Shall we?” (To be continued. If you want to find out what happens next, please visit ; there are more chapters there. Support the author, support genuine reading!)