Chapter 72: Chapter 72 - The Real Winner
The awards ceremony continued. The Golden Globe Awards had not yet been influenced by Eric's 'Butterfly effect'. There were no changes to the ceremony or the list of winners except for the two film nominations related to him.
Like in the original timeline, the Best Actress in a Lead Role still had three winners. The guest presenter who was responsible for the award, Michael Douglas, looked at the list in the envelope and hesitated for more than ten seconds without reading out. He thought that the organizers made a mistake. Three of the five names from the list of nominees were written in the envelope.
It wasn't until Michael received a hint from the organizers that he was able to read out the list: "The Best Actress in a Lead Role in the Drama category is: Jodie Foster for The Defendant,"
Just under the stage, there was sporadic applause, and Michael quickly accelerated his speech: "and Sigourney Weaver for Gorillas in the Mist, and Shirley MacLaine for Madame Sousatzka."
Except for Eric, who had already known the results, everyone else was speechless at that instant. After a short pause for a few seconds, someone took the lead and slammed the palm of their hand on the table. Soon thunderous applause resounded in the Hilton Hotel's Banquet Hall.
Amid the applause, three hesitant heroines went up the stage and confirmed the list in the hands of Michael Douglas before they believed it.
After getting the trophy, Jodie Foster and Sigourney Weaver concurrently handed the mic to the oldest Shirley MacLaine.
Shirley MacLaine is a legend among Hollywood actresses. She was fifty-five now and had debuted in the 1950s. Her career flourished in the 1960s and 1970s and had won her the best actress in the Oscars, the American Golden Globe, the Venice Film Festival and the Berlin Film Festival. It was a great pity for Shirley MacLaine to not get a Grand Slam by winning the best actress award at the Cannes Film Festival too. Eric didn't know why Shirley MacLaine, who won a series of nominations and awards at all other Film Festivals, never even got a Cannes Film Festival nomination.
Holding the trophy with a smile and walking to the microphone, Shirley MacLaine skillfully began the award speech: "This is an unexpected result..."
After the best actress, the best actor and best film award winners did not surprise most people. Rain Man unquestionably won the two most important awards in the Drama category. This film, which had been supporting the box office with an award-winning autistic topic, will definitely have a box office rebound.
The current Rain Man was released for five weeks, and in the Christmas-New Year season, which was the easiest to harvest at the box office, only $40 million was credited to it.
In the original timeline, the box office of Rain Man has not had any surprises and stayed at the top of the box office for only one week. However, it quietly remained in the top 10 in the box office consecutively, during the long screening of 25 weeks.
Fortunately, in its half a year of screening, Rain Man had encountered neither a large blockbuster nor a box office dark horse. With Tom Cruise's appeal and winning a few awards, it ended up eventually collecting $170 million at the domestic box office.
Now, this situation would definitely not repeat. Rain Man was being suppressed by the still strong Home Alone and 17 Again, and its box office is lower. Thus, the 6 months long screening period is unlikely this time, not to mention Eric's 'Pretty Woman'.
In fact, not only Rain Man, but also the movies released during the holiday season like, 'Twins' and 'Naked Gun', which were supposed to be in the top ten of the 1988 box office, or 'Working Girl' which won the Best Film in the Comedy category tonight, the box office is a lot less than in the original timeline.
After all, there are only so many people watching movies at the cinema. In the last two months of 1988, the box office was worth about 600 million US dollars. The 'Home Alone' and '17 Again' directly scraped away more than 200 million $, exceeding one third the total amount. So, the box office situation of other movies can be imagined.
After the director of Rain Man, Barry Levinson, took the stage to receive the best film award in the drama category, the three-hour live broadcast of the Golden Globe Awards officially ended. All the stars present were relieved. After stretching their stiff bodies from sitting still for so long, they got up and left the venue. Of course, they are not going to go home directly. Next, in the other banquet halls of the Hilton Hotel, there are a series of parties organized by major film companies.
Eric was about to leave with Drew when Penny Marshall came over: "Hey, Eric, Fox has a party in the banquet hall on the third floor, let us go together?"
"Thank you for the invitation, Penny, but I am afraid I can't go." Eric shook his head as he refused.
Penny Marshall looked at Eric's expression: "Eric, you are not upset that you didn't win the award, are you? You are only 18 years old, there are still many opportunities. Look at me, I'm going back empty-handed tonight."
Of course, Eric certainly would not feel upset. The ultimate goal of the Golden Globe Awards is the PR and economic benefits. Anyway, in the final analysis at the box office, 'Home Alone' is the biggest winner this year.
"Of course not, Penny. Actually, the schedule of 'Pretty Woman' is very tight tomorrow, and I have to wake up early. So, I need to hurry back and catch as much sleep as I can."
Penny reluctantly bid Eric goodbye as she said: "Then I will see you later. You are so young, so what are you doing working so hard? I heard that you are busy even late at night during this time."
Eric and Penny hugged again as he quipped: "If I should not work too hard when young, should I wait for old age to catch up with me before working hard?"
"Wow, I do not know why I get these mixed feelings, but, the tone of your words is like a middle-aged man who has experienced many difficulties."
Eric smiled and did not answer. After bidding goodbye to Tom Hanks and a few others, he dragged a reluctant Drew and left the Hilton hotel.
Starting the car and getting on the road, Eric glanced at Drew, who was pouting in the passenger seat. He smiled and said: "Okay, Drew, no need to pout. You didn't bring any spare clothes. If you were to join the party and accidentally stain the dress, we would have no choice but to cough out the original price."
Drew wrinkled her small nose and imitated the tone of Penny Marshall. "Wow, the tone of your words is like a middle-aged man. Who cares about such small things with the kind of money you make?"
"When you said this, I just remembered that," Eric frowned slightly and looked the girl up and down before continuing, "the day before yesterday I received the bill for the credit card I gave you previously. I think you spent too much. Tomorrow, Kapoor will take you to do a drug test, if you let me down..."
Drew did not show any sign of concern, as her small body leaned over and she eagerly said, "Eric, what do you want to do? Lock me up in the basement without any clothes? Not allow me to eat? Are there whips? Dripping hot wax? Riding the rail? Wow, I never thought you were so evil, I'm still underage."
"..."
"Okay, okay, I confess. Before Christmas, when you were not at home, I invited some classmates to party, and I accidentally spent a little more than intended."
Eric's expression relaxed a little, as he asked: "You spent so much on a party?"
"Its all your fault," the girl instantly became more righteous and confident: "you and Aniston got the beautiful street shot to annoy me. So, I impulsively asked the store to send a box of 53 years old Petrus wine."
Petrus, 53 years, and a full box!
He really wanted to break something with the way she blamed everything on him.
He unconsciously licked his dry lips: "Is it all... finished?"
Drew rolled her green eyes and gently nodded: "Yeah."
"It's not... you bought it with my money... because of me..." Eric took a deep breath and finally cooled down."
...
Wiltshire Hotel Restaurant.
Edward would play the piano in the restaurant late at night. After the group negotiated with the hotel, the curtains were temporarily replaced with thick opaque curtains. The lighting masters were busy, creating a late night light scene.
"The actor is in place, action."
Under the panoramic lens, the waiters sitting in the restaurant were lazily organizing things, smoking, and whispering.
Edward did not care if those people were listening. He was immersed in his own playing of the piano. With deeply stooped back and twitching lips, his whole person exuded a deep sense of exhaustion and boredom.
The rushing sound of the piano hinted at the depression in Edward's heart.
Eric carefully looked at Al's performance on the monitor. His musical literacy was not high and he couldn't determine the level of Al Pacino's playing. He just thought that Al's solo was very smooth and the emotion in the lens was also quite in place.
He turned to look at the sound-tracker Howard Norton sitting with him. The other party was specifically called to guide the shooting. If Al's playing is not satisfactory, Howard will be personally responsible for the soundtrack. However, from Howard's frequent nods, he was quite satisfied with Al's piano solo performance.
Vivian, wearing a bathrobe, gently walked up to Edward from behind as his piano performance was coming to an end. She was gently smiling with her arms folded as she listened to him play.
"Cut, very good!" Eric shouted and couldn't help but applaud followed by sporadic applause from the rest of the crew.
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