American fame and fortune

After returning to Atlanta for a Christmas, Martin received a call from David Fincher as soon as he arrived in Los Angeles. He returned to Beverly Hills to put down his luggage and rushed to the Disney Studio studio.

Louise, Graham and David Finch were already waiting for him.

On the table in the small conference room were the latest newspapers, and the entertainment pages opened were full of the latest reports on "Escape from Tehran".

Among them, the photos of Ron Stern and other rescuers are particularly prominent.

Martin had already read these newspapers on the plane. He sat at the conference table and shook his head and sighed, saying, "These bastards are lowering the level of Oscar publicity every year."

Louise smiled at him.

Martin said, "I have always been upright in winning awards. The first time I won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, I risked my life to get it."

When he won the Oscar for Best Actor last year, he was defeated by his opponents without a fight.

David Fincher was somewhat anxious and said: "Those who experienced it back then came forward to accuse us, which resulted in a lot of criticism in the media and made us very passive."

Martin looked at the photo in the newspaper: "Ron Stern, I have the impression that I saw him at the premiere."

Graham said: "When he was rescued, Ron Stern was a Marine stationed at the embassy. He later retired and went to Seattle to work as a security guard at a bank."

Martin asked: "Have you contacted him?"

"Contacted." For some work, Louise was already sitting in front: "But the reply he gave us was just to tell the truth in interviews with the media."

Martin frowned slightly: "Is that so?"

"He's obviously been approached and we're still doing his job," Louise said.

David Fincher continued: "Of all the movies adapted from real events, except for the main plot, how can any of them completely restore the events one-to-one? In that case, is the movie still a movie? It is better to make a documentary directly."

Louise added: "I just asked someone to do a detailed investigation. Ron Stern's income is average, his wife is unemployed at home, his children lack the ability to take care of themselves, and the financial burden is heavy, but his son who is seriously addicted to drugs recently stayed in a fee-paying hotel. Very high drug rehabilitation center.”

These are normal, and Martin is not surprised. He asked: "What has the crew done to deal with it so far?"

Graham said: "I contacted Tony Mendez, and Tony will be interviewed in the next few days to refute Ron Stern's statement."

This matter was directly related to the interests of Tony Mendes. Not only did the old man personally call Ron Stern, he also actively cooperated with the crew.

The rescue in Tehran is also the most noteworthy event in Tony Mendez's life, and he will not let others deny his key role.

Graham added: "We contacted Tony and Mark Hansen and Michael Cohen, who are still working in the diplomatic service. They were also people rescued by Tony and were willing to come forward for interviews to support us."

Louise continued: "I contacted the CIA. The CIA has been providing help for the film. To deny "Escape from Tehran" is to deny the CIA's credit. The CIA will issue a relevant statement soon."

Martin put down the newspaper he was reading and said: "These are normal responses and can dilute the negative impact of this series."

He pointed to reports about the government’s secret dealings and asked: “Is there really such a thing as behind-the-scenes dealings?”

"There must be a behind-the-scenes deal in the rescue of the 65 hostages." Graham simply said: "The unfreezing of the other party's assets and F-14 Tomcat accessories is indeed a matter, but is Tony involved? Only the top brass of the CIA or the decision-makers at the time knew about this rescue incident."

Martin actually doesn't care about the true situation of the incident, because his criteria for judging the authenticity of the incidents related to the film "Escape from Tehran" are very simple.

Everything that is beneficial to the film is true; everything that will have a negative impact on the film is false.

Louise said at this time: "This series of measures is just passive defense." She personally experienced last year's Oscar for Best Actor battle: "If you want to gain an advantage, you must not only defend, but also attack."

David Finch asked: "Who is the opponent who did this? Have you found out?"

"No." Graham asked someone to investigate, but there was no clear result: "The scope of the target is not large. It is a crew that intends to compete for Oscars this year and conflicts with us in several major awards."

The primary goals of "Escape from Tehran" are Best Director and Best Picture, which are clearly evident in the series of frontline awards that have been handed out.

Anyone who knows a little bit about the process of winning awards during Hollywood awards season will not have a hard time judging this.

Martin asked directly: "In a few days, the Academy will mail Oscar ballots to all members. The situation during the awards season will be clearer. Who are our main competitors?"

Graham replied: "I have contacted Spielberg and carefully studied the current situation. The primary goal of "Lincoln" is the best actor. Other films such as "Les Miserables" and "Beasts of the Southern Wild" , it is difficult to threaten us, the only competitor is "Life of Pi" directed by Ang Lee."

Martin rubbed his chin and said: "We don't have to worry about who is behind the incident. We just need to know who our main competitors are and hit them hard."

Louise agreed: "Our goal is for the Oscars not to find out who is doing this behind the scenes, because these are becoming more and more common in awards season publicity and public relations. They have happened every year in recent years, and it is estimated that they will become more and more popular in the future."

At this point, she glanced at Martin. Harvey Weinstein single-handedly crushed the Oscars' public relations campaign to the ground.

In the past few years, Martin's performance has been as bad as his publicity, and he has simply thrown Oscar's public relations into a trap.

The bottom line is getting lower and lower. The high-profile Oscars are about to turn into a clown election contest in Washington.

Martin said: "The next plan of attack is to seize the competitor "Life of Pi" and fight hard!"

Louise asked: "Continue to compete?"

Although David Fincher didn't understand what this meant, he guessed it literally and reminded: "I went to see "Life of Pi" with Graham. The film was very good, not even bad." Connected."

Graham agreed: "In terms of film quality alone, this is a strong competitor, and their public relations have also done a lot."

Martin nodded: "In addition to normal publicity and lobbying, some prize winning methods can only be used once and will not work the second time."

David Fincher asked: "Discrediting a competitor?"

Martin said: “Discrediting competitors in media reports and public opinion could have been classified as normal publicity and public relations more than ten years ago during the Harvey Weinstein era.”

Louise knew very well that Martin was going to use unconventional means.

Martin thought for a while and said: "Contact Tony and the other two parties involved to clarify and support "Escape from Tehran" in the media. You are responsible for it. I will figure out a way to attack."

David Fincher was competing for the Oscar for Best Director for the last time. He wanted to go all out and said, "Whatever you need me to do, just ask."

Graham also said: "GK Film and Television Company can also invest a lot of resources here."

Of course Louise doesn’t need to say much.

Martin said: "I was thinking about this on the plane back to Los Angeles from Atlanta, and I had a rough idea. You can also give me some suggestions..."

To be more precise, his ideas come from his past life and are also related to Megan Ellison.

In her previous life, Megan Ellison became the biggest Oscar winner after Harvey Weinstein not only because the films she invested in and produced had quality assurance, but also because of a series of public relations methods.

The Oscar game can be said to be a different kind of American election.

If you think about the mess in the general election, you will know how much mess there will be in the Oscars, from publicity to public relations to award evaluation.

Martin's proposal was approved by Louise, Graham and David Finch.

It's about running for election... no, it's about winning prizes and using some means to make it more modest.

What's more, after winning the prize, there is still countless small amounts of money.

At the end of the meeting, Martin left the Disney Studio first. After getting into the Escalade with Bruce, he said, "Go find Jodi."

Bruce was in the corner of the conference room at the time and knew Martin's plan and said, "Jodi is on a business trip. I will go over as soon as she comes back."

Martin pointed to the back seat: "Don't forget to bring a gift."

Bruce nodded silently. For Martin, a good brother, he really hit his pelvis again and again and it hurt. Maybe one day his bones would be broken.

There is no way, who let this be a life and death brother?

After sending Martin to the crew of "La La Land" which was still on location, Bruce called Jodi and arranged to meet tomorrow afternoon.

On the other side, Louise and Graham also contacted the media, and Tony Mendes, Mark Hansen and Michael Cohen accepted exclusive interviews with the media that day.

Louise called the CIA's docking office again.

The next morning, at a press conference, the CIA spokesperson specifically mentioned "Escape from Tehran" and praised the film for truly reflecting the CIA's rescue plan that year. He said that the CIA rarely has a positive image in Hollywood movies. David - The film directed by Fincher is a masterpiece.

Subsequently, "Entertainment Weekly" published an exclusive interview with Tony Mendes. Of course, the latter praised the film adaptation and believed that the film was at least 80% true. The fictional part was also to highlight the urgency of the incident and the urgency of rescue. It's harmless.

Like Ron Stern, Mark Hansen and Michael Cohen, who also experienced the entire incident, said completely different things in an exclusive interview with "People". They believed that the film was very real and almost the same as what they experienced back then. true reproduction.

But it’s not easy to completely eliminate the negative impact.

If you spread rumors, you will lose your legs if you refute them.

What's more, this is not a rumor.

This world is magical after all. Those who spread rumors are telling the truth, while those who refute rumors are full of lies.

And public opinion mostly believes the latter.