Christmas is coming, and the matter of Sophie Marceau is temporarily put on the side. Duke has a vacation for the crew in preparation and flew to New York to spend one of the most important festivals of the year with his mother.

Party is a necessity that cannot be escaped in life and social interaction in this country. Before Christmas, Duke accompanied his mother to attend some high-class parties in New York. Not to mention the income he earned in the film industry, his mother's wealth has been growing in recent years. Especially after the company moved to New York, she has become closer to the fashion industry. Her mother has already overcome the hurdle of billions of dollars. In addition, she is closely connected with Jewish groups in New York. She can be said to be one of the upper class people in this city.

Participation is a social need. On Christmas Eve, just like in the past decade, there were only Duke and his mother in the restaurant at home.

“The ad you created was aired in advance.”

After cutting the roasted turkey, Mrs. Leah handed it over and after Duke took it, she said, "I heard from Erin that you made some publicity suggestions?"

"Just said a few casual words." Duke said while cutting the turkey, "Irene is very smart, she is the specific executor."

"The advertising response is very good." Mrs. Leah sat back on her chair. "Last week, Erin came to see me. According to her, the Lauder Group would like to sign another advertising contract with you."

"I can only refuse."

Duke shook his head, "It's awards season now. I have to cooperate with the film company's plan and prepare a new film, so I can't make time."

Shooting an advertisement is not an easy task. Shooting may only take a few days to complete, but preparations often take several weeks.

In fact, when he returned to New York, he and Erin Lauder were on the phone. The reason why the advertisement was released in advance this year was to cooperate with the hype about Elizabeth Hurley. Hugrant despised everyone for attracting prostitutes. As his girlfriend for forgiveness and bravely faced it, Elizabeth Hurley won a lot of praise. Her news can be said to be a hot topic some time ago. The Lauder Group is about to launch advertisements, and the effect is surprisingly good.

Erin Lander also told Duke on the phone that Elizabeth Hurley wanted to meet him to express her deep gratitude, but he refused. Duke was not grateful for his special thanks.

The reason is simple. Duke is not sure whether Elizabeth Hurley has been hooked up with the White House and does not want to cause trouble.

He once read a scandal between Bill Clinton and Elizabeth Hurley. He forgot exactly what year he happened, but he still remembers a little bit of the content.

One of Elizabeth Hurley's ex-boyfriends accepted the invitation from the White House to visit because of their works. When they were using the dinner together, they mentioned Elizabeth Hurley, and Clinton asked him for his ex-girlfriend Hurley's phone number directly.

It is said that Clinton had no scruples at the time, so he stood in front of his ex-boyfriend and called Hurley directly, and contacted a plane to pick up Elizabeth Hurley.

Hurley was in Los Angeles at the time, and was dating with Hugrant, but just a few hours later, she arrived at the White House and stayed in it for four days.

Later, news spread that Clinton and Elizabeth Hurley's underground relationship lasted for more than a year. Clinton found that he began to fall in love with Hurley. In order to avoid falling into a complicated and difficult situation, Clinton decided to cut the mess quickly. Only then did the two sides completely break up.

Zipperton's romantic past is no less than any Hollywood director or star. In fact, Duke still admires a famous saying from the federal president circulating in the media - I will not talk about love with women who are rolling in the Vanity Fair. When I find out that I start falling in love with you, I will break up with you.

The dinner was very slow, and Duke and his mother were having a meal and chatting. Perhaps because they were really old, or maybe they hadn't seen each other for a long time, their mother talked a lot more than before, and they were also very concerned about his career and life.

In Mrs. Leah's eyes, Duke's private life was a mess and he was too lazy to say anything. He mainly talked about work.

“Is there hope for best director and best film?”

The Oscar is coming, and Mrs. Leah hopes Duke can reap several honors, "How are your preparations done?"

"The specific publicity and public relations work is done by the producers and publishers."

Although I have seen some cases, it is different from watching and executing. Duke is a layman in Oscar PR, just cooperating with Warner and Fox's overall strategy. "The best director may be nominated, but there is no hope of winning the award. Warner and Fox focus on PR is the best film. They have done a lot of work based on this year's special situation. I think the possibility of winning the award is very high."

In such a time period, if the soldier loses the best film, the pressure the academy will definitely bear ten or even a hundred times heavier than before.

"I've also seen some analysis." Mrs. Leah put down her knife and fork and drank the wine in her glass. "The best director's popularity is Mel Gibson."

"That's true, mom."

At this time, almost all the award-winning films have been released or previewed. Compared with "Brave Heart" and "Save Private Ryan", the differences in other works, whether it is Ang Lee in "Sense and Emotion" or McAfeegis in "Escape from Las Vegas", are very obvious, and this gap cannot be made up for by public relations at all.

Shrugging, Duke continued, "Although William Wallace's 'freedom' shout was very artificial and exaggerated, and even many ordinary audiences reported it very disgusting, he did meet the appetites of many judges, and Gibson has an advantage in age. If there is no accident, more than 70% of him may take away the best director Little Golden Man."

"Will there be an accident happening?"

Mrs. Leah knew exactly what her son was. She had also heard of some conflicts between the two. She absolutely did not believe that Duke would sit by and watch the other party win the award, "If you need it, just speak."

"No, mom." Duke seemed extremely confident, "I've figured out what to do."

The preparations for "Chicago" in Los Angeles are temporarily under the charge of Zach Sneider and Sofia Coppola. Duke simply gave himself a short holiday and spent more than a week with his mother in New York, and met Erin Lauder in the middle. It was not until 1996 that Duke returned to Los Angeles.

Preparing for "Chicago", writing new scripts, and occasionally cooperating with producers to attend several events, these are the work Duke did in the first half of January. Over time, the films and related personnel who can get Oscar nominations have become more and more obvious. Although critics like Roger Albert have used their influence in private and lobbying the judges not to choose "Save Private Ryan", this year's general trend is due to the same situation as "Brave Heart" they are touted by them, and are also considered to be the winner of the Oscar nomination list.

In the face of the general social situation, it is easy to imagine how difficult it is to go against the trend for a group with a total of only a few hundred people.

Most critics are not stupid either. At least they did not publicly criticize "Save Private Ryan" in the column for not being suitable for winning the award. Their target is Duke himself. Not just Oscars, they want to prevent Duke from winning any award for the best director.

In some outpost awards such as the New York Film Critics Association Awards, the Chicago Film Critics Association Awards and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, Mel Gibson easily defeated Duke and won the Best Director, while "Save Private Ryan" only won the Best Picture.

The next step is extremely important, and at the Actors Union Awards, Directors Association Awards and Producers League Awards, which are more vane-like than any award, Mel Gibson won the best director again, and at the same time, "Save Private Ryan" also defeated "Brave Heart" at the film awards.

The situation seems to be clear, and the annual Golden Globe Awards are about to kick off.

"Are you sure. Sophie?"

In the black Bentley, Duke is answering the phone. "I want absolutely reliable news."

“Mel Gibson will attend the Golden Globes and, as long as he wins the award, he will attend the celebration party after the Golden Globes.”

The voice from the phone seemed to be trembling, "I promise this! He met me yesterday and urged me to attack you before the Oscar nominee lunch."

"Thank you for the news."

After hanging up the phone, Duke started the car and drove to the cafe that he had made an appointment with Tom Cruise.

Half an hour later, he took the lead in walking into an extremely quiet cafe in Malibu, asked for a booth in the corner, and after waiting for about ten minutes, Tom Cruise entered the cafe alone. Seeing Duke waved, he immediately walked over.

"Tom..." Duke looked at the hero who was about to star in his movie, "The opportunity is here."

"I can't wait!"

The two had a communication in advance, and Tom Cruise gently hammered the coffee table, "I must return the insult Mel Gibson added to me!"

He didn't like the person opposite, but he didn't like the Australian savage now.

"I heard you accepted the invitation to the Golden Globes, too?"

Seeing Cruise nodding, Duke said, "Gibson will attend the celebration party after the Golden Globes, will you attend?"

Tom Cruise was stunned for a moment, then nodded, "Of course I will participate, I want to see Gibson's sad face after losing the Golden Globes."

"If nothing unexpected happens, Tom," Duke shook his head, "Mel Gibson will take the best director away."

"He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Director?" Cruise didn't understand. "Then he would win a big victory in the Outpost Award, and this bastard would win the Best Director Little Golden Man."

"Tom, he is our common enemy."

"That's right!"

Everything else could be tolerated, but Cruise could not tolerate Nicole Kidman and Mel Gibson staying in the same hotel for a long time, which had long become a thorn in his heart. As a member of Hollywood, what does it mean, he could think of with his toes.

"So, what are we going to do?" Tom Cruise asked.

“What you have to do is very simple.”

Of course Duke wouldn't be so stupid that he dragged his thoughts out, he just whispered a few simple words. (To be continued...)

ps: The second update is here, I hope it will rain... I will give you more votes~~~
Chapter completed!