The Best Foreign Language Film award—an elusive dream for countless international directors.
For a non-English film, winning the Oscar for Best Picture is practically impossible, making Best Foreign Language Film the ultimate prize for foreign filmmakers.
That is, until 2020, when South Korean director Bong Joon-ho broke through with Parasite, snagging four major awards: Best Director, Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, and Best International Feature (formerly Best Foreign Language Film). It became the first non-English film to win Best Picture in Oscar history.
"The odds of winning Best Foreign Language Film? I'd say about 50%," Mr. Eisen said.
Luke chuckled at the response.
He knew Eisen too well—there was more to that statement than met the eye.
Fifty percent is a tricky middle ground, neither high nor low, almost noncommittal.
When someone like Eisen, who's practically family, makes a prediction like this, they don't usually hedge their bets with vague numbers.
If Eisen thought the chances were good, he'd have given a number well above 50%. If he thought they were slim, he'd have said less.
Saying 50% meant the real odds of winning Best Foreign Language Film were nowhere near that.
It meant the chances were low.
He was only saying it to soften the blow for Director Zhang Mou.
After all, the guy had come all this way, full of hope. Dousing him with cold water right off the bat would be a bit harsh.
So, Eisen was being diplomatic.
A little false hope might keep Zhang happy for now.
As for not winning later? Well, tough luck—it was a 50-50 shot, right?
"Really? That's pretty promising!" Director Zhang said, clearly thrilled.
He obviously didn't pick up on Eisen's subtle style and thought his dream was one step closer.
Talk about being blinded by optimism. Luke gave a wry smile.
"Welcome to New York, Director Zhang. I'll treat you to dinner later. For now, Luke and I have some private matters to discuss. Could you give us ten minutes?" Eisen said.
"Of course, no problem. I'll wait downstairs," Zhang replied, still riding his wave of excitement as he left the room.
Once the door closed behind Zhang, Luke got straight to the point. "What's really going on? What went wrong?"
Luke cared deeply about Hero's awards.
He wasn't too fussed about Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl—that was Disney's project.
But Hero? That was different. Winning awards for it would be a big deal for him.
For one, Luke was the primary investor in Hero. He owned the film's rights.
For another, if Hero racked up awards, it would prove Luke could help Chinese directors break onto the global stage and win big.
With Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon already setting a precedent, and Hero potentially following suit, the Chinese film industry would go nuts.
Luke would be the golden boy of the Chinese film world, with top directors tripping over themselves to get on his good side.
Sure, technically, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon's success wasn't directly tied to Luke.
But the Chinese film community wouldn't see it that way. One win could be a fluke, but two? That's a pattern.
If Hero could snag Best Foreign Language Film, Luke's clout in the Chinese film industry would skyrocket.
After all, those directors were desperate to make a name for themselves internationally.
But based on Eisen's hint, Hero's chances of winning Best Foreign Language Film were slim.
What went wrong?
Addressing Luke's question, Eisen said, "There are three main reasons."
"The first is that Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon already used up a lot of the judges' enthusiasm for Chinese films. Plus, for the sake of balance, the Academy can't keep giving Best Foreign Language Film to Chinese movies. They have to consider other languages too."
Luke nodded. He'd already known about this first reason.
That's why he'd pushed so hard for major changes during Hero's production.
If you want to win, your film has to be undeniably great. Hero had to outshine Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in quality to even have a shot.
And he'd done it. This version of Hero was leaps and bounds better than Crouching Tiger.
So, he was confident in chasing the award, even if the judges were balancing their choices. He believed Hero's quality far surpassed other foreign films.
What could've caused the judges to lose their sense of fairness?
Eisen understood Luke's confusion and continued, "The second reason is ridiculous, but it's just how things work in the West. There's a competing film, Love in Africa. You know how the judges eat up that kind of subject matter."
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Ugh, that old excuse.
Luke knew the film—a German production.
To be fair, it was a decent movie. But compared to his version of Hero? It didn't even come close.
The only reason it posed a threat was its subject matter, which was similar to Schindler's List.
(Can't go into details, but let's just say that kind of topic gets an automatic boost in the West—like, a huge boost.)
"And the third reason? That's a big factor too, right?" Luke asked.
If it was just Love in Africa's thematic advantage, it'd still be a close call.
For Eisen to say the odds were low, there had to be something else at play.
Eisen nodded. "Yes. The third reason is that someone's been working behind the scenes, bribing judges to sabotage our chances."
"What?" Luke hadn't expected that.
"Yeah. I didn't notice at first either. But a few days ago, some old friends who turned down the bribes tipped me off. That's when I realized someone's targeting us," Eisen said.
"Who?"
"Nick Simpson."
"Don't know him."
"He's the vice president of Columbia Pictures. Before that, he was with MGM. Now you get it?"
Well, damn. That's a full-on power play.
A few months back, Eisen had warned him that Hollywood's eight major studios were split in their stance toward Luke: hostile, friendly, or neutral.
Two studios had made it clear they saw him as an enemy: Columbia Pictures and MGM.
(See Chapter 216 for details.)
Luke had figured they wouldn't make a move until The King of Espionage hit theaters and found success.
But he hadn't expected them to start playing dirty this early.