Los Angeles, Kodak Theatre, 77th Academy Awards ceremony.
As night fell, the real ceremony began with a medley of short films connecting many classic characters and plots from the past and present.
Finally, with Chaplin and Shrek walking shoulder to shoulder, the host Chris Rock took to the stage.
You might not recognize his name, but if you mention Will Smith's slapping incident, he's quite famous.
It's even the most widely reported Oscar incident in recent years, and the person who got slapped was this guy.
He is an actor and stand-up comedian, with his own show, skilled in various sharp satirical jokes and political humor.
So, even though he's Black, he has considerable popularity among young people, and he's currently at the peak of his career.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you everyone, no need to stand up and applaud, please sit down quickly."
It would have been fine if he hadn't said that, but once he did, another Black actor led the way, making others stand up as well.
But not everyone gave him that respect; the camera panned across the audience, and when it reached Eric, he just smiled and applauded, still casually crossing his legs.
It did seem a bit abrupt, but I have the capital for it.
I have it now, and I'll have even more in a few years.
"I like watching movies, and I believe everyone does, especially the younger you are, the more you like them."
"But some childhood masterpieces, when viewed now, will make you scream in anger, for example: 'Rocky V' is truly a terrible movie."
The camera immediately cut to Sylvester Stallone, who shrugged helplessly, his head-shaking expression instantly drawing laughter from everyone.
"I like attending the Oscars because the Oscars are the most authentic awards ceremony; there will never be any falsification here."
"What? You mean Harvey Weinstein?"
"Come on, I specifically visited him in prison, and he said that all the awards Miramax received were earned through merit."
Oh!
Oh!
Hahahaha.
No one expected Chris Rock to go all out right from the start.
Although he has always been known for being outspoken and daring, it's truly open-minded of the Academy to allow him to make such jokes.
Eric looked up at the big screen, where the live reactions clearly showed the different thoughts of various groups.
Those who were not directly involved naturally laughed heartily and clapped their hands, enjoying the show.
But actors like Gwyneth Paltrow and Catherine Zeta-Jones, who won awards through Miramax films...
Either smiled awkwardly, or looked straight ahead expressionlessly, or pretended to chat with those around them, avoiding the camera.
Also very displeased were the people from Disney; Michael Eisner naturally wasn't present, and a vice president attended today.
He touched his nose, his expression a forced smile.
But what could be done?
Times had changed; Disney was clearly no match for MGM now, and in the past, Miramax was at least a subsidiary of Disney, so one had to consider the owner when beating the dog.
And the happiest were naturally those who had been wronged, like Spielberg, who couldn't help but inwardly shout, "Keep it up, keep mocking them!"
"There are thousands of people sitting here tonight, but only a handful are true stars; the rest are just moderately popular actors."
"Clint Eastwood is a star, but Tobey Maguire is just a boy in a tight suit."
The camera showed an old man and a young man; Old Man Dongmu smiled slightly.
"Sometimes a production crew wants to find a big star for a movie, you want Tom Cruise, but in the end, you only find Jude Law."
"Who is Jude Law? Why is he always jumping around in movies these past few years?"
"One moment he's American, the next he's British, then he's Russian."
"One moment he's heterosexual, the next he's homosexual."
"You can see him everywhere, even in the crew list serving tea and water."
"I've always wondered, is he going to play Jabba in 'star wars: episode iii'?"
Chris Rock continued to mock Jude Law; he indeed made many films in recent years, such as "Enemy at the Gates," "cold mountain," and "Road to Perdition."
However, despite constantly changing his roles and breaking through, he has not been favored by major awards.
Being so blatantly mocked, it's fortunate he didn't attend today, otherwise, no matter how good-natured he was, he would have shown displeasure.
With Chris Rock's foul mouth, that slap he received was truly not unwarranted.
Of course, besides actors, political jokes couldn't be spared, especially since George W. Bush had just been re-elected; how could Hollywood not mock him?
Coincidentally, "fahrenheit 9/11" was released this year, and it was naturally used for jest.
Seemingly poking fun at the movie, it was actually all directed at mocking George W. Bush.
"Sitting in the White House now, looking at the tens of trillions of dollars in fiscal deficit, what do you think he's thinking?"
"War! The answer is, of course, war."
"He'll just pick a small country to declare war on, and as for the reason, even laundry detergent can be a reason, so what else isn't possible?"
Hahahahaha
I have to say, Eric was also amused by him.
In 2003, in order to justify sending troops to Iraq, at the UN General Assembly, US representative Powell held a small bottle containing white powder, solemnly stating that it was a weapon of mass destruction found in Iraq.
This was then mocked by President Putin, who said it contained laundry detergent, and this scene became a famous moment that has remained popular for decades.
After telling jokes for a while and getting the crowd warmed up, Chris Rock exited, and the first presenter, Halle Berry, walked onto the stage.
"Seventy-seven years ago, the first Oscar statuette was crafted according to the manuscript of the legendary art master Cedric Gibbons."
"Tonight, I have the honor of presenting the first award for Best Art Direction."
"They are Anthony Pratt, Celia Bobak for 'The Phantom of the Opera'; Gemma Jackson, Trisha Edwards for 'Finding Neverland'."
"Rick Heinrichs for 'Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events'; Aline Bonetto for 'A Very Long Engagement'; and Cheryl Carasik for 'la vie en rose'."
The Black Pearl opened the envelope: "The winner is Rick Heinrichs for 'Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events'."
Everyone immediately applauded; the five films each had their merits, and any could have been chosen, it was just luck.
Eric, however, was somewhat happy; he whispered to Nicole, "Your chances of winning an award just increased a bit."
"I hope so."
After delivering her acceptance speech, Renée Zellweger walked onto the stage to present the Best Supporting Actor award.
Her styling tonight was truly disastrous, a very old-fashioned hairstyle paired with a big red dress; it's hard to say who designed it.
"Tonight, five excellent male actors are vying for Best Supporting Actor; the nominees are Morgan Freeman for 'Million Dollar Baby', Alan Alda for 'the aviator'."
"Thomas Haden Church for'Sideways', Jamie Foxx for 'Collateral', Clive Owen for 'Closer'."
The big screen showed clips from the five films; the media and audience's highest calls were for Morgan Freeman and Alan Alda, with the other three almost certainly just accompanying them.
Renée Zellweger glanced at the result and announced with a smile: "The winner is Morgan Freeman for 'Million Dollar Baby'."
Instantly, the entire audience cheered, and the other four all showed expressions of sincere admiration.
Old Man Dongmu and Hilary Swank stood up and hugged him; as he passed in front of Eric, they smiled and waved, this award was well-deserved.
Adjusting his scarf, Morgan Freeman quickly walked up to receive the trophy.
"I want to thank the entire crew of 'Million Dollar Baby,' even if you only participated a little in the production."
Hahahaha.
"Especially I want to thank Clint Eastwood; the experience of working together again was wonderful."
"Thanks to Hilary Swank; she is a wonderful and very dedicated actress."
"And MGM, Mr. Eric Cooper; I heard he saw the script at first glance and then gathered us all together."
Eric nodded, giving a "1" gesture to the camera.
"Finally, I also want to thank the Academy; receiving this award means a great deal to me, thank you!"
Amidst the applause, Eric once again said to Nicole, "My dear, your chances of winning Best Actress have increased a bit more."
"I think so too, hee hee." Nicole quietly covered her mouth, a little worried about being caught by the camera.
After Morgan Freeman stepped down, the comedy master Robin Williams walked up energetically.
His voice was very loud: "Animation breathes life into inanimate objects; masters use their techniques to make characters vibrant, like they've taken 'Viagra'."
Making a crude joke publicly instantly caught many off guard, drawing a burst of laughter.
Old Man Robin then pointed to Old Man Dongmu: "Clint even said he'd reserve one for me."
After teasing several old-timers, Robin Williams said: "This year's nominees for Best Animated Feature Film are: Brad Bird for 'The Incredibles', Bibo Bergeron for 'shark tale', Chris Buck for 'frozen', and Andrew Adamson for'Shrek 2'."
When "frozen" was played on the big screen, the cheers were noticeably louder.
This was undoubtedly one of the least suspenseful awards of the night; from plot, depth, influence, and all other aspects, "frozen" unquestionably held an overwhelming advantage.
Old Man Robin opened the envelope, glanced at it, and laughed: "The winner is the 2004 annual box office champion, 'frozen'!"
Clap, clap, clap.
As "Let It Go" played, the entire hall erupted in thunderous applause.
Many major events happened in Hollywood this past year, but even with so many, the title of annual box office champion was enough to be remembered.
With 1.187 billion US dollars globally, Queen Elsa instantly claimed the second spot in world film history box office.
Director Chris Buck excitedly accepted the trophy, thanking this and thanking that.
Finally, he raised the trophy in the direction where Eric was sitting: "Lastly, I must also thank Mr. Eric Cooper; although he didn't constantly oversee the film's production, he established all the frameworks."
"He is the screenwriter, the art director, the visual effects supervisor, the song creator."
"Elsa, Anna, Olaf—every important character was designed with his personal involvement."
"Strictly speaking, this award should be given to him; I merely did some basic work."
At this moment, the camera cut to Eric, who was happily clapping and cheering.
After Chris Buck stepped down, the two embraced in front of the camera again.
Subsequently, Best Original Song was once again taken by "frozen," still without controversy.
Best Animated Short Film went to the Canadian film "Ryan."
Best Live Action Short Film was awarded to "Wasp."
Best Documentary Feature went to "Born into Brothels," a film about a group of children living in the red-light district of Kolkata, who learn photography with an American journalist.
How to put it?
The film's format is not without American thinking, as if they are the sole saviors.
But if you say it's meaningless, it did indeed have a positive impact on the lives of these children, after all, relying on the Indian government is even more hopeless.
Best Documentary Short Film was won by "Mighty Times: The Children's March."
Controversially, "fahrenheit 9/11" did not receive a single nomination; as a political documentary, its influence was greater than all the nominated films combined.
It's a shame it wasn't nominated, but George W. Bush won the Golden Raspberry for Best Actor for this film.
Best Foreign Language Film was awarded to the Spanish film "The Sea Inside"; this year, China submitted Zhang Yimou's "House of Flying Daggers."
This film cannot be called garbage, but it's not good either.
The story was muddled, completely leaving people unable to find its core; Eric's evaluation of it was simply "muddled."
Such a film naturally couldn't win Best Foreign Language Film.
Hong Kong submitted Johnnie To's "Running on Karma" this year; it can't be said to be excellent, but it's at least much stronger than "House of Flying Daggers."
However, its core story was too difficult to understand, especially for foreigners, so it wasn't nominated either.
In Eric's opinion, "Kung Fu Hustle" should have been submitted; with its Christmas release and box office second only to "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."
Its complete plot and not-too-obscure underlying meaning would have at least guaranteed a nomination.
But Chinese-language films didn't suffer a complete defeat, because "House of Flying Daggers" received a nomination for Best Cinematography.
CCTV Movie Channel will broadcast it again this year, so we'll see if it can win an award.
After the halftime performance, Scarlett Johansson, wearing a beautiful evening gown, came to the center of the stage.
She was dressed exquisitely tonight, with her golden hair swept up, side bangs highlighting her large eyes, and her excellent figure accentuating her extraordinary beauty.
A beautiful enchantress, exuding charm.
"A good film cannot do without a good screenwriter; screenwriters write excellent stories, and only then can directors and actors present those stories on the big screen."
"Next, I will present the award for Best Original Screenplay; the nominees are: Eric Cooper for 'Inception', Charlie Kaufman and Michel Gondry for 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'."
"Terry George and Keir Pearson for 'Hotel Rwanda', John Logan for 'the aviator', and once again Eric Cooper for 'frozen'."
The big screen was divided into five sections, and Eric alone occupied two, in the first and last positions, making it look like the other three were surrounded by him, and the award was already decided.
However, according to media predictions, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" was also a strong contender.
Especially Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet's superb acting added much to the script, so the outcome was difficult to predict.
Scarlett Johansson smiled as she opened the envelope, and her hand slipped, causing it to fall to the floor, which instantly drew a light chuckle.
"Sorry, I'm even more nervous than the nominees."
"The winner of the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay is..."