"Is it because of what Leo said about the awards?" He had been watching her closely, so he naturally noticed when her expression changed.
Laila nodded. "Yes, I think someone might be setting me up."
In the past, Roy would have immediately asked who was setting her up, but this time, he didn't ask directly. Instead, he started thinking.
This was a revelation from their trip to South Africa. Xiao Ye's sudden appearance made him feel Laila's worries and made him realize how much he relied on her. Even when he was thousands of miles away, he was still under her care. But he was a man and should be her support, not the other way around.
"I remember you saying that the Oscar judges are like rebellious teenagers: the more you expect them to go east, the more they will go west." After pondering for a moment, Roy came to a shocking conclusion.
This conclusion was terrifying. If someone doesn't want Laila to win, all they need to do is have the media praise her excessively, and she won't get the award.
If this speculation is true, then the person who did this is a bastard!
Laila was a bit surprised by how quickly Roy came to his conclusion. It's not that she doubted his intelligence; on the contrary, she always valued his wisdom. It's just that he was usually lazy and always left the thinking to her.
"Hopefully, it's not the case. I haven't been following the media trends lately, so I'll check when we get home."
"What if it's true?"
Yes, what if it's true? This was the question Laila had been pondering since earlier. Numerous films were favored by the media but abandoned by the Oscars, as the judges like to assert their authority with unconventional choices.
For now, she could only comfort her anxious heart with the thought that *The Lord of the Rings* was a trilogy. With the momentum of the first two films and the impact of the third, she calculated that she had at least an 80% chance of winning the award.
But if someone was truly sabotaging her, she couldn't predict the outcome.
"Let's wait and see."
Laila hoped she was overthinking it, but when she got home and saw the online trends, she realized her speculation was at least 99% correct.
She first checked her own media's related websites. Compared to other media, there was not much discussion about her and Roy's relationship. Instead, the focus was on the box office of *The Lord of the Rings*. For example, it had officially surpassed one billion globally yesterday and was still holding strong in most countries, topping weekly box office charts.
In North America, the box office was so impressive that other film companies were green with envy. Those with films slated for summer releases wished they could push their dates back a couple of weeks.
With such a strong box office performance, Laila's Facebook was flooded with fans and moviegoers praising the film for staying true to the original. Many people left messages on her account, prematurely celebrating her potential sweep of various awards at the end of the year and the beginning of next year. The most prominent expectation was that she would become the next Oscar Best Director, breaking age records like her fiancé.
After checking Facebook and her news website, she looked at other news outlets. What she saw left her in shock; the situation had spiraled out of control without her noticing.
The external trend was alarming, with unanimous praise for her and *The Lord of the Rings*. This had never happened before, not even with the first two films of the trilogy. The usual critics who relished finding faults in her work were now full of praise.
Even the consistently critical *New York Post* used phrases like "predestined to win next year's Oscar for Best Director" to describe Laila and *The Lord of the Rings*.
Laila knew that when your enemies start praising you, it's either because they're begging for mercy before you crush them, or they're up to something.
Since she couldn't destroy or acquire the *New York Post* anytime soon, their lavish praise could only mean one thing—they were trying to rob her of the Best Director award she coveted.
The person behind this had to be someone very knowledgeable about Hollywood and the Oscars. The only person she could think of who fit this description and had a grudge against her was Cooper.
"It's been a long time since I've heard about him. Could he have resurfaced?" Laila considered him the most suspicious, with the motive and capability, and most importantly, his hatred for her. Ever since she entered Hollywood, he had been trying to cause trouble for her. He had the connections to coordinate such a media campaign.
But Cooper had been out of sight for a long time, or at least not causing enough trouble to catch her attention. If not for this incident, she might not have thought of him for a long time.
Could it be him? Laila pondered uncertainly.
However, it indeed was him!
While Laila was investigating the matter and devising a countermeasure, the "suspect" Cooper was being questioned by his superior.
"Will this ensure she doesn't win the award?" Faaris didn't look convinced. Although he agreed to this plan, he didn't genuinely believe that having a bunch of media outlets praise Laila would cost her the trophy.
"Trust me, Mr. Faaris. I've been in Hollywood long enough to understand the Oscars' preferences. If we skew the public opinion enough before the awards, they won't choose Laila." Cooper sounded confident, but only he knew how unsure he was about this tactic.
They had invested heavily to control the narrative because he knew Laila had a real chance of winning the most coveted award for directors. This was something he couldn't accept. Hence, the current action.
But whether the outcome would be as optimistic as he told Faaris, only God knew. If she were just aiming for the award with a single film, his approach might have a 50% chance of depriving her of the trophy. But what made him uneasy was that this was a trilogy, effectively combining the impact of three films into one awards bid.