Levi rejected Alexander's idea of relying on the film festival to get sponsorship. However, he still chose to agree to participate in the film festival after thinking about it for a long time.
Although the Berlin Film Festival's award is of little significance, it is still an award. Levi thinks getting an Oscar for his film is hard—it's too hard to compete with big boats—so getting another award is not bad.
Though declaring for the award is not a simple process, Levi also had to contact Kevin Spacey once he decided to participate in the competition for the award. As the absolute protagonist of this film, his performance is in place and excellent. If this film is shown at the Berlin Film Festival, then Kevin Spacey will probably be nominated and may even win an award. Let him know and see if he goes to Berlin.
In Levi's view, the best situation is naturally that he and several leading actors win awards. Since he wants to participate in the film festival, then he should show enough respect. It's just that, to participate in such a film festival, he can't decide for others whether to go or not. He has to inform and check other people's time.
Levi knew very well that, not to mention Spacey, even the other two lead actors were also very busy.
The lives of actors and directors are different. Unless the famous directors have their own director fans and are willing to watch them talk behind the scenes, otherwise the director has little chance to come to the stage.
But the actors are different. After the film's filming, the actors' fame will rise accordingly. Several leading actors in his film have a very tense life after the film is released: various publicity activities have made them very nervous. They are so busy that it is difficult to have the opportunity to participate in other activities.
For example, for Hugh Jackman, this movie can be said to be his first Hollywood movie. His role in the movie is not the most important one, but he has shown the toughness and elegance that a playwright and a rebel should have. His outstanding image has opened up the market in Hollywood at once. He got a lot of film contracts. Although these films are varied, and some of them are not suitable for him to act in any way, it is much better than going back to Broadway.
Moreover, because Hugh Jackman himself is quite handsome, after the movie ended, he also got the opportunity to advertise for Marlboro. The income from an advertisement exceeded the film's salary income, so he can be regarded as a star. At this stage, Hugh Jackman has been actively participating in various activities non-stop to expand his reputation to better develop in Hollywood in the future.
Even he has a good way out, let alone Kevin Spacey. Once his performance was over, he was greeted with praise from Hollywood. In this play, his expression does not change most of the time, and he can only express his mood through eyes, subtle movements, and partial micro-expressions. And even under this requirement, he still played the character vividly, bringing out all kinds of expressions to the fullest. People couldn't help admiring that his acting skills were indeed extraordinary.
"Kevin Spacey proved the depth of his acting skills. He can play not only the villain but also the positive characters. He plays characters with few lines and almost no body movements, but they are almost perfect. This kind of acting skill is worthy of any honor."
All kinds of comments in the entertainment industry have always been somewhat biased. Just as directors who shoot literary and artistic films are more respected than those who shoot commercial movies, when it comes to film performances, the literary and art circles have always been more respectful of introverted expressions, demeanor, and changes in eyes, as opposed to exaggerated body language and overly ostentatious lines; such performance skills are more contemptuous to them.
In the 1980s, Robert De Niro won an Oscar for his frowning acting skills. Until the new century, Leonardo was still learning his frowning skills—of course, his luck was worse— And another talented actor, Al Pacino, because of his exaggerated performance style, although the skill of reciting lines can be said to be the pinnacle, it is difficult to get recognition for his recitation of lines with an incomparable speech style. It took him nearly 25 years to get Oscar recognition with Scent of a Woman with eight nominations. Similarly, Jim Carrey's acting skills are not bad, and his box office revenue and popularity are second to none. However, his acting style is too exaggerated, making it difficult for the Oscar committee to favor such a style.
And Kevin Spacey's acting style in this movie is very in line with the requirements of various award selections, and compared with previous movies, it can be said that it has a further breakthrough.
Although Kevin Spacey's acting skills are recognized as very good, his appearance is really too distinctive. Although his acting skills are excellent in many movies, people often know he is a villain when they see his face up.
The most typical one is last year's The Usual Suspects: his performance is indeed outstanding, but because of his popularity as a big name and previous criminal characters, just after he was seen on the big screen, people already saw him as the villain and the suspense in the movie was gone.
But in this movie, his role is arranged very well. The identity of the monitor and the person discovered by his conscience makes it difficult to define his good and evil in the play. Even if people see his face, it is difficult to say whether he is good or bad. This film combines the actor's characteristics and the character's identity, which makes his performance very good.
Movies and actors are mutual achievements, and some scenes are easy to go wrong if they are handed over to the wrong person. For example, in Shawshank's Redemption novel, the protagonist is a small man with a height of 1.60 meters, with a thin and wry body, and it is possible to climb out of the passage. But the actor in the movie version is 1.90 meters tall and has a strong figure. Besides digging tunnels, it is difficult to win people's trust.
It can be said that Spacey's role in this film is just right, which also makes his performance extremely good. Even after the film was released, people said that he had locked an Oscar nomination, and what is more interesting is whether he could win an Oscar with this film.
Kevin Spacey's acting skills have always been unanimously affirmed. Many people think that his acting skills are not worse than Tom Hanks's. Except for those actors of the older generation, he can also be regarded as having the best acting skills. But in the past few years, because most of the roles he played were villains, winning an Oscar for such a role was too difficult. Among last year's The Usual Suspects, his role can be said to be at the level of the protagonist, but because he is a villain, he only won the Best Supporting Actor in the end.
In this movie, his image is finally reversed. From playing a perverted murderer, his image in L.A. Confidential has changed. In this movie, he plays a positive role. The villain has become a decent person.
Since the actor's acting skills are already excellent, and now there are enough outstanding works, whether he can win awards is naturally a key topic of discussion.
It's just that it is not so easy for him to win an Oscar. Among his opponents are Jack Nicholson and Dustin Hoffman. The acting skills of these two old actors are not inferior to his at all, and it can even be said that they are better. No one can compete with them and dare to guarantee victory. What's more, Kevin Spacey just won the Best Supporting Actor last year. If he wants to win the Oscar for two consecutive years, even if it is one lead and one supporting role, it is not so easy.
Therefore, during this period of time, he also needs to do more publicity to win opportunities for himself. Compared with the Berlin Film Festival, Hollywood actors still value the Oscars, and Levi is not sure whether he is willing to go to Berlin.
"Going to Berlin? I don't have any arrangements. I have to ask my publicity company. Going to Berlin in February seems to be a bit troublesome. But if possible, I will try my best to arrange it." Levi directly called Spacey, and to Levi's satisfaction, Spacey agreed very simply, "Do you still remember the three reasons you said when you came to me to act? Transformation of the image, honing of acting skills, and the European relationship. The first two have been achieved now; only the third one is left now, and I also hope that the third can be completed together."
Spacey's attitude is quite good: this movie has brought him a lot of things, and he is, of course, very satisfied. As an actor, he also knows that it is very important to maintain a good relationship with a good director, so naturally, he will not refuse bluntly.
It's just that his words are not fully committed. Levi also understands that if the time comes to February, it will be the eve of the Oscars. Spacey has released two good films this year. Before the Oscars, he needs to do promotion, and having enough time to do other things is difficult.
You have to ask the publicity company about these things: Hollywood stars not only have a brokerage company but also have a special publicity company. The brokerage company is responsible for helping the actors accept the play, while the publicity company is responsible for helping the actors arrange various publicity matters.
Of course, Levi is very clear about these things because when he was on the phone, there was another actor sitting beside him.
*****
Thanks and kudos for my patreons Cherif Doghri, Abdishakur Hasan, Adam LV, Danny York, haze2343, Scott DePaepe, Dario Cameruccio, MMMCMXCIX, or 3,999, and The Main Man.
You can read advanced chapters on my Patreon account: https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.