The Best Director

In the waiting lounge of Kennedy Airport in New York, Wang Yang and Jessica chatted and laughed about last night’s New Year’s countdown. The year 2001 had arrived, and the 21st century had begun its first chapter. Times Square was naturally packed to the brim last night, even more so than a year ago; they had almost spent the entire night standing in place, unable to move, before welcoming the New Year both joyously and wearily.

And now, they were about to leave the city they had stayed in for a few days and head to Europe to spend the New Year holiday. At that moment, the mobile phone in Wang Yang’s pocket suddenly rang. He pulled it out and said to Jessica beside him, “It’s Anne Hathaway; I wonder what she wants.” He answered the call with a smile, “Hi, Annie, Happy New Year.”

“Happy New Year, Yang!” Anne Hathaway’s voice was filled with excitement. After exchanging greetings, she couldn’t wait to say, “I got the lead role in The Princess Diaries’! My agent just told me, I passed last month’s audition! The director said ‘her performance in ‘Juno’ is more than enough to take on the role.’ It’s crazy, I got a lead role!” Wang Yang immediately replied with a happy laugh, “Wow, congratulations!” Hathaway, too, laughed on the other end and kept thanking him, “Thank you! I’m so happy, thank you for giving me Leah, it’s awesome.”

“No need,” Wang Yang chuckled and shook his head. A butterfly with her looks, temperament, and immense talent, like her, was always going to make it famous—with or without Leah. He didn’t have the details of ‘The Princess Diaries’ in his mind, but in any case, with her talent and acting skills, she could shine in any leading role opportunity; ten years later, she would still be the same Oscar-winning Best Actress Anne Hathaway in his memory.

He thought of another Annie, who half a year ago was just as excited, saying, I got another role!” The movie hadn’t been released yet. After completing that supporting role and ‘Juno,’ Annie had no new roles coming her way. Laughter from Hathaway came through the phone once more, “Where are you? I heard you and Jessica are in New York, I want to invite you guys for dinner, is that okay?” Wang Yang gave an ‘oh’ and glanced at the flight information display on the other side, replying with a smile, “Thank you, but I’m afraid that won’t work, we’re about to board a flight to Paris.

“Paris! Wow. Then I won’t keep you, enjoy your romantic trip!” Hathaway laughed with a bit of envy and said, “Yang, bye!”

Wang Yang, smiling, put down his phone and said to Jessica, “Some good news, Annie landed the lead role in ‘The Princess Diaries.\'” Jessica smiled happily for her, showing teeth, “Beautiful!” Wang Yang nodded and continued their earlier conversation, laughing and asking, “Where shall we go to have fun when we reach Paris?” Jessica looked at him with a sweet face and joyfully said, “I’ve got it all planned out. On the first day, we’ll visit Notre-Dame Cathedral; on the second day, we’ll go to the Eiffel Tower…”

“Hmm.” Wang Yang nodded his head in agreement, following her arrangements without objections. He didn’t have any particular attachment to Paris; the reason for choosing to travel there was for her happiness because he had inadvertently learned from her maternal grandmother that “Jessica has loved Paris since she was little.” Her grandmother was of French descent, grew up in Paris, and probably told her granddaughter many stories of the homeland from a young age.

After a 13-hour flight, the two arrived in the city of romance from the Big Apple, setting foot on Parisian soil. After a night’s rest at the hotel, they began to explore the ancient city. All Catholics cherish and aspire to visit Notre-Dame Cathedral, and Jessica, filled with devotion, was no exception, while Wang Yang appreciated its classical art to the fullest. During the solemn and sacred mass, both the believer and the non-believer felt a profound peace within.

The first day of sightseeing, perhaps because it was a “sacred place,” Jessica was happy but somewhat quiet and reserved. Wang Yang, respecting her mood, didn’t joke or tease her. However, the banter and laughter returned the next day at the Eiffel Tower.

Scattered tourists were visible in Place du Mars, and amid the rustling sound of fountains, Wang Yang lifted the DV camera hanging from his neck, aiming at the towering Eiffel Tower, and as he filmed, he asked, “Jessica, do you know how tall the Eiffel Tower is?” Jessica, also looking at the tower, smiled and replied confidently, “Don’t test me on this. I am definitely more familiar with Paris than you are.”

“Please!” Wang Yang laughed heartily, turning the DV camera towards her and said with a smile, “That’s exactly why I’m asking you. I have no idea how tall this big guy is.” Jessica rolled her eyes with a smile and answered, “It’s 300 meters tall, and over 320 with the antenna.” Wang Yang pressed the DV camera and laughed, “CUT! That’s a wrap, great expression! Scene 18, Take 3 of ‘Paris Holiday’ is complete, onto the next shot!”

Jessica pretended to be surprised and said, “So we’re here to film a movie?” Wang Yang nodded with a smile, pressed the record button again, capturing the shapes of some distant tourists, and said, “A home movie film, for our eyes only, and for our future children.” Jessica smiled sweetly, knowing he was serious-ever since they got off the plane yesterday, he had been capturing moments with the DV camera now and then.

How wonderful! Gazing at the azure sky, the towering tower, and her beloved beside her, Jessica squinted slightly. In the future, all she would need to do was watch ‘Paris Holiday’ to reminisce about her current feelings, and her children would know about their parents’ romance. She chuckled, took his dangling left hand, and said, “Yang, one of my dreams has come true.” Wang Yang looked at her tenderly. “Hm?” Jessica leaned on him and smiled, “One of my dreams was to come to Paris like this, with someone I like.”

“Sweetheart, you should have told me earlier, then this dream would’ve been realized a long time ago.” Wang Yang kissed her hair gently, and Jessica laughed happily, “No, it would’ve been meaningless to say it earlier. But now, it has come true.” After a pause, she gazed into his eyes and suddenly asked, “Yang, will we be together forever?”

What? Seeing her deeply affectionate eyes and hopeful expression, he knew that normally he should say, “Yes!” and the matter would be settled. This was a mindset of a girl deep in love, especially one in her first love. They tend to be so sentimental, not to mention standing on the land of her dreams. The beauty of first love is exactly because of this.

He wanted to nod and say “Yes!” without any hesitation, but then he remembered, a blonde girl had once asked him the same question. Back then, he had answered yes without a second thought, but now another girl was asking; a voice in his head echoed Natalie’s words, “Forever? That’s terrifying. I don’t believe it.” He thought for a moment and, although not without hesitation, he replied very earnestly, “Yes!” Every girl who asks this question wants that answer; he couldn’t be so cruel as to disappoint her.

“Mmm, wow…” Jessica laughed, letting out a sigh of relief as she felt her heart suddenly speed up.

Seeing her bright smile showing her pearly teeth, Wang Yang laughed, caressed her cheek, and said, “Jessica, do you know? If it were any other boy, he’d probably have been scared off by now.” Jessica immediately looked a bit puzzled, and Wang Yang laughed, “Saying ‘forever.’ I had a good friend in high school who suddenly broke up with his girlfriend over this—he called her ‘crazy.’ I say yes, because I know you love me, and I love you, too, but to have forever, we both need to work together, to maintain our affection and love, understand?”

“Yang, I understand,” Jessica nodded vigorously, touched by his words. She didn’t feel disappointed, only even more blissful and reassured. He was serious, not someone who threw around sweet nothings lightly. Remembering the reason he and his ex-girlfriend broke up, and comparing it to their current situation, she couldn’t help but laugh, “We’ve been dating for over two years and haven’t had a single argument; Eileen has even hit Zachary a few times.

Wang Yang laughed heartily, pointing out that they never argued partly because their life philosophies matched so well that they just couldn’t find a reason to argue, and partly because he had learned how to nurture love, no longer sweating the small stuff, such as whether to visit Notre-Dame or the Eiffel Tower first, and also that she was a good girl. He joked, “Actually, I really want to argue with you. Come on, yell at me!”

Just as they were talking, he noticed two almost identical white twin girls walking towards them, clearly one with blonde hair and the other with black hair, both having the charisma of actresses. Curious, he couldn’t help but take a longer look, overhearing the blonde one call out to the black-haired one, “Eva…”—Snap!—His head was struck by Jessica, who, with teeth clenched in a grin, said, “Jerk, do you really want me to scold you?”

“I’m sorry,” Wang Yang laughed, taking her hand and sprinting towards the Eiffel Tower, saying, “Let’s go check out Paris!” Jessica followed, nodding and laughing, “Yeah! Beautiful Paris!”

In the following week, they visited all the famous spots in Paris, retracing many of the footsteps of her grandmother. After a sweet and romantic New Year holiday, they returned to America. They only stayed in Los Angeles for a day before Jessica headed to Salt Lake City to meet up with the crew and film the final scenes of High School Musical 3-

Wang Yang resumed his leisurely days, reading books and watching films, walking the newly-relocated Danny, taking interviews with the media for publicity, and also editing Holiday in Paris. It had been almost three years since he had last touched a DV film, but fortunately, his skills hadn’t gotten rusty. Weaving together the interesting or romantic footage into a documentary was not a difficult task.

During their New Year holiday and in the time that followed, Juno completed its second and third weeks of screening. From December 29 to January 4 in its second week, with 2915 theaters, it earned $48,972 million at the box office but failed to hold on to the top spot. Cast Away took the lead with 2929 theaters, bringing in $49-83 million.

In the first half of that week, Juno had a substantial lead but suddenly lost momentum in the second half, overtaken by Cast Away. The weekly box office commentary attributed this to “the end of the holidays and students returning to school, which caused Juno to lose its main audience support; in contrast, Cast Away’s adults fanbase had the habit of going to the movies even on non-holidays.” The commentary concluded, “With the release of new films like Traffic and Save the Last Dance, it will be difficult for Juno to reclaim the top spot.”

As predicted, from January 5 to 11 in its third week, Juno continued to rank second with $23,461 million in box office sales; Cast Away remained the weekly champion with $28.4998 million; Traffic, released in 1506 theaters, came third with $21,378 million. In its fourth week from January 12 to 18, Juno slipped to third place with $17-145 million at the box office; the weekly champion was not Cast Away but the newly released Save the Last Dance, earning $30,872 million. After four weeks in theaters, Juno grossed a total of $160 million in US Dollar in North America. With a total cost of $50 million for production, promotion, and copies, the $160 nullion earned was already enough to cover these costs, and according to Flame Films’ statistical analysis, breaking the $200 million mark after the usual 20-week screening period was not a problem.

Its international release date of January 25 was fast approaching, as was another grand event on January 21-the 58th Annual Golden Globe Awards ceremony.

During interviews earlier in the month, Wang Yang was asked by reporters questions like “Do you feel confident about winning Best Director at the Golden Globes?” and “If you win, who do you most want to thank?” He responded with a smile, saying, “I’m already very happy to be nominated; as for winning, I have no expectations. If I do win? Then I would want to thank the presenter most of all, for he must have read the wrong name.”

That was his sincere belief. Winning Best Director at this year’s Golden Globes? He didn’t think it would happen. It wasn’t the same as the miracle at the box office; whether comparing Juno to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Traffic, or his own experience, they all seemed insufficient to convince the judges, and just getting nominated was the limit. Of course, if the MTV Movie Awards had a Best Director category, then he would have had a much better chance.

Even though the Best Director nomination might have been just for show, he had a lot of expectations for his first participation in the Golden Globes.

That’s because Will Smith, competing for Best Actor in a Drama, was a favored choice alongside Russell Crowe and Tom Hanks; and the other two nominations, Natalie Portman for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy and Juno for Best Musical or Comedy Film, were absolute hot favorites according to media predictions and fans’ enthusiasm.