Due to the Winter Olympics, this year's Oscars were postponed to March. However, on February 2nd, Academy Awards President Tom Sherak and Anne Hathaway announced the nominations at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.
The two most-nominated films this year were quite an interesting pair: Avatar, directed by James Cameron, and The Hurt Locker, by his ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow. Each received nine nominations, tying for the most attention-grabbing films of the year. Both had already won accolades from various other award bodies and with their personal history, gossip surrounding the two directors quickly became a hot topic among the public.
Laila's Blood Diamond "only" received seven nominations—among them Best Director and Best Picture, as well as the category Leonardo cared about most: Best Actor.
According to the original course of history, this year should have marked Bigelow as the first woman ever to win the Oscar for Best Director. Unfortunately for her, Laila's sudden rise had forced her to settle for second place. Still, that didn't take away from Bigelow's accomplishments as a woman who had carved out a name for herself in Hollywood.
Once the nomination list was out, the heated discussion on gender discrimination finally began to cool off.
Without anyone echoing the sentiment and with only the general public stirring the pot for their entertainment, it was easy for the conversation to die down. In the noise of controversy, the Golden Globes were eventually forgotten altogether.
Even Laila had said there was no real gender discrimination—what else was there to say? No one believed Laila would cave to the Golden Globes' influence and say something against her convictions. After all, when it came to clout, hers was no less than theirs.
Laila also had no intention of dragging out the pay disparity issue. Everything was allowed to wind down peacefully. At least for now, it seemed the whole thing was over.
A month flew by. Other than Avatar continuing to rake in box office records, the most talked-about topic remained the Oscars.
As the ceremony approached, Laila noticed that Leonardo seemed to have shed heavy pressure on his mind. There wasn't even a trace of nervousness on him, not like during the Golden Globes.
"Doesn't Leo want that award anymore?" Laila asked Roy curiously in the car on the way to the ceremony. She'd just seen Leonardo, and he hadn't looked even the slightest bit anxious like he had back at the Globes.
Roy knew the reason and chuckled as he explained, "Did you forget what he said at the Golden Globes? He said he had a feeling—if he won Best Actor there, he'd win the Oscar too. But in the end, someone else took it."
"So now he just thinks he won't win?" Laila was surprised by his childish reasoning. She sometimes believed in intuition too—but usually only when there was at least some evidence to back it up.
But Leonardo's "gut feeling" really wasn't all that reliable. Why should winning the Golden Globe automatically mean he'd win the Oscar too? Sure, the Globes liked to style themselves as a bellwether for the Oscars—but they didn't always get it right, did they?
Take herself as an example—she didn't win anything at the Globes either, but she still had plenty of confidence in the Oscars.
Roy laughed, "That kind of mindset's not bad though. Now he's completely let go and isn't obsessing over whether he'll win. If he ends up getting it while just enjoying the ceremony, don't you think that'd be pretty fun? I'm looking forward to seeing his face when that happens."
"In front of tens of millions of viewers?" Laila laughed along with him. "You're terrible. But I love it!"
He got her curious now too—what kind of expression would Leo make if he did win? Honestly, she'd watched the finished film several times, and she truly believed he had delivered an Oscar-worthy performance. As for whether the judges would agree… well, that was up to fate, wasn't it?
Once they walked the red carpet and entered the theater, Laila—as always—drew a lot of attention. Many acquaintances came by to exchange a few words, and others introduced new people to her. Everyone wore polite, well-practiced smiles—including the actresses, who chatted with her as if they'd completely forgotten the uproar she'd sparked just a month earlier. No hint of awkwardness, just friendly small talk.
Laila had only one thought in response:
If even you don't care, why should I? Do whatever you want from now on.
She hadn't brought up the issue of pay just to improve actresses' income—it was meant to crack open a door, to help elevate the status of all women in Hollywood. She figured since so many of these women had managed to make it, surely someone would speak up, even just a little? She never expected them to carry flags and cheer for her—that was unrealistic.
But even that tiny hope turned out to be too much. Not a single person had uttered even a vague word of support. How could she not be disappointed?
It was only later that she figured it out. An old Eastern saying:
"The barefoot aren't afraid of those wearing shoes."
Those with nothing to lose are often more courageous than those who already have a lot.
If she'd focused from the start on the women behind the scenes rather than the stars in front of the cameras, maybe the outcome would've been different.
In any case, it was over now. For the foreseeable future, Laila had no energy to pursue feminism. If she had that kind of time, she'd rather shoot a few more films!
This year's Oscars were hosted by Steve Martin for the third time, and for the first time, he had a co-host: actor Alec Baldwin. Co-hosting was rare in Oscar history—this was probably only the second time it had happened.
Just last year, Baldwin won both the Emmy and the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy Series for 30 Rock. That might be why he was chosen for the stage this time.
Laila had attended so many Oscars by now that the initial excitement and thrill had long since worn off. These days, her reasons for coming were reduced to just two: seeing if she'd won anything, and looking for a few familiar "strangers."
By "familiar," she meant people she knew well in her original world. And by "strangers," she meant those who had only just started to emerge in this timeline.
People assumed that everyone at the Oscars must be famous. But behind-the-scenes staff aside, there were always a few lesser-known actors who could enter along with their film crews. Not all of them were household names in Hollywood.
Some invitees brought their partners—men or women—with them. Plenty of folks desperate to network, but who hadn't received their invites, would find ways to get in like this.
And sure enough, Laila did spot a few familiar faces!