"And the winner for Best Picture is…" Hanks deliberately paused for effect, then smiled and announced: "Blood Diamond!"
Laila, who was still whispering with Roy, almost jumped out of her seat when she heard the familiar name. "What did he just say?!"
"It's Blood Diamond, darling," Roy laughed at her reaction. "It's your Blood Diamond!"
Laila was truly shocked. Although she genuinely believed she had done a great job, to win over Cameron and Bigelow—how could that not feel like some kind of fantasy?
"This is amazing! I knew it, Laila, you're the best! It was the best decision ever to let you direct the film!" This time, Leonardo didn't freeze up like he did when he won Best Actor. Instead, he excitedly rushed over and gave Laila a big hug.
"Let's go. Let's all go up to accept the award together." Luckily, this wasn't Laila's first time winning an award. Once her initial shock passed, she calmed down and led the entire crew up onto the stage.
Normally, Best Picture is received by the producers, but Louise didn't mind at all if everyone joined in. After all, who could say these people didn't deserve to be up there?
Look at Laila's crew—any random member could be a recognized industry master who had been honored by various major awards, some even having won multiple Oscars.
With such a team behind Laila, how could she not make a great film?
However, it would also be unfair to give all the credit solely to them. Without a capable director to coordinate and unify everyone, no one knew what kind of mess the film might become.
These people also understood that if they left Laila's leadership, they might still rely on their skills to perform well on other projects, but to win awards as easily as having a meal? That would be nearly impossible. This was why, even after achieving so much, they still followed her without hesitation.
Under Laila's direction, they received high pay, excellent benefits, and could win awards practically at will—why would they leave for someone else for mere monetary gain? For people who were not lacking in money, having a place in film history made them far happier.
As the producer, Louise was the first to speak after taking the trophy: "This is a tremendous honor. Blood Diamond could only be completed successfully thanks to the hard work of the entire crew. Let's not forget that our director encountered some very dangerous incidents during filming, even risking her life. In the end, the film was finished and recognized by everyone. For this, all I can say is thank you—thank you to everyone who loves Blood Diamond."
Next, each crew member took turns saying a line or two of gratitude, drawing bursts of applause and whistles from the audience.
Finally, it was Laila's turn. She looked out at the crowd and said only one sentence: "I'm so grateful to have you all."
Who exactly did she mean by "you all"? The crew members? Her family? The audience in front of their TVs? The fans who had always supported her? She didn't specify. Maybe it included everyone. Every person felt as though she was speaking directly to them, and they cheered for her.
The 82nd Oscars ended with the sound of music. This year's ceremony left many topics for the outside world to discuss.
For example, Cameron's painful loss of Best Director and Best Picture, winning the Golden Globe but losing at the Oscars. Or Laila's success in producing yet another Oscar Best Actor—if Roy hadn't broken the youngest Best Actor record years ago, Leonardo would have set a new record this year.
This once again highlighted to Hollywood Laila's incredible ability to shape actors. Anyone who had seen the film could see Leonardo's explosive acting growth: whether in his line delivery, body language, or the subtlest expressions, he made people feel he was that person in the film, and that person felt real.
It wasn't just him—Djimon Hounsou, who played a supporting role in the film, had also received an Oscar nomination. From the first Oscars until now, Black actors nominated in acting categories have always been extremely few, and winners even fewer.
Although the Oscars were over, discussions on the internet were even more heated.
That space was dominated by young people, who cared more about the new generation of actors and directors. To them, Bigelow and The Hurt Locker weren't particularly interesting—if it weren't for critics praising them nonstop, many might not have even known their names.
Cameron, on the other hand, had left a much stronger impression. Avatar was simply too good—so cool, it blew everyone away! Many people had seen it once and felt it wasn't enough; after learning the IMAX version was even better, they immediately booked IMAX tickets for another watch.
The $3 billion global box office wasn't a lie—young people made up a huge part of that.
As for Laila, she was their idol!
Even though many had initially bought tickets to Blood Diamond just to help her maintain her box office records—not necessarily out of interest in that type of film—they were still deeply shaken after seeing it. Long after leaving the theater, they found certain impactful images still vividly replaying in their minds.
They felt incredibly lucky to be living in the same era as such a great director. It meant that for decades to come, as long as Laila stayed in the film industry, they could continue to enjoy the cinematic feasts she brought them.
The next morning, starting from the early newspapers and morning news, all reports focused on the Oscars ceremony from the night before.
They covered Leonardo finally winning Best Actor after more than a decade; Cameron's painful loss of Best Director and Best Picture; Laila breaking records again by winning Best Picture; Bigelow becoming the second female director in Oscar history, and so on.
There weren't many dissenting voices about this year's results. Most people agreed with the winners and their works. After all, most of this year's nominated films were top-level. Whichever one won, no one could say it was undeserving.
Laila, as usual, treated the various media reports as entertainment news and answered congratulatory calls from others.
Although she didn't have particularly close friends, she had worked with or gotten along well with many people. Some might be calling just to curry favor because of her director status—but so what? In the East, relationships were everything; even in the West, having connections wasn't a bad thing.
So, every time she won an award or something good happened, she received many calls offering congratulations and blessings.
But today, she received a call that surprised her a little—it was from someone she usually didn't keep in touch with, and whenever this person called, it always made a certain someone else pull a long face.