The Best Director

On November 23, Thanksgiving, Wang Yang and Jessica enjoyed a brief sweet vacation before diving back into their busy schedules. December swiftly arrived, intensifying the Christmas atmosphere. Promotion for “Juno” hit its final sprint before its release, with the creators joining a variety of television talk shows, magazine interviews, and so on. Naturally, the most sought-after creators were Wang Yang and Natalie, whose schedules were jam-packed. Natalie had also finished her sophomore first semester early.

In Long Island, New York, at the Herschlag home, Wang Yang saw Natalie after a long absence. Since wrapping up “Juno”, they’d occasionally kept in touch by phone and had met once in October when Natalie spent a day in Los Angeles recording voice-over material, and now this visit. They were in New York to record a talk show for ABC, and he had come to Natalie’s home to hand her the final release version DVD of “Juno”.

Initially, Wang Yang had arranged to meet Natalie at a coffee shop, but she said, “I’m too lazy to go out, just come to my house. Yeah, I’m inviting you over as a guest.” Visiting a friend’s home was normal, and since Natalie lived with her parents and not in her own apartment, and had “invited” him, he didn’t really have a reason to refuse.

Natalie’s hair had grown back to shoulder length, but was disheveled. She wore a T-shirt with a small dog print on it. Wang Yang said “hello” from outside the door, and she glanced at him listlessly, yawning as she said, “Welcome, come in.” Then, she shuffled towards the living room in her slippers, saying, “Buddy, you will never believe it, but the thought of seeing you today actually caused me insomnia last night.”

The welcoming blast of the heater hit Wang Yang as he walked in, hanging his coat on the rack by the door and following Natalie with his briefcase in hand. Looking around at the elegant furniture, he casually replied, “Really?” He didn’t believe for a second that she was serious — just a “combo strike” of casual, almost boring joking, which they had developed while coming up with the dialogue for “Juno”.

As expected, when Wang Yang showed no reaction, Natalie shrugged and said, “Of course it’s bogus. But brother, it’s partly your fault. Your movie made me skip classes, so I had to study even harder. I ended up reading till midnight by accident.” Wang Yang looked around the tidy, spacious living room, smiled, and said, “Nice house. Are your aunt and uncle not here?” Natalie replied, “They have their own work.” Wang Yang nodded, then suddenly asked, perplexed, “How is it my fault?”

If you hadn’t cast me in ‘Juno’, there wouldn’t be an issue, right?” Natalie turned to face him with a frown, then, as if possessed, began pounding on Wang Yang’s chest with her fists, creating a “pom-pom” sound. Wang Yang stood frozen and said, “Woah, woah, woah, what’s wrong?” Seeing his surprised look made Natalie laugh heartily, patting his shoulder and saying, “Nothing, just wanted to beat you up a bit, but your expression is hilarious.”

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Wang Yang shook his head with a smile. Did she have to tease him till the end of the round? He replied helplessly with a smile, “Hey, I told you, you could hit me after you won the Golden Raspberry, not now.” Natalie looked at him strangely and said, “Dude, didn’t you know? I already won it, Worst Screen Combo! That trophy is in my bedroom.” She laughed again and added, “So, do you think I could win the Golden Raspberry next year?”

No, I’m afraid not,” Wang Yang replied as he opened his briefcase, took out the encrypted DVD disc, and handed it to her with a smile, “Buddy, congrats. Your performance is definitely Oscar Best Actress material. I think you’ll get a nomination next year. Whether you’ll win, I can’t say.”

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Is that so?” Natalie smirked as she took the disc over to the DVD player, fiddling with it while saying, “But the trailer does look good. My classmates have started calling me Juno, which is crazy.” She settled down on the couch, pressed the remote control, and the LCD TV screen began to play the movie.

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Wang Yang also sat down on the couch and watched the screen silently, listening to the upbeat guitar music from the speakers. He felt very comfortable and peaceful inside. With these 120 minutes of footage, no matter the outcome of the release, he felt content, like “The Pursuit of Happyness”. This was the best he could produce, and whether it was the actors or the crew, he would still give everyone an A+.

For two hours, the two of them didn’t speak or leave the sofa, just occasionally bursting into soft laughter. It wasn’t until the movie ended that Natalie burst out laughing loudly, After laughing a few times, she turned to Wang Yang on the opposite side of the sofa and said calmly, “I agree with what you said. I acted very well! It’s awesome, Oscar!” She smiled slightly, then praised, “Yang, you did a great job editing, and the music is great too, everything is so good… Wow! This movie is crazy, it looks like it’s going to be my pride!”

Natalie seemed to release her devilish version again, waving her hands in triumph as she said, “Let them see the real Natalie! Watch if I’ll blush!” With that, she clenched her fists fiercely and glared at Wang Yang, “We’re going to beat ‘Cast Away,’ beat ‘What Women Want’… smash everything!”

Maybe,” Wang Yang couldn’t help but laugh at her attitude, “I believe ‘Juno’ will bring us a happy Christmas.” Natalie blinked and said, “I don’t celebrate Christmas.” Wang Yang made an “oh” sound, remembering she was Jewish, and corrected himself with a laugh, “My mistake! It will bring you a happy Hanukkah.” He glanced at the wall clock and stood up, saying, “I’m off, see you tonight on the ABC Television Network.”

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Mhm, goodbye.” Natalie lay down on the sofa as if she had no intention of seeing him out; then she suddenly raised her head and said, “Oh right! Dude, congratulations, this movie is definitely Best Director level at the Oscars, I think you’ll get a nomination next year, though I don’t know about winning.

She laughed heartily and added, “Well done! It wasn’t for nothing that I chose you to break records by 21-24.”

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Wang Yang, about to leave the living room, glanced at her and said casually, “Really?” Natalie pursed her lips and said, “Fake. The first part’s true, the second part’s not, I picked you for 29-32 to actually win.” Wang Yang laughed and said, “That’s still not bad. Goodbye!”

Soon, the sound of a door closing “bang” came from the entrance, and Natalie on the sofa stared blankly at the TV screen for a long while before picking up the remote control, pressing it, and watching again.

December days passed one by one, and Christmas was fast approaching. During the time when Wang Yang and Natalie were everywhere recording talk shows and interviews, the Christmas season had officially begun.

On December 8th, ‘Vertical Limit,’ ‘Proof of Life,’ ‘Dragon and the cities below,’ and ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ were released, with ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ becoming that week’s most dazzling dark horse, earning 1.066 million at the box office from only 16 theaters. On December 15, four more movies joined the battle, ‘Chocolate,’ ‘Dude, Where’s My Car?’ an animated film with a hundred million investment ‘The Emperor’s New Groove,’ and seventy million ‘What Women Want.’

The weekend of the 15th to the 17th passed, and ‘What Women Want’ clinched the weekend box office championship with $33,614,000, also receiving unanimous praise from media and enthusiasts, which took Paramount Pictures by surprise, and made the film’s creators the target of media pursuit.

This includes Matt Williams, the director of ‘Sweetheart’ and one of the producers of ‘What Women Want,’ who, in an interview with ‘Today’s Hollywood,’ was asked by a reporter, “You know there will be a lot of new films coming out next week, including ‘Cast Away’ and ‘Juno,’ which are attracting most attention. Do you have the confidence to maintain the weekend box office championship?” Matt Williams replied, “We’re in the second week, they are in their first week, so there really isn’t a comparison. But we are ready to face the challenge.”

The reporter then asked, “What do you think of ‘Juno¹? Do you think it will outperform ‘Sweetheart’?” The enmity between ‘Sweetheart’ and ‘Juno’ started with the exposure of the script selection event involving Natalie, and this year, these were the only two movies about teenage pregnancy, and both categorized as “comedy” and “drama.” Gossip media that thrive on stirring topics naturally didn’t miss this chance, and under their instigation, it seemed like the creators of ‘Sweetheart’ were affected, with a hint of subtle competition.

Matt Williams didn’t evade the question, he replied, “I don’t know, because I can’t watch the film until the 22nd. What I can say is although the genres of the two movies are very close, ‘Sweetheart’ is set outside the school, whereas ‘Juno’ is set inside the school. It’s unfair to both films to compare them together.”

The reporter pressed, “So you mean ‘Juno’ might be funnier than ‘Sweetheart’, but its connotations won’t be higher than ‘Sweetheart’?” Matt Williams just said, “I didn’t say that,” and refused to answer any further questions about ‘Juno’.

But once the report hit the internet, Wang Yang and Natalie’s movie fans were not willing to let it go so easily. What does “a campus movie” mean? Can’t campus movies be classics too? ‘Dead Poets Society’, ‘Good Will Hunting’… What he meant was “youth campus movies”, right? Like ‘American Pie’, ‘High School Musical’?

Setting aside whether youth campus movies have depth or not, after watching ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ and hearing the amazing Yang’s talk show comments that “Juno and High School Musical are two different genres, it’s not serious, but compared to High School Musical, it is serious,” could ‘Juno’ be a movie lacking in depth? The fans scoffed at the idea. Unless ‘Juno’ turned out to be Wang Yang’s Waterloo, they couldn’t think of any other reason.

He’s only 20 years old!

understand pregnancy…” Come on! The media’s predictions for this year’s Golden Globe nominations include Wang Yang’s name in the Best Director category, and the nominated movie is ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’.”

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He’s a Baby Director!” “He’s a man, he doesn’t

There’s less than a week until Christmas, and Wang Yang and Natalie had finished all the promotions for ‘Juno’. He returned to his Los Angeles home, waiting for the premiere of ‘Juno’ in a few days; the ‘High School Musical 3’ crew also started their Christmas-New Year holiday and would not resume filming until the beginning of January next year. Although Wang Yang wasn’t a Christian, celebrating Christmas had become a habit since he was a child; and Jessica was a devout Catholic, to her Christmas was an extremely important and joyous festival.

If you want to feel the festive joy, naturally your house can’t be without a Christmas tree and various decorations. Looking at the giant Christmas tree lying on the lawn, Wang Yang bent down and embraced the base of the tree with both hands, saying, “Ready? One, two, three, lift!” Joshua yelled “Alt” and lifted with all his might. The two of them slowly moved towards the entrance.

Be careful.” Jessica followed beside them with a happy smile on her face. After a few steps, seeing Danny circling around their feet, she hurriedly clapped her hands and shouted, “Danny, come here! Don’t trip them.”

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Haha, dummy! You think everyone is like you?” Joshua scoffed. Suddenly he felt the weight on his side gradually increasing. He looked at Wang Yang with a threatening gaze on the opposite side and grunted through gritted teeth, “Yang, you can’t do this! I came to help and I’m not even getting paid.” The weight slowly decreased again, and Joshua took a breath, frowning as he carried on, “Why don’t you pay someone to do this? Look at your house, don’t tell me you’re saving that bit of money!”

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Wang Yang and Jessica shared a smile. He said, “Some things are more fun when you do them yourself.” Jessica nodded with a smile and added, “Yeah, especially when it comes to decorating your own home!” Joshua laughed and said, “Hey, Jessica, then you should be carrying it. You enjoy this fun! Every time there’s hard work, you call me…” He glanced at the Christmas tree in front of him and muttered, “And it has to be so big!”

Wang Yang chuckled, remembering the scene over two years ago when they were moving furniture together, just like now. He earnestly said, “Buddy, thanks!” Joshua paused, confused, and asked, “What’s your scheme?” Wang Yang shook his head with a smile and replied, “None.”

Come on, push!” Jessica cheered, clapping her hands and said with a laugh, “We need to move it quickly, the talk show is about to start!”

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Seeing her with a radiant smile, Joshua thought disdainfully, “It’s just watching Yang chat with that annoying woman. Want to watch Yang? He’s right in front of you; chat about anything. That annoying woman? Forget it. What’s there to be excited about…”

On the TV screen, Wang Yang and Natalie sat on the couch, smiling as they answered the host’s questions, then turned the tables and playfully teased the host into a “I surrender” posture, eliciting waves of laughter from the audience below.

In the restaurant, many customers also chuckled as they watched. Wearing her waitress uniform, Annie-Darren smiled and looked away, taking the order she had written down to the kitchen. Annie suddenly felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, she stepped aside to answer it, saying, “Hello, Best Director. Oh, okay… Thank you, I’m thrilled to be attending the movie premiere, I’ll definitely be there.”

Premiere? Which movie’s premiere?” Monica, a passing waitress, just happened to hear this and looked at Annie curiously, asking with a laugh, “Annie, it isn’t the movie that’s releasing on the 22nd, is it?”

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Annie nodded and walked with her towards the kitchen, not hiding anything and saying, “Yeah, it’s the premiere of ‘Juno’.” Monica immediately stopped in her tracks, shocked, and said, “Are you serious?” Annie hummed in affirmation and continued, “I have a small role in ‘Juno’.” Monica stared at her intently for a few moments, incredulously saying, “You just said director… Was that call just now from Wang Yang?!” Annie nodded again.

You must be joking?!” Monica’s eyes widened, she knew Annie had played a hippie girl in ‘The Pursuit of Happyness,’ but that was just a minor role; Annie was so close to Wang Yang that he personally invited her to the ‘Juno’ premiere? Annie was not someone who lied, so… Taking a few deep breaths, Monica was amazed and said, “Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Annie, why didn’t you tell me earlier! You know Wang Yang!”

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Annie just smiled slightly, and Monica, bubbling with enthusiasm, grabbed her, asking, “Tell me, what’s he like?” Thinking of his face, Annie said, “Warm, humorous, sunny… a good man!”

Wow…” Monica held onto her tray, squinting as she savored the thought, then suddenly sighed and shook her head, saying, “Sigh, Annie, I’m so envious you get to attend ‘Juno’s’ premiere, surrounded by all these celebrities like Wang Yang, Natalie Portman, Jessica Alba… Maybe even Tom Willing and Rachel will be there since they have cameo roles in ‘Juno.’ But I’ll have to go to the cinema alone that day…”

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Looking at the smiling Annie, Monica remembered something and said with a smile, “Oh, Annie, remember to get autographs for me! Wang Yang’s is the most important, and get the others if you can.” Annie paused, then said, “I… um, okay.”

On December 22nd, the Christmas film season reached its most intense moment as the battle officially began. This week, 13 movies premiered, five of which were released broadly: ‘Miss Congeniality,’ ‘Dracula 2000,’ ‘The Family Man,’ the highly anticipated ‘Cast Away,’ and ‘Juno.’