The 80th Academy Awards were held on schedule at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles.
This year, Martin didn't have any films nominated.
However, Meyers Pictures did.
Under its Skyblue Studio division, Meyers Pictures produced the animated feature Trial King based on an idea by Martin. It made it into the Best Animated Feature category.
Of course, Martin only provided the initial concept. He didn't write the screenplay, so it technically doesn't count as one of his works.
Meyers Pictures also independently invested in the youth romantic comedy Juno, which was nominated for four major awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, and Best Original Screenplay.
Naturally, aside from the screenplay category, the chances of actually winning the other awards were slim—most likely, they were just filler nominations.
The screenwriter of Junoh was Diablo Cody, a very talented female writer.
The film's lead actress was Lindsay Lohan. Her performance in this movie was far better than Ellen Page's in the original timeline. Her acting wasn't lacking, and therefore her Best Actress nomination sparked no real controversy.
Next up was The Bourne Supremacy, one of the most profitable film series under Meyers Pictures.
It was nominated for Best Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Sound Editing—three minor technical awards.
By 3:00 PM, the sky over sunny Los Angeles had begun to drizzle.
Even so, it didn't dampen the stars' enthusiasm as they made their way to the red carpet.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, along with the Oscars organizing committee, had clearly anticipated the rain and erected white canopies over the red carpet to prevent the glamorous guests from getting soaked.
The first to step onto the red carpet was Johnny Depp, nominated for Best Actor for his role in (Dunno the name of the movie).
Having lost his Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Depp had also lost his only commercially viable platform. Since then, he'd drifted between art-house and indie films, neither hot nor cold in the mainstream.
True to his maverick style, he didn't even wear the most basic actor's formalwear—a dark suit—but showed up in jeans and a white tank top, baring his tattooed arms and looking like a total rogue.
Interestingly, his date wasn't his long-time partner and mother of his two children, French singer-actress Vanessa Paradis, but his ex-girlfriend—Winona Ryder.
Following them were German model Heidi Klum and her Black singer-husband Seal.
Then came the steady stream: Jennifer Garner, George Clooney, Anne Hathaway, Cate Blanchett, and other stars graced the carpet one after another.
On a side note, Anne Hathaway was attending as a representative of Ratatouille, where she voiced the character of Little May, the mouse girl.
With each celebrity's arrival, the atmosphere gradually heated up. Not even the drizzle could dampen the enthusiasm of film lovers.
For more than three months, a Hollywood screenwriters' strike had cast doubt over whether the 80th Oscars would proceed as scheduled.
But now the strike was over, worries had faded, and the Oscars benefited from this unexpected twist of fate—fans who had missed the Golden Globes poured all their excitement into the Academy Awards, pushing the viewership ratings to a new high.
Martin stepped out of a black Rolls-Royce and looked up at the endless stretch of white canopies above. He muttered, "Why does this feel like a funeral?"
[GodOfReader: I removed almost half of the Chapter here, if you wanna read the original text. Read it here in the paragraph]