Mehdi Thompson knew who everyone really wanted to hear from, so he quickly wrapped up his acceptance speech and handed the stage over to Gilbert.
Gilbert stepped up to the mic, and before he even said a word, the crowd erupted in cheers and screams.
He took a moment to compose himself, then silently repeated, "This isn't Best Director, this isn't Best Director..."
After a bit of self-hypnosis, Gilbert finally delivered the first acceptance speech of his life. Well, technically the second, if you counted winning a writing award back in middle school in his past life.
"First off, a huge thank you to my amazing team. Without their support, I couldn't have pulled off such a complex job. Annie and Sophia always helped me iron out a ton of issues during filming, and Charles and Kane always kept the set running smooth, which let me focus on directing. Keanu, Sandra, Dennis, and Naomi, you guys are some of the best actors I've ever worked with. And my cinematographer, my art director, my stunt coordinator, every single person on the team – this movie wouldn't exist without you.
"Next, I gotta thank my family for their support. My dad, my aunt's whole family, you guys are always my most loyal fans.
"Then, a big shout-out to Touchstone Pictures and Warner Bros. for trusting me. Hope we can keep this good thing going.
"Finally, to my fans, without your support, there'd be no 'genius director' everybody's talking about. I'm no genius, but I'm gonna keep bringing you more awesome movies. Thanks!"
His speech wasn't super long, but hey, it was the kid's first time on that stage! Totally understandable. You just gotta wonder what Gilbert would be like if he ever got nominated for Best Director. But everyone knows that's not gonna happen anytime soon. He's way too young for an Oscar for Best Director. Unless something totally wild happens and he gets some super powerful PR, it's just not in the cards.
After grabbing the golden statue for Best Editing, Gilbert couldn't just kick back. He handed the Oscar to Mehdi Thompson, and then they went backstage together for interviews. Mostly, they wanted to know how it felt to win his first Oscar.
Gilbert said, "I'm pumped, really excited. This is my first time at the Oscars, and I don't think it'll be my last."
That pretty much showed he was gunning for more Oscars. But he's got too much of that commercial movie vibe, and he's never really been part of the indie film scene. He's just not in the same league as "movie art." So, snagging a major award like Best Director is gonna take some serious work. The Oscars have been dissing commercial films forever, it's nothing new. Of course, that doesn't mean commercial movies are totally out of the Oscar game. A few influential ones have managed to make a splash at the Academy Awards.
Gilbert also spilled some deets on his new flick, saying it'd hit theaters the first weekend of summer. Back in the day, all the big summer blockbusters dropped in June or July. May was just the start of summer, and the movies that came out then weren't as many or as good. But Gilbert wasn't sweating it. May was perfect — not a lot of competition, so the movie could just cruise into theaters.
Interview with a Vampire was originally supposed to open the same weekend as Real Steel, but then that whole animal rights thing happened. So CAA and Universal Pictures talked it over and pushed the release back to August. Since they weren't opening on the same weekend anymore, there was no competition.
Tom Cruise even called him up personally, saying he had no idea CAA was involved with those animal rights folks. Basically, his subtle hint was that it was Michael Ovitz and Martin Bob who pulled that stunt, so don't blame him. Clearly, Tom Cruise totally got how valuable Gilbert was, not just for what he'd done already, but because of his age. Gilbert, at just twenty-three, had three successful movies in a row, and his latest, Speed, raked in over four hundred million bucks worldwide.
Tom Cruise's biggest hit ever was his breakout movie, Top Gun, which pulled in three hundred fifty-seven million. And Rain Man, the drama he starred in with Dustin Hoffman, somehow managed three hundred fifty-five million. But he'd never broken the four hundred million mark. To stay a superstar, box office numbers are huge, sometimes even more important than an Oscar.
---
After the backstage interviews wrapped, Gilbert still had another gig. He had to present the award for Best Foreign Language Film. In the end, Belle Époque, a Spanish film, took home this year's Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. What was really cool was that the lead actress in that movie was someone Gilbert knew pretty well, a Latina star named Penélope Cruz. She was there at the Oscars too, and when Belle Époque won Best Foreign Language Film, she literally jumped for joy.
After handing out the award, Gilbert went back to his seat. Naomi Watts, curious, asked, "Gilbert, where's the little gold guy?"
"I gave it to Mehdi," Gilbert said, pretty casually.
Leo, like he could read Gilbert's mind, chuckled, "Maybe our young director prefers the Best Director Oscar, huh?"
Gilbert didn't answer, just kind of nodded, like he agreed. But Best Director tonight wasn't gonna be his. That award went to Spielberg. And same deal, this year's Oscar for Best Picture also went to Schindler's List.
Tom Hanks, just like in his previous life, won Best Actor for Philadelphia, kicking off his superstar career. And the kicker? Gilbert knew Tom Hanks also had Forrest Gump coming out this year. Two back-to-back box office hits, plus his Oscar performance, were about to launch Tom Hanks into his own era.
Gilbert had one movie in mind that he wanted to do with Tom Hanks. But first, he needed to finish up his current projects and the Alcatraz one, then he'd chat with Tom Hanks. Coming to Hollywood in the nineties and not working with both Toms? Gilbert would feel like he wasted his trip.
---
After the Academy Awards, there was an appreciation dinner. Gilbert went with Naomi Watts, and Leo was there too. After a bit of schmoozing, Gilbert told Naomi Watts to go socialize on her own. He was hungry and needed to sneak off for some food.
Leo seemed pretty uncomfortable in that kind of setting, his eyes just darting around at all the pretty actresses, but he wasn't going up to talk to anyone.
"If you're into one of them, you should just go for it, Leo," Gilbert said.
But Leo just shook his head. "Nah, not really interested. See that one over there?"
"Who? Julianne Moore? Isn't she, like, into girls? Probably not interested in you, right?"
Leo gave Gilbert a look. "You didn't know? She's bi, and she's been to those naked parties."
"How'd you know that?" Gilbert was curious.
"I went too, duh," Leo said, like it was obvious. "Even with masks on, I still recognized her."
Gilbert was speechless. No wonder he'd be Hollywood's future playboy. He was already getting into this stuff so young, even going to those wild parties...
"Hey, Gilbert, wanna go? I could introduce you. You might even meet Julia Roberts," Leo prodded.
"Me?" Gilbert quickly declined. "Nah, I'm not really into that. I'd rather go fishing."
"Fishing's cool too, my fishing skills are pretty sweet," Leo said, beaming.
Meeting a fellow fishing enthusiast, they naturally had to talk about it and made plans to go fishing together sometime.
After Leo went off to mingle, Winona Ryder came over.
"Got a girlfriend, and now you don't want me anymore, huh?" Winona Ryder looked around and finally found Gilbert hiding in a corner, snacking on pastries.
"Laura," Gilbert said with an awkward smile, "Why are you still here?"
Winona Ryder's real name was Winona Laura Horowitz. After learning her real name, Gilbert suggested Winona Ryder change it to Winona Hogwarts. Winona Ryder didn't get it and asked Gilbert why. Gilbert explained, "That way, whenever people hear your name, they'll think of a magic school."
"Why does 'Hogwarts' have anything to do with a magic school?" Winona Ryder still looked confused. Gilbert just gave her a mysterious smile. "You'll find out later."
Thanks to Winona Ryder's real name, Gilbert immediately thought of the famous Harry Potter series. The original author, J.K. Rowling, should have the first book in its early stages by now, and Gilbert planned to keep a close eye on it. Of course, Gilbert had considered writing it himself before. But books and movies are two totally different things. He could direct Harry Potter, no problem. But writing a Harry Potter novel? No way.
But it didn't matter. With his foresight, he could plan ahead and snag the book rights. Though, this book series wasn't something he could handle alone. Without a major media group promoting it, it was hard to say if the series would be as huge as it was in his previous life.
Back at the Hollywood after-party, Winona Ryder complained to Gilbert, "You know, I just realized, you're really boring, really rigid."
"How so?" Gilbert asked, curious how others saw him.
"You don't smoke weed, you don't go to social parties, you don't listen to rock music, you just focus on your work. Doesn't living like that just exhaust you?" Winona Ryder poked Gilbert's chest.
Gilbert shook his head slightly. "Laura, what you're talking about, that's Johnny Depp, not me. People can choose how they live. How I choose is my freedom."
When freedom was brought up, Winona Ryder didn't have much to say. She just glanced at Gilbert, mumbled, "You really are boring..." and then floated off, seemingly a little disappointed that she didn't get a reaction tonight.