Entertainment: Starting as a Succubus, Taking Hollywood by Storm

Harvey sat smugly in the center of the Chicago cast, feeling like victory was already in his grasp.

If it weren't for this, he wouldn't have dared to provoke Martin again.

At this very moment, Harvey was already thinking about how he would show off in front of Martin after Chicago won major awards.

Perhaps he could hold the trophy in one hand and walk up to Martin, telling him: "The Oscars aren't something just anyone can handle. Heh-heh!"

This fat man was lost in his own daydreams…

Onstage, host Steve Martin finally wrapped up his banter and began the official awards ceremony.

The first award presented was for Best Animated Feature.

The presenter was Drew Barrymore's close friend, the big-mouthed beauty Cameron Diaz.

"In recent years, we've seen one excellent animated film after another, bringing endless joy to audiences..."

After a brief monologue, Cameron Diaz read the nominees: "Spirited Away" by Hayao Miyazaki, "Ice Age" by Chris Wedge, "Lilo & Stitch" by Chris Sanders, "Treasure Planet" by Ron Clements and John Musker...

"And the winner is..." Cameron opened the envelope and immediately announced, "Spirited Away, Hayao Miyazaki, congratulations!"

A group of people with black hair and yellow skin near Martin immediately erupted in excitement.

They were from Japan's Studio Ghibli.

This studio, founded in the mid-1980s and originally a subsidiary of Tokuma Shoten, was based in the small city of Koganei, in the outskirts of Kyoto. It had around 300 employees, including directors Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, and producer Toshio Suzuki.

Studio Ghibli would later produce masterpieces like Howl's Moving Castle, Tales from Earthsea, and The Tale of the Princess Kaguya.

However, most of the studio's works were mainly popular in Japan and Asia, whereas animation studios like Pixar and Blue Sky Studios had a far greater global influence.

Martin watched as Hayao Miyazaki, with his silver hair, stood up and embraced those around him. He then joyfully walked to the podium, delivering his acceptance speech in heavily accented English.

What he said, Martin couldn't understand. Probably, most people in the audience couldn't either, but everyone still gave him a warm round of applause.

The next few technical awards were mostly taken by Chicago, The Matrix, and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

Chicago won Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design.

The Matrix won Best Editing and Best Adapted Screenplay.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers won Best Visual Effects and Best Sound Editing.

Martin went onstage to accept the Best Adapted Screenplay award for The Matrix.

With these technical awards, Martin now had a 4-2 lead.

But Harvey was not worried at all. The main event was still to come, and these technical awards were just consolation prizes.

Then came the major awards—Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress.

The Best Supporting Actor award went to Chris Cooper for Adaptation.

And the Best Supporting Actress went to Catherine Zeta-Jones for Chicago.

Mrs. Douglas, pregnant and with a big belly, walked up to accept the award. When she thanked her husband, she was moved to tears.

In the audience, Harvey smiled triumphantly.

The stunning beauty on stage—he had tasted it himself, and it was delightful.

He glanced at Michael Douglas, feeling smug.

Then he turned his attention to the person he most wanted to show off to—Martin Myers.

Unexpectedly, Martin also looked over at him.

Harvey gave Martin a wide grin, pointing at the stage and then at himself.

The gesture clearly meant: "It's all thanks to me, to my abilities."

Thinking Martin would get angry, Harvey was surprised when Martin smiled back, raised one hand to his chest, and subtly extended and wiggled his little finger.

Harvey's smile froze, and his temper flared. He thought to himself, "This guy is definitely pretending to be indifferent. He doesn't want me to see his disappointment. Well, in this round, I've won!"

Next, the Best Documentary award was presented to Michael Moore for Bowling for Columbine.

The plump director walked up to the podium, took the Oscar, and instead of giving the usual speech, he shouted "Quiet down!" into the microphone before saying seriously:

"We live in a fake era. We live in a time with fake election results, a fake president elected, and a man who dragged us into war with fake reasons..."

"Mr. Bush, we oppose this war. Shame on you! Shame on you!"

A mix of boos and applause echoed from the audience, reflecting the two opposing sides in Hollywood—those who supported the war and those who opposed it.

Martin clapped and laughed heartily.

He liked this guy's speech.

Then it hit him—this fat director was the same one behind the documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 that shocked the world the following year.

In Fahrenheit 9/11, Michael Moore exposed the bloody battlefield images of the Iraq War and revealed the complex connections between the Bush family and the bin Laden family.

The film even touched on the oil and arms companies behind the Iraq War, suggesting that the so-called "war on terror" was driven by the greed of those industries.

It also raised several questions:

Was Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda truly behind the 9/11 attacks? 

Was 9/11 an inside job orchestrated by the U.S. government?

Was the war in Iraq about justice or about profit?

Did Iraq really possess weapons of mass destruction?

This fat director had guts! To make this documentary, he even sneaked into Iraq with his crew, interviewing many U.S. government officials, Iraqi civilians, and soldiers who fought in the Iraq War.

But the film faced an uphill battle. Due to its criticism of President Bush's foreign policy and his family's scandals, the film faced distribution problems.

Original distributor Disney announced it would pull out of releasing the film in the U.S. and prohibited its subsidiaries from distributing it.

Later, Sony Columbia also announced it would stop its release plan.

In the end, Harvey, the fat man from Miramax, had to fund the film's distribution himself.

Yes, that's right—Harvey Weinstein.

Of course, this wasn't about doing the right thing or fighting for justice. It was just about not losing money because Harvey had invested in the film.