《拆彈部隊》的奧斯卡奇跡是如何煉成的？
《拆彈部隊》贏得了第82屆奧斯卡最佳影片大獎，這多少有些令人意外，因為一來影片沒有好萊塢一線明星撐場面，二來影片票房成績慘淡，更重要的是影片所描繪的主題——中東戰(zhàn)爭——在奧斯卡一向難以討得歡心。
It's amazing that "The Hurt Locker" won best picture at the Oscarsdespite having three strikes against it. "The Hurt Locker" didn'tfeature A-list stars. It wasn't successful at the box office. Andmaybe, worst of all: it was about the Mideast war, a topic usuallycursed at the Academy Awards.
So how did it pull off this Oscar miracle?
那么，拆彈部隊是憑借什么創(chuàng)造奇跡的呢?
So how did it pull off this Oscar miracle?
首先，《拆彈部隊》“申奧”背后的故事頗具魅力。影片的發(fā)行公司美國頂峰娛樂(Summit)的領導層頗具膽識，他們財力雄厚同時也雄心萬丈。從《暮色》(Twilight)中賺夠了銀子的頂峰娛樂也想在好萊塢豎起一桿文藝大旗。
For starters, "The Hurt Locker"had some high-caliber oomph behind it. It was distributed by Summit, astudio with bold leaders who had deep pockets and something to prove.Flush with money from the "Twilight" movies, Summit wanted to be takenseriously as an artistic player in Hollywood.
早先，頂峰娛樂聘請了Cynthia Swartz以及她所在公關公司42 west旗下一班頗具奧斯卡營銷經(jīng)驗的員工踏上征程。Swartz是這方面的行家里手，先后在《芝加哥》(當年在米拉麥克斯與哈維.韋恩斯坦共事時也戰(zhàn)果累累)、《撞車》、《老無所依》等影片“申奧”戰(zhàn)中扮演重要的角色。
Early on, Summit hired Cynthia Swartz and her Oscar soldiers at 42Westto head up its academy campaign. Swartz had been a key player in thepast blitzkriegs behind "Chicago" (and other Miramax flicks when shewas still a commander in Harvey Weinstein's army), "Crash" and "No Country for Old Men" and other successful award champs.
Swartz總是希望接受高難度的挑戰(zhàn)。幾年前，她選擇了一部風格另類，關于嘻哈音樂的電影《川流熙攘》(Hustle & Flow)，試圖挑戰(zhàn)學院派的那些古板偏見。最終她得償所愿，為泰倫斯.霍華德(Terence Howard)爭得了一次最佳男演員提名，同時也斬獲了最佳歌曲的小金人(It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp)。
Swartz likes to take on daredevil challenges. A few years ago, forexample, she adopted a gritty, hip-hop film called "Hustle & Flow"just to see if she could ram it past the academy's fuddy-duddy bias.Bingo. She ended up nabbing a best-actor nomination for Terence Howard and reaped a win for best song ("It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp").
《拆彈部隊》最初所獲得的如潮好評僅僅來自于影評人士，而其在各大評選活動中的道路頗為坎坷。第24屆美國獨立精神獎評選活動中也僅僅獲得了最佳男主角、最佳男配角兩項提名，最終顆粒無收。
The initial groundswell of support for "TheHurt Locker" came from a pure, heroic source: the film critics. Ithadn't fared well on the awards front at first. It competed last yearat the Indie Spirits, for example, and only reaped nominations foractors Jeremy Renner and Anthony Mackie. Nothing for picture, director or screenplay.
不過，進入2009-2010年的競賽單元后，《拆彈部隊》的境況就完全不同了。它來勢洶洶，難以阻擋。在與獨立精神獎旗鼓相當?shù)?009年美國哥譚獎上一舉拿下最佳影片，接下來有橫掃美國三大影評人獎：洛杉磯影評人協(xié)會獎、紐約影評人協(xié)會獎、美國國家影評人協(xié)會獎。這些影評人協(xié)會是由那些最吹毛求疵的媒體記者們組成的，他們以其”古怪“的品味著稱，例如不為奧斯卡所接受的《穆赫蘭道》。隨后《拆彈部隊》居然又贏得了美國第十屆評論家選擇獎。說”居然“是因為這一獎項的主辦方是美國廣播影評人協(xié)會(BFCA)，成員與金球獎的投票者們一樣多數(shù)是來自于現(xiàn)場記者，這兩者的口味又與奧斯卡評委非常相似。
But when "The Hurt Locker" entered this year's derby, things weredifferent. It gathered momentum quickly, launching a bandwagon that washard to stop. The Indie Spirits' rival award, the Gotham, named it bestpicture. It swept the film critics' trifecta: Los Angeles, New York andNational Society. Those are critics' groups comprised of mostlyprint-based, cynical, gritty journalists who are renowned for pickingquirky stuff like "Mulholland Drive" that doesn't break through intothe Oscars. Then "The Hurt Locker" won best picture from the Critics'Choice Awards. That was odd because it's a prize bestowed by members ofthe Broadcast Film Critics Assn. They're largely part of the junketpress just like Golden Globe voters. Both groups tend to be similar intaste to Oscar voters.
最終金球獎選擇了《阿凡達》(Avatar)，這也不足為奇。過去的五年里，金球獎與奧斯卡最佳影片相吻合的只有一次。但接下來令人意想不到的事情發(fā)生了?！恫饛棽筷牎吩趯а莨労椭破務霉鸸冢@兩者才大大的預示著奧斯卡的贏家。試想一下，負責創(chuàng)造利潤的制片人居然會認可一部票房無作為的影片!這意味著《拆彈部隊》不但符合了電影工業(yè)形形色色影評人的口味，而且定將能掀起一番波瀾。
The Golden Globes picked "Avatar," but that wasn't too strange:they've been out of sync with Oscar voters four out of the past fiveyears. Then something extraordinary occurred. "The Hurt Locker" wonlaurels from the directors' and producers' guilds, which usuallypredict what wins best picture at the Oscars. Think about it: theproducers — people in charge of generating profit — endorsed afinancially unsuccessful movie. That meant that "The Hurt Locker" hadnot only crossed over from the film critics to the film industry, butthat it landed with nuclear force.
當《拆彈部隊》殺入奧斯卡，顯然它定能抓住機會最終獲勝。他與《阿凡達》平分秋色，各獲九項提名，其后是《無量雜種》(Inglourious Basterds)獲得了八項提名。
As "The Hurt Locker" headed into the Academy Awards, it was clearthat it could beat the odds and actually win. When nominations cameout, "The Hurt Locker" and "Avatar" tied for the most: nine. Rightbehind, with eight, was "Inglourious Basterds."
《拆彈部隊》明智地將自己擺放在與歌利亞(《阿凡達》)對抗的大衛(wèi)的位置，因為大多數(shù)人都會支持弱者。但不同的是，大衛(wèi)是個性感的女人凱瑟琳.畢格羅，剛好是歌利亞——《阿凡達》締造者詹姆斯.卡梅隆的前妻。多具有戲劇性!更有甚者，如果評委們投上一票給畢格羅，他們自身也能有所收獲。他們將因為將奧斯卡最佳導演頒發(fā)給一位女性而創(chuàng)造歷史——事實上這早就該發(fā)生了。
"The Hurt Locker" positioned itself as little David battling Goliath("Avatar"), a shrewd move since everybody always roots for the littleguy. In this case, though, it wasn't a guy. Its filmmaker was a sexygal, Kathryn Bigelow, who just so happened to be the ex-wife of Goliath – "Avatar's" James Cameron.What irresistible drama! Even better, if Oscar voters picked sexy TeamBigelow to endorse, they got a bonus. They got to make history bygiving the Oscar for best director to a woman for the first time — abreakthrough long overdue.
回溯歷史我們也會發(fā)現(xiàn)，《阿凡達》毫無勝算。從來沒有科幻電影成為奧斯卡最佳影片，僅有《星球大戰(zhàn)》與《E.T.》獲得過提名?！稛o良雜種》似乎又有機會從兩者之間虎口奪食。之前《無良雜種》曾笑傲美國演員工會獎，而這個曾兩次命中奧斯卡最佳影片——《撞車》(Crash)、《莎翁情史》(Shakespeare in Love)。如果哈維.韋恩斯坦(Harvey Weinstein)能早點放棄《九》(Nine)轉而躍上這匹“雜種”馬，說不定還能騎向勝利。也只有《無良雜種》你能阻擋《拆彈部隊》的步伐。
Looking back, maybe "Avatar" never had a realistic chance of beating"The Hurt Locker." No sci-fi movie has ever won best picture. Only twoever got nominated: "Star Wars" and "E.T." "Basterds" had a realisticchance of sneaking by them both considering it won best ensemble at theSAG Awards, a prize that's tattled twice before on Oscar best-pictureupsets in the works: "Crash" and "Shakespeare in Love." But its pushcame too late. If only Harvey Weinstein had given up on "Nine" andjumped aboard his "Basterds" horse earlier, he might have ridden it tovictory. Looking back, I think "Basterds" was the only film thatcould've stopped the "Hurt Locker" bandwagon.
頂峰娛樂沒有披露他們在奧斯卡的競選活動中花費幾許，但一位有關的知情人士宣稱花費并不多。另有競爭對手(并非《阿凡達》)則對此嗤之以鼻。一些留意奧斯看的人認為20世紀?？怂棺鳛椤栋⒎策_》的發(fā)行商在此次角逐奧斯卡的過程中花費最高，但是這有點說不過去。因為《阿凡達》是在奧斯卡評選前夕上映，他的“申奧”成本包含在電影發(fā)行常規(guī)的公關費用、廣告費用、市場營銷費用中。
Summit hasn't revealed how much it spent on its academy campaign,but a source close to the film insists that it was modest. An Oscarcampaigner behind a rival film up for best picture (not "Avatar")scoffs at that claim. Some Oscar-watchers believe that 20th Century Foxspent the most of all Oscar campaigns this year on behalf of "Avatar,"but that's hard to establish. "Avatar" was released at Oscar time. Itsexpenditures for an awards blitz were inter-mingled with regular PR,advertising and marketing.
即使《阿凡達》確實為此投入最多，他也沒辦法應付這顆“雷公彈”，包括其他一些提名電影多無法撼動《拆彈部隊》。正如我們前面所說，《拆彈部隊》一開始就面臨三個問題，當奧斯卡頒獎前夕又多了三個：被(一些退役軍人和士兵)指責不夠準確(交代戰(zhàn)爭的實情)、被指責過于準確(一個美軍軍士稱自己是電影主角的原型)以及因違規(guī)發(fā)送攻擊性郵件給評委而險些被逐出奧斯卡頒獎儀式的尷尬。所有的這些參雜在一起活像一出好萊塢的經(jīng)典劇目，前夫與妻子如同大衛(wèi)在奧斯卡舞臺上對陣歌利亞。
Even if "Avatar" did spend the most, it couldn't stop the "HurtLocker" juggernaut. Nothing could, not even a few suicide bombs set offby "The Hurt Locker" troop themselves. The movie that started out withthree Oscar strikes against it ended up having three more near the endof the derby: accusations that it wasn't accurate, accusations that itwas too accurate (an army sergeant claims the movie ripped off his ownstory) and the embarrassment of its producer being banned from theOscars ceremony because he broke campaign rules with offensive emails.Together, they added up to a serious plot complication -- another twistthat looked like it had been ripped from a Hollywood movie just likethe whole setup of an ex-husband and wife squaring off with David vs.Goliath movies in the Oscars coliseum.
當然，《拆彈部隊》贏得奧斯卡最佳影片并不僅僅是頂峰娛樂的大喜事。對奧斯卡而言也是這樣，因為在過去的整個評獎季中所有的影評人都強烈認可這部電影的質量，并覺得它應該獲得最高榮譽。
In the end, the best-picture Oscar victory of "The Hurt Locker" ismore than just a great thing for Summit. It's good for the Oscarsbecause it was championed all through derby season by film critics whobelieved strongly in its quality and only had the most noble of motives.
但是，為什么包括奧斯卡在內的所有的這些評獎會認同這部關于中東戰(zhàn)爭的電影，而先前有對《決戰(zhàn)以拉谷》、《鍋蓋頭》之類的電影相當之不屑?也許是因為《拆彈部隊》沒有強迫觀眾對這場戰(zhàn)爭做一次政治評判，而僅僅是要觀眾體驗一種恐懼，那種在炙熱的煉獄里任何時候任何東西都有可能在你面炸得前灰飛煙滅的恐懼。
But why did all of these awards, including the Oscars, agree on thisMideast war movie after previously pooh-poohing others like "In theValley of Elah" and "Jarhead"? Probably because "The Hurt Locker"doesn't force viewers to make a political judgment about the war.Instead, it forces viewers to experience first hand the terror andhorror of what it's like to live in a sun-baked hell where everythingcould, literally, blow up in your face at any moment.
