Two Screenplays

Ethan knew how much a film changed between the page and the screen. Directors, actors, editors, and the accidents of production all claimed a part of the finished work. Even so, the scripts he delivered were unusually detailed. A director could reshape a scene, but the story's architecture tended to remain where he had put it.

He had been here before. Last year Get Out and Blue Is the Warmest Color had placed his name in the screenplay conversation. Now both Inception and Frozen occupied the Original Screenplay field. Across two ceremonies, he had accumulated four nominations and one win. He could feel the appetite in the room for a second.

Scarlett Johansson glanced at the card in her hand.

"For Inception, Ethan Hawthorne."

The cast and crew rose around him. He embraced them one by one, then Nicole and Charlize Theron. Scarlett handed him the statuette and accepted a quick embrace. The applause was generous, though Ethan doubted every competing writer felt equally delighted.

"Thank you," he said into the microphone. "Writing Inception cost me more sleep than I want to admit. I would finish a scene, turn back three pages, and have to remind myself whose dream we were in. Everyone who brought it to the screen had to make that structure feel simple enough to follow. This belongs to them, too."

The audience laughed at the admission. Ethan thanked the Academy, the cast, the crew, and the artists who had built worlds that could fold and shift without losing the people inside them.

Before he could step away, Scarlett leaned toward the microphone. "One question people keep asking: did Cobb get home, or did the top keep spinning?"

He turned to her. "What do you think?"

"I wouldn't have asked if I knew."

"He made it home," Ethan said. "For me, seeing his children's faces matters more than the top. The camera leaves you with the question because movies are allowed to do that."

Scarlett smiled. It was a clean answer, and Ethan knew it would start another argument by morning.

Backstage, away from the cameras, he stopped her for a moment.

"Would you read something for me?"

"You're already starting another film?"

"A Marvel project. I'm shaping the story, but I won't direct. There's a part for a spy who can hold her own in a room full of superheroes. I think you'd be good at it."

"I don't know the comics."

"You don't have to. Read the material first. We can talk after that."

"When would it shoot?"

"We're aiming for June, if the rest of the pieces come together."

"Send it," she said. "I have room to consider it."

He did not pretend the role was hers already. Casting, financing, and a production schedule still had to meet. But he had a face in mind for Black Widow, and it was difficult to picture anyone else.

When Ethan returned to his seat, Nicole glanced at the clock. Charlize leaned in from the other side.

"That was a long walk back," Nicole said.

"I asked Scarlett to read for Marvel."

"At the Oscars?"

"She was there. I was there."

Charlize narrowed her eyes. "That's your defense?"

The broadcast camera swung their way. All three smiled until it passed.

"It was work," Ethan said quietly. "You can ask her."

"We might," Nicole replied.

The conversation ended when Cinematography came up. Robert Richardson won for The Aviator, beating a field that included Zhao Xiaoding's work on House of Flying Daggers. Ethan felt a flicker of regret for the latter. One nomination could pull an unfamiliar film into the view of millions, but winning might have kept it there longer.

MGM took Makeup for La Vie en Rose. The transformation of Nicole across Edith Piaf's life had required more than a wig and powder: each period changed the way she occupied her body. The award belonged to the team that had made that passage believable.

Finding Neverland won Original Score. Hans Zimmer's work on Inception had been nominated, but Ethan could live with the loss. The sound categories and Visual Effects went the other way; Inception took all three of its technical prizes. The city folding over itself still earned a murmur when the clip played, even among people who had seen it before.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Zhang Ziyi appeared to present Adapted Screenplay. Jake handled the introduction while Zhang read the nominees: Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor for Sideways; David Magee for Finding Neverland; Paul Haggis for Million Dollar Baby; Jose Rivera for The Motorcycle Diaries; and Ethan for La Vie en Rose.

Nicole's hand found his again. Charlize was watching the stage so intently that she seemed to forget the argument from a moment ago.

The nomination itself was unusual. Ethan had already won for an original script tonight. Taking both screenplay awards at one ceremony would make him the story in every awards column tomorrow. He could almost hear the objections before they arrived: too much MGM, too many of his films, too much power concentrated in one man.

Zhang opened the envelope. Whatever she felt about Ethan personally, she kept her voice steady enough for the room.

"For La Vie en Rose: Ethan Hawthorne."

The reaction was louder than his first win. Nicole pulled him into an embrace. Their brief kiss appeared on the theater screens and earned another wave of noise from the crowd.

Onstage, he accepted the statuette and took a breath.

"I was nervous about this one," he said. "An adaptation asks you to be faithful to a life without pretending you can fit all of it inside two hours. Nicole found things in Piaf I couldn't put on a page. And Howard made the film that gave those choices a place to live. Thank you to the people who made it with us, and to the Academy for seeing their work."

The orchestra began to rise beneath the last words. He stepped aside before it could chase him off.

Back at his row, Gal Gadot borrowed one of the trophies for a closer look. She turned it in her hands with a seriousness that made him smile. Her own film had been part of the visual-effects race; she understood how much work could end with a nomination and nothing more.

The awards kept moving. Cate Blanchett won Supporting Actress for The Aviator, which also took Editing. Jamie Foxx won Best Actor for Ray, beating a field that included Eastwood and Leonardo DiCaprio. When the camera found DiCaprio, he applauded, but disappointment crossed his face before he could hide it.

Sean Penn arrived to present Best Actress and used his moment to defend Jude Law against Rock's earlier jokes. His words were brief, his loyalty unmistakable. Then he read the nominees: Hilary Swank for Million Dollar Baby; Kate Winslet for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; Annette Bening for Being Julia; Imelda Staunton for Vera Drake; and Nicole Kidman for La Vie en Rose.

Ethan stopped thinking about his own awards. The light from the stage caught Nicole's face as Penn opened the envelope. She was still enough that only the pressure of her fingers against his told him how badly she wanted this.

"Nicole Kidman," Penn announced, "for La Vie en Rose."