The Wolf of Los Angeles-Chapter 374: Uncovering the Puppet Master

[Chapter 374: Uncovering the Puppet Master]

"Shockingly, Heath Ledger's pursuit of Michelle Williams was a cover; he did it simply to hide the fact that he was gay!"

"Heath Ledger joined the largest gay organization in Los Angeles, the Mattachine Society, three years ago!"

"According to insiders from Brokeback Mountain, Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal were seen entering and exiting the same hotel room multiple times during filming!"

Entertainment media suddenly erupted with numerous stories regarding Heath Ledger being gay. Once these stories hit the stands, platforms like Twitter and Yahoo immediately began to share them, exaggerating them in the process.

Particularly, this mix included some individuals with malicious intent.

...

Half the morning passed, and the news on the internet shifted rapidly. A user posted cited a photo of Heath Ledger embracing Jake Gyllenhaal, captioning, "Heath Ledger comes out as gay!"

In Oscar's nearly eighty-year history, no acting or directing award had ever been given to anyone who had come out publicly. In fact, Hawke remembered that even until 2020s, the Oscars still hadn't awarded any openly gay actor or director; there had been only 2 awards, both for Best Screenplay, one in each category.

Hollywood's representation of LGBT themes stood in stark contrast to the highest awards in the North American film industry, the Oscars.

Caroline knocked and entered the chairman's office, glancing at Hawke with a somewhat odd expression, saying, "The marketing department just received a new business opportunity."

Hawke noticed her expression and responded, "Is there a wolf trying to eat you?"

Caroline craned her neck, striking a pose that suggested she was prepared for slaughter, "Where is the wolf?"

Hawke asked, "What kind of business?"

"Well, it goes like this," Caroline hurriedly explained, "The head of Jamie Foxx's Oscar team approached us to buy news space for attacking Brokeback Mountain."

This news indeed caught Hawke off guard. "They approached us?"

Caroline elaborated, "As we moved into December, I had someone compile statistics, revealing that more than 2,000 Academy members are active users of Twitter."

Paying for headlines was a common practice across the media, and Hawke decided to comply, stating, "As long as there's nothing wrong with the PR materials, we can collaborate."

Caroline responded, "Sasha has reviewed it."

Minutes later, a press release appeared on major online media platforms like Twitter and Yahoo.

"Brokeback Mountain seriously contravenes traditional societal values; its promotion of the decadent values of cowboy homosexuality does not align with the American spirit!"

Not only did online media report this, but Hawke heard from Fox Television's Channel 11's Midnight Entertainment that Jamie Foxx's team also purchased considerable ad space in conservative media to counter Heath Ledger's 'attack.'

It was clear that both sides were gearing up for a fight.

---

At the heart of the Los Angeles gay community, the headquarters of the Mattachine Society in North Hollywood saw Vice President Lawrence, sporting a goatee and wearing a vest, sit in front of his computer screen scrolling through news on Heath Ledger.

He twirled his finger on his chin and pressed the intercom, directing his assistant Christine, "Check if Hollywood star Heath Ledger is a member of the society?"

Minutes later, Christine entered, speaking loudly, "Heath Ledger is not a member of our society."

"I see," Lawrence contemplated momentarily before stating, "Extend a formal invitation for Heath Ledger to join."

Christine moved to prepare the invitation.

Yet, Lawrence stopped her, "Wait, don't send a private invite, make it a public one!"

Christine looked confused, asking, "Publish it publicly?"

Annoyed by his less than savvy assistant, Lawrence explained, "The news is hot right now. We need to capitalize on it, you understand?"

Christine shook her head.

Lawrence continued, "We stand on the fringes of society and are continually marginalized. Do you want that to be the case forever? We shouldn't be discriminated against; we should become mainstream, and no one can overlook us! Increasing our visibility is a good way to achieve that."

"I understand; I'll get to it now," Christine hurriedly left to prepare.

...

Lawrence thought further; issuing a public invite would be more effective than waiting for traditional media, which always reacted too slowly. Online media was most suitable and held the highest freedom; networks like Twitter placed no restrictions on LGBT statements, allowing for free expression.

The Mattachine Society also registered an official Twitter account. Once Christine had the invitation prepared, Lawrence personally sent a formal statement inviting Heath Ledger to join the society, posting it on Twitter and tagging Heath Ledger.

Fearing that other media would miss the story, Lawrence also tagged Entertainment Weekly, Variety, the Los Angeles Times, and Hollywood Reporter, along with NBC and CBS.

The idea was to make sure that they noticed him, to jump right into their faces.

...

Once the tweet went out, it immediately triggered Twitter's algorithm, quickly landing it on the news homepage.

Brokeback Mountain had already begun its limited release in North America, stirring up plenty of controversy, with many comments flooding the section.

"Heath Ledger has a girlfriend, he isn't gay!"

"The Mattachine Society issued a public invitation; he is not gay? Did you see today's news? The entire internet knows Heath Ledger is gay now."

"Gay? That's hard to watch; I don't want to see him in any movies anymore."

"I'm not watching any gay films; I'm boycotting Brokeback Mountain!"

"Boycott Brokeback Mountain!"

The discourse online was easily influenced, especially with tools like Twitter; a little push could lead to a massive backlash.

---

At Universal Studios, Focus Features.

Ang Lee hurried down from his car and quickly entered the office building, knocking on the door of the president's office, where he met producer James Schamus, whom he had worked with for years.

James was the founder and CEO of Focus Features, as well as the producer of Brokeback Mountain.

Ang pulled out several newspapers from the briefcase he had brought, placing them on the desk, "Numerous media outlets dropped negative stories about us today."

James replied, "I know; I've already set people to investigate it; we'll have news shortly."

Ang thought about those stories, "I called Heath Ledger; he will be here soon."

Minutes later, Heath Ledger entered the office quickly, immediately explaining, "Sorry, I don't understand what's happening; why are the media attacking me like this? I assure you, I'm not gay!"

Ever since Brokeback Mountain won the Golden Lion at Venice, Ang dreamt of winning the Oscar for Best Director. He remarked, "If you were, it would fit the role better..."

James countered, "No, that viewpoint is entirely wrong."

Another knock on the door sounded. The project leader from the BlackRock Film Foundation, Anderson, entered and remarked, "I've contacted various media outlets and have clarified; Jamie Foxx's Oscar PR team has invested heavily to instigate this media assault!"

James, having been aware of this year's Oscar contenders, noted, "Jamie Foxx's production company invested in his film Ray; both hope to make splashes at this year's Oscars!"

Ang understood, "He views us as the main competition?"

Among everyone present, Heath Ledger held the lowest status and quietly asked, "What should we do now?"

"The enemy has already fired on us; we can't remain passive defenders," James stated without hesitation, "We must strike back."

He directed his Vice President, "Find the weaknesses of Ray and Jamie Foxx for us to attack directly!"

Anderson, who had been monitoring the competition, said, "Jamie Foxx has recently been embroiled in a scandal; a girl named Alice Carson reported to the LAPD that Jamie Foxx raped her two years ago."

James nodded, "Good; let's leverage that and circulate that Jamie Foxx is a rapist."

As soon as he spoke, he frowned, "No, wait; this doesn't seem quite right! Who is this Alice Carson?"

Anderson instructed his assistant, "Go check it out."

The assistant quickly searched online and pulled up news about Alice's press conference organized by the activist group, as well as a Twitter story about Alice meeting Heath Ledger.

James pointed at the pictured screen of Alice, asking Heath Ledger, "Do you know her?"

"I... I did meet her, but she said she was Jake Gyllenhaal's cousin," Heath replied, quickly recounting what happened that day, "We did not talk for even ten minutes."

Ang remarked, "I smell a conspiracy."

Anderson agreed, "This resembles a huge scheme, intentionally stirring conflict between us and the Ray crew for profit; we can basically confirm it's aimed at the Oscars!"

James quickly connected the dots in his mind, saying, "The crux of the problem lies with Alice Carson."

The assistant chimed in, "Just now, the news stated that the FMF's lawyer and two leaders accompanied Alice to file a civil lawsuit in a Los Angeles court."

"A feminist organization! Alice is a member of the feminist organization," James asked rigidly, "Is there an Oscar contender promoting feminism?"

Ang added, "Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby has begun its limited release; it's a classic feminist film."

James nodded slowly, "That's it, it all ties together; someone intends to spark conflict between competitors to secure an advantage in the Oscars."

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Everyone in the room found it reasonable; what was Alice's purpose in intervening?

Over the past two years, she could have reported it at any time but deliberately chose a critical time in the Hollywood awards season.

The answer was clear!

*****

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