and the nominees are

8/9/2019 And the Nominees Are

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Title: And The Nominees Are

Author: Laura

Characters: Multiple

Disclaimer: The following story has been written with no intention of claiming ownership

or solicitation, nor does the author claim the movie character(s) as his/her own. The movie

character(s) have been borrowed solely out of a love of the particular movie and is not

intended for any other purpose but amusement and entertainment.

~ @ ~ @ ~ @ ~ @ ~ @ ~ @ ~

"Max, they're waiting for us; we only have a few minutes," Laura said impatiently asMaximus lingered at the window of his bedroom, staring out at the dawn.

"Its early -- I doubt anyone's up yet."

"Trust me, they're awake. They wouldn't miss *this*," she said.

"I still do not understand what is so important."

Laura shook her head, sighing. One of his most endearing qualities was his modesty, but

sometimes, he went a bit too far. "Maximus -- "

She was interrupted by a knock at the door, and when she answered it, she found Ilariaand Massimo out in the hallway.

"Hurry, you two!" Ilaria said, appearing a bit out of breath. "It's almost time!"

"He's embarrassed by the whole thing -- he doesn't want to come down," Lauraexplained.

Ilaria shook her head. "Massimo is the same -- they are both too modest."

Laura hid a grin behind her hand as Maximus looked over at them with an exasperated

snort. He met the eyes of Massimo, who just shrugged. "They are waiting for us both, myfriend."

Maximus gave a resigned sigh, and then smiled, moving to Laura's side and taking herarm. "All right -- I'm coming," he said.

"Come on!" Ilaria said, linking arms with Laura and Massimo and pulling them all with

her down the hall and over to the stairs that led down to the first floor of the tavern.


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3/7

"Hey! Hold it down! They're not done yet, ya know!" Jeff shouted over the din, andeveryone quieted as the next category was read.

Best Supporting Actor was next, and another loud shout went up when Joaquin Phoenix'

name was read, along with a few good-natured catcalls. More champagne was opened,

and the group quieted to hear the Best Director nominees. There were more shouts andmore champagne as Ridley Scott was announced.

There were groans of frustration as Best Supporting Actress was next, and ConnieNeilsen's name did not appear. Andy and Liz were starting to pour the champagne into

the line of glasses that stretched from one end of the bar to the other when the room wentsilent once more.

"And the nominees for Best Actor are..." There seemed to be a endless pause -- everyonenearly turning blue as they held their breaths -- until the names began.

"Tom Hanks...." There was a rousing chorus of boos at that, and everyone laughed,dispelling some of the tension.

"Ed Harris...." There were more moans, and a whispered, "Oh, god, get on with it before Igo crazy!" from Tonya.

Once again there was a seemingly endless pause, and then....

"Russell Crowe."

The tavern erupted in sheer pandemonium, which quickly turned into a massive group

hug. All of the men had to take a turn hugging Maximus and Massimo, and each of thegirls insisted on a congratulatory hug *and* kiss with the two Spaniards. Ilaria and Laurawere almost too busy embracing the rest of the boys to notice what was going on with

their men. The champagne flowed freely now, some of it showering the two heroes of thehour, and even though it was the crack of dawn, everyone shared a congratulatory toast as

they listened the rest of the nominations.

The list of nominations for Gladiator quickly grew to include not only Best Picture,

Actor, Supporting Actor and Director, but Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score,Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Sound, Best Visual

Effects, and Best Art Direction as well.

"Oh my god," Tina said when the nominations had all been read and the live broadcastwas over. "Twelve! Twelve freakin' Oscar nominations for 'Gladiator'....! Take *that*,

Roger Ebert!" she exclaimed, and everyone dissolved in laughter.

"Speech! Speech!" several voices called out, but both Maximus and Massimo lookedbewildered.


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Terry moved closer and said, "That means they want you two to make a little speech inhonor of the occasion, mates." He laughed as Massimo ran his fingers through his

champagne-soaked hair, blinking rapidly as the some of the liquor ran into his eyes. Ilariahanded him a towel, and he blotted his face.

"I don't understand why this is so important," Maximus said. "They're just choosing thenominees for the awards -- no one's actually won anything yet. There wasn't this muchinterest in those Golden Globes a few weeks ago, and those were the actual awards."

"You don't understand, Max," Kath said. "Just being *nominated* for an Academy

Award is an honor."

"And to get 12 of 'em for one flick?" Andy said. "That'll just make more people want to

rent it or buy it. And with Russell getting nominated two years in a row, that'll help hiscareer even more."

"Yea, this is *great* news! We'll have even more people interested in the Nest!" Peachessaid.

"We owe a lot to you, mate," Jeff said to Maximus. "Both of you." He nodded towardsMassimo too. "Until 'Gladiator' came along, this place was too damn quiet. But since last

May, we've all had lots to celebrate." He raised his glass in the air. "To 'Gladiator'!"

Everyone clinked glasses and drank some champagne. More toasts followed quickly.

"To Maximus!"

"To Massimo!"

"To Russell!"

"Ridley Scott!"

"Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard!"

"Joaquin Phoenix!"

Everyone quickly grew drunk with the repeated toasts, laughing and talking.

"I have one more!" Wendy said loudly, and everyone turned to listen. "To last year's

nominees -- Jeffrey Wigand and 'The Insider'. I wasn't here last year to toast him, butbetter late than never!" She gazed warmly at Jeffrey, kissing him on the cheek, and he

reddened a bit at all the sudden attention. Wendy raised her glass and clinked it againsthis.

"To Jeffrey!" came a chorus of voices, with more clinking glasses.


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"And to Bud," Trisha said. "Who *should* have been nominated for 'LA Confidential'."

"Yea, Bud!" Stef exclaimed. There were cheers and clapping and more raised glasses,everyone laughing at the embarrassed and surprised Bud who was turning just as red as

Jeffrey.

Wendy fought back a smile as East and Zack came around, each with a bottle ofchampagne, and snuck up behind Bud and Jeffrey, showering them with champagne,

drenching both, but missing Wendy and Trisha. Both men were royally pissed at first,sputtering and their faces darkening with anger, but then, as everyone started to laugh and

cheer, they joined in the laughter, and Bud got a bottle of his own and chased after East,Zack and Trisha.

Jeffrey chuckled, wiping his glasses with a clean napkin that Wendy provided. "Itcertainly wasn't like this last year."

"Didn't they do anything for you?" Wendy asked.

"Oh, yes, we had a party then too -- but it was mainly just us men, plus Peaches, Liz and

Michelle. And at the time, some of them... well, they didn't seem to like me too much, sowe had one or two bottles of champagne, but that was it. And then Russell lost to Kevin

Spacey during the actual awards, so there really wasn't much to celebrate..." he said,shrugging, sounding a bit sad.

"Aw, Jeffrey..." Wendy said, taking his arm and pulling him close, only to recoil a bitwhen her arm pressed against the wet, sticky shirt. "I hate to think of you all alone here...

I wish I'd discovered the Nest sooner."

"So do I," Jeffrey agreed, leaning close but avoiding getting her wet too as thechampagne dripped from his hair. "But you're here now -- that's all that counts."

"Yes, it is," Wendy agreed.

"What about 'Virtuosity'?" Sid's voice cut through the noise, and the group quieted,turning towards the man in the purple suit who had been observing from a dark corner of

the tavern. "Russell should have been nominated for me as well," he said haughtily.

There were groans of disapproval from the men, but Tonya spoke up, "No, he's right --

RC did a damn good job playing him. As usual." She smiled at him, and Sid smiledsmugly in return, especially when Lady agreed with Tonya. There were other reluctantagreements from among the women.

But most of the men remained unconvinced. "'Virtuosity' sucked, Sid," Steve said.

"Everyone knows that, no matter how good Russell was."


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"It did not 'suck'," Sid growled. "It was a masterpiece -- but the Hollywood establishmentalways ignores science fiction movies. Everyone knows *that*. It's all politics. The

Academy Awards are meaningless." He looked over at Maximus and Massimo. "And thisyear, it was a weak field. What else could explain 12 nominations for such a pedestrian

script?"

There were groans and gasps of disbelief. Hando, who stood nearby sharing a bottle ofbubbly with Sy and Stef, shook his head. "Pitiful, Sid."

When he didn't elaborate further, Sid couldn't help but ask, "What is?"

"That you've never gotten over bein' jealous of 'em."

Hando smiled as Sid fumed, and the most of the others laughed at him. Then, one by one,Alex, Cort, Mannie, Bud, Terry, Colin, Max and Massimo all went to the bar and picked

up newly opened bottles and converged on Sid. His eyes went wide. "Oh, no. You're not

ruining *another* one of my suits."

"Guess again," Bud said, putting his thumb over the neck of the bottle, shaking it

vigorously and spraying Sid before he could escape. "You wanted to be part of the party,didn't you...?" The others joined in until Sid was drenched from his perfectly coiffed hair

to his expensive Italian leather shoes.

"Aw, Sid," Lady said, coming to his rescue along with Tonya and Angie. Sid's mood

improved quickly as the women fussed over him.

Ilaria and Laura were laughing at Sid's plight when they noticed that their men-folk were

headed their way... Each with a bottle of champagne and a mischievous twinkle in theireyes.

"Don't you dare!" Ilaria said, but Massimo just laughed, as did Maximus as Laura tried toback away too.

"You wanted us to come to the party, didn't you? Why miss all the fun yourselves?"Maximus asked just before he and Massimo sprayed their companions with the

champagne. The women squealed with laughter and surprise as they were quicklydrenched with the cold liquor.

A free-for-all ensued among the entire group, another case of champagne disappearing inno time. Everyone was drenched eventually -- some had tried to avoid it, like Norma Jeanwho hid behind Mannie to try to escape from a very determined Brynn. But soon Brynn

was joined by Annabella and Alex, and the redhead and her protector were thoroughlysoaked. In another corner, it was Hando, Stef, Bugdog, Zack, Sy, Jeff Mitchell, Rick,

Loria, Cort, Tina, John Peaches, StePH, Jennifer and Joan who chased after one anotheruntil they too were all drenched to the skin.


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"God, that was fun!" a wet Michelle gasped as she leaned against a dripping Colin, nearlydoubled over with laughter. "But who the hell's gonna clean up this mess when we're

done?"

"Don't worry, luv -- we'll take care of it later. Even Liz doesn't seem to mind." He

gestured towards Liz and Terry, who seemed to be at a standoff as they each had a bottlein hand. Soon, though, the bottles were emptied, and the two had collapsed to the floor inpeals of laughter as they sat in a puddle. "There hasn't been an occasion like this to

celebrate in quite a while."

"I know; its great isn't it?" She watched as a rather soggy, bedraggled-looking Laura andIlaria embraced Maximus and Massimo respectively. For all their embarrassment, the two

Romans were obviously proud of the important news of the day, and it shown in theireyes. "I just hope we have as much to celebrate on March 25th..." She sighed, crossing

her fingers. "It's going to be a *long* wait!"

and the nominees are

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