The Best Movie Actor In Hollywood!

Chapter 145

Everyone stared at the assistant director, trying to make sense of what was happening. Even if the crew had to rearrange the shooting schedule because of uncooperative tourists, this sort of outburst seemed entirely unnecessary, right?

The assistant director was frantic, his face a mask of disbelief, as if he had just witnessed the start of World War III.

"Fernandez!" Chuck snapped, thoroughly exasperated. "Get a hold of yourself!"

But Fernandez was beyond calming down, his expression just as frantic as before. "My brother... my brother's there..."

He was so incoherent that Matthew was utterly bewildered.

"What's wrong with your brother?" a crew member who knew him well asked. "Didn't you just tell me yesterday he got a job with a big company in the World Trade Center?"

Hearing the words "World Trade Center," Matthew felt a chill run down his spine. He turned to Mira, who was sitting next to him, and asked, "What's today's date?"

Mira answered immediately, "September 11th."

September 11th!

Matthew knew instantly. The shocking event that had once changed the entire world was happening.Sure enough, the assistant director wailed, his voice cracking with despair. "I just heard the news—the World Trade Center was attacked, the South Tower collapsed... My brother worked on the 78th floor of the South Tower!"

"How is that possible?"

"It can't be."

"Is it a terrorist attack?"

Most of the crew reacted with disbelief, unable to fathom it. After all, there hadn't been a major attack on American soil in a century.

Matthew knew it was true, but he remained silent. Not uttering a single word was the wisest option at this moment.

Soon, someone pulled out a phone and made a call, quickly confirming that the assistant director was telling the truth.

"Jesus Christ..."

"How could this have happened?"

"Is this the start of another world war?"

Chaos erupted among the cast and crew. Most people scrambled for their phones, desperately trying to call friends and family, especially those in New York.

Matthew also made two calls: one to his girlfriend, Britney, and the other to his vital business partner, Helen, to make sure they were both okay.

Britney was filming a music video in Irvine, Orange County, and Helen had just returned to the Angel Agency from Warner Studios—both of them were a long way from the chaos unfolding in New York.

He then texted James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender. Both replied quickly; they weren't in New York either.

After that, Matthew put his phone away. Like the other actors who had no friends or family in the Twin Towers, he faded into the background, playing the role of a silent, unnerved bystander.

As for trying to capitalize on the incident, he immediately pushed the thought aside. For one, he had no idea how, and for another, events of this magnitude were not for "small-timers" to meddle in.

Filming was clearly off the table for today. And while few people on set had a direct connection to the World Trade Center like the assistant director's brother, the shock of the incident was still profound for everyone, especially for the Americans.

While not everyone was panicking, it was impossible for anyone to work with a clear head.

Chuck announced that they were taking the day off and that they would figure out the work schedule tomorrow.

Matthew could see that most of the crew's thoughts had already flown to Manhattan. No one was focused on work anymore.

He returned to his makeup trailer to get cleaned up. When he came out, he saw many people were still on their phones, including Mira. Even though she was British, it seemed she couldn't rest until she had confirmed her family was safe.

"Who could have imagined something like this would happen?" Kelly Hu approached him, her own makeup trailer parked next to his. "Thankfully, my family is in Hawaii."

She asked Matthew, "You've called your family? None of them are in New York, right?"

"Family?" Matthew shook his head. "I haven't had a family for a long time. I called my friends, though. None of them are in New York."

"We're all lucky," Kelly added.

Matthew agreed. "Anyone who isn't in New York right now is lucky."

To not be in New York, to not be in Manhattan, was a blessing at a time like this.

Even for those far from the World Trade Center's twin towers, what kind of fear and nightmares would haunt the witnesses who saw two world-famous landmarks crumble?

They talked a little more before Matthew excused himself, walking around the perimeter of the crew's trailers, his mind consumed with thoughts of 9/11.

What he remembered most was that in the aftermath of 9/11, the entire world changed. The authorities in Washington, with George W. Bush at the forefront, concluded that Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda were responsible, launching a War on Terror that would ripple across the entire globe.

But what exactly had changed? He couldn't say for certain. In any case, the news he used to read on his smartphone had claimed that the overall global situation was improving.

He was just a guy pounding the pavement to make a living and didn't pay much attention to that side of things. For a small fry, the state of the world didn't matter; nothing was more important than putting food on the table.

And what about Hollywood? He gazed up at the sun, trying to dredge up entertainment news he'd read in the past. Slowly, a related memory surfaced. It seemed that after 9/11, Black actors became especially prominent in Hollywood. He vaguely recalled the first Black actress winning a major Oscar, or something along those lines. After that, casting Black actors gradually became a form of Hollywood political correctness. A major production couldn't get by without a major or positive Black character. If your big-budget movie lacked one, you risked being accused of racism.

Competition in Hollywood was only going to get fiercer in the future. He suspected that mainstream commercial films would become more open to having a Black leading man. Maybe one day, a film centered on Black and LGBT themes would easily win the Oscar for Best Picture.

Matthew shook his head, clearing his mind of such thoughts. In any case, it didn't matter if they were white, Asian, or Black—anyone who stood in his way would have to fall.

...

Matthew went back to his trailer, which was equipped with satellite TV, and tuned into the news coverage of the September 11th attacks.

In any case, Manhattan looked utterly devastated.

The events of September 11th had a profound impact on all of American society.

Matthew was living on location with the crew in the Black Rock Desert, and while he couldn't feel the full impact, he saw how it affected everyone. When they tried to resume work the next day, people were still distracted, making constant mistakes. Chuck and Sean Daniel, who had just arrived on set, had no choice but to give the crew another day off, eventually deciding to grant them a full week's leave.

Instead of returning to Los Angeles, Matthew went directly to Irvine to meet Britney, booking a room in the same hotel for six days. He returned to the Black Rock Desert in Nevada the day before their leave was over to resume filming his scenes.

Over those six days, he kept a close eye on the news, which was almost completely dominated by coverage of the 9/11 attacks, and he updated his blog with appropriate tribute posts.

At the same time, he kept tabs on the film industry, which had been directly impacted by the events of 9/11.

In those six days, the North American box office plummeted to a ten-year low. Audiences were shunning films with heavy-handed plots, as if the 9/11 incident had left the nation's psyche incredibly fragile.

Matthew couldn't help but think of "Black Hawk Down," a film he'd been a part of, which was currently in post-production and slated for release before the end of the year.

He had a gut feeling that "Black Hawk Down" could be in trouble at the box office. It was, after all, a brutal war film filled with scenes of American soldiers being killed. In the wake of 9/11, would the general public be psychologically prepared to watch something like that?

Matthew believed its prospects weren't good. Considering that the attacks would be followed by a brutal, American-led War on Terror, and with public attention still fixated on 9/11, "Black Hawk Down" could very well be a box office disaster.

But such matters were beyond his control. Given the social climate, the only recourse the studio had was to postpone the release.

Upon returning to the Black Rock Desert, the crew finally seemed to shake off the strange mix of grief, agitation, and distraction, and filming resumed, though still peppered with occasional errors.

Matthew, however, remained in excellent form. His scenes were shot smoothly, and the crew managed to stay on schedule.

Sometimes, Matthew wondered if a movie existed where he could just fight from start to finish, without a single line of dialogue and with only one expression on his face the entire time.

He felt he would be a perfect fit for that type of role.

Unfortunately, any film packed with that much action was invariably dismissed by the press and critics as a mindless blockbuster.

Half a month later, the crew wrapped up filming in the desert and returned to Los Angeles to continue shooting at Warner Studios.

The studio also released a promotional poster, the main version of which featured Matthew as the hero and Kelly Hu as his female counterpart.

The posters were originally scheduled for release in mid-September, but they had been delayed until now due to the 9/11 attacks.

"Where are we? Weren't we originally on the poster?"

In the dressing room shared by three actors, Clark Bernard's face was a mask of furious indignation. "Why aren't we on it? Why did they remove us?"

Duff Villa threw his hands up in feigned surprise and shook his head. "I have no idea."

"I know!"

Steven Brand, who had been quiet until now, suddenly hissed conspiratorially, "It was Matthew. He got Helen Herman to pressure the production team to take us off the posters!"

Clark's eyes widened in outrage. "That bastard is taking things too far!"