The Best Movie Actor In Hollywood!

Chapter 146

In the dressing room, Steven, who was never one for many words, was talking a mile a minute. Duff hung on his every word, while Clark wore an expression of unwavering support.

"Alright!" Clark exclaimed, his voice buzzing with excitement. "Let's do this! I've been wanting to land a punch on him for ages!"

"We shouldn't," Duff warned. "Haven't you seen the production's press materials? He's a professional boxer."

"A boxer?" Steven scoffed. "You actually believe that hype from the production team? Sure, he's got muscles, but that's all there is to him."

Duff clamped his mouth shut and didn't say another word.

Silence settled over the dressing room until a crew member knocked on the door. The three men grabbed their gear and left, ready to head to the studio.

Once they were out of the dressing room, Duff said, "You guys go on ahead. I need to use the restroom."

Without another word, Steven and Clark headed straight for the studio.

Ever since they'd been cast, the three of them had been "hanging out"—drinking together, commiserating, complaining about the unfairness of the agency, and trashing that damn Matthew for his supposed lack of acting ability.

Steven and Clark thought nothing of Duff's excuse.Duff slipped back into the dressing room and waited a moment. When he emerged, he glanced down the empty corridor before hurrying in the opposite direction of the other two. The private dressing rooms were farther down the hall; lead actors typically arrived on set later than supporting players like themselves.

"Matthew should still be in his dressing room." With that thought, he turned into a side corridor.

Duff had thought it all through. Even in the unlikely event that they succeeded against Matthew, he wouldn't be the one to benefit—Steven would. Clark probably wouldn't get anything out of it, either.

But what about the other side? Assuming the movie wasn't a flop, it was bound to make Matthew a star. By picking the winning side now, Duff could reap the benefits down the line.

He knocked on the door of Matthew's private dressing room. A familiar voice called from within: "Come in."

Duff pushed the door open and went inside.

...

On the soundstage, once used for filming Spartacus, the director, Chuck, and the production designer were making their final checks. The crew had repurposed the actual sets built for the classic film, making the necessary alterations to transform them into the arena for the final showdown between the hero and the villain.

Tim, the action director, approached with his two assistants to inspect the set for the fight scene.

"Tim," Chuck asked, "how are the preparations coming along?"

"No problems so far," Tim said, stepping closer. "The crew is putting the final touches on the set, and both Matthew and Steven have rehearsed the scene in training."

Chuck nodded. "Matthew should be ready. How's Steven?"

Tim replied, "Steven's been training for the past few days, and it's been going quite well."

Preparations for the scene were in full swing. The crew worked together seamlessly, and soon everything was nearly in place for filming to begin.

Meanwhile, Matthew made his way onto the soundstage. After waiting a few minutes in the actors' rest area, he joined Kelly and Steven on the set to listen to the director and the action director walk them through the scene.

The set featured a platform with several tables made of hard foam, clearly intended to be broken during the fight. Thick safety mats were spread out below to cushion any falls.

Although the platform was only about three feet high, the crew had taken every possible precaution to prevent accidents.

Matthew stood on top of the platform and glanced over at Steven, who was shaking his head from time to time as if trying to concentrate. He was the quiet type, the kind whose bite was far worse than any bark.

But Duff had already revealed what he was planning, and Matthew had no intention of letting him get away with it.

Even without Duff's warning, it was unlikely Steven would have gotten his way.

"Kelly!"

As they were about to start filming, Tim gave his final instructions. "You'll stand here on this mark. A soldier will enter from the other exit—your job is to take him out."

The crew planned to use long takes for the final action sequence, so Tim gave a few more instructions to Kelly before turning to Matthew and Steven. "For the duel between you two, try to stick to the choreography you've rehearsed, but don't get locked into it. This will be a long take, several minutes, and various factors could affect your movements. Be flexible and ready to adapt."

Matthew nodded.

For a shot lasting ten or twenty seconds, you could stick to a pre-planned routine, but a take this long was different. It demanded that the actors be able to improvise.

Steven said, "Understood."

He hadn't shot a long action sequence for this film yet, but he'd watched Matthew do it. He knew it was impossible to follow the set routine to the letter, which was precisely why he'd chosen this moment to act. Besides, wasn't it perfectly normal for someone to get accidentally injured while filming a fight scene?

During an earlier sword training scene, another actor had accidentally struck him on the arm with a wooden practice sword, and the pain had lingered all day.

He glanced down at the prop sword in his hand. It was made of resin, but it could still cause real pain. If Matthew were out of commission for a while... and with the Angel Agency having the connections to land roles in projects like Band of Brothers, Black Hawk Down, and The Mummy franchise... wouldn't Helen Herman need to find a more suitable actor to take his place? An actor like himself, for example.

This was Hollywood. All he needed was one shot, and he could be on his way to the top.

With one hand, Matthew adjusted the straps of his leather armor, while his other hand gripped the hilt of his prop sword. He didn't spare Steven another glance.

On his way to the set, he had already devised a plan to handle him.

Kelly stood between Matthew and Steven. Perhaps it was a woman's intuition, but she sensed something was about to happen and took two steps back.

She had a good impression of Matthew and subconsciously wanted to take his side, but she knew better than to get involved in the kind of overt power struggles that plagued nearly every film set.

"There's one main principle to follow for this scene," Tim concluded. "Matthew, you start on the defensive, retreating. Steven, your motivation is to kill him."

He looked at the two men. "Matthew, you're being overwhelmed. Steven, you're relentless. But at the critical moment, you fight back."

Matthew said nothing, just nodded, as did Steven.

"Alright!" Tim said, preparing to clear the set. "Let's do one rehearsal take."

He backed away from the set. Matthew drew his sword and moved to his mark, while Steven took up his position opposite him.

Matthew, Kelly, and Steven braced themselves. The assistant director's voice rang out: "The Scorpion King, scene 113, take 21... action!"

The word was barely out of his mouth before Steven's prop sword came slashing through the air.

The blade moved with incredible speed, whistling as it cut through the air.

Matthew dodged and backed away toward the edge of the platform. Steven pursued him relentlessly, each whistling strike of his sword a spectacular display. His face was a mask of malice, as if he were completely consumed by the villain's role, determined to kill Matthew's character.

Their blades clashed several times. Matthew could feel that Steven was putting far more force into his strikes than he had during rehearsals, which confirmed everything Duff had told him.

Steven wasn't foolish enough to be obvious about it; he was masking his true intentions.

Crash!

Steven kicked one of the hard foam stools. It flew to the side just as his prop sword swung down again.

Matthew retreated again, and Steven stepped forward, pressing his attack.

Behind the camera, Tim watched the two actors, nodding in approval. There was nothing flashy about the fight choreography; it was raw and direct, full of a gritty power that made it feel utterly real and believable.

This was exactly the effect the crew had been aiming for.

Matthew was, as always, excellent in his action sequences. But to Tim's surprise, Steven was also doing a remarkable job. His expressions and movements as he relentlessly pursued Matthew were incredibly realistic, conveying a powerful determination to kill.

Just then, he saw Matthew dodge one of Steven's strikes, then stumble and fall to the platform near the edge, his own weapon flying from his grasp.

In the script, Mathayus was supposed to be knocked down by Memnon before launching a counterattack.

Tim remained perfectly still, not daring to even breathe. The long take was going superbly, and the actors were in exceptional form.

Matthew was on the ground, his body coiled like a spring. His sparring coach had taught him how to counterattack from a prone position. He had taken the fall deliberately to create distance from Steven, setting up the counterattack just as it was written in the script.

According to the choreography they were supposed to be following, Mathayus was meant to be knocked to the ground by Memnon.

Just as the script dictated, Steven lunged forward, attempting to plunge his longsword straight into Matthew.

But Matthew could see with perfect clarity that the blade was aimed directly at his face.