The Best Movie Actor In Hollywood!

Chapter 159

A crew of workers atop a building in the Santa Monica Business Plaza had just finished replacing an advertisement. The old posters for Motorola mobile phones were gone, replaced by brand-new movie posters featuring a powerfully built man standing with a sword, the lines of his bare torso as if carved from marble, inevitably drawing the eyes of passersby.

It was a massive promotional poster for the film The Scorpion King, and Universal Pictures had chosen this location for its high foot traffic, situated in one of the most important commercial hubs in all of Los Angeles.

In a café next to the business plaza, a handsome, well-built young man sat in a window seat, casually sipping his coffee and reading a newspaper, seeming to be in excellent spirits.

"Hey, Paul!" Someone approached his table. "There's a party this weekend. You going?"

"This weekend? Nah, I'm busy."

Just as he declined, a young woman entered the café. Her eyes fell on the young man as she passed, and her face immediately lit up with surprise as she took a couple of steps toward him.

"You're... Paul Walker, right?" the woman asked, looking thrilled. "I'm a huge fan. You were in The Fast and the Furious—it was fantastic!"

Paul flashed a sunny smile and looked at the young woman, who pulled a book and a pen from her bag. She held them out to him and asked, "Could I get your autograph?"

"Of course!" Paul signed his name in the book.

For some reason, the young woman blushed shyly, took back her pen and book, and hurried away.Though Paul had always been modest, he couldn't deny the pleasure that came with being a star. Since The Fast and the Furious had been a massive success, he'd become one of the most talked-about actors in the industry. This sort of thing—fans approaching him for an autograph—happened all the time.

The good news for him was that the sequel to The Fast and the Furious had already been greenlit, and Vin Diesel had been completely written out of the film by Universal Pictures.

Taking a sip of his coffee, Paul shook off the thought of that bastard and continued flipping through the newspaper, just in time to land on the entertainment section of the Los Angeles Times.

"Universal Pictures is heavily promoting the upcoming release of The Scorpion King, which has garnered rave reviews in early screenings, especially for several action sequences featuring lead actor Matthew Horner. The $40 million action-adventure blockbuster will premiere on April 9th, with a wide release in North American theaters starting April 12th."

Alongside the text was a large photograph of an unusually familiar face. Despite the ancient costume, Paul immediately recognized Matthew Horner.

"He's already a leading man?"

Seeing the photo, Paul pulled out his cell phone and called Matthew. As soon as the call connected, he said, "It's me, Paul. Is your new movie premiering soon? Yeah, yeah, I want to come to the premiere. If the team's okay with it, have them send me an invitation."

He hung up, left the café, and as he got into his car, he saw the massive poster for The Scorpion King being hoisted into place just ahead. And on that poster was the same familiar face.

"Lucky guy," he muttered. "Matthew's going to be signing autographs soon, too."

...

On a street in Burbank, Matthew put his phone away and walked out of a beverage shop carrying a large bag, heading off in a predetermined direction.

Across the street, the side door of a black minivan slid open. The tall Ilana stepped out, found a suitable spot and angle, raised her camera, aimed it at Matthew, and repeatedly pressed the shutter button.

Matthew struck a pose as if he'd been caught off guard by paparazzi, raising a hand to shield his face as though he didn't want to be photographed. But Ilana was unfazed and kept shooting until Matthew turned a corner, at which point she finally stopped.

She put her camera away, returned to the van, and scrolled through the photos. After a quick glance, she couldn't help but nod slightly. Matthew had enough acting chops, and with the hard work he'd put into his physique, he was undeniably photogenic.

Although it was a pre-arranged street shoot, it was rare for staged photos to come out looking so convincingly candid.

Ilana wasn't being modest; she believed the effect was partly because Matthew himself looked good, and partly due to her excellent photography skills, which she considered absolutely top-tier in the industry. At least, that's what she thought.

The side door on the other side of the black minivan opened, and Matthew also climbed into the van. He looked at Ilana and asked, "How'd it go? Do we need to do it again?"

"They're fine," Ilana said, removing the camera lens. "They came out great. Let's go."

Just then, Matthew's phone buzzed. He took it out of his pocket, glanced at the screen, saw it was just spam, and stuffed the phone back in.

Ilana asked, "Helen?"

"No, I wouldn't ignore her call," Matthew said, shaking his head. "It's just promotional texts."

That kind of spam had been getting more and more common lately.

From the driver's seat, a staffer from The Scorpion King's publicity department turned around and said, "Alright, should we head back?"

This photoshoot had been funded by the production of The Scorpion King and was part of the online publicity campaign for the cast.

The staffer asked Matthew, "Where to?"

"Take me back to the Angel Agency," Matthew said, pointing to his left. "My car is parked there."

"And you?" the staffer asked Ilana.

Ilana replied, "Drop me at the news office. I need to process these photos as soon as possible."

The black minivan started up and pulled away from the curb, but a few minutes later, it was parked on the side of the road in front of the Angel Agency. Matthew opened the door and got out, watching the van drive off before turning to walk toward the agency.

Before he even reached the entrance, seven or eight reporters swarmed him, trying to get an interview. The security guards at the Angel Agency entrance immediately rushed over to clear a path for Matthew into the building.

It had been like this for a while now. With the pre-release promotion for The Scorpion King reaching a critical stage, Universal Pictures had invested heavily in him as the lead, and since the trailer was already out, Matthew was being treated like a rising star.

After spending the rest of the afternoon at the Angel Agency, Matthew headed to Universal Studios with Helen to attend a promotional meeting.

There weren't many people at the meeting, just him and Kelly Hu, along with both their agents representing the actors, and four people from the production team: Sean Daniels, press attaché Bert, Stephen Sommers, and director Chuck Russell.

"I'll start with the next phase of the plan," Sean began. "The team has ramped up its television presence, Kelly is focusing on magazines, and Matthew will be preparing for an interview with Yahoo Entertainment."

He added decisively, "Universal Pictures will be mobilizing platforms across the entire corporate group to promote the film, so I hope everyone will cooperate just as they did in the previous stage."

Like several other major Hollywood companies, Universal Pictures is part of a large media conglomerate, the NBCUniversal.

At that point, Bert, the press attaché, took over. "Once your respective plans are executed, we'll mobilize the media to generate buzz and get the news to full saturation!"

Helen nodded.

Matthew remained silent; on matters like these, he could just listen from the sidelines.

"So, from next Monday to next Friday, we will do everything possible to build up Matthew's positive reputation," Bert explained, clearly having a detailed plan. "Our goal is to present Matthew to the public as a classic rags-to-riches story—someone who worked his way up from the bottom to achieve success and fame—and thereby attract a larger teenage audience."

Since both sides had already communicated extensively about this, Matthew had no objections. It was a strategy that would only boost his personal fame.

Helen, who had already discussed this in detail with Matthew, glanced at him, and Matthew gave a slight nod, maintaining his composed expression.

Not only would this do him no harm, but it would actually be beneficial, so there was naturally no reason to object.

The specific plans had been discussed many times before. The production team fully supported these plans from Universal Pictures; after all, $40 million was not a small sum, and Universal had invested significant resources into the project.

With the might of Universal Pictures and a well-thought-out plan, the promotional impact would be no less than that of a film with a similar investment from any of the big six studios.

After discussing a few more implementation details, the short meeting concluded, and Matthew and Helen left Universal Studios.

Arriving at the parking lot, Helen advised Matthew, "You're going to be under a lot of pressure right up until the release, so be careful. Don't say anything you shouldn't, stick strictly to the plan the team has laid out, don't go off-script, and stay in touch with me if anything comes up."

Matthew nodded. "I know. I'm not a rookie in this industry anymore."

Given the recent pressure and public attention on him, he felt a mix of excitement and tension. Though he knew most of it was hype generated by the production team and Universal for the film, it was impossible to say it hadn't affected him at all.

How could one not be emotional when everything you saw in newspapers, magazines, and on websites were stories about yourself, some true and some completely false? He felt compelled to stay informed and couldn't stop reading.

Moreover, he was alone, with no one to talk to when the pressure mounted. He could only talk to Britney on the phone for a few minutes at a time, and she was busy with work, so he couldn't trouble her with things like this.

He was left to shoulder the burden in silence.