The Best Movie Actor In Hollywood!

Chapter 211

Compared to their grand entrance on the red carpet, Matthew and Keira entered the theater with far more subtlety. After making their way into the VIP lounge and greeting a few acquaintances, they joined a small circle where Jerry Bruckheimer was laughing and chatting with several high-level executives from Disney Pictures.

Once the others had moved on, Jerry Bruckheimer looked between Matthew and Keira and remarked, “You two have been causing quite a stir.”

Keira smiled but said nothing, while Matthew picked up the thread. “It’s Pirates of the Caribbean that’s drawing all the attention, not us and our fake relationship.”

He was right. Without the massive buzz around Pirates of the Caribbean, they were just two C-list stars, and the gossip rags would have moved on after a couple of days.

Jerry chuckled, shaking his head slightly. “You and Keira could keep up the lovebird act in some of my other movies.”

“I’d love to, really,” Matthew said with genuine passion. “Ask anyone in Hollywood who wouldn’t jump at the chance to work with Jerry Bruckheimer.”

A look of regret crossed his face. “Unfortunately, my agent has already made a verbal agreement with a crew at Universal Pictures for their next project.”

This was the perfect opportunity to place the blame squarely on his agent. After all, taking the fall was part of the job description.

Jerry’s curiosity was piqued. “Universal Pictures? Is this Sean’s project?”

“Yes,” Matthew confirmed readily. “Sean Daniel is planning to remake George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead, and he reached out to my agency back in March.”The scheduling simply didn’t line up, and explaining the situation would dispel any doubts Jerry Bruckheimer might have.

Jerry nodded. “I’ve heard about that project.”

They chatted casually for a few more moments until someone else approached Jerry Bruckheimer. Matthew and Keira took the opportunity to excuse themselves and head into the screening hall.

Matthew had initially wanted to find a moment to ask Jerry about another project—one concerning the independence of the United States—but he held back. If Jerry turned him down now, he’d lose any chance of bringing it up again later.

Even now, he lacked the clout to negotiate with Jerry on such matters.

“So, you’re going to be in a zombie movie.”

After finding their seats, Keira looked puzzled. “But... are you sure? Even if you want to do a smaller production, there are plenty of independent films you could take on.”

Instead of addressing her confusion, Matthew explained, “I want to see if I can carry a mid-budget film to a solid box office on my own.”

Keira countered, “That sounds crazy.”

Matthew just laughed and let the subject drop. Soon, the large screen lit up, and the screening of Finding Nemo began.

Like most of the events he’d experienced over the past few years, the film’s plot was largely identical to the pirated version he had once downloaded, though the finer details were lost to him. After all, who could perfectly recall every particular of a movie they’d seen only once, years ago?

The story centered on the fantastic journey of an overprotective clownfish named Marlin and the surgeonfish, Dory, who joins him on his quest to find his lost son, Nemo, in the vast ocean.

But the character that left the strongest impression on Matthew was the great white shark, whose toothy grin was an exact replica of Michael Fassbender’s smile.

Once again, he thought it was a terrible shame that Pixar Studios hadn't asked Michael to voice the character.

Apparently, Michael was still so unknown that Pixar Studios had never even heard of him.

At the end of the premiere, Matthew and Keira left together in the same car, trailed by a dozen paparazzi who were clearly hoping to find out if the newly revealed couple would be shacking up in a hotel for the night.

Matthew had the driver take Keira back to the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills before heading back to Burbank himself, leaving a wake of disappointed photographers behind him.

He had just stepped out of the shower back home when he got a call from Helen.

“You didn’t stay with Knightley, did you?” was the first thing Helen asked.

“No,” Matthew said, not bothering with a lengthy explanation. “Do you think I’m the kind of person who goes off-script?”

On the other end of the line, Helen seemed to relax. “You two did an excellent job. The response online has been unexpectedly strong.”

“Oh?” Matthew asked, walking into his office. “Hold on, let me check.”

Hanging up, he opened his computer and saw a photo of him and Keira featured prominently on the Yahoo Entertainment homepage. He clicked on it and scrolled through the new article.

Beneath the piece, there were already thousands of comments from users saying all sorts of things. Matthew didn’t bother reading them, but judging by the level of activity, their fake romance had certainly captured the public’s interest.

He then checked his own IMDB page, which was quiet, with no trending news.

Next, he navigated to his blog, a space he took more seriously than the other two sites.

Ever since The Scorpion King, Matthew had cultivated a small but dedicated fanbase, and many of them used his blog as a central hub for their activities and a place to share their thoughts.

“Oh my god! You two look so cute together! I’m so happy for you!”

“I knew you were in a relationship the moment I saw the trailer!”

The blog’s comment section was overwhelmingly filled with well-wishes.

The attitude of the vast majority of fans here was vastly different from the one on the other side of the world, where Matthew had lived before. The profoundly different social environments of the two places had given rise to distinctly different fan cultures.

In North America, fans were generally open-minded about celebrities’ relationships, rarely interfering for inexplicable reasons. Stars, in turn, didn’t hide their romantic lives, with a few rare exceptions, and mostly just went with the flow.

On the contrary, if a star remained single for too long, both fans and the media might start to suspect something was wrong with them.

For instance, they might be gay, or something worse.

Beyond the blessings, the comments section also had its share of humor. Matthew and Keira’s chests were, naturally, a hot topic.

Some media outlets had already written joke articles about it, but neither Matthew nor Keira was particularly bothered by it.

...

The next day, gossip about the couple appeared in numerous print outlets. Though they were mostly entertainment tabloids, even tabloids had a wide readership. Disney Pictures also seized the opportunity to officially launch the final wave of pre-release publicity for Pirates of the Caribbean—their most heavily invested, extensive, and intense promotional campaign yet.

One day, Matthew was at Disneyland in California, playing with children on the Pirates of the Caribbean themed ride. The next, he was flying to Disneyland in Orlando to make an appearance with Depp. The day after that, he was in Manhattan, shopping with Keira at the boutiques on Fifth Avenue—under the watchful eye of the cameras, of course.

Neither Depp nor Keira had a lighter schedule than he did.

With print ads, sponsored content, televised sneak peeks, and internet hype, the film’s advertising and promotion were pushed to the absolute extreme, backed by the Walt Disney Company’s massive media platform.

During the first half of June, Matthew not only flew to major cities across North America for promotional events but also made a trip to several key overseas markets. It was confirmed that Pirates of the Caribbean would be released across the Pacific, but unfortunately, the film market there hadn't yet exploded, so the number of cast members sent for events was very limited, and Disney Pictures had made no such arrangements.

By the time Matthew returned to Los Angeles, there were still more than ten days until the release of Pirates of the Caribbean, and articles promoting the film were everywhere, in both newspapers and online.

“Johnny Depp: The Inimitable Gothic Phantom!”

“Keira Knightley: A Classic Beauty for the Modern Age!”

“Matthew Horner: The New Action Star Making Hollywood Love Muscular Men Again!”

Articles like these were plentiful, a clear sign of Disney Pictures' significant investment in promotion.

However, the six major Hollywood studios were always secretive about their advertising expenses, making it difficult for outsiders to know exactly how much they spent. It was a key part of their power and profitability.

The production costs announced by Hollywood studios could be misleading. The public budget for Pirates of the Caribbean was $140 million, but very few people likely knew if the film’s actual cost was indeed $140 million.

Upon his return, Matthew’s schedule became less frantic, and he took the time to write a new post for his blog.

“A Survival Guide for an Unreliable Pirate.”

That was the title of the article, which went on to list, page after page, how a pirate should survive at sea. It set a new record for the longest entry on his blog since its launch.

Of course, given his writing abilities, the article was predictably flawed.

“You have way too many grammatical errors!”

“Matthew, I didn’t understand some parts of your article.”

There were many similar comments, but Matthew remained silent. His public persona was that of a high school dropout, and he had no need to hide his lack of formal education.

At the end of June, good news finally arrived from Helen.