The Best Movie Actor In Hollywood!

Chapter 269

Compared to the sequel for Pirates of the Caribbean, this new contract was a less favorable deal for Matthew, especially regarding his salary. As Helen had informed him during the negotiations, his future role as Will Turner in the sequel to the hit film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl gave him enormous leverage. The lead actor would receive a commensurate salary and the prestige that came with it, but National Treasure was a new project, and it lacked the built-in advantage of a sequel.

Hollywood has its own system for evaluating star salaries, and the box office performance of the last two films Matthew starred in served as a crucial reference point.

Of course, his salary also depended on the actual budget of the production team.

Helen had proposed a fee of $10 million for the role, which could be considered the salary of a star on the cusp of the A-list, but at Matthew's current status, securing such a high fee for a film that wasn't a Pirates of the Caribbean sequel was practically impossible.

Unless an actor is in a steep decline, agents typically start by asking for an inflated fee. It's a universal negotiating tactic.

After more than two weeks of negotiations, both sides finally agreed on a figure of $8 million.

According to Helen, given Matthew's rise and genuine box office appeal, a reasonable fee would have been between $6 and $7 million. The production team was willing to pay $8 million mainly because Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl had grossed over $350 million in North America and more than $800 million worldwide.

Last week, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl left theaters in Gibraltar, essentially concluding its international theatrical run and settling on a final worldwide box office total of $811.91 million.

This result temporarily placed the film tenth in the all-time global box office, second only to Disney's 2003 release, Finding Nemo.

The box office success of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and the beloved character of Will Turner were likely Matthew's greatest assets at the moment. His last film, The Scorpion King, had also grossed over $100 million at the North American box office, which largely justified his $8 million price tag.Although it was only $2 million less than the $10 million she had negotiated for, that amount often made a difference in a production's budget, making it easier to negotiate with the rest of the cast and crew, including the director, lead actress, and supporting actors.

After Matthew signed the contract, the cast was finalized: German actress Diane Kruger was cast in the female lead, Justin Bartha from the Angel Acting Agency would play the protagonist's sidekick, and for the main villain, the production team chose a powerhouse of a man who could easily stand up to Matthew in terms of strength and physique—Dwayne Johnson.

Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer had agreed to ensure the film received a rating no higher than PG-13, and they selected Jon Turteltaub, a director who specialized in family-friendly films for Disney, to helm the project.

The film could have tense scenes, but an R rating was unacceptable for Disney Pictures, as the studio had never produced a film with an R rating or higher under its main banner.

Once the director was confirmed, Matthew met with Jon Turteltaub to exchange some thoughts on the film and his character.

At the same time, Jerry gave Matthew the shooting schedule. The film would be shot primarily on location, with the interior scenes mostly being at the beginning and end of the movie.

Post-production was scheduled from May to November, with some complex sets that Jerry planned to create using CGI.

The film was expected to receive a PG-13 rating—a rating that would ensure the content was exciting enough for an action movie while targeting a teenage demographic. This made it particularly suitable for a Thanksgiving release, catering to family audiences during the premiere weekend and the holiday itself.

Disney had set the North American release date for November 19, the weekend before Thanksgiving, just as he remembered.

In previous years, this slot had almost always been exclusive to the Harry Potter franchise, but the latest installment, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, had been moved to the summer season.

However, such a packed schedule was to be expected. The weekend before National Treasure’s release, Warner Bros. was releasing The Polar Express. The weekend before that was the latest Pixar hit, The Incredibles. And opening on the same day as National Treasure was The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie from Paramount Pictures.

Matthew had seen The Polar Express and The Incredibles and vaguely remembered that both were animated films, which meant their target audience overlapped with that of National Treasure. But these days, commercial films were all about their opening weekend numbers. As long as they didn't premiere on the same weekend, the two films would be in direct competition, but it wouldn't necessarily be a fight to the death.

...

After Christmas, Matthew gathered a large amount of historical and declassified information related to the plot of National Treasure. Anyone who had read his resume would easily understand that his formal education was limited, and there were some fundamentals of American history he might not know.

In this regard, Helen undoubtedly knew him best. From the moment official negotiations with the production began, she had a wealth of information gathered specifically for Matthew based on the script, which he had reviewed multiple times while working on Disney's Oscar campaign.

Many lines in the script that he couldn't initially understand became clear thanks to the information provided by Helen and her team.

For example, the name of the hero Ben Gates's grandfather, John Adams Gates, was derived from John Adams, one of the founding fathers of the United States. The heroine's name, Abigail Chase, came from Abigail Adams, John Adams's wife, and Samuel Chase, a signatory of the Declaration of Independence.

The treasure sought in the film was based on the history of one of the most legendary and sought-after treasures in the world—that of the Knights Templar. They were the most powerful secret society in the world in the 11th century, based in Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, where they were rumored to have hidden an immense treasure before their holdings suddenly vanished without a trace in the 14th century.

To this day, treasure hunters from all over the world, especially in the United States, were eager to find it.

In this respect, the plot of National Treasure had a distinct advantage: it wasn't something created out of thin air, but rather the result of a series of real or widely publicized events that had been given a proper cinematic treatment.

...

Before the New Year, Jerry personally called Helen to inform her of the filming schedule. It seemed he was aware that Matthew had been receiving a number of offers from producers thanks to the popularity of Pirates of the Caribbean.

Unlike the previous shooting schedule, Jerry went into detail, and Helen relayed the information to Matthew.

After the New Year, Jerry and director Jon Turteltaub would head to New York, Washington, D.C., and Boston to scout locations. Barring any major surprises, filming would begin on February 10, starting with the exterior scenes. The plan was to finish all exterior shooting by April, after which they would return to the Disney studio in Burbank to film the interior scenes.

The construction of the interior sets was expected to take about five months, though it had already been underway since November.

Jerry's intentions were clear: if Matthew had plans to audition for other productions, he needed to try to schedule them for after they returned to Los Angeles or before filming began.

Matthew had become a B-list star—more accurately, a hot B-list star—and not even Jerry could forbid him from auditioning for other productions during filming.

That would be an unreasonable demand in this industry.

There were many things that both sides needed to communicate in advance, which would save a lot of trouble later.

Every year on December 31, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences begins sending out Oscar ballots to its various voting members, and the period before the New Year is the most intense time for Oscar campaigns.

Matthew temporarily put his preparations for National Treasure on hold to join Disney Pictures and Depp in waving the flag for Captain Jack Sparrow's nomination for the Best Actor Oscar.

At one of the campaign events, Matthew ran into Orlando Bloom, who was drumming up votes for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

"Long time no see, Orlando."

Matthew made a point to go over and see Orlando, who, as usual, came forward and gave him a warm hug. "It's great to see you too!"

Matthew chatted with him for a few minutes, then remembered the monster-filled blockbuster and asked, "Van Helsing is finished, right?"

"Yeah." Speaking of Van Helsing, Orlando's face lit up. "The film will be out as soon as the summer season starts."

Hearing this, Matthew immediately understood that Universal Pictures was placing a great deal of importance on the film and was optimistic about its prospects; otherwise, it wouldn't have been scheduled for the beginning of the summer season.

Orlando added, "You have to be at the premiere! Stephen will probably send you an official invitation soon."

Matthew thought for a moment and said, "As long as I'm in the US and not filming abroad, I'll definitely be at the premiere to support you and Stephen."

"I knew you were the best of all my friends!" Orlando, in high spirits as his career was taking off, declared, "Matthew, ever since I met you... how do I put it, everything has been going so well! It's just wonderful!"

He leaned in closer to Matthew and whispered, "Ridley Scott sent me an offer this month to audition for the lead role in an excellent production."

"Oh?" Matthew paused for a moment, then said with deliberate seriousness, "I got an offer from Ridley Scott, too. Is it about the Crusades?"

Orlando's heart immediately started to pound, but his expression remained unchanged as he replied, "Yes."