The Best Movie Actor In Hollywood!

Chapter 657

The studio set resembled a small military base. In the middle of a field, two armored personnel carriers and several off-road vehicles were parked, with a few well-armed, rugged soldiers standing guard by each one.

Standing beside the first armored vehicle, Matthew deftly pulled on his gloves under the camera's watchful eye, adjusted his assault rifle, and turned to face the convoy.

The main camera tracked his every move, gliding along a dolly track with its lens locked tightly on his figure.

From a forty-five-degree angle, another camera captured a continuous close-up of Matthew's face.

This was the treatment reserved for the undisputed lead.

"Attention!" a captain shouted as Matthew approached. Instantly, every soldier standing by the convoy snapped to attention.

Matthew walked to the center of the column, stopped, and faced the soldiers under his command. "At ease," he said.

The soldiers clasped their hands behind their backs, their gazes fixed on Matthew, awaiting his orders.

"For this mission, NATO wanted the best of the best, and they found us." His voice wasn't loud, but it carried with exceptional clarity. "Our targets are terrorists, hidden 285 kilometers from here. They're armed with heavy firepower. This operation is a covert raid!"

He swept his gaze over them all and added, "The mountains are shrouded in thick fog, so the helicopters can't provide air support. We'll travel by vehicle to the edge of the mountain range, hike eight kilometers along the mountain paths, and commence the attack tomorrow at 0400 hours!"The soldiers' expressions were grim and resolute.

Matthew nodded. "Squad, you have ten minutes for final preparations."

With that, he gathered his weapon, opened the door of the middle vehicle, and settled into the passenger seat. His second-in-command climbed in and took the driver's seat.

"The enemy is strong this time," Matthew said. "John, don't let your guard down."

John nodded and started the vehicle. An engine roared to life, and then Stephen Sommers's voice boomed through a loudspeaker: "Cut!"

Matthew opened the door and stepped out of the vehicle. He peeled off his gloves and handed them to a nearby assistant—in October, even in Los Angeles, those training gloves could make you sweat.

"Moving on!" Stephen Sommers called out again. "We're moving to the second set! We start filming in thirty minutes!"

The new location was at the far left end of the studio. Matthew picked up his prop weapon and headed over.

Because the film had a significant number of battle scenes, the production had chosen a massive hangar, converted into a studio at the Hughes Aircraft plant, for its interior shoots.

In the mere six months from the start of the year to now, over 160 sets had been constructed within the various hangar-studios, including a sprawling urban combat zone, a submarine, and a missile silo inside a weapons research center.

Most impressive was the multi-level underground base, which featured a submarine pen, a command center, a labyrinth of corridors, a medical bay, a lounge, and even an elevator large enough to lift an aircraft.

What was truly astonishing was that it all worked. The walls had light switches that, when flipped, actually turned on the lights.

It was one of the most remarkable aspects of the film industry.

This was precisely why shooting a science-fiction action film was infinitely more complex than making an art-house drama.

Matthew entered the new set, where Craig, the action director, brought him and Sienna Miller together.

Seeing Sienna in a tight, black leather jacket, Matthew gave her a nod. She nodded back. They hadn't worked together before this film, but after two weeks of preliminary training and rehearsals, they were reasonably familiar with each other.

Craig first walked them through the scene's blocking, then said, "Matthew, your character's raid ends in failure. You're the only one from your team who makes it out of the encirclement. This scene is designed to showcase your strength."

Matthew didn't reply, just gave a silent nod.

This was the opening sequence of the entire movie. As a sci-fi action film, a blistering opening action scene was mandatory. The general plot was that he led a squad on a raid against terrorists but was ambushed due to an inside betrayal. Surrounded by an enemy force ten times their size, his squad managed to inflict several times their number in casualties, but these were no ordinary terrorists; they were heavily armed. In the end, only he managed to fight his way out of the siege alone.

And, of course, this is where he meets the heroine, the Baroness.

Whether it was the plot of the action sequence or the relationship between the hero and heroine, there was nothing particularly original about it. The story was completely formulaic.

This was exactly what Matthew and Stephen Sommers had asked for.

Sommers, in particular, after the innovative but disastrous fusion of movie monsters in Van Helsing, had returned to the tried-and-true formula that was easiest to execute.

"Sienna," Craig turned to Sienna Miller, "in addition to the moves we went over in rehearsals, there's one more thing you need to remember. You have to maintain a cold expression at all times, like a killing machine."

"Got it," Sienna replied.

Craig nodded at Matthew and Sienna, then turned and walked away.

Matthew took his prop pistols and other weapons from his assistant, geared up, and walked toward the entrance of the terrorist base set.

Sienna didn't follow. The Baroness was the commander of the terrorist ambush, and her initial scenes were shot inside the base.

For this sequence, Matthew's scenes were naturally the priority. Director Stephen Sommers was standing at the entrance, personally supervising the set preparations.

Ten minutes later, everything was ready, and the assistant director announced the start of filming.

A moment later, the sound of gunfire erupted, punctuated by periodic explosions as fire and smoke filled the air.

Matthew charged through the base gates, performed a tactical roll, then raised his rifle and fired. The muzzle spat fire, and a terrorist across the way crashed to the ground. He ducked behind a pillar, then emerged from the other side.

John followed him through the gates. Matthew glanced back, made a series of quick tactical hand signals to him, and John immediately whispered to the men around him, "Flank and surround!"

Matthew rolled out from behind the pillar, his rifle blazing. The soldiers near him also laid down automatic fire, drawing the attention of the terrorists ahead so John's squad could execute their flanking maneuver.

The gunfire and explosions intensified. Matthew shouted again, "Grenades! Two volleys, continuous fire, eleven o'clock!"

At his command, two soldiers fired grenade launchers one after the other. Pre-planted squibs detonated, and the boom of explosions echoed through the flashes of light.

"Cut!"

On scenes like this, Stephen Sommers was sure to direct via megaphone. "Reset! We'll resume in ten minutes."

The subsequent shots were fragmented, all short, two-to-three-second takes designed to highlight Matthew's leadership and prowess.

Despite being outnumbered, these terrorists were no match for the elite squad.

However, the battle was destined to end in loss. Just as John's squad successfully fell back and was about to annihilate the remaining terrorists, a much larger force commanded by the Baroness suddenly appeared, completely turning the tide of the battle.

The filming of the fight sequence continued for four full days before it was completed.

In the final scene, Matthew struggled to regroup his squad, but faced with an enemy superior in both numbers and firepower, there was nothing he could do.

"He's good, isn't he?"

At the edge of the set, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura from Paramount Pictures remarked to Hasbro's CEO, Brian Goldner, "His professionalism and dedication are among the best in the industry."

Brian, however, countered, "But what about the acting?"

Lorenzo laughed. "Brian, don't get hung up on that."

He pointed at Matthew, who was now using a dagger to take down a Cobra soldier. "I know you're not happy about Matthew's request to change the script to make his character the absolute lead, but have you considered how much good can come from his prominent presence in the film?"

Brian remained silent.

"A bad movie with a convoluted plot and flawed logic like Hancock can still become a huge hit. Why?" Lorenzo didn't wait for Brian's answer. "Simply because the lead actor is Matthew Horner!"

He emphasized, "Let me put it this way: even if the plot is worse than Hancock's, a movie starring Horner will sell! As long as that man is on screen, he can attract millions, even tens of millions of viewers to buy tickets, and that has a massive impact on the production."

"But," Brian Goldner still argued, "placing too much emphasis on the character of Duke isn't conducive to selling our merchandise."

Lorenzo waved a hand. "We're building a film series. Matthew can make the first installment a success before we even have a sequel."

Brian said nothing more.

When the day's filming ended, Matthew returned to his estate, accompanied by his bodyguards. But his evening wasn't free—he had to attend to other aspects of his work, such as the progress of Twilight and Fast & Furious 4, and send out several emails.

On one email from Bella, he saw the title: The Hunger Games.