The Best Movie Actor In Hollywood!

Chapter 681

It was unusually quiet. The other actors at the audition kept glancing over at Matthew and James as they vied for one of the supporting roles. They, of course, knew who was playing the male lead in the film—the project’s main appeal was the involvement of two names in particular: Christopher Nolan and Matthew Horner.

Matthew Horner, in particular, was simply synonymous with success, and the likelihood of the film becoming a hit was high.

As things stood, Matthew Horner was clearly very familiar with one of his competitors.

Looking at James McAvoy, many of them began to complain internally. "You’ve already made up your mind, haven’t you? So why go through with this sham of an audition and waste everyone’s time?"

After all, with Matthew's influence, securing a supporting role like this should be a simple matter.

"There's no one as interesting as Tom Hardy around..."

Ignoring the opinions and thoughts of the others, James continued to shake his head at Matthew. "It's a real shame! Don't you think the future cast is missing something?"

In reality, he had already met with Christopher Nolan, and the audition was more of a formality. After all, the production team had organized a large-scale, prestigious audition, attracting many well-known actors from the circuit. They couldn't just stop now; it would be bad for publicity.

Matthew shrugged. "Don't blame me."

James said in a deliberately plaintive tone, "I'm sure you scared him off.""Maybe," Matthew said. "I'll have someone find out where he's staying. You want to go invite him personally?"

James answered vaguely, "I'll ask Michael about it."

"Michael?" Matthew recalled Michael Fassbender. "Isn't he in Los Angeles yet?"

"No." James shook his head. "He's still in France, filming Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. I don't think he'll be able to make the audition before next week."

Matthew nodded. Just then, a crew member approached and informed James that it was his turn to go into the audition room.

The casting process continued for more than two weeks, and while James and Michael Fassbender's chances were very high, no one could guarantee anything until the results were officially announced.

Matthew, despite being a titular producer, didn't have much say in casting. The person with the most authority over the cast was Christopher Nolan.

Besides, this was the first time since partnering with Warner that Christopher Nolan was producing independently without Charles Roven.

In the following days, Matthew continued to arrive at the studio on time every day. In addition to rehearsing his scenes and reading books about dreams, he also spent time talking with Christopher Nolan and occasionally rehearsed scenes with Michael Caine and Cillian Murphy.

From them, Matthew also learned that he hadn't been Nolan's first choice. During the film's early planning stages, Nolan had invited Christian Bale, "Batman" himself, to play the lead role. But Bale had to decline Nolan's offer due to a scheduling conflict with Terminator Salvation, and so Nolan quickly turned to an actor he had hoped to cast as the Joker. That's how it all fell into place, which led to where things stood now.

Regardless of who Nolan preferred at first, the lead role now belonged to him.

Matthew understood perfectly well that he needed a box office hit with good word-of-mouth to recover some of the market appeal that Hancock had cost him.

When he had first recalled the film as one of Will Smith's hits, he hadn't realized the movie was actually terrible.

To be more precise, Hancock was the worst film of his entire career, dating back to his small supporting role in Band of Brothers.

The movie had been a huge commercial success, but it had devoured the years of goodwill he had accumulated, and that kind of damage often took several films to repair.

Worried that Hancock would drag down his subsequent films, Matthew had also asked Helen to contact Disney Pictures and Buena Vista International to develop an even better promotion and distribution strategy for Fast & Furious 4.

However, his own efforts were still focused mainly on Inception, as Christopher Nolan's demands on his actors and their roles were much higher than those of someone like Stephen Sommers.

He had to fully inhabit the character of Cobb even before filming began.

Matthew had received the script last year, during which time he had maintained regular contact with Christopher Nolan. Moreover, he had made extensive notes while filming G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.

While he hadn't managed to approach the role with the same obsession and madness as Heath Ledger, he had established his own emotional connection with Cobb.

When it came to this character, he was the person on the crew who knew the most about him, aside from Christopher Nolan himself.

Matthew's preparation for the role was divided into two main approaches.

The first was analyzing the character's psychology and behavior, and the second was building the image of Cobb through practical actions.

The latter might have seemed easy and was often dismissed by some so-called experts, but it was actually crucial. Matthew had shown up with a distinct look for the character from the very first day he officially reported to the team.

A suit, standard light-brown hair, but with a slightly more worn face and a beard.

Only when the character's image was established could one dig deeper into his psyche.

Cobb is the protagonist throughout the entire film, a complex character with psychological shackles—the kind of role Matthew rarely played.

According to the script, his main task is to lead an elite team that carries out a complex mission of entering dreams to steal intelligence. Dream-theft is a common occurrence, and for Cobb, there is no greater threat.

Perhaps Matthew's personal perception was one-sided and biased, but one thing was certain: this protagonist was a type of character he had never played before.

While studying the role, Matthew found it hard not to think of Leonardo DiCaprio. After all, the film had once left a deep impression on him, and he vaguely recalled that Leonardo DiCaprio had starred in Inception.

The protagonist in the script Matthew was studying was indeed different from the one he remembered Leonardo DiCaprio playing, primarily because Christopher Nolan was showcasing his usual sensibilities in the film: Dom Cobb had a solid skill set and several accompanying action scenes.

However, the number of these scenes was limited, and Christopher Nolan had told Matthew directly that he hadn't yet figured out how to incorporate these action sequences into the final version of the film.

As time was running short, Matthew didn't continue to deconstruct Cobb's character after he had a firm grasp on him; over-analyzing it would do an actor more harm than good. Besides, Christopher Nolan was simply trying to make a commercial film that was different from the typical popcorn flick; it wasn't laden with profound ideas, as such.

Perhaps Nolan's fans wouldn't agree, but it was the truth.

In fact, after Batman Begins, Christopher Nolan had fully transitioned from an indie director to a commercial one. And while the script for Inception might seem complex, it wasn't so incomprehensible as to drive people mad, nor was Christopher Nolan trying to make a film just to confuse people.

Nevertheless, for an industry insider like Matthew, a script that seemed innovative, revolutionary, creative, and flawless was clearly just a traditional adventure film with a change of scenery.

Essentially, it was just like The Dark Knight.

When it came to a major commercial production, Matthew was confident he could handle the role.

Perhaps the shadow cast by the limited viewership of indie art films had kept him from ever seriously considering those kinds of mad, neurotic productions.

So, when he received his Oscar ballot on December 30th, Matthew was more interested in being a judge and less interested in personally competing for an Oscar.

After receiving the ballot, he was in no hurry to vote. There was still plenty of time before the Academy would process them, so he could afford to wait and see.