The Best Movie Actor In Hollywood!

Chapter 710

A crowd of media reporters had gathered outside the London Hilton today, joined by a throng of curious onlookers watching the commotion. Michael Fassbender eyed the protesters and remarked, "You're in trouble. Emma Watson's fans are crazy."

As one would expect from the country with the world's most ravenous tabloids, the cast of Inception had been hounded by hundreds of paparazzi from the moment they arrived in London. The notorious newspaper, The Sun, had been methodically digging up every scandal each of the main actors had been involved in over the past five years.

Matthew, in particular, had been tailed around the clock by a four-person team from The Sun ever since he'd set foot in London.

The Sun had even dedicated an entire feature page to publishing a series of gossip pieces about Matthew.

Although Matthew spent his days with the film crew and rarely ventured out, the occasional photograph of him with Emma, paired with a written account of his scandalous past, was more than enough to be spun into a torrid romance.

On the first day, his leading lady was Anne Hathaway. On the second, it was Scarlett Johansson. The third day featured Jessica Alba, and the fourth, Rachel McAdams...

For the ten days Matthew had been filming in London, the tabloids had assigned him a new leading lady every single day.

And knowing the film crew was about to leave London, the editor-in-chief of The Sun simply gave the order to increase the number of daily heroines to five!

This sort of thing fascinated the British public. It's exactly why there's such a large market for it.

And it's why The Sun can grow so quickly.Matthew couldn't care less; it was hardly the first time. Every day, some paper or another published a story on the subject.

During today's shoot, however, the situation took an unexpected turn. A crowd of protesters had gathered outside the set. One of the offensive banners they held bore Matthew's name.

"Looks like you've pissed off a rather large group of people."

In the Hilton hotel room that was serving as their dressing room, James McAvoy stood before the window, gazing down at the crowd of hundreds. "So, what did you do this time, Matthew?"

Michael Fassbender stood next to him, pointing to a massive banner being carried by two young men. "Isn't it obvious?" he drawled. "He screwed Hermione Granger."

Just then, Matthew walked over to the window to see for himself: Emma Watson's fans were swarming outside.

"Stay away from Hermione!"

"Don't ruin our Emma!"

"Emma doesn't belong to you!"

These were the relatively polite slogans; others held banners covered in all manner of offensive words.

"Yankee go home!"

"A bumpkin isn't worthy of our goddess!"

James McAvoy asked with a curious tilt of his head, "So, the story in The Sun today... that's a lie too, right?"

"It's true," Matthew admitted without hesitation. "I stayed over at Emma's place last night. I guess the paparazzi must have caught me."

There was no point in hiding it.

Michael Fassbender glanced back at the protesters. "You've got a problem on your hands," he said. "Emma's fans are nuts."

"She's the darling of teenagers all over Europe!" James McAvoy shook his head, then gave Matthew a thumbs-up. "I have to hand it to you," he added, his voice full of admiration. "Michael and I go for quantity, but you... you get quantity and quality."

Michael Fassbender chimed in, "I met her at a banquet once. Made a point of going over to hit on her. She was incredibly aloof—just ignored me completely."

Matthew looked at his two friends. "You're not exaggerating?"

James McAvoy nodded emphatically. "This is Emma Watson we're talking about! She is Hermione Granger!"

Since they had reconnected in Geneva, the two of them had never touched on anything emotional. Emma had made it perfectly clear: he was a trophy to her.

Of course, for him, Emma was a trophy as well.

Just then, a crew member arrived to announce that filming was about to begin. Matthew headed to the set, where Christopher Nolan ran through some final instructions before calling for action.

***

Matthew opened the door and stepped into the room. Seeing no sign of its occupant, he scanned his surroundings. A sudden gust of wind swept through, making the curtains dance. He glanced toward the window and saw Anne Hathaway perched on the ledge outside. He rushed toward her.

"Sweetheart, what are you doing?"

"Come with me," Anne Hathaway replied.

Matthew's eyes widened. He tried to keep his voice calm as he said,

"Please, come back inside." He gestured pleadingly, saying,

"I'm begging you, come back in, sweetheart."

"No. I'm going to jump, and you're coming with me."

"No, I won't." Matthew braced his hands on the windowsill, facing Anne Hathaway. "Sweetheart, listen to me. If you jump, you won't wake up, do you understand? You'll die. So please, come back inside. I'm begging you, come back in so we can talk about this."

Anne Hathaway didn't move. Another gust of wind whipped past her. She lifted her foot, and a high heel slipped off, plummeting below.

A look of alarm crossed Matthew's face. "Mal!"

"Come out here with me, or I'll jump right now."

Seeing that Anne Hathaway had no intention of coming back in, he relented. "Alright!"

Matthew quickly held up a hand, signaling her to wait. He gripped the window frame and climbed out, settling onto the ledge. "Let's just talk about this, okay?"

"I'm asking you to trust me," Anne Hathaway insisted.

He hesitated. "No, sweetheart, I can't. You know I can't. Please, think of the children. Think of James, think of Philippa."

"If I jump alone, they'll take them from you anyway."

"What do you mean?" Matthew asked, confused.

"I sent a letter to the prosecutor. I wrote that I feared for my life... that you threatened to kill me."

"Cut!" Christopher Nolan's voice called out. "Anne, your emotional delivery is too subdued!"

Anne Hathaway took a deep breath, broke character, and climbed back through the window.

Matthew glanced down. The ledge of this first-floor window wasn't very high, and a thick green crash pad lay below. It wouldn't hurt to jump.

Of course, they weren't actually filming on the 20th floor, as the script dictated.

Back inside the room, Matthew straightened his tie. A makeup artist came over to wipe away his sweat and touch up his makeup, and just then, Christopher Nolan approached.

"That was excellent work," Christopher Nolan began. "However, there's one thing I want to point out."

The makeup artist was still touching him up, so Matthew couldn't speak, only nod slightly.

Christopher Nolan continued, "There's a bit too much sentimentality. You need to control that."

Matthew nodded slightly again, quickly replaying the last take in his head. "I understand," he said.

Others might not have noticed, but he felt he had been influenced, to some degree, by Leonardo DiCaprio. Fortunately, the influence was minimal, and Nolan had been sharp enough to point it out.

As he considered this, an image of Leonardo DiCaprio flashed through his mind, and he couldn't help but shake his head. When it came to acting, the consensus was that he was still a small step below Leonardo.

After a small adjustment, the crew resumed filming. The next take went smoothly, ending with Anne Hathaway falling from the window.

The original plan had been to shoot these scenes in Paris. However, when the production team applied for filming permits from the city, they were met with so many restrictions that Christopher Nolan simply changed course and moved all the Paris-set scenes to London.

***

When the day's shoot wrapped, Matthew didn't return to the crew's hotel. Instead, he requested a car and headed for Emma Watson's.

He didn't care that he was being watched by both her fans and the paparazzi from The Sun.