The Best Movie Actor In Hollywood!

Chapter 77

A savage cry echoed through the screening room—a sound of breathtaking audacity and grandeur, filled with the implacable force of the legendary Leonidas, King of Sparta, standing at the pass of Thermopylae.

This, of course, was Matthew’s moment, for it was his character, the barbarian chieftain, who unleashed that ferocious roar in the heat of battle.

The on-screen shot zoomed in from a distance, the band of barbarian warriors in the background blurred to isolate their leader.

The frame shifted from a long shot to a close-up, focusing entirely on Matthew's character as the barbarian chieftain raised his totem war hammer high into the air and let out another furious bellow.

"Aaarrrggghhh!!!"

Matthew didn’t know what the others felt, but he found a raw, primal satisfaction in the roar.

Compared to his character in Girl, Interrupted, this one close-up lasted for more than five seconds.

Matthew subconsciously glanced to either side at the other actors, none of whom he knew. He let out a quiet sigh. What he really wanted to do right now was stand up, point at the barbarian chieftain on the screen, and declare to everyone—see that? That’s me!

But that was a thought best left in his head. To actually do it would be mortifyingly embarrassing.

Matthew licked his lips and continued watching. Soon enough, another close-up appeared—this one of him, the barbarian chieftain, dying a glorious death as the Roman legions closed in.And with that, his character’s journey in the film came to an end.

By Matthew’s own estimation, between the two close-ups and other incidental appearances, his character’s presence in the film must have lasted a good four to five minutes.

"Less than five seconds of screen time in the first film, and over four minutes in the second," he thought to himself. "Not bad for a newcomer."

As much as he envied stars like Joaquin Phoenix on the red carpet, Matthew was keenly aware that, compared to the vast majority of hopefuls trying to make it in Hollywood, he was undeniably one of the lucky ones.

For the remainder of the film, Matthew watched with rapt attention, focusing particularly on the performances of the two leads, Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix.

For actors who had reached their level, luck alone was never enough.

Russell Crowe, in particular, was an icon of the Hollywood performance school, according to Helen, and Gladiator was the pinnacle of his career.

Regardless of whether a big star came from the performance school or the method school, Matthew believed he had something to learn from both.

From what he knew, Russell Crowe was a difficult man. He had given even Ridley Scott headaches and was notoriously hard to work with, but once he committed to a role, he became a different person, throwing himself into it completely and performing most of the film’s action sequences himself.

It was said he had even broken a bone during one of the fight scenes.

Of course, this was just something Matthew had heard, and he didn’t rule out the possibility that the cast or Russell Crowe’s people had deliberately leaked the story to cultivate a certain image.

After attending the press events for Band of Brothers, Matthew had realized that the behind-the-scenes footage used for promotion was often heavily embellished. It was common practice in Hollywood productions to spin narratives and fabricate attention-grabbing stories.

...

The film was magnificent, at least to Matthew. It felt both epic and tragic.

After the screening, the main cast and crew held a press conference, which Matthew was not invited to attend. He called for a car and headed home.

The next day, he went to a costume rental company to return his suit and settle the bill.

By the time he was done, it was noon. He stopped at a newsstand to buy a stack of newspapers and magazines, then found a McDonald’s, ordered a burger and fries, and settled into a quiet corner to eat and read.

After finishing his burger, Matthew didn’t immediately start reading. Instead, he gathered all the entertainment sections, setting the rest of the papers aside in his bag to read when he got home that evening.

As the spectacular opening act of the 2000 summer movie season, it was no surprise that Gladiator dominated the front page of nearly every entertainment section.

"Gladiator is more than just a magnificent spectacle of light and shadow evoking the cold wars of the past. More unusually, it is an epic blockbuster with a soul, focusing not on that distant history but on a deeply dramatic and tragic foundation, beautifully portrayed by Russell Crowe's Maximus. It is a film that not only allows audiences to deeply appreciate the protagonist's resilience, solitude, and courage, but also elevates the story to an ultimate meditation on love and death."

After reading the opening of the review, Matthew started skimming. The article focused primarily on Ridley Scott as director and Russell Crowe as the lead, with frequent mentions of Joaquin Phoenix. As for the rest of the cast, Matthew didn’t even see a mention of the lead actress, Connie Nielsen.

Flipping through the other pages, he tossed the newspaper aside and picked up the next one. Gladiator was again the main feature, but just like the previous paper, the spotlight was fixed on Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe.

Matthew shook his head, finding nothing about himself, and moved on to another paper.

Plenty of reporters had taken his picture on the red carpet yesterday. Surely one of them had been published?

After going through four or five more newspapers in a row, Matthew sighed. A few had photo spreads, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Forget photos, there wasn't even a single line of text. Not even a gossip tabloid like U.S. News & World Report mentioned him.

For a while, Matthew felt dejected, but he gradually came to a realization: his scandal with Britney Spears was long forgotten by the public, and he simply wasn’t famous enough to have any meaningful role to play.

In show business, you were only as good as your last headline.

Setting the newspapers aside, Matthew picked up a few weekend entertainment magazines. The first was Entertainment Weekly, a heavyweight publication owned by Warner Brothers with considerable influence in the industry.

If a tabloid didn't mention him, a serious publication like this was even less likely to. Matthew held a fry in one hand, ready to dip it in ketchup, while he quickly flipped through the magazine with the other.

"Wait a second..."

He thought he saw a familiar figure and quickly stopped, turning back two pages to find a huge photograph.

It was a full-body shot of him on the red carpet yesterday!

"I'm..." Matthew dropped his fry and scratched his head. "I'm in Entertainment Weekly?"

He looked at the picture again, confirming it was correct. It was a photo from his walk down the red carpet yesterday; he vaguely remembered it being taken shortly after he got out of the car.

The photo was one in a horizontal row on the page. Next to it was another picture of him in the uniform of a paratrooper from the 101st Airborne Division. After a quick glance, Matthew recalled that it was a promotional still taken before filming began. Besides his two photos, the page also featured pictures of two other actors in both civilian and military attire—clearly, they had been interviewed together.

Matthew remembered that after the last round of interviews, the media outlets working with the cast had only published Damian Lewis's interview, with no trace of the other two, including him. It seemed now that this had been a deliberate strategy, likely to maintain media buzz for Band of Brothers through staggered publicity.

Beneath each actor's photo was a corresponding story.

This was promotion for the series, so the coverage was bound to be positive.

"Hollywood’s Rising Star to Watch—Matthew Horner!"

Matthew saw the somewhat flattering headline beneath his two photos.

In addition to a condensed version of his interview, the article read: "At just twenty years old, Matthew Horner has been working in Hollywood for only a year and has already appeared in the Oscar-winning film Girl, Interrupted and Universal's $100 million epic Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott, alongside stars like Angelina Jolie, Winona Ryder, and Russell Crowe. Now, he's set to appear in Band of Brothers, playing Ronald Speirs. His career is on a remarkable trajectory, making his future one to watch with great anticipation, and it is undoubtedly bright."

This was followed by a few more lines of praise about his dedication and so on.

Of course, it was all to promote the show.

Even so, Matthew was in high spirits after reading it. Although the Britney scandal stirred up by Ilana had put him in the media spotlight, this was the first time he had appeared in the press in connection with a film and a role.

After leafing through the rest of the magazines and confirming there was nothing else relevant to him, Matthew set the Entertainment Weekly issue aside. He considered it a memento.

Back in his rented apartment, the magazine was placed in a special leather case, its contents holding immense significance for him: his first script and his first official contract with a film crew.

In other words, the case chronicled every important milestone he had passed so far.

...

For the next two days, Matthew largely returned to his planned routine, though he did keep a close eye on Gladiator's performance and made a point to call Helen, urging her to find him a new job.

The premiere of Band of Brothers was still a long way off, and for him, it was already a thing of the past.

On another Monday morning, just as he finished breakfast and picked up a pen to try to write something, Helen called.

"Matthew, come to the office this afternoon." Her voice was as steady as ever. "A few projects are casting."