The Best Movie Actor In Hollywood!

Chapter 788

On set, the principal actors gathered around Justin Lin as he laid out the next scene. "Listen up," he began. "The focus here is on Matthew and Paul. I need you to follow their lead, but don't forget to let your own characters' personalities shine through."

Matthew stood by the workshop table, listening as Justin Lin described the scene.

They had just finished shooting a few scattered scenes, and now everyone was reassembling for a group shot.

Most of the cast, including Matthew himself, were pleased with Justin Lin’s direction. The success of Fast & Furious 4, after all, had already proven his vision and capabilities.

For a director, building on success was crucial.

Fast Five continued in the same vein as its predecessor, the only difference being its expanded scope and even more ambitious action sequences.

To put it simply, they were going to tear up Rio de Janeiro.

Justin Lin finished blocking the scene, and filming began shortly after.

The cast gathered around the workbench, with two cameras aimed at them from static positions.

The hierarchy of the film's characters was evident in their positioning: Matthew and Paul Walker stood together, while the others formed a semi-circle facing them."Now, does everyone know each other?" Matthew's gaze swept over their faces one by one. "Next, we need to form a team."

Even superheroes were forming teams these days, so of course, the racing family couldn't be left behind.

Gal Gadot suddenly took two steps forward, approaching Matthew. "When you asked me to come to Rio, I was expecting something a little more exciting."

She opened her arms and gave Matthew a tight hug.

Matthew patted her on the back. "Good to see you."

Then Gal Gadot took Matthew's arm, standing beside him just as Jordana Brewster stood with Paul Walker.

The group's formation shifted, closing into a circle.

"Sean, what did you drag us halfway across the world for?" Daniel Wu asked.

Matthew answered slowly, "This is big."

Paul Walker added, "Our target is Hernan Reyes."

He walked over to the workbench and opened a folder, showing it to the group. "He's never been caught, because he leaves no tracks, no evidence."

Gal Gadot flipped through the file and asked, "So his money doesn't go through a bank? It's all kept in safe houses?"

"That's right." Paul Walker flipped to a map in the file. "There are ten of them scattered across the city."

Nini asked, "How much money are we talking about?"

Matthew answered, "Three hundred million dollars."

Tyrese Gibson let out a low whistle.

Matthew slammed a fist on the workbench. "We're going to take it all!"

"All of it?" Jordana Brewster asked.

Matthew nodded. "Every last dollar."

"That's insane!" Gal Gadot cut in, looking at Matthew. "There's no way we can hit ten safe houses at once."

Matthew smiled. "Exactly. Which is why we need a plan."

"Cut!" Justin Lin called out. "We got it!"

He glanced at his watch. "Take a half-hour break."

Justin stood up from behind the director's monitor, stretched, and then sat back down at his table to plan the next scene.

For him as a director, aside from shooting according to the schedule, balancing the screen time between actors was a crucial part of the job. He had to highlight Matthew and Paul Walker as the clear leads without letting the rest of the racing family fade into the background.

It would be pointless to add all these characters just for them to end up as a bunch of cardboard cutouts.

It was no easy task.

Matthew and Paul Walker were fine; no one would question their status as the two definitive leads. And Gal Gadot had been one of the most popular characters in the previous film, so it was only natural for her role to expand.

As for the remaining actors, he would have to work hard to balance their roles.

In a film like this, any scene with multiple characters on screen at once, whether it involved camera placement or distributing lines, required a lot of brainpower and meticulous planning.

In the break room, Matthew sat down, took a sip of water, and asked Gal Gadot, who was sitting next to him, "Didn't you say you were planning to move to Los Angeles?"

Gal Gadot smoothed her hair. "Transportation is so advanced these days, it doesn't really matter where you live."

Matthew nodded, then added, "Last time I got back from across the Pacific, I was looking forward to your party, but it turned out you'd gone to Israel."

"My parents had an emergency." Gal Gadot looked helpless. "They called me over and over again."

Just then, Paul Walker came over, pulled out a chair, and sat down on Matthew's other side. "Hey, maybe we should all get together sometime?" he suggested.

"Sounds good," Matthew replied readily. "You guys are welcome at my place anytime."

Paul Walker exclaimed, "I want the best food!"

He feigned a pained expression. "It'll make up for the damage done to my soul!"

Gal Gadot glanced first at Paul Walker, then looked at Matthew curiously. "What's he talking about?"

Paul Walker shook his head. "I'm talking about that extra clause in the contract I signed with the studio."

He asked Gal Gadot, "Doesn't it bother you? You love motorcycles so much, but you're not allowed to race them."

Gal Gadot understood what Paul Walker was getting at. She thought for a moment, then said, "No."

Paul Walker turned to Matthew. "You know, it's been torture for me not being able to drag race or even just speed for the last two years."

Matthew laughed. "Paul, we're not professional racers."

He was well aware of Paul Walker's passion for racing. And while the addendum to the contract might not have been ironclad, its primary purpose was to serve as a reminder to Paul and the others: "The studio is paying you a fortune; you can't just get injured and hold up the entire production."

"Sigh," Paul Walker breathed out. "Matthew, you're a hard man to figure out."

Matthew gave a slight nod. "I disagree."

If it had been anyone else, even just another cast member, Matthew wouldn't have bothered with such trivialities. He had no desire to be a savior and wasn't interested in playing the saint. Besides, the death of a lead actor, like Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight, could be hugely beneficial for a film.

Moreover, the franchise could have shifted from a dual-protagonist format to a single-hero narrative centered entirely on him.

From a purely cynical standpoint, it was in Matthew's best interest to let Paul Walker continue down the path he was on.

But Paul Walker was his friend.

Back when he was just starting out, dealing with Vin Diesel's bullying on the set of the first Fast & Furious, Paul Walker had always been on his side.

That alone made the addendum to the contract a necessity.

He remembered how Furious 7 had capitalized on Paul Walker's death, turning it into a major event. Even someone like him, who paid little attention to the behind-the-scenes aspects of filmmaking, knew that Paul Walker had died in a drag-racing accident.

That's why he had specifically added that clause to the contract. And to avoid singling him out, the same clause had been included in the contracts of all the principal actors.

Paul Walker had helped and supported him, and he wanted this clause to serve as a constant reminder. After all, he couldn't watch over someone every single day, but he hoped this nudge might be enough to change Paul Walker's potentially tragic future.

From the looks of it, the effect was positive. Most Hollywood actors still respected the spirit of a contract.

***

After the half-hour break, filming resumed. For the past few days, Justin Lin had been shooting all the scenes set in the workshop.

At noon, Matthew was having lunch with Justin Lin and Bearded Jack when Jack brought some good news.

After a month of contacts and negotiations, the production had reached an agreement with Victoria's Secret. The brand would appear in Fast Five as a promotional sponsor, but the sponsorship fee would be a purely symbolic one dollar.

In return, Victoria's Secret would mobilize all of its contracted Angels to participate in the Rio de Janeiro shoot, where Justin Lin had already drawn up plans to change a beach party scene into a high-end beach fashion show themed around the Victoria's Secret swimwear collection.

The production wouldn't have to pay the Angels any additional salary but would be responsible for the supermodels' regular expenses during filming.

Furthermore, during the shoot, the swimsuit-clad supermodels were strictly for looking, not touching.

Matthew and Justin Lin had no comment on that particular point. Their main goal was to leverage the Angels for promotional hype, give the supermodels some limited screen time, and avoid any large-scale scenes that would distract from the main plot.

This was a PG-13 commercial action film, not some art-house flick where you couldn't move an inch without getting naked.

In any case, the sexy, swimsuit-clad beauties in the film were for eyes only—all for the sake of that PG-13 rating.

The Fast & Furious franchise was now the highest-grossing racing film series in history, and it was perfectly crafted to appeal to a young audience in every respect, especially now in its fifth installment, where the cast itself had become an international ensemble.

From an innovative standpoint, this sequel was extremely conservative.

But in its action scenes, it would be completely unrestrained. Beyond preserving the series' signature style of attractive people and high-octane passion, Justin Lin was incorporating more police and action elements, with shootouts and scenes of destruction all getting a massive upgrade.

According to Justin Lin, the film would be the true embodiment of "Fast & Furious," and the grand finale would "take racing to a whole new level."