The Best Movie Actor In Hollywood!

Chapter 811: Dreams Are Real

"Angelina Jolie is breaking up with Brad Pitt?"

Matthew wasn't surprised to hear the news from Helen. "It's just a matter of self-preservation."

Helen picked up her coffee cup. "I have it on good authority that Angelina Jolie has moved out of Brad Pitt's house and returned to one of her own places in Beverly Hills."

Matthew could understand Angelina Jolie's reasoning. "With a debt of 180 million dollars, I'd be saying goodbye too."

Hollywood stars were a unique breed, forged by fame and fortune. They were realists, and he was no exception.

"I heard rumors that Brad Pitt wanted Angelina Jolie to help him plug that black hole of debt," Helen remarked, referencing the latest gossip. "That's when she decisively cut ties with him."

Matthew took a sip from his glass of water. "Insane." He sighed. "Funnily enough, we're the reason they were together in the first place."

Helen nodded. Back when they were fighting for the male lead in "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," she, Matthew, and Ilana had orchestrated the scandal that exposed Jennifer Aniston's affair, leading directly to her divorce from Brad Pitt. That, in turn, allowed Pitt to fall right into Angelina Jolie's arms.

"Is this that cycle of karma the church preaches about?" Helen joked, a rare moment of levity from her. "You brought them together, and now you've driven them apart by taking your project back."

Matthew shrugged. "I had nothing to do with it."Helen set down her coffee cup. "Angelina Jolie was lucky she never married him. Brad Pitt, not so much."

***

Soon, the news swept through Hollywood. Angelina Jolie's representative called a press conference to officially announce that she and Brad Pitt had separated.

The reason for the breakup, of course, couldn't be that Brad Pitt had failed to secure financing and was now saddled with astronomical debt.

From her side, Angelina Jolie claimed that Brad Pitt was a chronic alcoholic with severe emotional instability. As a mother, she stated, her firm decision to leave him was for the well-being of her children.

Matthew wasn't the only one who carefully crafted his public image; it was a common tactic among Hollywood stars.

The two were neither married nor engaged, which made their breakup far less intriguing.

Otherwise, the division of assets alone could have caused a sensation, potentially escalating into a protracted super-gossip saga, much like the one involving Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman back in the day.

Perhaps Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt had gotten together for love, but in Hollywood, love rarely withstands the trials it's put through.

Without a single clause of a solid prenuptial agreement, the divorce of any major Hollywood star meant a sensational split was bound to happen.

For instance, earlier this year, Morgan Freeman was embroiled in a love scandal. He officially finalized his divorce, and his step-granddaughter moved in with him. Perhaps it was true love, considering the divorce cost him over a hundred million dollars in compensation and alimony. The collapse of his family was beyond description.

In a way, Matthew still admired Morgan Freeman. After all, not everyone would dare to make such a play.

Perhaps he would never marry. And when he got old, he'd probably want to find a young, beautiful girl.

For a rich and famous man, it wasn't difficult. There were plenty of women born with good assets of their own who were eager to engage in that kind of low-entry, high-yield, short-term investment.

Of course, some women looking for a quick return on a short-term investment could also fall into a trap.

Morgan Freeman was living almost openly with his step-granddaughter, yet the old man kept playing the roles he was meant to play and winning the awards he was meant to win. His career hadn't suffered in the slightest, aside from him practically throwing away his family's fortune.

From Matthew's perspective, a celebrity embroiled in such a scandal should have suffered a fatal blow to their career. But in North America, in Hollywood, it seemed to be a non-issue.

All one could say was that the social environment in North America, as well as the media and the audience, knew that Hollywood celebrities were just a bunch of scoundrels.

Hollywood stars, for the most part, were like Matthew—few of them bothered to hide their personal lives.

Older actresses with younger men, young starlets taking the initiative to approach famous male stars.

You shouldn't come to Hollywood if you're looking for a chaste and virtuous woman. In this circle, you had to face reality.

Maybe there really were good women in Hollywood, but Matthew had yet to meet one.

On the other hand, Angelina Jolie had transformed from a wild child back into a devoted mother over the last couple of years, so perhaps raising so many children really did help.

Brad Pitt wasn't married to her, so even if he went bankrupt next time, there was no way he could get alimony from Angelina Jolie.

Things like alimony weren't subject to gender discrimination.

Two years ago, when Madonna and the British director Guy Ritchie divorced, she had to pay him a settlement of at least 75 million dollars, including cash and property. The "breakup fee" set a record for the largest alimony payment.

***

Around the same time Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were breaking up, Matthew's side received some good news: after reading the autobiography "American Sniper," Clint Eastwood had agreed in principle to direct the film adaptation.

Of course, this was only a preliminary agreement, and there were still many variables to sort out before an official deal was signed.

Matthew put Bella in charge of negotiating the directing deal with Clint Eastwood.

This wasn't a director like Sofia Coppola or Patty Jenkins; Clint Eastwood was a bona fide A-list director in Hollywood, and Matthew was prepared to shell out a significant sum for the film.

Meanwhile, he was also assembling a team of screenwriters to adapt the autobiography into a script.

But he had no time for that now. For the moment, all of these matters would be entrusted to Helen and Bella Anderson.

Matthew's most important task at the moment was promoting "Inception," which was set to be released during the Independence Day slot.

In addition to conventional advertising methods, Warner Bros. was employing viral marketing for the promotion of "Inception."

The first phase of viral marketing had begun last year, right after filming wrapped. A professional team from Warner Bros. had cast a wide net, planting seeds of curiosity to pique the public's interest.

When Warner Bros. first launched the official "Inception" website last year, the vast majority of people were baffled by the spinning top featured on the page. What was the film about? What did the top signify, and how did it relate to the plot? What did the title "Inception" even mean?

Instead of keeping their cards close to the chest as other films did, the savvy marketers at Warner Bros. gave the public just enough clues to offer a glimpse into the film, only to then introduce new questions. This kept the fans' curiosity alive, compelling them to spread the word.

Matthew had heard from Christopher Nolan long ago that the marketing team for "Inception" had a comprehensive plan in place even during filming. The viral campaign had to be balanced—neither too subdued nor overhyped. It meant audiences should be familiar with the film beforehand, but still feel a sense of discovery when they finally watched it.

That was easier said than done. Many films misjudged the degree of publicity, resulting in audiences knowing the entire plot before they even saw the movie, which killed the excitement of watching it.

That's why the Warner Bros. marketers didn't start with the plot. Instead, they focused on the film's core concepts—"dream machine technology," "crimes of the conscious mind," and other points to build upon, all under the tagline: "Your mind is the scene of the crime!"

This way, audiences would have a preliminary grasp of the film's key premises before watching it, making them feel much more at ease during the viewing experience.

One of the fundamental laws of the film market is that a movie audiences can't understand is doomed to sell poorly.

One of the most critical aspects of viral marketing is generating interest in others; without it, all efforts are in vain.

Now, with the film about to be released, the "Inception" marketing team had adjusted its course. They synchronized their efforts with the promotional appearances of Matthew and the rest of the cast and crew, shifting their campaign from online to offline. They plastered giant posters on landmarks across the streets of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and other major U.S. cities. At first glance, these posters created the illusion that the scenes from the film were happening in real life.

These posters primarily featured two types of content: one showed the facade of a building bending over, revealing the floor inside; the other depicted a torrent of water cascading from the windows of a skyscraper tilted on its side.

Once posted online, they were quickly shared across websites large and small, successfully capturing people's attention and building fresh momentum for the film.

Viral marketing is a means, not an end. When done right, it can often act as a catalyst, but a film's commercial success or failure doesn't depend entirely on the success or failure of its viral campaign.

As Christopher Nolan had told Matthew, viral marketing was fun, but if the film itself didn't work, it didn't matter what you did offline.

If the quality of the film wasn't good enough to win over the majority of the audience, then after its release, the viral marketing would backfire, and negative reviews would spread across the internet at lightning speed.

This sci-fi film, using the "Dreamscape" as its medium, was about to be unveiled to the countless eager fans of Matthew and Christopher Nolan.