"Matthew Horner visits Britney in the hospital, stays overnight, their romance completely confirmed!"
Even Matthew himself didn't expect to make headlines in so many tabloids this way, instantly becoming known to many.
"It is reported that Matthew Horner stayed overnight in Britney's hospital Room last night. According to insiders, the two of them…"
One tabloid even featured explicit descriptions, as if the reporter had witnessed it firsthand.
There was even a tabloid that published a photo of Matthew riding in Rachel McAdams' car yesterday, accusing him of two-timing.
As for Matthew's identity, reporters had largely uncovered it and it also appeared in the newspapers.
Many reporters were also surprised that a minor actor like Matthew had performed alongside Angelina Jolie and Winona Ryder, and even played a significant role in Ridley Scott's new film, Gladiator.
Matthew, however, remembered his two Agents' instructions and remained silent at all TIMEs and in all places.
"Eric!"
Inside a golf club in Orange County, southeast of Los Angeles, Helen Herman handed her club to the caddie and said to the middle-aged man standing beside her, "I'm not recommending a nobody to you."
She came here not just to avoid Britney Spears' Agent and record company, but more importantly, to meet the producer named Eric Polk.
"I know, Britney's rumored boyfriend." Eric Polk pulled down the brim of his sun visor. "The person who played a role actor in the 'girl, interrupted' Crew and Ridley's 'Gladiator' Crew."
Helen Herman smiled and followed Eric Polk to the next hole. She had done enough research beforehand; the Crew Eric Polk worked for needed a large number of actors with some experience but not too much fame. Matthew's experience was relatively lacking.
Eric Polk walked ahead, saying as he went, "Helen, you should go to Tom Hanks or Steven Spielberg for this kind of thing."
"I don't have much say in front of them." Helen Herman was self-aware. "My father won't call them, so I can only come to you."
She never even thought about using her father's connections; such an important favor could only be used once at most, and using it now would be too wasteful.
Helen Herman followed behind Eric Polk and continued, "Isn't this a war ensemble drama? There must be many roles in it, besides Richard Wenster, there are many supporting roles, right?"
Eric Polk stopped, thought for a moment, and said, "There are indeed quite a few supporting roles. How about this, send Matthew Horner's information to my secretary, and I'll add him to the audition invitation list."
"Thank you…" Helen Herman's words were cut off by Eric Polk, "Don't rush to thank me. I can only do this much. Whether he passes the audition or not is not up to me."
Helen Herman nodded gently and still said, "Thank you, Eric."
She also knew that Eric Polk was a relatively low-ranking producer in the Crew. The true controllers of this TV mini-series were Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg.
In front of such important figures, a junior like her had no say.
Since Eric Polk had done Helen Herman a favor, he simply added, "The Crew will gather people for auditions in Los Angeles, then go to England and France for training and filming. These roles are all soldiers, so have your actor train as much as possible to look stronger."
Helen Herman thought of Matthew's robust physique, honed by years of physical labor, and said, "You can rest assured about that."
Eric Polk got a club from the caddie,
and called out to Helen Herman, "Come on, let's go play the next hole."
The two continued to play. When Eric Polk was in high spirits and a good mood, Helen Herman said again, "Matthew Horner has a somewhat rugged appearance. Can we find a tough guy role for him?"
To be honest, she didn't have much confidence in Matthew's acting skills. Compared to psychologically complex roles, the tough guy performance in war dramas was less difficult and more appealing to the audience.
Since it was a minor supporting role, Eric Polk didn't refuse. He waved his hand grandly and said, "No problem, just wait for my news."
In Westwood, Los Angeles, Matthew stayed at home and didn't go out. Early in the morning, he noticed paparazzi downstairs. To avoid trouble, he simply canceled his usual morning run. Anyway, he had things to do in his Room.
Reading newspapers and books was a daily routine. His reading level had improved somewhat compared to a few months ago, and ordinary reading was relatively easy to handle. However, his writing skills had not improved at all. Like students who were once bad at essays, his verbal expression was strong, but when it came to written composition, it completely transformed into a different picture.
Fortunately, what he wanted to be was a Hollywood Star, so a slightly weaker writing level didn't matter.
Moreover, Matthew planned to appropriately practice his writing skills after his reading level improved further. After all, the future was an era of rampant online social networking. If he wanted to express some views or do other things through the internet, he couldn't always ask someone to ghostwrite, right?
He had checked during this TIME, and blogs already existed in North America. He had thought about starting a blog, writing blog posts from TIME to TIME, and posting some on-set pictures, but unfortunately, computers were expensive now, and his writing ability was limited, so he planned to wait a while.
Another reason was that Matthew had not only just bought a new phone, but last week he also bought a used TV and VCR combo package, rented a large number of movie videos of Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Daniel Day-Lewis, and installed a large mirror on his apartment wall, preparing to thoroughly study the acting styles of these famous method actors.
In addition, he also found his acting school teacher, David Astor, and specifically consulted him. This old actor, not from an academy, taught him a very unconventional method to imitate the performances of famous Hollywood method actors, and also provided him with a compilation of wonderful performances by method actors in films.
According to David Astor, as long as Matthew persevered in practicing, although he might not become a method actor, his acting skills would at least reach the average level of ordinary actors.
Turning on the TV and inserting a Godfather videotape into the VCR, Matthew watched for a while, then, like Marlon Brando in the film, he sat confidently in a chair. Since no one else was present, he could only observe himself in the mirror. For some reason, compared to Marlon Brando on the TV, he always felt that he was just putting on a show.
The criteria for judging acting skills are indeed very subjective, but that's after the acting skills have reached a certain level. For a novice like Matthew, the gap with famous method actors is still very obvious.
For someone with average talent like him, improving acting skills can only be achieved through long-term, extensive practice.
Super geniuses whose acting skills explode from the very beginning might exist, but they are extremely rare.
After watching a Godfather videotape, Matthew pressed the rewind button, found a few clips that had left a deep impression on him, stood in front of the mirror, and mimicked Marlon Brando and Al Pacino, acting out the scenes by himself.
Although there was no audience and no one to guide him, he was exceptionally serious, completely immersed in the characters and scenes of the film.
Including the twenty years he lived on The other side of the Pacific, Matthew had never been so focused. Having been in the acting circle for several months, he saw very clearly that for unsupported minor actors, opportunities were the most important, and seizing fleeting opportunities required ability, but ability is not something ordinary people are born with.
He once saw a widely circulated story about an actor on a smartphone. Because too much TIME had passed, he didn't remember it too clearly, but it roughly said that after an Oscar acting award winner received his Oscar trophy, he told his acting teacher that he was an Oscar winner. The teacher disdainfully said that among the students he had taught, no one's acting skills were worse than his, and that he was an Oscar winner simply because he got that role, and they didn't, and there was nothing to be proud of or show off about!
This statement is largely very reasonable and precisely illustrates the importance of opportunity. Matthew once firmly believed this, but now he understands that this is just a story, no different in essence from the 'chicken soup for the soul' in his social media feed back then.
In his opinion, the most important thing about this story is that the Oscar winner got that role, and others didn't!
Why couldn't those people get the role, while the Oscar winner did? Was it God's deliberate arrangement? Or was it luck? In fact, neither. Striving for and seizing opportunities is an ability in itself!
This ability is often more important than the acting skills emphasized by the teacher!
Matthew immersed himself in practice until the sky outside the window completely darkened, only then feeling his stomach growl with hunger. He poked his head out to look, found no trace of paparazzi, so he simply changed clothes and went out to have lunch at the Chinese restaurant from a few days ago.
Similarly, as night fell and the streetlights came on, Michael Sheen finished dinner at a small restaurant on Hollywood Boulevard and walked out.
After a period of recuperation, the injury on his buttocks finally healed. The thought of the humiliation he suffered and the embarrassment of seeing a doctor still infuriated him.
The doctor had clearly told him at the TIME that his injury was not severe initially, but eating improper food and drinking improper alcohol led to local redness, swelling, and inflammation, further worsening the injury.
Michael Sheen immediately thought of the meal Matthew had treated him to, realizing that he had been completely set up.
Since he didn't know exactly where Matthew lived, and the guy who called was always offline, he had been loitering around the Red Penguin Company for the past few days, hoping to find that despicable, filthy, shameless scoundrel and settle accounts with him properly.