"Oh—ah—wow—ho—"
In the screening room, a thunderous, rough shout echoed. The sound was exceptionally bold and powerful, filled with an unstoppable momentum, like Leonidas, who, according to legend, stood at Thermopylae.
Of course, this was Matthew's thought, because the person howling was the barbarian leader he played!
The scene on the screen zoomed in from a distance, with the barbarian warriors in the background blurred, highlighting only the barbarian leader.
The shot changed from a long shot to a close-up, with the focus entirely on Matthew's character. The barbarian leader raised his totem-emblazoned warhammer high and let out another furious roar.
"Oh—ah—wow—ho—"
Matthew didn't know how others felt, but he himself found the roar quite intoxicating.
Compared to his fleeting appearance in *Girl, Interrupted*, this role had a close-up shot that lasted over five seconds!
Matthew subconsciously looked to both sides. Both were actors from the crew, all unfamiliar faces. He sighed inwardly, thinking that what he really wanted to do right now was point at the barbarian leader on the screen and say to the others, "See? That's me!"
However, such a thought was only in his head; he wouldn't actually do it, as that would be too embarrassing.
Matthew licked his lips and continued watching. Soon, another close-up shot of him appeared: the barbarian leader died a glorious death under the siege of the Roman legions.
At this point, his character completely exited the film.
Matthew estimated that with two close-up shots and other miscellaneous appearances, his character's screen time in the film should be between four and five minutes.
"My first film appearance was less than five seconds; my second film appearance was over four minutes," he murmured to himself. "That's pretty good."
Although he envied stars like Joaquin Phoenix on the red carpet, Matthew was actually well aware that compared to the vast majority of ordinary people entering Hollywood, he was definitely a lucky one.
For the rest of the time, Matthew watched the movie intently, paying the most attention to the performances of the two lead actors, Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix.
Actors who reach their level cannot rely solely on luck; their own abilities must be above average.
Especially Russell Crowe, according to Helen Herman, this Australian actor was a representative of the "Method Acting" school in Hollywood, and *Gladiator* could be considered his magnum opus.
Whether it's Method Acting or another approach, Matthew believed that any actor who became a big star had something worth learning from.
As far as he knew, Russell Crowe was full of flaws and notoriously difficult to work with, even giving Ridley Scott headaches. However, once he entered work mode, he transformed completely, fully immersing himself in the role, and personally performed most of the action scenes in the film.
It was even rumored that he broke a bone during a fight scene.
Of course, Matthew had only heard this, and didn't rule out the possibility that the production team or Russell Crowe's people intentionally spread false information to create hype.
Having participated in the media publicity for *Band of Brothers*, Matthew gradually understood that many behind-the-scenes tidbits used for film promotion contained a lot of embellishment. To generate attention-grabbing news, fabricating stories based on some facts was likely a common phenomenon in Hollywood production teams.
The film was excellent, at least Matthew thought so; it had an epic and tragic feel to it.
After the screening, the main cast and crew were scheduled for a press conference, but Matthew wasn't eligible to attend. He called for the Cadillac and took it directly home.
The next day, he first went to the costume rental company to return his clothes, then settled accounts with three companies. By the time he finished, it was noon. He bought a stack of newspapers and magazines from a newsstand, found a McDonald's, ordered a random burger and fries, and looked for a quiet corner to eat and read the newspapers.
Matthew finished one burger but didn't immediately read the newspapers. Instead, he gathered all the entertainment sections of the newspapers and put them together, placing the other sections into a tote bag to read later that evening.
As a super production released at the beginning of the 2000 summer box office, *Gladiator* unsurprisingly made the front page of many newspaper entertainment sections.
"*Gladiator* not only grandly presents the ancient cold-weapon warfare on screen, but more remarkably, it is a distinctive epic film. It doesn't focus on lengthy history but instead, with highly dramatic techniques and a foundation of tragic color, perfectly sculpts Maximus, played by Russell Crowe. The film not only allows the audience to deeply experience the protagonist's inner endurance, loneliness, and courage, but also elevates the film's content at its ultimate ending to a discourse on love and death… "
After reading the beginning of this review, Matthew started skimming. The focus of the review was entirely on director Ridley Scott and lead actor Russell Crowe, with a mention of Joaquin Phoenix. As for other actors, let alone Matthew, even the female lead Connie Nielsen wasn't mentioned.
He flipped through other sections, then tossed that newspaper aside and moved on to the second one. *Gladiator* was also the main focus of the report, but like the previous paper, the attention was on Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe.
Matthew shook his head. He hadn't found any content about himself, so he picked up another newspaper.
Many reporters had taken photos of him on the red carpet yesterday; surely not a single paper published one?
After flipping through four or five more newspapers, Matthew sighed. There were quite a few publications with photos, but his figure was nowhere to be seen.
Not to mention photos, there wasn't even any text. Not even *American News Report*, a tabloid, mentioned him.
Matthew was depressed for a while but gradually understood: his old scandal with Britney was outdated, his own fame wasn't enough, and his role was dispensable, so naturally, he garnered little attention.
The entertainment industry is inherently a forgetful one.
Putting the newspapers aside, Matthew picked up a few weekend entertainment magazines. The first one he grabbed was *Entertainment Weekly*, a heavyweight entertainment publication under Warner Bros. with a certain influence in the industry.
He hadn't even made it into the tabloids, so the likelihood of being in a prominent publication like this was even smaller. Matthew ate fries dipped in ketchup with one hand while rapidly flipping through the magazine with the other.
"This is…"
He seemed to have seen a familiar figure and quickly stopped flipping the magazine, turning back two pages. A large photograph appeared before him.
It was a full-body shot of him on the red carpet yesterday!
"I…" Matthew dropped his fries and scratched his head. "I'm in *Entertainment Weekly*?"
He looked at the photo again and confirmed it was correct. This was the scene from yesterday when he walked the red carpet; he vaguely remembered it was shortly after getting out of the car.
This photo was one of several horizontally arranged photos on that page, next to another photo of him in a 101st Airborne Division paratrooper uniform. Matthew recognized it immediately as a photo specifically taken before filming began. Besides his two photos, that page also featured two other actors in casual and military attire, clearly the two who had been interviewed together.
Matthew recalled that after the last interview, he had specifically checked, and the media that the crew primarily collaborated with had only published Damian Lewis's interview. The interviews of the other three, including himself, were nowhere to be found. Now it seemed the crew had done this intentionally, likely to maintain *Band of Brothers*' media buzz with continuous promotion.
Below each actor's photo was a corresponding article.
This was for the promotion of *Band of Brothers*, so the reports would certainly speak favorably of them.
"Matthew Horner, a rising potential actor in Hollywood!"
Matthew saw this somewhat exaggerated headline below his two photos.
The content below, besides a condensed version of Matthew's interview, also had the reporter piggybacking on the buzz.
"Matthew Horner, only twenty years old, has been in Hollywood for just a year, yet he has already appeared in the Oscar-winning film *Girl, Interrupted*, and Universal Pictures' $100 million investment *Gladiator*, directed by Ridley Scott. He's acted alongside big stars like Angelina Jolie, Winona Ryder, and Russell Crowe. Now, he's playing the important role of Ronald Speirs in *Band of Brothers*. His career is developing smoothly, filling people with anticipation for his future…"
Following that were more praises, recounting his professionalism on the set of *Band of Brothers*.
Of course, all of this served to promote the series.
Even so, Matthew was in high spirits after reading it. Although his past scandal with Britney, triggered by Yelena Boyar, had received extensive media coverage, this was the first time he had appeared in a publication because of a film and a role.
He flipped through the remaining magazines. Seeing no other content related to him, Matthew put this copy of *Entertainment Weekly* aside, just like *Girl, Interrupted* and *Gladiator*. He believed this magazine was also a memorable keepsake.
Back at his rented apartment, Matthew placed the magazine in a special leather suitcase. The suitcase contained items that held great significance for him, such as his first script and his first official contract with a production crew.
In other words, this box documented every important stage he had already passed through.
Over the next two days, Matthew, besides occasionally checking on *Gladiator*, basically maintained his planned routine. He even called Helen Herman specifically to urge her to find him new work.
Although *Band of Brothers* was still a long way from airing, it was already in the past for him. Matthew wouldn't just sit around and wait, as he was still too far from his goal of becoming a Hollywood star.
On a new Monday morning, he had just finished breakfast and was trying to write something when he received a call from Helen Herman.
"Matthew, come to the office this afternoon," her voice was as calm as ever. "A few production teams are hiring; we'll give it a try."