In the office on the set, a thick stack of documents was piled in front of Gael Levin. As the casting director for the "Almost Famous" crew, with multiple supporting role auditions approaching, he had a mountain of work to deal with.
He picked up an actor's application, looked at the section for films they had shot, and seeing only two film titles he'd never even heard of, he directly crossed them out.
"Amy..." Gael Levin instructed the assistant director opposite him, "Actors whose qualifications don't meet the requirements are to be eliminated; don't send them audition invitations."
The female assistant director adjusted her glasses and said, "Okay, I understand."
Gael Levin continued to bury himself in work. The actor profiles that made it here were mostly from those without connections; actors with genuine networks had already received audition invitations.
"Almost Famous" has a production budget of up to sixty million dollars, making it one of DreamWorks' key films this year. To raise enough funds, it was even pushed back from last year until now. The director and producers are extremely serious about casting. In terms of actor selection, apart from the special case of the male lead, let alone other main roles, even for supporting roles like band musicians, small actors who have only appeared in a few films are not even considered.
"Mr. Levin."
Suddenly, the voice of assistant director Amy Lynn came from across the desk, "Please take a look at this actor's profile."
As just an assistant director, when she wasn't sure, she naturally needed Gael Levin, the casting director, to make the decision.
"What is it?" Gael Levin looked up from behind a pile of documents.
Amy Lynn handed over a document. "This actor, who is applying for the role of Russell Hammond, has only appeared in two films, one music video, and one TV series so far..."
Gael Levin didn't take the document and interrupted Amy Lynn, "His qualifications are a bit lacking. Eliminate him..."
"Let me finish," Amy Lynn, whose latter half of the sentence had been interrupted, quickly said, "The films he appeared in are 'Girl, Interrupted' and 'Gladiator,' he was the male lead in a Britney Spears music video, and he also played Ronald Speirs in 'Band of Brothers'..."
"Ah?" Gael Levin immediately took the document Amy Lynn handed him and began to flip through it. "'Band of Brothers,' executive produced by Hanks and Spielberg? That's right!"
He murmured, "Matthew Horner, I remember seeing that name in some newspaper."
Amy Lynn reminded him at this point, "There are photocopies in the later pages of the document."
Gael Levin looked at the actor's resume, then glanced at the attached photo, and turned to the photocopies in the back. The first thing he saw was a photocopy of a page from "Entertainment Weekly," with photos of Matthew Horner on the red carpet and in military uniform. Below it was a textual introduction, mentioning that he had appeared in well-known films such as "Girl, Interrupted," "Gladiator," and "Band of Brothers," and had acted alongside Angelina Jolie, Winona Ryder, and Russell Crowe, among others.
This shouldn't be fake. The photocopy page has the issue number of "Entertainment Weekly"; he could just find that issue and check.
There were also more photocopies: photos of Matthew Horner standing on set with Ridley Scott, pictures of him filming a music video on the beach with Britney Spears, and a shot of him listening to David Frankel's direction in "Band of Brothers."
These certainly aren't fake!
Gael Levin closed the document. There was no need to look any further. If such an actor wasn't sent an audition invitation, then few of the other actor profiles on this table would be qualified.
He picked up a pen, put a checkmark on it, and told Amy Lynn, "If you encounter anything like this again, just approve it directly."
The office quickly returned to its quiet state.
Matthew received the call from Helen Herman notifying him while he was mimicking Kevin Spacey's performance in "American Beauty" in front of a mirror.
Having received an audition invitation for "Almost Famous," he now had the minimum entry qualification.
Hanging up Helen Herman's call, he ended his practice, turned off the video recorder and TV, and went to his newly purchased computer. After booting it up, he logged into the blog he had registered some time ago.
Although the fourteen-inch CRT monitor and internet speed were a bit frustrating, they were within Matthew's tolerance. One couldn't expect too much in this era.
He first decorated his blog page, then logged into MSN. Since he had only bought the computer a few days ago, his MSN contacts were very limited, to be precise, only four, all people he knew in real life: Helen Herman, Elena Boyar, Michael Fassbender, and James McAvoy.
As for Britney, she was swamped with work. Matthew had flown to Pittsburgh to see her a few days ago, and they only spent a little over an hour together. A popular singer simply didn't have time to play on the computer.
He glanced at MSN, saw no new messages, and continued to manage his blog, preparing to write a blog post.
Since returning from the "Band of Brothers" set, he had occasionally written things to practice his English writing skills.
However, speaking and writing were two entirely different things. Matthew typed a line of words, looked at it, deleted it, and after repeating this several times, he became a little annoyed.
He simply stood up, drank a glass of water, and once his mood calmed down a bit, he sat back down in front of the computer.
"I'll just write something simple..." Matthew muttered.
He had just been preparing to write about his experiences on the set, but now it seemed completely beyond his writing ability.
After thinking for a while, Matthew began to type on the keyboard.
"My first blog post, what should I write about? Hmm... I'm an actor, an unknown one, but I just received an audition notice for a big project with a sixty million dollar budget. Even though it's for a small supporting role, I'm very happy."
After a pause, he typed another line: "Go for it! I'm sure I'll pass the audition!"
Then, he posted the blog entry.
Unfortunately, no one paid attention to the blog. Matthew browsed a few portal websites, read some news, and when he returned, the blog post still had zero views.
In that era of rampant social networking, a celebrity's single Weibo post could draw thousands of responses. He had also played with these things and followed several celebrity and gossip entertainment studios on Weibo.
The gossip and scandals of big-name celebrities on both sides of the Pacific had accompanied him through countless lonely and difficult nights, just like certain romantic action films, they were rare benefits for single people.
MSN showed a new message, and Matthew awoke from his memories of the past, realizing it was a message from Elena Boyar.
"Big star, any inside scoop?"
Matthew thought for a moment and replied, "An A-lister just opened a blog, does that count?"
"You have a blog?" Elena Boyar wrote from the other end, "Send me the URL."
Matthew copied the URL and sent it to Elena Boyar.
There were no messages from her for a while, so Matthew continued to browse the web. After about two minutes, Elena Boyar sent another message.
"Which crew's audition are you preparing for?"
"DreamWorks' 'Almost Famous,'" Matthew thought for a moment, then wrote, "What? Are you going to help me out?"
He had only said it casually, but to his surprise, Elena Boyar replied, "I can help you publicize it with a news article. I saw Helen Herman last week, and she gave me a very valuable piece of news, so consider it a repayment to her."
Matthew, of course, wouldn't refuse such a thing. "That's fine. Can your editor-in-chief approve it?"
"Haven't you been in 'Entertainment Weekly' recently?" Her information was quite good. "'Gladiator' is also a hit, so there shouldn't be much of a problem."
"Then I'll wait for your good news."
Matthew chatted with Elena Boyar for a few more sentences, then found a professional-looking actor website and started reading it.
After studying at the Los Angeles School of Performing Arts, his acting skills had indeed improved, but he had no prior foundation, a relatively low starting point, and his talent wasn't outstanding; at best, it was just passable.
Playing a role like Ronald Speirs, who had almost one expression, was fine, but portraying a complex bisexual character was more difficult.
Although he found it difficult, he never thought of backing down. In a fiercely competitive industry like Hollywood, opportunity is very important, but ability is the key to seizing that opportunity.
He was not a genius; his abilities were not innate and needed to be honed.
In that year, he had seen too many things related to acting, but too few that he could actually use.
The next day, Matthew specifically bought a copy of "American News Report," a newspaper whose name sounded grand but was actually a gossip rag, to see if Elena Boyar had actually written a news report about him.
Back home, after flipping through it once, Matthew finally found a report no bigger than a tofu block in a corner of the fourth page. The report was signed by Elena Boyar.
"Britney Spears' rumored boyfriend, Matthew Horner, who appeared in heavyweight films like 'Gladiator,' has recently revealed new information. According to informed sources, he is preparing to participate in the filming of DreamWorks' sixty-million-dollar production, 'Almost Famous'..."
Although the report had only a few words, Matthew was satisfied. This was always a good thing, wasn't it?
"American News Report" was a widely distributed entertainment gossip newspaper in the western region, with a not-so-small audience.
Matthew was currently seeking attention and didn't want to miss any opportunity to be in the media. The materials Helen Herman submitted to the "Almost Famous" crew included a report about him from "Entertainment Weekly." According to her, media attention was also a kind of qualification.
Time passed quickly. On the day the crew notified him for the audition, Matthew, accompanied by Helen Herman, arrived at the studio where the "Almost Famous" crew was located.
This initial audition was quite similar to the initial audition for "Band of Brothers," focusing mainly on personal image and temperament. If the external conditions didn't match, he naturally wouldn't get the opportunity to participate in the costume audition.