The gates of Edwards Air Force Base opened, and nearly a hundred male actors emerged, one after another, preparing to head to the nearest airport to catch a charter flight directly to Morocco.
The filming schedule for "Black Hawk Down" was tight; producer Jerry Bruckheimer had been preparing since the beginning of the year, and director Ridley Scott had also arrived early, just waiting for the actors to arrive to start filming.
After ten days of training, almost everyone looked relaxed and happy.
The only exception was the person walking at the very back of the line, more than ten meters behind everyone else.
Tom Hardy pulled his suitcase, walking out of the base gate alone, his gloomy gaze fixed ahead, locking onto one person in the group.
Jonny Lee Miller!
That bastard actually sacrificed him for his own benefit!
After that day, of course, he refused to voluntarily withdraw from the crew, but Jonny Lee Miller called his agent, and under the immense pressure from the agent, Tom Hardy had no choice but to back down.
Even with his decent family background, he couldn't change the fact that he was just a small actor, utterly powerless to contend with the giant Hollywood talent agencies.
Although his agent promised to compensate him in other ways, Tom Hardy still felt deeply wounded, especially emotionally.
He had originally considered Jonny Lee Miller a friend, a partner he could work with, but what about Jonny Lee Miller?
When needed, he unhesitatingly made him a scapegoat.
The actors in front began boarding two large buses.
Tom Hardy walked over to an SUV that was there to pick him up, looking at the two buses that emitted a cold metallic aura in the bright sunlight, and suddenly had a realization: this industry might be even colder than that metallic aura.
"I want to become a star!" Tom Hardy clenched his fist. "A big star! Only then can I repay everything that Jonny Lee Miller did to me today, and only then can Matthew Horner, that despicable, shameless, insidious, and vile bastard, be punished!"
He put his luggage in the back seat, sat in the passenger seat, and told the driver, "Back to Los Angeles!"
Tom Hardy had already made up his mind; Hollywood was simply too dangerous, full of thorns and traps at every turn, teeming with scoundrels.
He decided it was better to go back to the UK to develop his career first, and once he gained some fame, he would return to Hollywood!
The SUV sped past the buses, kicking up dust.
From a forward seat on the bus, Jonny Lee Miller watched the SUV drive away through the window.
He knew Tom Hardy was very unwilling and resentful, but he didn't care.
Was Tom Hardy more important, or was his own future more important? Was there even a choice?
The content on that videotape was simply... he couldn't afford to take such a risk.
Suddenly, sounds of laughter came from the front door of the bus.
Jonny Lee Miller looked up and saw that shameless bastard Matthew Horner and James McAvoy boarding the bus one after another.
They seemed not to see him as they passed by and went to the seats in the back.
The thought of having to work with such a person in the same crew for a long time made Jonny Lee Miller feel uncomfortable all over, but for the sake of that videotape, he had to endure it.
"You're not giving it to him now..." Arriving at the less crowded rear section of the bus, James McAvoy sat down, looked forward, and quietly asked Matthew, "He doesn't have a problem with that?"
"Of course he has a problem!" Matthew also had a bit of a headache. "I've been trying to stall him. I told him again that he's a big star and I'm a small actor, so he could mess with me anytime on set, which is why I need to wait until filming is over to give it to him."
James McAvoy asked again, "He agreed?"
Matthew shook his head, "I'll stall for as long as I can. Once my scenes are filmed, I won't have to deal with him anymore."
Yesterday, they had just received the detailed filming schedule.
His character's scenes were relatively early, estimated to be fully completed by late January or early February next year.
Ben Foster walked up at this moment.
James McAvoy waved him over, then leaned closer to Matthew and whispered, "You really have a videotape like that?"
"No," Matthew simply shook his head. "I lied to Jonny Lee Miller."
"What?" James McAvoy involuntarily raised his voice, then covered his mouth, and after a moment, lowered his voice again and said, "I'm really impressed with you; you can even lie about something like this."
Matthew said rather helplessly, "What could I do? The situation at the time was two against one, and they even had tasers. I could only think of such a way to protect myself."
James McAvoy, however, gave Matthew a thumbs up. "Actually, I really admire you, truly."
Although he wasn't entirely clear on what Matthew had done, being able to manipulate Jonny Lee Miller so completely made it hard not to be impressed.
Ben Foster walked over, and Matthew greeted him.
He still had to thank him for what happened that day; if Ben hadn't tipped off James McAvoy, and James McAvoy hadn't brought a few familiar actors to knock on the door, it might not have been so easy to deceive Jonny Lee Miller.
But deceiving Jonny Lee Miller also had its repercussions.
Where was he going to get a video to give him? He couldn't just ask Jonny Lee Miller to strip naked and film one on the spot, could he?
Matthew's plan was to stall as much as possible until "Black Hawk Down" was finished, then pack up and leave, no longer bothering with Jonny Lee Miller.
Anyway, in his memory of Hollywood superstars, Jonny Lee Miller's name wasn't there, so he figured he wouldn't amount to much in the future.
As long as it didn't affect normal filming, the "Black Hawk Down" crew wouldn't care about the messy personal conflicts between actors.
After that day, Big Beard Jack, who was in charge of the crew at Edwards Air Force Base, also questioned him.
Although Matthew didn't go into specifics, he admitted to having some conflict with Jonny Lee Miller and Tom Hardy.
Big Beard Jack merely warned them not to cause trouble on set, with no intention of interfering.
On the matter of deceiving Jonny Lee Miller, Matthew had made up his mind to be a rogue.
After getting off the buses and transferring to the crew's charter plane, nearly a hundred actors grandly headed to Morocco.
Looking around inside the plane, except for a few flight attendants, everyone was male.
This crew was even more exaggerated than "Band of Brothers"; there were virtually no female members.
Not to mention the acting department, even almost all of the behind-the-scenes staff were men.
In James McAvoy's words, after they filmed for a few months in Morocco, even black women would look more sexy and beautiful than Marilyn Monroe.
Matthew vaguely remembered that Morocco wasn't a black country.
With hundreds of male actors on one plane, the most enjoyable thing was flirting with the flight attendants.
Orlando Bloom, recognized as the crew's heartthrob, was hitting it off with one of them.
At this time, Orlando Bloom was not yet a star; "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" would only be released next year.
Matthew had seen all three "Lord of the Rings" movies; Legolas was definitely one of the most memorable characters.
When "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" was released, Orlando Bloom would undoubtedly become hugely popular, even surpassing Josh Hartnett and Jonny Lee Miller in a matter of minutes.
Unfortunately, Orlando Bloom had taken on "Black Hawk Down" before "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" was released; his role was very small, and his pay was not high.
Upon arriving in Morocco, after only one day of rest to adjust to the time difference, Matthew, along with the other actors, immediately immersed themselves in filming.
Ridley Scott himself took over the project midway, but "Black Hawk Down" had been in development under Jerry Bruckheimer for a long time.
Even after Simon West resigned as director, the preliminary preparatory work didn't stop.
The fact that the crew could start filming only one month later than originally planned was largely thanks to producer Jerry Bruckheimer.
Moreover, this film had immense political significance; even someone as politically insensitive as Matthew could feel it.
The Moroccan government and the Pentagon provided tremendous support to the crew.
The Moroccan government not only allowed a Delta Force team and Black Hawk helicopters to be filmed but also mobilized its own army to assist with the shooting.
According to Matthew's understanding, this was also related to the huge benefits the crew could bring to the local Moroccan economy.
Currently, a significant portion of Hollywood films involving deserts and Africa are shot in Morocco, such as "Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace," which was released two years prior.
Morocco was even jokingly referred to as "Morocco-wood" by many media outlets.
On the first day of filming, Matthew's character, Sergeant Hoot, had no scenes, but he still left the cool hotel and came to the sandy set under the scorching sun to personally experience the set and the scenes being filmed, in order to get into character more quickly.
Matthew's professionalism was never in doubt.
The filming set was chaotic.
Since they were filming scenes set in Somalia, extras naturally had to be hired from local African communities.
Although they were all Moroccans who resembled Somalis, the temporary extras spoke various languages, making it inconvenient even for an experienced director like Ridley Scott to direct them.
In fact, after watching for a while, Matthew even noticed some black actors making faces at the camera during filming, which was very exasperating.
"The director must be tearing his hair out," Matthew muttered from under a shady tent.
Orlando Bloom, who was also hiding there watching the filming, walked over. "There's nothing we can do; we can't just fire these people."
Matthew turned to him, puzzled.
Orlando Bloom looked very unassuming and specifically explained to him, "One of the conditions for the Moroccan government to support the crew's filming was that all temporary extras had to be Moroccans."
"So that's how it is," Matthew nodded.
Back then, when the government welcomed foreign film crews, of course they expected benefits; Morocco wasn't foolish.
Filming continued, and Matthew chatted with Orlando Bloom while watching.
He had a good impression of the man.!!