As the ford car entered Burbank, the roadside in front of Angel Talent Agency was undergoing landscaping adjustments, making parking inconvenient. Matthew simply parked further away and walked.
As he walked, that question came to his mind again.
"Staying true to yourself..."
Matthew knew what David Astor meant, but he was even clearer about his own initial aspiration: to become a Hollywood Star and enjoy that glamorous life.
Therefore, he would never give up this opportunity to become a lead actor.
Entering Angel Talent Agency, Matthew greeted the receptionist and went directly to Helen Herman's office.
"Any latest developments?" He pulled out a chair and sat opposite Helen Herman. "You don't seem anxious at all."
Helen Herman looked up from behind her computer screen, adjusted her glasses, and said, "There's a 99% chance this project will be approved. With Sean Daniel and Stephen Sommers overseeing it, there's no need to worry."
Matthew was also aware of his own standing; he had no say at Universal Pictures. Besides waiting to see others work hard, he just had to wait at this point.
"If it passes, how much will the film's investment be?" he asked, concerned.
For such a fantasy action film, if the investment was too low, it would probably turn into a B-movie.
"It shouldn't be higher than 40 million US dollars," Helen Herman said casually. "And it won't be less than 20 million US dollars at the minimum."
Matthew was a little surprised, "That high of an investment?"
In his opinion, 10 to 15 million US dollars would already be good.
Helen Herman glanced at Matthew and said, "The main criterion for investment isn't you, but Sean Daniel and Stephen Sommers. Do you think a project they collaborate on is worth that investment?"
"If the investment were based on me," Matthew shrugged, self-deprecatingly, "a million US dollars would be pretty good."
It's probably hard to even get a million US dollars. A Hollywood film with a million-dollar investment is no longer considered a very small production; most films produced rarely reach a million-dollar investment.
20 million to 40 million US dollars can definitely be called a medium-scale production.
Universal Pictures' benchmark should be Sean Daniel and Stephen Sommers' past successes, as well as the reputation of the scorpion king character.
"How much will I get paid?" This was Matthew's biggest concern, as he was almost broke. "What do you think?"
Helen Herman shook her head directly. "The crew hasn't been formed yet, and the investment amount hasn't been finalized. It's too early to talk about these things." Instead, she urged Matthew, "Stephen asked me to tell you that it's best to prepare for the role early."
Matthew no longer brought up the topic of salary and said, "I've resumed working out five times a week. Besides boxing training, I'm also preparing to learn a bit of mixed martial arts."
Helen Herman had always been confident in him in this regard; as long as there was an important role dangling, Matthew's enthusiasm was never an issue.
"You called me here today just for this?" Matthew asked.
Helen Herman pushed two copies of a document across. "This is the confirmation from the court regarding the breach of contract. Once you sign it, I'll send the document to the court, and the breach of contract issue will be completely resolved."
Matthew flipped through it, picked up a pen, and signed his name on it.
If it weren't for this document, he would have forgotten about the breach of contract. After paying the liquidated damages, he hadn't paid attention to it anymore.
"is that all?" Matthew handed one copy of the document back to Helen Herman.
"Just drop it off at my place on your way home from work."
"On my way?" Helen Herman raised an eyebrow. "I live in the south, and your house is in the north. How is that on the way? I don't want to go to your house either."
Matthew said carelessly, "Someone just died there, what's the big deal?"
Helen Herman didn't want to get entangled in this issue anymore and looked down at her computer screen. Matthew stood up and asked, "Anything else? If not, I'll be leaving."
Without even looking up, Helen Herman waved Matthew away. Matthew took his copy of the document and left Angel Talent Agency. After getting into his car, he specifically looked at the document again, and the scene from when he first arrived in this world involuntarily came to mind.
He vaguely remembered being very smitten with Jessica Drake at the time, and impulsively for a second, he even considered making a romantic action film. Fortunately, he didn't go through with it then, otherwise, how could he have ended up with Britney as his girlfriend later?
After signing the out-of-court settlement, he specifically sought out and watched that film. The lead actor not only had scenes with Jessica Drake but also fought fiercely with Nikki Anderson, and finally even performed a one-against-two spectacular… "What a pity… what a pity…"
Muttering to himself, Matthew started the car and drove north, soon getting onto Interstate 5. When he reached the turn-off for home, he didn't turn, instinctively continuing north until he reached the San Fernando Valley.
This small valley city is a holy land yearned for by many people around the world, but like Hollywood, the San Fernando Valley is also facing a serious outflow of film crews. According to relevant California laws, condoms must be used during filming, which affects many customers' purchasing choices. However, neighboring Nevada, especially Las Vegas, does not have such strict regulations, thus attracting a large number of companies with film crews based in the San Fernando Valley to film there.
Matthew drove around the valley area and couldn't see much difference from other satellite cities in Los Angeles. Finally, he parked his car in an area full of studios. These studios were originally used by some of the earliest companies to shoot romantic action films, and now film crews occasionally work there.
As he passed by a studio near the highway, he saw the name on a large poster pasted on the studio, and couldn't help but stop to look, confirming it was a romantic action version of an action film.
However, as his gaze swept across the cast list, he unexpectedly saw a familiar name—Michael Sheen!
This name was also very prominent, seemingly an important actor.
"I didn't expect the name hasn't even changed." Matthew started the car and left. "Looks like he's doing pretty well."
He didn't wait around to see if this Michael Sheen was *that* Michael Sheen, as that was already a distant past.
Afterward, Matthew went to a video store on the outskirts of the studio area and specifically picked out a few newly released discs. He wasn't particularly familiar with romantic action films of this era. Based on his memory, he chose a few discs with a woodpecker logo, planning to wait until Britney returned to Los Angeles another day and bring her home to enjoy them together.
They could also appreciate and learn at the same time, combining theory with practice to improve their skills.
However, Britney was shooting a new album MV and wouldn't be back for a while.
As he paid and prepared to leave the store, Matthew noticed that they also sold small DV camcorders, and the price wasn't expensive, completely within his affordable range. Having participated in the filming of several film and television productions in the past two years, he had developed some interest in photography. He couldn't help but buy a Sony handheld home DV camcorder, planning to practice by filming something when he had time.
He once asked the cinematographer Slawomir Izak on set, and according to him, to achieve a certain level of photography skill, one needs to shoot and practice a lot.
"When I go to the gym tomorrow…" Matthew immediately thought of a use after buying it. "I can ask someone to help record a video of my sparring session with Nebula."
He was very interested in both boxing and mixed martial arts and planned to continue practicing them unless there were special circumstances.
Back home, Matthew filmed a video of his courtyard. The DV camcorder technology of this era couldn't even compare to the cameras on former smartphones, and with his limited skills, the footage was very ordinary.
"Looks like I need to practice more." He found a new way to relax in his free time.
No matter what job one does, it's easy to feel bored after a long time, so proper relaxation is essential.
Days passed, and it quickly entered mid-June. After its tenth weekend in the North American film market, the North American box office reached 196.5 million US dollars. This achievement seemed quite good, but the North American box office for the tenth weekend only brought in 1.27 million US dollars, continuing its sharp decline, just like its previous trend.
The reputation of the film had severely affected its box office trajectory, causing Universal Pictures to repeatedly lower its expectations. Recently, they even considered it a victory if the North American box office could eventually exceed 200 million US dollars.
Although this film was a big hit, it was inevitable that it would not meet Universal Pictures' expectations, and there was no longer any talk within Universal Pictures about making a third installment in the series.
According to news Helen Herman received, many within Universal Pictures believed that lead actor Brendan Fraser's scandal of assaulting a fan dragged down later box office performance, to the point where the final North American box office couldn't even reach the lowered expectation of 220 million US dollars.
Fortunately, the overseas box office for the film was quite good, and it was not difficult for Universal Pictures to make a profit on this project. The film's revenue was not limited to box office alone; T-shirts featuring the scorpion king's likeness sold hundreds of thousands of units in North America alone.
This also served as proof that the scorpion king was a highlight of the entire film.
Furthermore, after market research, Universal Pictures also launched scorpion king figurines and dolls based on Matthew, which, like the T-shirts, could bring Matthew a portion of income from his image rights.
Although the revenue share was very low, it could still cover his daily living expenses.
News from Universal Pictures kept coming in, and Helen Herman consistently maintained close contact with them.