To ensure the actors could train in peace without disturbance, the production team specially rented a small studio at Warner Bros. Studios.
After some simple adjustments, it was transformed into a temporary training venue, complete with weapon racks, archery targets, and even hard foam mats on the floor to prevent injuries to the actors.
Matthew changed into his training clothes and emerged from the changing room, where he saw the assistant the production team had assigned him.
It was a Chinese-American girl with short, black hair.
Upon seeing him, she proactively greeted him, "Hi, Matthew, we meet again."
Seeing a familiar face as his assistant put Matthew in a good mood, and he immediately responded, "It's great to see you, Mira."
He walked over and asked, "Did you decide to develop your career in Hollywood?"
Mira Wang took the work bag from Matthew's hand and followed behind him, saying, "I only arrived in Los Angeles this month.
I saw the casting call for the production team in the newspaper and came over.
I had worked on a production before, so they hired me without hesitation."
The other actors and action director Tim Madsen hadn't arrived yet, so Matthew and Mila temporarily went to the lounge area at the edge of the venue, found a random seat, and waited, while Mira began to skillfully organize his work bag.
"The usual?" Mira asked.
Matthew nodded slightly, "Whatever is fine."
He didn't have very high demands in this regard.
Mira took out a towel for wiping sweat and hung it on a nearby rack, then took out a water bottle, checked how much water was inside, and asked, "The production team prepared special functional drinks."
Seeing that Matthew didn't object, she went to the dining area and brought back an electrolyte drink and energy-boosting food.
At this point, other actors began to enter the training hall.
Matthew quickly scanned them, first noticing the female lead.
This female lead had black hair, looked to be around thirty years old, and appeared to be of Asian or mixed heritage.
The other three male actors looked familiar, possibly from Angel Agency, and were likely the three actors Helen Herman had recommended to the production team.
Of the three actors, one looked somewhat shifty, one was tall and a bit overweight, and the other, in his thirties, was very muscular.
Although their skin tones weren't fair, Matthew could tell they were all white actors.
Fortunately, in this era, black people hadn't yet been spoiled by Hollywood.
If this were during the years he followed Hollywood entertainment gossip, a medium-sized production like this, without a single main actor being black, might have been angrily criticized as racist by the black uncles in the industry.
Behind them were some other actors, mostly minor actors in the production team who had action scenes.
Soon, action director Tim Madsen also arrived.
He gave a few instructions to the action directing team, and the actors quickly divided into different groups.
As the male lead, Matthew was, of course, personally guided by Tim Madsen, while the other main actors also had dedicated trainers.
"I've watched all the footage you shot on set."
The two of them occupied about a third of the training hall.
Tim Madsen stood in the center and said to Matthew, "I've specifically designed an action routine for you that combines agility and strength."
Matthew knew that action routines for film were completely different from real combat, and he didn't think he was hot stuff just because he had practiced boxing and kickboxing.
Perhaps the slender Tim Madsen couldn't beat him in a real unarmed fight, but when it came to action design for films, he was definitely a professional.
"In the action scenes of the script, you often face situations where you're outnumbered."
Tim Madsen explained in detail, "Morpheus is a powerful assassin and warrior, but he hasn't transcended human limits.
When outnumbered, it's impossible to confront enemies head-on; evasive maneuvers and escape are essential."
"Hmm," Matthew nodded.
"Tim, just talking about it isn't intuitive enough.
How about this: could you roughly demonstrate it?"
Tim Madsen, of course, wouldn't refuse, "Sure."
Then, he successively brought out props such as a knife, a spear, and a bow and arrow, demonstrating some meticulously designed action routines.
"is that okay?" Tim Madsen asked after shooting an arrow, "What do you think?"
Matthew gave a thumbs-up, "Absolutely brilliant."
Action in movies must first be visually appealing.
Although this film adopted a realistic fighting style, rejecting fancy dance moves, it also wouldn't be like Hollywood films from the 70s and 80s, where many action scenes were unbearable to watch.
Subsequently, under Tim Madsen's guidance, Matthew began some basic training, such as how to hold a knife, how to draw a bow, and so on.
These all needed to be done properly, otherwise, they would look ridiculous on camera.
Compared to him, the absolute protagonist, the training for the other actors was much more relaxed.
After all, this was filmmaking, not preparing actors for a combat competition.
Matthew, holding a prop knife, went to a large mirror and continuously practiced drawing the knife.
Not far away, the black-haired actress playing the female lead stood in front of a mirror, stretching her muscles.
He glanced at her and saw that the actress performed several high kicks with great ease, guessing that she had either specifically trained before or was a dancer.
The actress also noticed Matthew and walked over when he was resting.
"Hi…" she greeted him proactively.
Matthew also responded politely, "Hello."
He thought for a moment and introduced himself, "Matthew Horner."
"Kelly Hu," the actress also introduced herself.
Subtly observing her, Matthew pointed to where she had just been and asked, "Have you practiced dancing?"
Despite wearing loose training clothes, he could still tell that the actress's physique was excellently sculpted, and she exuded an indescribable aura.
"No," Kelly Hu shook her head first, then said, "I'm a black belt in karate."
Matthew was slightly taken aback, as this woman didn't look like it at all, and he couldn't help but say with a smile, "That's very surprising."
Kelly Hu, however, looked at Matthew and said, "I heard people on the crew mention that you've practiced boxing and kickboxing."
"It's just a hobby," Matthew thought to himself, 'is this woman crazy, wanting to spar with me?'
"I just do it for fun when I have nothing to do."
It turned out he had overthought it, as Kelly Hu then said, "Does that help with shooting action scenes?"
Matthew nodded gently, "Yes, it does."
He looked at Kelly Hu's face, which leaned towards an Eastern woman's features, and asked, "Are you Chinese-American?"
Kelly Hu openly admitted, "I have a quarter Chinese ancestry; my great-grandfather was Chinese."
Matthew pointed to her hair, tied in a ponytail, "No wonder you have such beautiful long black hair."
He was just about to rest, so he simply stood there and chatted with Kelly Hu for a while.
Kelly Hu was the female lead, and they would have many scenes together in the future, so getting to know each other now would also benefit future filming.
After chatting for a while, Matthew also learned some basic information about Kelly Hu, such as that despite being Chinese-American, she couldn't speak Chinese, and because she had practiced karate and Japanese swordsmanship, she had a greater fondness for Japan.
About ten minutes later, the two returned to their respective areas and continued their individual practices.
After Matthew practiced drawing and twirling the knife for a while, Tim Madsen, concerned that the actors might get bored, had him switch to practicing archery as a change of pace.
The training hall, temporarily converted from a studio, was enormous, and the four wall areas each had their own functions.
The side near the changing rooms and makeup area was the temporary resting place for actors, with large entrance and exit doors on both sides, while the opposite side was a solid wall, where archery targets were set up for actors to practice.
Picking up a recurve bow, Matthew, following Tim Madsen's instructions, nocked a prop arrow, held it between his fingers, and drew the bowstring.
The wooden bow looked stiff but felt soft when drawn.
Matthew easily drew it to a full moon, aimed at a nearby target, and released the bowstring.
The arrow whizzed out, grazed past the target, and hit the wall.
Next, he pulled out a second arrow, again bent the bow and nocked the arrow.
This time, his aim was a bit better, and the arrow hit the target.
Unfortunately, the arrowheads were blunt, so they couldn't penetrate the target.
The morning's training passed quickly.
Matthew returned to the resting area, and Mila immediately handed him a towel.
He took it, wiped his sweat, then took the cup Mira offered and drank some water, saying, "Let's go.
We'll have lunch together."
Seeing Mira didn't move, he said, "It's been a long time since we last met.
My treat."
Today's training session ended here.
Matthew was about to go to the changing room to change clothes when the three male actors from his agency, Angel Agency, walked over.
"Hey, Matthew," said the one who looked a bit shifty, "We meet again."
Matthew didn't remember exactly where he had seen him, and he said with a smile, "Yes, we do."
Mila stood very close behind him and whispered a reminder, "Duff Villa."
Matthew remained composed and extended his hand, "Duff, it's great that we get to work together."
Duff Villa quickly shook his hand, "I think so too."
He then introduced the other two actors to Matthew, first pointing to the tall one and saying, "This is Clark Bernard," and then pointing to the very muscular one and saying, "This is Steven Brand."
Since they would be working together on the same production in the future, Matthew politely shook hands and greeted both of them.
However, these two were clearly not as sociable as Duff Villa.
The tall Clark Bernard was alright, but the muscular Steven Brand kept a tight expression, seeming to have some issue with him.
But Matthew didn't care much; these three were completely on a different level than him.
After a few pleasantries, Matthew and Mira took their leave first.
The other three watched their retreating figures, lingering for a while.
"Don't overthink it," Duff Villa reminded them, "Let's go."