Everyone looked at the assistant director, not understanding what had happened.
Even if the crew had to temporarily change the filming schedule because the tourists refused to cooperate, there was no need to act like this, was there?
The assistant director was in a panic, his face full of disbelief, as if he had seen the outbreak of World War III.
"Fernandez!" Chuck Russell said loudly, very displeased, "Calm down!"
"Something's happened! Something's happened..." Fernandez had no intention of calming down; he was still in the same state.
"My brother... my brother..."
He was incoherent, and Matthew was completely at a loss.
"What happened to your brother?" asked a crew member who was familiar with him.
"Yesterday you told me he went to work for a big company in the World Trade Center?"
Hearing the words "World Trade Center," Matthew was startled and asked Mira Wang, who was beside him, "What's the date today?"
Mira Wang immediately replied, "September 11th."
September 11th! September 11th...
Coupled with the mention of the World Trade Center, Matthew instantly realized that the shocking case that had changed the entire world had occurred.
Sure enough, the assistant director cried out, "I just heard the news that the World Trade Center was attacked, and the South Tower of the Twin Towers has collapsed.
My brother works on the 78th floor of the South Tower..."
"How is that possible?"
"No way?"
"You can't joke about this kind of thing."
Most of the crew didn't believe it, or rather, didn't dare to believe it, as the American mainland hadn't experienced a serious attack in the past hundred years.
Matthew believed it was true but didn't say anything.
He remained silent; at this moment, silence was the wisest choice.
Soon, someone took out their phone and started making calls, confirming that what the assistant director said was true.
"Oh my God..."
"How could this happen?"
"is World War about to break out?"
The crew then fell into disarray, with most people pulling out their phones to make calls, especially those with relatives or friends in New York.
Matthew also made two calls: one to Britney, his girlfriend, and another to Helen Herman, an important business partner, to confirm their safety.
Britney was filming an MV in Irvine, Orange County, and Helen Herman had just returned to Angel Agency from Warner Bros. Studios.
Both were very far from the incident location in New York.
Then, he sent text messages to James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender.
These two guys replied quickly, apparently not in New York either.
After that, Matthew put away his phone and, like those in the crew who had no relatives or friends in the World Trade Twin Towers, became one of countless ordinary bystanders.
As for trying to gain some benefit from this incident, he decided against it.
Firstly, he didn't know how to, and secondly, he realized that such an event was not something a small person could get involved in.
The crew couldn't possibly film today.
Although few people's relatives were working in the World Trade Center like the assistant director's brother, the impact of this event on most people, especially Americans, was still enormous.
Not to mention everyone was in a panic; it was impossible to work with peace of mind.
Director Chuck Russell simply announced a day off, postponing work matters until tomorrow.
Matthew could also see that most of the crew's thoughts had flown to Manhattan, New York, and were no longer on their work.
Returning to the makeup trailer, he came out after removing his makeup and saw many people on the phone, even Mira Wang, who was British, was no exception, as if she wouldn't feel at ease without confirming her family's whereabouts.
"Who would have thought something like this would happen?" Kelly Hu walked over at this moment.
Her makeup trailer was next to Matthew's.
"Fortunately, my family is all in Hawaii."
She then asked Matthew, "Have you made all your calls?
No one is in New York, right?"
"Family?" Matthew shook his head.
"I haven't had family for a long time.
I called my friends, and they're not in New York."
"We are all very lucky," Kelly Hu said then.
Matthew agreed, "Everyone not in New York is lucky."
Not being in New York, not being in Manhattan, at this time, was a kind of luck.
Even if they were far from the World Trade Twin Towers, what kind of shadow and nightmare would remain after witnessing the collapse of these two world-famous buildings?
The two chatted for a while, then Matthew left and walked among the crew's trailers, pondering the 9/11 issue.
What he remembered most clearly was that shortly after 9/11, the Washington authorities and George W. Bush identified Bin Laden as the mastermind, then launched a global War on Terror that changed the entire world situation.
But what were the specific changes?
He couldn't really say.
Anyway, the news he saw on his smartphone at the time was that the world situation had changed.
A person struggling for basic livelihood didn't care much about such matters; for ordinary people, world peace was not as important as filling their stomachs.
What about Hollywood?
He looked at the sun in the sky, trying to recall the entertainment gossip he had once seen, and gradually remembered some relevant things: it seemed that after the 9/11 incident, black actors became particularly active in Hollywood, and there even seemed to be the first black Oscar-winning actress or actor.
Afterward, using black actors gradually became a form of Hollywood political correctness.
If a major production didn't have a main or positive black character, it would be suspected of racial discrimination.
Hollywood competition would become even fiercer in the future; many mainstream commercial films would probably no longer mind having black protagonists.
Perhaps one day, a film featuring black and LGBT characters could easily win the Oscar for Best Picture.
Matthew shook his head, no longer thinking about these things.
Whether white or black, anyone who blocked his path was a bad person!
Then, he recalled the impact of the 9/11 incident on the place where he used to live.
The 9/11 incident was so famous that many people at the time thought the American police specifically chose this number as the emergency call number after 9/11, when in fact, 911 had been the universal emergency call number for American police long before.
According to Matthew's guess, Uncle Laden and his world's number one criminal organization might have deliberately chosen this day to launch the attack.
Subsequently, Matthew returned to his trailer, which had satellite TV, and saw more news about the 9/11 incident.
In any case, Manhattan, New York, looked truly tragic.
The 9/11 incident had a profound impact on American society as a whole.
Although Matthew and the crew living in the Gobi Desert couldn't feel it directly, they could see its effect on the crew.
When the crew resumed work the next day, some people were still distracted and made frequent mistakes in their work.
Chuck Russell and Sean Daniel, who had just arrived, had no choice but to continue giving the crew time off, and even gave them a week-long holiday.
Matthew did not return to Los Angeles but went directly to Irvine to meet Britney.
He booked a room in the same hotel and stayed for a full six days, only returning to the Black Rock Desert in Nevada to continue his scenes the day before the holiday ended.
During these six days, he followed a lot of current news, which was almost completely dominated by messages related to the 9/11 incident, and he also updated related memorial blog posts.
At the same time, he also paid attention to the film industry; the occurrence of the 9/11 incident directly hit the film exhibition industry hard.
North American box office revenue almost reached its lowest value in more than a decade during these six days.
Especially films with heavy themes were abandoned by audiences, as if the 9/11 incident had made the psychological endurance of North American audiences incredibly fragile.
Matthew couldn't help but think of the film he participated in, which was still in post-production and expected to be released before the end of the year.
He subconsciously felt that the film's box office might be problematic, as it was a very cruel war movie with many scenes of American soldiers being killed.
After the 9/11 incident, could mainstream audiences psychologically accept such a film?
Matthew felt that the prospects were not very good, and there might be a war on terror later.
The entire society's attention would not leave the 9/11 incident, and the film might suffer a box office flop.
But such things were beyond his control.
Given the general trend of society, the film company probably had no choice but to postpone the release.
Back in the Black Rock Desert, the crew finally emerged from that peculiar state of sadness, anxiety, and lack of concentration.
Although mistakes still occurred occasionally, filming could proceed.
And Matthew's condition was still very good; he had relatively more NGs in dramatic scenes, but the action scenes were filmed very smoothly, often making up for the time wasted on dramatic scenes.
The crew had also been progressing according to plan.
Sometimes, Matthew also wondered if there was a movie where he fought from beginning to end, didn't need to say many lines, and maintained the same expression throughout?
It seemed he was very suitable for filming this type of movie.
Unfortunately, with too many action scenes, films were always considered brainless by the media and critics.
Half a month later, the crew finished their outdoor scenes in the desert and returned to Los Angeles to continue filming at Warner Bros. Studios.
The crew also released preliminary promotional posters.
The main poster removed other characters and focused entirely on Matthew, the male lead, with Kelly Hu as a supporting element.
Originally, the poster was supposed to be released in mid-September, but it was delayed until now because of the 9/11 incident.
"What about us? Weren't we on the poster initially?"
In a shared makeup room for three, Clark Bernard stood there, his face seemingly ablaze with anger.
"Why aren't we there now? Why were we deleted?"
Duff Villa spread his hands and shook his head.
"I don't know."
"I know!"
Steven Brand, who had been silent, suddenly said sinisterly, "I asked around.
It was Matthew Horner who put pressure on the crew through Helen Herman to remove all of us from the poster!"
Clark Bernard's eyes widened.
"He's bullying us!"