After leaving the set, Matthew temporarily had no work. Helen Herman was still sifting through suitable projects and roles. Now that he had a bit of fame, having just starred as the male lead in a $40 million production, he was gradually developing his own style. He couldn't be as indiscriminate as before. If he were to take on new work, he would definitely prioritize roles that matched his characteristics.
This wasn't to say he had much capital to choose scripts and roles, but rather it was normal career management. In the early stages, to accumulate experience and qualifications and cover basic expenses, he naturally took whatever came his way. Now, however, he couldn't continue in that state of jumping at any role.
For example, Helen Herman wouldn't allow him to take on traditional Hollywood villain roles, unless they were similar to Kevin Spacey's character in *The Usual Suspects*.
But both she and Matthew knew very well that for such complex villain roles, a production wouldn't cast Matthew; he simply couldn't handle such a character.
Therefore, at this stage, being selective about work was essential.
Hollywood greenlights many projects each year, but the internal competition is extremely fierce. Even an agent like Helen Herman, who can leverage family connections, can't always find suitable projects at every moment.
On his first day after leaving the set, Matthew slept in late, not waking up until nine in the morning. After washing up and having breakfast, he took a walk around his small yard, feeling refreshed. The accumulated fatigue and work pressure from filming had completely vanished.
With planned fitness and training, his excellent physical condition became increasingly apparent: strong, agile, and full of energy.
However, long periods of continuous high-intensity training also brought Matthew some trouble (troubles). He felt more impulsive than before, an impulse stemming from his physical body. Simply put, his desire for intimacy had grown stronger.
With his girlfriend unable to be by his side, and not wanting to resort to self-gratification, it was sometimes difficult, though thankfully his self-control was relatively strong.
Matthew occasionally discussed this issue with his coach, Nebula. In Nebula's professional terms, people who consistently engage in high-intensity exercise have more oxygen in their blood and a stronger desire for sex than the average person. Even among ordinary people, those who exercise regularly maintain vigorous sexual activity. This is because during exercise, the body releases endorphins, which are naturally occurring endocrine substances that can induce pleasure and greatly benefit sexual desire.
Nebula even showed him a nationally distributed magazine. A survey of men in the magazine showed that 95% of them experienced a significant improvement in sexual function after three months of exercise.
After ten minutes of circling the yard, Matthew returned inside, opened his computer, and first updated his blog, uploading the stills the crew had given him yesterday.
These were stills from yesterday's scene, a close-up of Mathayus standing proudly on a high platform after defeating Memnon.
To describe it from Matthew's self-indulgent perspective, the protagonist in this still exuded an air of invincibility, looking down upon the world.
"Now this is a Hollywood action movie lead," he muttered, adding a caption below the still: "My scenes are finally wrapped! I really can't wait to see the film!"
Matthew didn't write much, just uploaded it to his blog. His blog now had a considerable following, especially after the 9/11 incident, when the number of followers increased significantly.
Blogs gained considerable prominence in the coverage of the 9/11 incident. While other media outlets were still figuring things out, a barrage of on-site photos and related blog posts had already begun on blogs, making it difficult not to attract attention.
Subsequently, blogs, no longer a niche online tool, naturally entered the public eye.
After posting his blog entry, he logged into MSN. There weren't many contacts, and only Elena Boyar was online.
Apparently seeing Matthew come online, Elena Boyar sent him a message.
"Big star, are your scenes finished?"
Matthew thought for a moment and replied, "Finished. Do you want to interview me?"
The internet in North America was developing rapidly, with a huge number of users spread across almost every corner of the US. The front-page headlines of portal websites like Yahoo Entertainment, while not comparable to top industry publications, were still a hundred times stronger than ordinary entertainment magazines.
The previous column article had attracted a lot of attention for him.
"Let's wait until your film is released," Elena Boyar, being pragmatic, replied. "You're not a hot topic right now. Even if there was an interview, the editor wouldn't approve it."
"Oh, so I'm still not famous enough."
"Precisely. If you were a big star, getting on the front page wouldn't be difficult."
Matthew chatted with Elena Boyar on MSN for about ten minutes. After Elena Boyar left for work, he closed MSN.
He then browsed the news online for a while. Reports of the war in Afghanistan were everywhere. Last month, President Bush and the federal government had officially deployed troops to Afghanistan, in retaliation for the 9/11 attacks.
This was too far removed from his life. After a while, he opened his blog again. There were already quite a few comments under the blog post and stills he had just uploaded.
"The blogger is so cool, looking forward to your movie."
"This look is even more stylish than the Scorpion King!"
"When is the movie coming out? I'll go support you then."
There were many similar comments.
Matthew saw them and then remembered he'd forgotten to post the movie's release date. He posted another blog entry, accompanied by the previous promotional poster.
"My new film, *The Scorpion King*, will be released in North America on April 10, 2002!"
The crew had long ago set the release date. Initially, they wanted to schedule it for the end of April weekend to leverage the heat of the May summer blockbuster season. However, after the trailer for next year's summer blockbuster opener was released and garnered an extremely strong reaction, Universal Pictures immediately scrapped that idea and moved the film's release forward to the middle of April weekend.
Based on past experience, the box office for typical entertainment blockbusters like this generally concentrates in the first three, or even first two, weeks after release. This helps to avoid potential impact, especially since, judging from the trailer's reception, it was widely considered by the industry to be a potential huge hit for next year's summer season.
However, moving the release to mid-April wasn't without its drawbacks, as April is traditionally a slow month for movies in North America.
But there are rarely such perfect solutions in this world.
Matthew, in particular, thought the release date was acceptable. If he had to choose, he would certainly avoid it. Thanks to the rampant influence of Marvel's cinematic universe, he had watched many Marvel comic book adaptations and popcorn movies, and he had naturally seen this trilogy. He knew it was an extremely successful film series, otherwise Sony Columbia Pictures wouldn't have released the Spider-Man movie when they faced a crisis.
The Scorpion King going head-to-head with Spider-Man would be like an ordinary person facing Spider-Man—he would definitely get beaten black and blue.
It wasn't that he was being self-deprecating, but rather that the objective situation was clear.
After posting the blog entry, Matthew shut down his computer. Checking the time, he packed his fitness gear into his backpack, ready to go out for lunch, then hit the gym. Regular fitness routines could be a bit monotonous, but his interest in boxing and free combat was growing stronger.
More importantly, these two sports seemed to suit him well, and he was making very rapid progress.
Matthew hadn't even left the house when his phone rang. After answering, a familiar voice came through.
"Hi, Matthew." The voice immediately made Matthew think of a shark's mouth from a cartoon. He said, "Long time no see, Michael."
It was Michael Fassbender on the other end. He said, "I'm in Los Angeles, and James is here too. Are you in Los Angeles?"
"I am!" Matthew slung his backpack on and walked outside. "I was just about to head to the gym. I have a combat coach scheduled for this afternoon."
"Then let's get together tonight."
Hearing Michael Fassbender's suggestion, Matthew thought he had nothing planned for the evening and said, "Sounds good. Call James too."
"Of course I'll call him!" Michael Fassbender's voice came through again. "There's a Black Mamba Bar on Hollywood Boulevard, do you know it?"
The Red Penguin Service Company where Matthew used to work was on Hollywood Boulevard, so he was quite familiar with that area.
"I know it," he said. "Are we going there?"
"We'll meet at the Black Mamba Bar tonight. I'll call James in a bit; he has time too."
Matthew stepped out of his house, locked the front door, and then said, "Okay, see you there."
Hanging up the phone, he got into his car and drove towards Westwood. He had lunch at his usual Chinese restaurant, then took a stroll around a nearby small park. He even made a point of looking at the somewhat dilapidated apartment building nearby—these were all places where he had once lived and fought. At two in the afternoon, he arrived at the gym on time, first doing some general exercises as a warm-up, then heading upstairs to the boxing training hall to practice free combat with a coach.
It continued until 5:30 PM when Matthew finally left the training ground. Since he had plans with Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy, he didn't return to Burbank. Instead, he showered and changed in the gym's locker room and headed directly to the Black Mamba Bar on Hollywood Boulevard.
Hollywood Boulevard is one of Los Angeles's concentrated nightlife areas, and the Black Mamba Bar is one of its most famous establishments. Its major shareholder is the renowned Johnny Depp, and Hollywood stars occasionally frequent the bar.
Matthew arrived at the bar at the agreed-upon time. Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy were already there.