The Best Movie Actor In Hollywood! Chapter 46

It was just after eight in the morning when Matthew, true to his word, arrived at Helen’s office.

Helen was the only one inside.

"Have a seat," Helen said, her attention on the laptop in front of her. "He won't be here for another half hour."

Matthew poured himself a glass of water and settled onto the lone sofa. Seeing that Helen was busy, he waited patiently.

Less than ten minutes later, Helen finished typing, pushed her laptop aside, and announced, "I've contacted an officer who retired from the army a few years ago. He was a drill instructor for a long time and now regularly trains actors for military roles in Hollywood. He’s a perfect fit for what you need."

"Sounds great," Matthew nodded.

Helen took off her glasses and wiped them, adding, "He's already putting together a ten-day military training program for you."

"And the fee?" Matthew asked the most important question. "How much does he want for his services?"

"Twelve hundred dollars for ten days—it's quite a low price." Helen, thinking of Matthew's financial situation, asked, "Can you cover it?"

After setting aside the $1200, he would have enough left to cover his basic living expenses for a while. If he managed to land the role of Ronald Speirs, the production would pay out a portion of his salary upon signing the contract.

"Have you gone over the materials I gave you?" Helen asked.

"I've read through all the information, and I'm on my third read-through of the novel," Matthew said bluntly. "I'm not a strong reader, so I might be slower to grasp things than others."

On the other side of the Pacific, Matthew had learned only a very limited amount of English. Before that, he'd finished middle school, but it was at a chaotic public school where he'd learned next to nothing.

Helen warned him, "You need to improve your reading skills, or you'll have trouble with scripts in the future."

"I know," Matthew explained. "That's why I've been reading the newspaper every day for months, without fail."

A knock came at the office door. Amanda entered, glancing first at Matthew, then at Helen. "He's here."

Helen closed her laptop. "Bring him in."

A few minutes later, Amanda returned with a lean, tanned man in his thirties.

Helen rose from behind her desk and immediately made the introductions.

"Matthew, this is Hawk Breton." She introduced the lean, tanned man first. "He's a former military instructor."

Then she turned to him. "Hawk, this is Matthew Horner, an actor and your next employer."

Matthew shook Breton's hand, feeling that the retired officer's palm was just as calloused as his own.

The two men exchanged brief pleasantries, and Helen, who had drawn up the contract the previous evening, handed them a pen. Both sides signed the agreement, a simple ten-day work arrangement.

"When do we start the training?" Breton asked.

Matthew didn't hesitate. "The sooner, the better."

Breton seemed to have retained his military bearing. "In that case, I'll finalize the plan today, and we'll start tomorrow."

Matthew decided to take a temporary leave from his acting classes. "Perfect," he said.

Breton followed up with another question. "Where will we be training?"

"Huh?" Only then did Matthew realize he had overlooked something very important.

Helen spoke up for him. "My family has a small farmhouse west of Burbank. Hawk, I'll text you the exact address later."

"Excellent." Breton was clearly a man of action. "If that's everything, I'll be on my way."

He nodded to Matthew and Amanda and left the office.

With Helen having solved the issue of a training location, Matthew couldn't help but ask, "Are you charging me to train there?"

"If you want to pay," Helen said plainly, "I won't refuse."

Matthew, of course, wanted to save the money, so he changed the subject. "Any new information about the audition?"

Helen didn't press the issue. "Eric told me yesterday that Tom Hanks himself will be sitting in on the auditions for Ronald Speirs."

"That means..." Matthew grasped the implication. "His opinion will directly determine who gets to play Speirs?"

"Exactly." Helen stated the fact. "Tom Hanks is running the show over there."

Matthew, still lacking confidence, asked, "If the audition falls through, what other roles could I get?"

"The backup plan has three targets so far," Helen replied. "An unlucky guy who gets shot with a captured Luger, a soldier on road duty who appears in every episode but has very few lines or scenes, and a sergeant who gets torn in half and dies."

Matthew frowned. All those roles would be completely unnoticeable to the audience.

Helen handed Matthew another stack of photocopies—the diary of Easy Company soldier David Kenyon Webster, which would be useful for his work on the character of Ronald Speirs.

With the photocopied diary in hand, Matthew headed downstairs, where Amanda waved to him from behind the reception desk.

"Matthew," she called out. "Come here, I need to tell you something."

Matthew walked over to her.

Amanda leaned her hands on the reception desk, bent a little closer, and said, "I went to the airport recently to book a ticket."

"The airport to book a ticket?" Matthew asked, raising an eyebrow. "Are you going back home?"

"Yeah." Amanda nodded. "When I came here, it was only supposed to be temporary, to help Helen out. Now it's time to go back to London to continue my studies at Cambridge."

Matthew sighed. "That's a shame. I'll miss you."

Regardless, Amanda had been a great help to him.

Amanda smiled. "Maybe you'll finally be a star by the time we see each other again."

Matthew asked, "What day is your flight? I'll see you off."

"No, don't worry about it." Amanda shook her head. "This is a critical time for you to prepare for the audition; don't get distracted. My parents are already here, so I'll be going with them."

Hearing this, Matthew didn't insist. He just nodded. "My phone number won't change. Call me if you want."

"I'll be in England," Amanda said with the same smile. "If you pass the audition, you'll be filming in England, too. We might see each other then."

"Great." Matthew smiled back. "See you in the UK."

After chatting with Amanda for a bit longer, he left the Angel Agency and went to the bank. He transferred three hundred dollars to Breton's account, as previously agreed, with the remaining nine hundred to be paid in a lump sum upon completion of the training.

As a result, he was left with very little money, but thankfully he had no major expenses, so he could get by for a while by being frugal.

What an actor at his level could earn wasn't enough to cover his expenses.

If he could land a job on the set of Band of Brothers, he'd have a salary that would ease his financial difficulties. But if he couldn't get a role, or if the pay was too low, he'd have to consider finding another part-time job.

For now, Matthew just hoped the audition would happen soon. Even if it meant landing an insignificant supporting role and going to the UK for filming, at least he could eat on set and save a ton of money on daily expenses.

It was a pretty hopeless situation, being poor.

After completing the transfer, Matthew called Helen and asked her to inform Breton, then returned to his apartment in Westwood to carefully study the diary of David Kenyon Webster.

He knew perfectly well that Helen must have gone to considerable effort to get her hands on that diary.

The agent kept her cards close to her chest, but she was actively working to pave the way for him.

Matthew also had a feeling that he was now the Angel Agency's number one prospective client.

After studying the memoirs all day and through the night, he arrived on time early the next morning at the small farm to begin the rigorous training that was meant to give him an edge at the audition.