The Best Movie Actor In Hollywood! Chapter 65

Upon arriving at the restaurant, Matthew walked over to Michael Fassbender and asked, "How are they doing?"

"Nothing serious," Michael, who had spent the most time in the infirmary, reported. "Two shots to relax their muscles and separate them, and they'll be fine."

He couldn't help but smile. "Before I left, I heard them begging the doctor to let them go home. It seems they don't have the guts to stay on set, but the crew is in no hurry to let them go."

Matthew nodded, then lowered his voice. "Did you deliberately make James scream like that?"

Michael didn't deny it. "And what was wrong with that? We were trying to get rid of Tom... and Kate, for that matter." He stretched and added, "It feels good to think I won't have to go through any more of that devilish training."

"I think we can go back to the hotel," Matthew said. Everyone loves comfort, and he was no exception. "There's nothing left for us to do in that old, damp barracks."

Michael ignored Matthew's comment and asked instead, "How do you feel, Matthew? Are you in a good mood? You finally got to see Kate humiliated."

"Let's just say," Matthew made no effort to hide his elation, a smile constantly playing on his lips, "today was the best day I've had since I got here."

The two men looked at each other and burst into loud, simultaneous laughter.

With a problem concerning the military instructor, the actors' training was temporarily suspended, pending notification from the crew on when it would resume. The production team didn't want the situation to become public knowledge and ordered everyone to remain silent; after all, they didn't need any more embarrassment.

According to James, Gary Goetzman, who was in charge of the shoot at Hatfield Airport, had intended to see the unfortunate lovers for himself. But after hearing a report from the assistant producer—the same one who had led Matthew and Michael Fassbender to the warehouse—he didn't even bother entering the infirmary. He simply ordered everyone to keep their mouths shut and left without another word.

In the afternoon, timing his move for when the garbage truck was due, Matthew calmly went to the locker room and disposed of the leftover materials and Tom's box of condoms from his wardrobe.

He took the ones he had doctored and replaced them with another box he had prepared in advance, placing it in Tom's locker. It had the exact same manufacturing date and the same number of condoms remaining.

The day after the incident, news came from James, who had become something of an informant. Tom and Kate had left the production. The crew had promoted another assistant producer to take Kate's place and had also appointed a new military advisor—the one who had been training the principal actors, like Damian Lewis—to serve as their instructor.

This new instructor had a completely different approach to training than Tom.

No one cared about Tom and Kate anymore. With them gone, everyone looked forward to the remaining half-month of training with great anticipation.

Sure enough, by mid-day, Gary Goetzman called a meeting of all the actors on the training ground and announced a man named David Hartsh as the new military instructor.

Not only would he be responsible for training the twenty actors, but he would also serve as the military advisor during the actual filming.

Upon taking charge, he did almost exactly what Michael and James had hoped for. He scrapped nearly all of Tom's grueling, military-style training program, replacing the weighted cross-country runs with a standard three-mile jog each day and eliminating the crawling through mud.

According to David, they were actors. As long as they could behave like soldiers, there was no need to actually become them.

David had been working in Hollywood for several years and had a completely different philosophy on training actors than Tom, who had just come from the army.

Naturally, David was undoubtedly more popular with the actors.

To be blunt, this was Hollywood, after all, not the Royal Marines.

Matthew and the others also left the old, damp army barracks at Hatfield Airport without incident and returned to the hotel where they had previously stayed.

...

After that incident, Matthew grew closer to Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy. The three men were of a similar age, no more than a few years apart, came from different countries, and weren't in direct competition with each other. They often went to the pub for a drink together when they had nothing to do after training.

"I've always found something strange," Michael said to Matthew and James, raising his glass and taking a sip of beer. "Why did they end up in such an awkward position when we were just planning to go after Tom? The 'accident' not only got Tom off the show, but that annoying Kate as well."

James hiccupped, already a bit tipsy. "Is that a bad thing?"

"It's a good thing—a very good thing." Michael Fassbender looked as if he couldn't quite figure it out. "But it's too much of a coincidence, don't you think?"

Matthew abruptly raised his beer glass. "What's the point of dwelling on it? They're gone. We just need to celebrate."

He gestured with his glass, and Michael and James raised theirs as well. The three exchanged a look before draining their mugs.

"But I think," Michael persisted, "Kate offended too many people. Someone was specifically targeting her, and Tom just got caught in the crossfire."

James nodded. "Quite possible."

Matthew, however, just called the bartender over and ordered three more mugs of beer.

Michael suddenly turned to Matthew. "You had a run-in with Kate, didn't you?"

"Are you suspecting me?" Matthew wasn't foolish enough to confess, and he just shrugged. "I wish, but..."

For a moment, he couldn't find the right word, so he just said brazenly, "Anyway, it wasn't me."

James cast a hazy look at Matthew. "It definitely wasn't Matthew. If we hadn't pushed him, he would have just kept enduring that damn training."

Michael clapped Matthew on the shoulder and, dropping the line of questioning, immediately changed the subject. "We'll have a short break after the training. Want to go somewhere?"

"Of course!" James was instantly interested. "Where to?"

Matthew, however, shook his head. "I can't. I'm going back to North America. I have a lot of things to take care of over there."

"Want to see your girlfriend?" Michael said teasingly. "You make a few phone calls a day."

"Yeah," Matthew didn't deny it. "She's been so busy with work, we haven't seen each other in ages."

Although he spoke with Britney on the phone every day, the time difference and their work schedules meant they barely talked for more than a few minutes at a time.

Britney was preparing for a concert tour set to begin early next year and couldn't come to the UK to see him, so Matthew had to use his break to go back and see her.

The three of them finished one more mug of beer each and left the bar, as they had to continue training the next day.

The pre-production training was already drawing to a close. After Tom left the crew, Matthew's training regimen was instantly reduced. Aside from basic tactical drills, the new instructor David's training focused on weapon handling and tactical coordination.

During the last ten days of training, Matthew and the others were known by their characters' names, not just in training but in their daily lives. Every day they studied a vast amount of basic military knowledge, acquiring skills in weapon handling, close-quarters combat, and individual fighting tactics, as well as the code language and hand signals used by the military during World War II.

Some actors, like Matthew, not only knew these combat skills like the back of their hand by the end of the training but had also fully inhabited their roles and learned to handle their weapons with expertise; he could even disassemble and reassemble an M-1 Garand rifle and a Thompson submachine gun.

Unlike Tom's torturous physical conditioning, David focused more on instilling a philosophy of war in the actors, helping Matthew and the others understand what it took to be a competent soldier as best they could.

He made the actors think like soldiers, though actually becoming one is very difficult. In the army, it is absolutely impossible to achieve anything alone; teamwork is the primary key to victory. If one member of the team is in trouble, the others must stop and help him.

It's hard for people who have never faced battle to understand such feelings, but the unexecuted plan devised by Michael and James had emotionally bonded the actors. By the end of the training, the twenty men, including Matthew, looked like a single, cohesive unit.

By mid-December, the training finally ended. The actors were given a break that lasted longer than Matthew and Michael had anticipated, extending through the end of the Christmas holidays. When the break was over, the series would officially begin filming.

Matthew, like most of the American actors, decided to return to North America. It wasn't just to visit Britney; Helen had also spoken with him on the phone earlier, and he had some business to attend to personally.

As soon as he left the Los Angeles airport, he called Helen to arrange a meeting at the Angel Acting Agency the next morning, then dialed Britney's number.

Hailing a taxi, Matthew returned to his rented apartment in Westwood, and on the way, he received a text from Britney agreeing to meet him that evening.