The Best Movie Actor In Hollywood! Chapter 80

In his office on the studio lot, Gail Levin had a thick stack of files spread out before him. As the casting director for Almost Famous, he had a mountain of work to get through as the auditions for several supporting roles drew near.

He picked up an actor's application, glanced at the filmography section, and saw only two movie titles he'd never even heard of. He drew a red X across the page.

"Amy," Gail Levin said to the assistant director across from him, his voice laced with impatience. "How many times do I have to tell you? Any actor whose qualifications don't meet the requirements gets rejected. There's no need to send out audition invitations to every single person who applies."

The assistant director pushed her glasses up her nose. "Right. It won't happen again."

Gail went back to his work. Most of the applications sent here were from actors without connections. Those who actually had a network were already scheduled for auditions.

With a production budget of $60 million, Almost Famous was one of DreamWorks' key films for the year—so crucial that it had been postponed from the previous year just to secure enough funding. As a result, the director and producers were taking casting very seriously. Aside from the lead, who was a special case, they weren't considering actors with only a few minor credits for any of the main roles, not even for the supporting parts like the band members.

"Mr. Levin."

The voice of Amy, the assistant director, suddenly rang out from the other side of the room. "You should look at this actor's profile."

She was only an assistant director, so when she came across something she couldn't make a call on, she naturally turned to Gail.

Amy handed over the file. "This actor, who applied for the part of Russell Hammond, has only been in two movies, a music video, and a TV series, and—"

Gail didn't even take the profile, cutting Amy off. "No. Not nearly enough experience for a role like this."

"Just hear me out," Amy insisted, rushing to get the words out before he could dismiss her again. "He was in Girl, Interrupted and Gladiator, he was the male lead in a Britney Spears music video, and he played Ronald Speirs in Band of Brothers."

Gail immediately snatched the file from Amy's hand, opened it, and began to flip through the pages. "Hanks and Spielberg... they were the directors and producers on Band of Brothers."

He muttered to himself, "Matthew Horner. I feel like I've seen that name in the papers somewhere."

Amy prompted, "There's a copy of a magazine article at the back of the file."

Gail read the actor's bio, glanced at the headshot, and flipped to the back. The first thing he saw was a photocopy of a page from Entertainment Weekly. It featured a photo of Matthew Horner walking the red carpet, with a caption mentioning his roles in high-profile films like Girl, Interrupted, Gladiator, and Band of Brothers. It also noted that he had worked alongside stars like Angelina Jolie, Winona Ryder, and Russell Crowe, to name a few.

This couldn't be fake. The photocopied page clearly showed the Entertainment Weekly issue number.

The subsequent pages contained more photocopies: Matthew Horner on set with Ridley Scott, shooting a music video on the beach with Britney Spears, and listening intently as one of the directors on Band of Brothers explained a scene.

These were definitely not fakes.

Gail closed the folder. There was no need for further deliberation. He didn't have many applications on his desk from actors with this level of qualification.

He picked up his pen, placed a checkmark on Matthew's application form, and told Amy, "If you see anyone else with a resume like this, bring it straight to me."

Soon, the office fell quiet once more.

...

Matthew was in front of the mirror, mimicking Kevin Spacey's performance in American Beauty, when a call came from Helen. She informed him that he'd secured an audition for Almost Famous, adding that his resume had been just strong enough to get his foot in the door.

After hanging up, he finished his exercises, switched off the VCR and television, and walked over to his recently purchased computer. He booted it up and logged into the blog platform he had signed up for a while back.

Although the fourteen-inch CRT monitor and the sluggish internet speed were slightly irritating, they were both within the realm of what Matthew could tolerate. You couldn't ask for too much in this day and age.

Since he had only bought the computer a few days ago, his MSN contact list was sparse—only four people, to be exact, all of whom he knew in real life: Helen, Ilana, Michael Fassbender, and James McAvoy.

As for Britney, she was swamped. Matthew had flown to Pittsburgh to see her a few days ago, and the two had only managed to spend a little over an hour together. The pop superstar simply didn't have time to sit in front of a computer.

Seeing no new messages on MSN, Matthew turned his attention back to his blog and started drafting a post.

Ever since returning from the Band of Brothers shoot, he had been writing short paragraphs from time to time to practice his English.

However, speaking and writing were two entirely different skills. Matthew found himself growing frustrated after typing out a line, staring at it, deleting it, and starting over several times.

He stood up, drank a glass of water, and waited for his frustration to subside before sitting down at the computer again.

"I'd better write something simple, like..." Matthew muttered to himself.

He had planned on writing something about his experiences on set, but now that seemed too ambitious.

After a moment of thought, Matthew began to type.

"What should I write for my first blog post? Well, I'm an actor. Not a famous one, but I just got an audition for a big, sixty-million-dollar production. Even though it's for a small supporting role, I'm thrilled."

Then, he published the post.

Naturally, the blog post went completely unnoticed. Matthew browsed a few news portals for a while, and when he returned, the entry still had zero views.

He thought back to the future era of sprawling social media, where a single tweet from a celebrity could attract thousands of responses. He used to follow the accounts of several celebrities and entertainment gossip outlets.

The salacious rumors and sordid tales of the biggest stars on both sides of the Pacific had gotten him through countless lonely, difficult nights.

An MSN notification popped up, pulling Matthew from his reverie. It was a message from Ilana.

"Hey, superstar. Got any insider scoops for me?"

Matthew typed back, "I just started a blog. Does that count?"

"You have a blog?" she replied. "Send me the URL."

Matthew copied the URL and sent it to her.

There were no messages for a while, so Matthew went back to browsing the web. About two minutes later, another message popped up.

"What production are you trying out for?"

"DreamWorks' Almost Famous," Matthew replied, then paused before typing, "Why? Are you going to help me out?"

He'd meant it as a joke, but to his surprise, Ilana wrote back, "I can get the word out. I ran into Helen last week, and she gave me a great story."

Matthew certainly wasn't going to refuse an offer like that. "Of course. You sure your editor-in-chief won't have a problem with it?"

"Didn't you just get a mention in Entertainment Weekly?" She was clearly well-informed. "And with Gladiator in theaters now, it shouldn't be a problem."

"I'll be waiting for the good news, then."

Matthew exchanged a few more words with Ilana before finding a professional-looking acting resource website and browsing through it.

After his time at the Los Angeles School of Performing Arts, his acting skills had certainly improved. But with no real foundation to begin with, a relatively low starting point, and not much innate talent, he was average at best.

It was one thing to play a character like Ronald Speirs, who maintained the same cold expression throughout, but portraying someone with a complex inner life was far more challenging.

Though it was difficult, he had no intention of backing down. In a fiercely competitive place like Hollywood, opportunities were everything, and having the ability to seize them was the key.

He wasn't a genius. His skills weren't natural; they had to be honed through hard work.

Over the past year, he had read countless books on acting theory, but had put far too little of it into practice.

The next day, Matthew went out of his way to buy a copy of the U.S. News & World Report. Despite its serious-sounding name, it was really just an entertainment gossip rag, and he wanted to see if Ilana had actually managed to get a story about him published.

It was only after he got home and flipped through the pages that he found it: a tiny blurb tucked away in a corner of the fourth page, no bigger than a postage stamp, with Ilana's byline.

"Matthew Horner, rumored boyfriend of Britney Spears and actor in major productions like Gladiator, is reportedly set to join the cast of DreamWorks' sixty-million-dollar film, Almost Famous, according to sources close to the production."

The article was brief, but his name was in it, which was always a good thing, right?

The U.S. News & World Report was one of the highest-circulation entertainment tabloids in the country; its readership was nothing to sneeze at.

Right now, Matthew wasn't about to pass up any opportunity for media exposure.

Time passed quickly, and on the day of the auditions, Matthew arrived at the studio, accompanied by Helen.

This initial screening was much like the first round for Band of Brothers, focused primarily on an actor's look and general demeanor. If you didn't fit their vision physically, you wouldn't even get a chance to read for the part.