Chapter 263: The Eccentricities of Stars

As Matthew Horner's assistant on the set, Anna-Sofia was carrying her work bag when she just turned into this corridor from the shooting location. She saw Matthew and the lead actress, Jessica Alba, entering the nearby home furnishing store and couldn't help but stop in her tracks. This wasn't her first time working on a Hollywood set, and she knew what this implied.

Suddenly, Matthew dashed out of the home furnishing store, waved at her, and then pointed at her work bag.

Anna-Sofia, being very sharp, immediately thought of the small box of condoms lying in her bag, hurried over, took them out, and handed them to Matthew. At the same time, she glanced inside the store and vaguely saw the door of the showroom open, with Jessica Alba apparently inside.

She didn't have the chance to look closely before she saw Matthew entering the showroom and closing the mahogany door behind him, cutting off any outside prying.

"These two…" Anna-Sofia muttered to herself, "are really taking their acting into real life."

Even though she hadn't seen what had happened during the shoot, she could guess that the pair must have felt something for each other while performing a passionate scene and couldn't wait to find a place to get started as soon as the shooting ended.

Anna-Sofia had been working in Hollywood for five to six years and had seen her fair share of male and female actors getting involved with each other on impulse. It's a common situation in the circle, and actors, after acting so much, tend to become very expressive with their emotions. Seeing it so often, it no longer surprised her.

Not just these young and impulsive actors, even some well-reputed individuals in the circle are the same. For example, Meryl Streep, already married at the time, felt a connection with Jack Nicholson during shooting and ended up in the makeup trailer for a real scene.

As crew members passed by and Jessica Alba's scream was heard from the home furnishing store, the two turned to look towards the store, guessing what was happening but not stopping out of shock or disbelief. They quickly moved out of the corridor.

Anna-Sofia, carrying her work bag, quickly made her way towards the makeup area, deciding it was better to wait there.

Before leaving the corridor, she looked back one more time. Despite the distance, she could still hear Jessica Alba's screams, which sounded almost insane.

With such screams, it wouldn't take long for the word to spread throughout the set.

Obviously, Matthew Horner and Jessica Alba didn't care, and probably no one in the set did either. Just like the past incident with Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson, this would become gossip both inside and outside the circle.

Arriving at the makeup area, now serving as a makeup store, Anna-Sofia sat down on a chair, rubbing her face, suddenly thinking that she had been in this circle for too long. She wondered if she would become shameless and indiscriminate in relationships like these male and female stars.

Considering the number of boyfriends she had over the years, she immediately confirmed she was already influenced.

Continuing to ponder in this vein, Anna-Sofia waited for half an hour without seeing the two return, secretly thinking how wild Hollywood stars can be. It appeared Matthew Horner was not only strong and agile but also very formidable in real combat.

After a full hour, when the set was almost closing, Anna-Sofia saw Matthew and Jessica Alba returning together, looking as if nothing had happened.

The two had only a thin layer of makeup on and didn't need a makeup artist to remove it. They changed clothes in the dressing room and prepared to wrap up.

"Going back to the hotel?" Jessica Alba, not minding Anna-Sofia, leaned on Matthew's back, "Together?"

Matthew shook his head, "My agent went up to see Sean. I'll wait for her."

After Helen Herman returned, the two hadn't had time to talk properly.

Jessica Alba seemed a bit disappointed, having just experienced something unforgettable with Matthew in the home furnishing store, and said, "You know my hotel room number, right?"

Matthew turned around and pinched her face, "I'll probably be free before ten tonight."

Jessica Alba smiled sweetly, "I'll wait for you."

She quickly gathered her things and left. Matthew found his phone in the work bag and sat on a chair, scrolling through messages. There was an unread message from Helen Herman inviting him to dinner after wrapping up.

Matthew put away his phone, leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes, recalling the madness earlier. He knew the affair would spread, possibly even to the press outside the set, but he didn't care. He was single, without a girlfriend, so there were no issues of betrayal or infidelity.

Such gossip and scandals were commonplace around Hollywood stars. Even if he hadn't done anything, rumors like these wouldn't be unusual.

As for the media and public opinion regarding morality, that wasn't an issue.

Matthew had learned over the years, especially after a series of staged publicity stunts with Keira Knightley, that the entertainment circle in North America was much more interesting than where he used to live. Here, every star was surrounded by controversies and scandals, with drug use, substance abuse, and indiscretions considered only entry-level misdemeanors, hardly even qualifying as scandals.

This probably has to do with the societal context.

Hollywood doesn't hold stars to the same moral standards as in Asia, focusing instead on their professional skills. They prefer a star with excellent work quality and messy private life over a boring goody two-shoes with no professional charisma.

Moreover, Matthew noticed that the media and public in the US particularly love a redemption story.

Behavior that would be career-ending in Asia, like being diva-like, cheating, drug use, or drunk driving, is hardly a big deal for Hollywood stars.

The eccentricities of Hollywood stars are well known not just to the American public but to the entire Western world.

Compared to real eccentricities, like a 90s Oscar-winning actress who worried her daughter wouldn't be pretty enough and decided on cosmetic surgery for her at the age of two, what he and Jessica Alba did was normal.

Matthew, always careful about protection, wouldn't have forgotten to ask Anna-Sofia for the condoms otherwise.

After about fifteen minutes, Helen Herman arrived, and Matthew left the shopping center with her, letting her into his car to head back to the hotel together.

"So long…" In the car, Matthew raised the partition and asked Helen Herman, "What did you and Sean talk about?"

Helen Herman took off her glasses, pulled out a cleaning cloth, and began to clean them while saying, "Actor stuff, mainly about you and Alexandra Daddario."

Matthew perked up, "Oh?"

Helen Herman continued cleaning her glasses, "Sean thinks your acting has improved since 'The Scorpion King', a bit better."

"Sounds like I should celebrate." Matthew had been practicing, but the improvement wasn't significant, "Looks like my acting is sufficient for this type of movie."

Helen Herman didn't expect Matthew to be the next Daniel Day-Lewis or Tom Hanks, which wasn't realistic. She casually mentioned, "About right. For action movies, even if the acting is lacking, it can be made up with

 action scenes."

Matthew shrugged, used to Helen Herman's occasional critiques.

He was well aware that his acting wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible either, just average. Though not complacent, he continued to train and improve.

After critiquing him, Helen Herman offered a sweetener, "Sean and Zack Snyder are very satisfied with your performance this shoot. Their main dissatisfaction was with Alexandra Daddario."

Matthew nodded; this was only Alexandra Daddario's second movie, so her acting skills were understandably not outstanding.

"They think Alexandra Daddario, aside from her chest…" Helen Herman was straightforward, "is very average in other aspects."

Matthew understood, "Sean is dissatisfied with your recommendation to cast Alexandra Daddario?"

"Not dissatisfied, since you're the male lead." After putting on her glasses, Helen Herman said, "Some complaints are inevitable."

These complaints were reflected in the shooting, with Zack Snyder noticeably reducing Alexandra Daddario's screen time and focusing on her chest in the shots she was in.

Even Alexandra Daddario's close-up shots were mostly of her running, as mentioned in interviews. Her role as a vase was more appealing when she was moving.

Although Matthew's drama scenes were shot sporadically, the shoot overall went smoothly. From arriving in Toronto at the end of August to mid-October, it took only forty-two days to finish all shooting and then return to Los Angeles.

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