Chapter 335: Advertising Director

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Disney Studios notified Matthew Horner and Angel Agency via phone and email that the last two sequels of "Pirates of the Caribbean" would begin shooting at the end of May in a back-to-back format at the Disney production studios. The shooting is expected to last five to six months. As absolute main characters, people like Matthew Horner and Johnny Depp must start their preparatory work such as swordplay training no later than April.

Matthew had already signed an acting contract with Disney Studios, and his response was certainly affirmative.

After receiving the notification, he specifically visited the Disney production studio to meet with producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Gore Verbinski to understand the latest developments of the crew.

From them, he basically understood the progress of the project, which was beneficial for him to adjust himself so that he could get into the character of Will Turner before shooting began.

The crew had officially named the last two sequels as "Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest" and "Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End," with the former set to premiere in North America on July 7, 2006, and the latter scheduled for May 2007, though the exact date had not yet been determined.

Apart from Matthew Horner, Johnny Depp, and Keira Knightley, main actors including Geoffrey Rush were all returning for the shooting of the next two sequels.

Like the films Jerry Bruckheimer had produced before, the scripts for the two "Pirates of the Caribbean" sequels were just confirmed, and the various sets for shooting were almost finished.

Disney Studios had allocated a sufficient budget for this.

The success of "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" not only revived pirate films but also spawned a series of pirate cultures, such as books, theme parties, and accessories.

Therefore, the sequels of "Pirates of the Caribbean" were a must, and for Hollywood producers, one sequel was not enough.

Of course, not all the news Matthew learned was good. He also heard from others that producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Gore Verbinski had not been getting along very well in recent months. Jerry Bruckheimer even thought about replacing Gore Verbinski, but Disney Studios firmly disagreed.

The biggest conflict between the two stemmed from the power struggle within the crew. Gore Verbinski, bolstered by the success of "The Curse of the Black Pearl," not only wanted to serve as a producer but also sought control over post-production editing.

This naturally led to a power struggle with Jerry Bruckheimer, and the conflict was inevitable.

Reportedly, Robert Iger, co-chairman of Disney Studios, mediated between the two temporarily suppressing the conflict.

As with all Hollywood crews, there are always fights for fame and profit.

While understanding the progress of "Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest" and "Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End," Angel Agency received an invitation from Germany. Uwe Boll, whom he had met at a dinner hosted by the German Football Association, really sent an invitation for the lead role.

In the invitation, Uwe Boll described the prospects of the film adaptation of the game "Dungeon Siege" in glowing terms. Not just Matthew, even Helen Herman, after hearing his description, specially commissioned a German friend to find out more about Uwe Boll.

Then, Matthew specifically watched a horror film directed by Uwe Boll, and even with his relatively low standards for aesthetics, he thought the film was nearly beyond redemption.

He let Helen Herman outright reject Uwe Boll's invitation, but Uwe Boll, embodying the German spirit of perseverance, sent another invitation to Matthew and somehow got the phone number of Angel Agency to try to persuade Helen Herman.

Unfortunately, neither Matthew nor Helen Herman had any interest in film projects adapted from games.

In early February, "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" released its first ad during the Super Bowl, a thirty-second spot focusing entirely on the interaction between Matthew and Charlize Theron.

Subsequently, there was a buzz in the media and on the internet that Matthew and Charlize Theron had gotten together.

Around Matthew, paparazzi and entertainment reporters were on his trail all day, but similar to past situations, Matthew made no response.

"Mr. & Mrs. Smith" gradually ramped up its advertising. Stuart Townsend was once again dragged out, becoming a target of numerous women's organizations, squeezed for every last bit of value in media promotions.

Despite being hounded by paparazzi and entertainment journalists, Matthew's own work did not stop. He resumed practicing decorative sword fighting at Nigel's fitness center and adjusted his workout intensity accordingly.

At the same time, he rented a large office space in Burbank, not far from Angel Agency, as a daily workspace for him and his new

 personal assistant, Bella Anderson.

After half a month of evaluation, Matthew was basically satisfied with Bella Anderson's capabilities. Although this red-haired girl, due to her young age and short time since leaving school, sometimes appeared inexperienced, her calm personality and clear-headed approach to tasks made her quite rare among her peers.

Matthew had decided to use Bella Anderson as his personal assistant for the foreseeable future.

The main task he assigned to Bella Anderson during this time was to manage his personal blog and establish preliminary contacts with some well-known fans, especially those organized ones.

Of course, checking emails was also part of the job.

The "National Treasure" crew also sent a weekly notification document, the main content of which was the film's reputation and box office performance.

In terms of reputation, after nearly three months of screening, "National Treasure's" professional ratings continued to decline, with the Rotten Tomatoes index not only rotten but also continuously dropping, and the freshness of the film fell by fifty percent.

Critics almost never stopped criticizing Matthew's role as the male lead.

However, contrary to professional reputation, the box office trend of "National Treasure" remained robust. After nearly three months of screening, the North American box office finally broke through the $200 million mark, accumulating a high of $210.2 million.

Internationally, due to the film's genre and broad target audience, the overseas box office also reached over $200 million.

Currently, "National Treasure" was still screening in North America and overseas, with global box office totals reaching $425.6 million.

This once again proved that Matthew could carry the box office of commercial entertainment films.

There were calls within Disney Studios to schedule the sequel to "National Treasure" as soon as possible, but currently, the situation at Walt Disney Company was turbulent, and it might not push the project forward in the short term.

Currently, the internal struggle at Walt Disney was intense. After Michael Eisner had developed the company from a simple production studio into a media industry giant, his autocratic and dictatorial style of work seemed to have offended everyone inside Disney.

At the most recent shareholders' meeting of the Walt Disney Company, the majority of shareholders cast a vote of no confidence in Michael Eisner, with the proportion even exceeding two-thirds.

Under normal circumstances, a professional manager at this point only had one way out—resignation.

However, Michael Eisner refused to relinquish control of Walt Disney, directly leading to an even more complicated struggle within Disney.

Matthew was once worried that the internal chaos at Disney would affect the shooting of the two "Pirates of the Caribbean" sequels. Hollywood has many cases of project failures caused by turmoil in production companies, but fortunately, the crew was essentially controlled by Jerry Bruckheimer, so this worry did not become a reality.

In late February, Matthew also received an advertising script from Mercedes-Benz. The script was only five pages long, the shoot was planned for just three days in early April, and the director was Michael Bay, known in North American media as the man born at the moment of a comet's impact on Earth.

Mercedes-Benz must have offered a handsome fee to bring Michael Bay back to the advertising world, which was also good news for Matthew, proving the importance Mercedes-Benz placed on this advertising endorsement cooperation.

Although Michael Bay was a director widely criticized by the media and film critics, his style in directing commercials was highly acclaimed.

In recent years, Michael Bay had indeed directed several commercials. After receiving the notification from Mercedes-Benz, Matthew specifically watched Michael Bay's most recent commercials. The most direct impression after watching was that Michael Bay's commercials were shot in the same explosive style as his films.

Dazzling sports shots, sharp editing style, and explosive computer-generated effects made the commercials very appealing.

Additionally, slow motion and wide-angle shots were also very eye-catching in the commercials. Even with limited professional understanding, Matthew could see that Michael Bay's use of slow motion to depict intense action scenes in just a short commercial was a brilliant idea.

After all, who better than such a director to shoot an advertisement for a rugged, powerful SUV?

After watching Michael Bay's commercials, Matthew also revisited some of his representative works like "The Rock" and "Armageddon."

In terms of his own preferences, Michael Bay was definitely underestimated. The media and film critics attacked him constantly, but films, especially those shown in theaters, are not only about storytelling but also a visual and auditory art. Today, there are very few commercial directors in Hollywood who can compete with Michael Bay.

Regardless, Michael Bay directing this commercial was good news for Matthew.

In February, Matthew mostly received good news, but there were also some bad news.

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