The screening room erupted in applause, and Matthew, along with producer Aziwa Gosman and director Guillermo del Toro, received congratulations from others, many of whom were well-known.

"Thank you. ”

Every time he shook hands, he expressed his gratitude, "It's a great honor for you to come." ”

Suddenly, a face that had only been seen in the newspaper appeared in front of him, a middle-aged man with brown hair.

"Excellent performance. The man reached out and shook his hand, "I hope we can have a chance to work together in the future." ”

Matthew shook his hand vigorously, "Because of the schedule, I missed a collaboration. "The last time he refused, it was because the schedule was not suitable, and the schedule was indeed inappropriate," Director Nolan, I also hope to have the opportunity to cooperate with you. ”

Both smiled, and it was impossible to say much on this occasion, and Christopher Nolan quickly left.

Matthew, who will soon become the new god of commercial directors, has seen "The Dark Knight" and knows the series' fame.

After the premiere, Matthew attended the post-screening press conference, and after a simple routine interview, he left the theater.

"It was another busy night. ”

After getting into the car, he looked at the entertainment reporter who was following him and said to the driver, "Go back to the Waldorf Astoria Hotel." ”

The car left Downtown and headed for Fifty Street.

Matthew looked out the car window, the arched doors of Washington Square were particularly conspicuous in the neon light, and couldn't help but think about the purpose of the predecessor of Washington Square, wondering if there would be a real "night demon" here at night.

He had heard Amanda say before that Washington Square was once a swamp, a cemetery at the end of the 18th century, where people who died of yellow fever were buried, and tens of thousands of bones were exhumed later, and in 1819 it even became the scene of a hanging demonstration.

Isn't it easy to cause hanging?

Matthew suddenly thought of something from this, and vaguely remembered watching a horror movie about the hanged man...... By the way, the horror universe that I thought of before seems to be related to this hanged ghost horror movie, what is this film called, and who is the director?

It's not a film called "The Hanged Man", right?

He sat in the car and thought about it for a while, thinking that something was wrong, and finally he didn't think about it.

When I used to live on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, I didn't watch a lot of horror movies due to my personal hobbies, at most I watched "Death is Coming" and "Chainsaw" and the like, and I was watching typical Hollywood special effects action blockbusters.

Just like the route he is taking now.

Such a route naturally does not please some people, such as film critics in New York.

Unlike Los Angeles, the city's film critics are known for being vitriol, and Rex Reed, who used to kiss donkeys' butts because of him, is arguably the epitome of it.

But they will not change the course he has chosen.

The treatment of this "I Am Legend" in the critics is probably not much better than those films before him.

He still remembers that before he became famous, he was just listed by Helen Herman as the first potential client of Angel Agency, and when he communicated with Helen Herman, he said to the female agent: "I want to be the most famous movie star in the world".

Helen Herman replied at the time: "OK, we can see how the other big stars do it, and then we make a roadmap." ”

They studied 10 of the world's most famous movie stars at the time, and together they worked out what patterns their success was, and they also studied the 10 most successful films in history, 10 of which were special effects films, and 9 of which were special effects films with alien creatures.

So he and Helen Herman easily decided to play "The Scorpion King" and "Pirates of the Caribbean."

With relevant memories, the blockbuster mode of "I Am Legend" allows him to take on the project without much thought, and the rest is how to act well.

But acting well is not easy, "I Am Legend" is the best performance he thinks he has performed, by his standards, if those films in the past can give him a score of 90, then the role of Robert Neville, he can give himself a 100 points.

Jerry Bruckheimer once said to him, "If you have the energy to go from zero to ninety, you can go from ninety to 100, so actors have to concentrate their maximum energy to the last ten."

In the midst of Matthew's thoughts, the car arrives at the hotel, and he returns to his room alone.

Originally, he also wanted to call Miranda Kerr, but then he thought that the Victoria's Secret Angels had gone to London, and this year's Victoria's Secret show was held in London.

David Ellison has already booked tickets, this year's Victoria's Secret show had some accidents, the main show for the catwalk was originally scheduled to be at the British Museum of Natural History, but there was a theft in early November, and Victoria's Secret had to temporarily change the location to Somerset Palace, and the time was also postponed from early December to the end of the year.

Back at the hotel, changed out of his dress, and went to take a shower, Matthew sat in front of the computer, especially turned on the computer and looked at the blogs and social accounts of several well-known film critics in New York.

Especially that Rex Reed, not only has a blog, but also has a certain reputation on social networking sites with his ability to be well-known.

When Matthew opened Rex Reid's social account, the film critic had already updated his blog, and the content was related to "I Am Legend", apparently having just seen the advance of the film.

Film critics have always looked down on Matthew, and Rex Reid will certainly not be an exception.

"The title "I Am Legend" is very imposing, but unfortunately there is no real 'legend' in the film. All the gimmicks outside of this film do more than the film itself to express what it wants to express. For example, the sadness of 'I am the only one left in the world' created in the first half of the film has been vividly expressed in the two trailers; almost all the action scenes in the film are also condensed in the second version of the trailer; the empty New York in the film does not seem to be as attractive as the dozens of empty posters of major cities in the world. ”

Later, Matthew came across the blog of "The New Yorker" film critic Richard Brody, a film critic who has always been known for his sharpness, and the film review that was just released five minutes ago was more pertinent about "I Am Legend".

In the first half of the movie, when there is only one legend left in the world, Matthew Horner's interpretation gives an idealistic color to a desperate loneliness, but after the turn in the second half, the movie falls into cliché and just portrays an ordinary hero. ”

As the film's leading actor, Matthew rarely agrees with a professional film critic that the last third of the film is indeed vulgar, but this is not due to the crew's unfavorable control, but intentionally, as a super-giant with a production budget of $150 million and a publicity and distribution budget of $80 million, it must cater to the needs of the market.

Aziva Gosman's script and Guillermo del Toro's filming both prepare two completely different endings for the film, but in the end it makes Robert Neville like a traditional hero, in order to fit the usual routine of Hollywood commercial films.

The ending of the second version is relatively literary, and the result may of course be better, but jumping out of the end of the routine may also bring huge risks.

No one wants to take that risk, let alone Aziva Gosman, who holds the power of post-production, and even if he had made the decision, he probably wouldn't have chosen another ending in the release version.

He's a business star, and Hollywood movies are a business after all.

After looking through the Internet for a while, Matthew looked at the time, it was past twelve o'clock in the morning, and called Helen Herman, who was on the phone, and Helen Herman's call came back five minutes later.

"I just received a call from Warner Bros. that the box office came out in advance. She didn't say much, "You can go and see the mailbox yourself, I just sent you an email." ”

Matthew immediately logged on to his mailbox and saw a new email from Helen Herman, which was very short and only had a simple statistic - "I Am Legend" grossed $14.6 million in advance!

Seeing this number, he snapped his fingers, turned off the computer, and whistled into the bedroom, where he could get a good night's sleep.

Lying down comfortably and reassuringly, Matthew had only one thought in his head, can the North American box office of "I Am Legend" break through the $100 million mark in the first weekend?

Last year, he starred in "The Three Hundred Spartans", which set a new record for the opening of the North American film market in November, and it would be great if it could set a new record in December this year.

And it's good for the other side as well.

If the film is a box office hit, the halo effect on him is bound to be further strengthened, and for some, the projects he is optimistic about will be more attractive.

Just after waking up the next morning, Matthew received another call from Helen Herman.

"Go and see the media reviews. Helen Herman said lightly, "Your performance has been well received. ”

Matthew immediately asked the hotel to bring a dozen newspapers, picked out the entertainment pages of each one, and looked at them side by side.

"Lonely persistence, inadvertently touching, driving a strong body...... Matthew Horner danced the doomsday waltz in the first half with a great performance. ”

"There is a bleak and tragic beauty to the overgrown ruins of steel and glass, and Matthew Horner's light yet delicate acting in it makes the concept of 'the last man on earth' even more convincing."

"Even if the second half of the film is clichéd, Matthew Hornas's layered acting skills are unconsciously reduced to a physical show with a chest and no brain, but despite this, his performance is still more interesting than the special effects that rely on CG addiction......"