After the awards ceremony, the media was abuzz with Oscar talk. The winners naturally became the focus, and even those who didn't win scrambled to ride the last wave of Oscar heat—claiming so-and-so deserved the award, or that losing was due to outside factors, not talent.
This kind of after-the-fact PR fluff can be spun any way you like; the flashier and more tragic the tale, the easier it is to stir sympathy. The public always roots for the underdog, and that won't change.
For example, when pirates of the caribbean went home empty-handed, many outlets cried foul—though in truth it was just Walt Disney Pictures' press strategy, aimed at boosting disc sales, rentals, and the sequel still in the works.
The same goes for those so-called "wronged" Oscar classics: some media shout injustice to grab eyeballs, but mostly it's studios milking the last bit of Oscar heat.
Amid all the coverage of winners and losers, gossip about Matthew and Scarlett Johansson spread fast.
"Matthew Horner and Scarlett Johansson left the Oscar Night party and checked into another hotel together."
"The two rising stars looked disheveled as Matthew Horner held Scarlett Johansson's hand…"
Such stories multiplied, and what made them compelling were the countless photos backing them up.
Everything was captured: the pair leaving Oscar Night in disarray, heading to a nearby hotel, and sharing a steamy kiss when they exited at dawn—all splashed across tabloids and entertainment websites.
In the final round of Oscar hype, Matthew snatched plenty of entertainment-page real estate.
Helen Herman quickly reached out to Scarlett Johansson's Agent; after a meeting the two sides clicked, then roped in the publicity chiefs for dawn of the dead and the island. It was a cheap yet powerful way to boost both films' profiles.
Naturally, the parties joined forces to hype the Matthew–Scarlett Johansson Oscar Night affair, spinning vivid yarns of how they flirted at the ceremony, made out wildly at the party, and how Scarlett's cries allegedly kept an entire hotel floor awake after they checked in together.
Once entertainment news becomes a hot topic, countless outlets pile on for a slice of the traffic.
Matthew and Scarlett Johansson's names were repeated so often that dawn of the dead and the island kept popping up in the media too.
As Oscar fever faded, Matthew flew to New York and Boston to continue shooting national treasure, while the fling—still being stoked by several power brokers—kept simmering.
As for the two principals, they'd long since agreed on their line: neither confirm nor deny—the same old playbook.
The buzz was led by TMZ's gossip section under Elena Boyar, which unveiled fresh photos daily. From hand-holding to kissing to ever-more-intimate shots, the site worked to keep the story hot.
Even the production of national treasure jumped in: Anderson Martinez flew back from New York to Los Angeles and met in detail with Helen Herman, after which Walt Disney's outlets began pushing the story hard and nonstop.
Scandals have a shelf life; after a week the heat cooled. With dawn of the dead's release looming, TMZ dropped a bombshell—the surveillance clip appeared on its gossip page, instantly reigniting the story like an erupting volcano.
Within just two days the video racked up nearly a million hits on TMZ.
Though nothing explicit showed, anyone could tell what the two were up to—and unmistakably identify them as Matthew and Scarlett Johansson.
Next, the site posted an interview with two security guards who swore Matthew Horner and Scarlett Johansson did something indecent in the elevator.
An attendee of the Oscar Night party also dished: "Matthew Horner and Scarlett Johansson were kissing like no one was watching; they didn't care. Finally they rushed off—everyone knew exactly what they were going to do."
Though Matthew and Scarlett Johansson stayed silent, the video evidence meant virtually anyone in the States who followed entertainment news now knew that on Oscar Night a pair of crazed lovers couldn't even wait until they got out of the elevator.
For the first half of March, Matthew and Scarlett Johansson were the most talked-about people in America, almost eclipsing new Oscar winners Sean Penn and Charlize Theron.
Of course, there was no shortage of criticism; many respected figures publicly denounced Matthew and Scarlett Johansson as public figures with low moral standards, demanding Hollywood studios drop them and stop casting the pair… Plenty of similar talk circulated, yet neither Matthew nor Scarlett bothered to respond.
Just as Matthew had learned long ago, no one ever expects a Hollywood Star to be a moral paragon.
Most importantly, he and Scarlett Johansson were both single—no fiancés, no spouses, no partners—leaving little to condemn. At worst it became more gossip for their files.
But who in Hollywood cares about that kind of dirt? Every star here has mountains of it.
As for studios blacklisting them, that was a joke; the story raced across America and even flew over the Atlantic to Europe, with backers like Universal Pictures and Walt Disney Pictures fanning the flames.
After all, it drew real attention to Matthew's films—and Scarlett Johansson's as well.
In multiple polls of the most anticipated releases for March and April, dawn of the dead leapt over April's Kill Bill: Vol. 2 to claim the top spot.
Meanwhile, national treasure—now filming with Matthew—ranked second among holiday-season hopefuls, trailing only Pixar's animated blockbuster The Incredibles.
Hyping an actor to boost a film's visibility is one of Hollywood's favorite marketing tricks.
Matthew played along, keeping Helen Herman's warning in mind: say nothing, no matter what the reporters asked.
Shooting on national treasure moved faster than scheduled; several scenes originally planned for real locations—crowded tourist spots—were shifted to soundstages at Disney Studios after director Jon Turteltaub and producer Jerry Bruckheimer agreed the logistics were impossible.
With fewer exterior days, stage work increased.
After wrapping his location shoots, Matthew left the national treasure set to stump for dawn of the dead, joining a string of publicity events.
At every appearance he dodged questions about Scarlett Johansson, opening and closing every sentence with dawn of the dead.
For extra buzz he even churned out a real-world Zombie Combat Manual on his blog—his writing as shaky as ever.
Fans reposted it everywhere; in their eyes every word was gold, and if he'd hooked up with another actress in an elevator, clearly she'd been asking for it.
Publicity on this scale can't please everyone; backlash arrived on cue.
Some of Scarlett's fans trashed Matthew on his blog, so his fans stormed hers in return.
The two camps traded insults online—his calling her shameless, hers branding him a reckless womanizer.
Luckily social networks weren't what they'd later become, so the war stayed confined to a small corner of the internet.
Thanks to the chatter, tracking firms quietly raised dawn of the dead's opening forecast from $16 million to $25 million.
Studios took another look at Matthew: a young star who could stir buzz and heat—was he right for their next project?
Hollywood is a business; anyone who brings big profits gets the best seat at the table.
"national treasure will finish by April at the latest…"
In her office Helen Herman told Matthew seriously, "Time to line up the next job."
"Got a target?" Matthew asked.
Ignoring him, she went on, "dawn of the dead should break even in North America, so we stick to the plan: keep you in modern action roles."
"I've solid intel that Summit Entertainment is prepping an assassin project—gun-fu action flick."