In Studio 10 of Disney Studios, everyone held their breath as a huge camera glided along a track, its lens focused on Matthew in front of the green screen.
Matthew's eyes were sharp, fixed on the figure opposite him.
Across from him, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson stood like a small mountain, his fierce expression and exaggerated muscles exuding immense pressure.
"Give me the Declaration of Independence!" Dwayne Johnson rumbled.
Matthew didn't speak, but his resolute, slightly disdainful expression conveyed his meaning.
"Alright!" Dwayne Johnson nodded, shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head. "You won't give it to me, huh? I'll get it myself!"
With that, he pounced like a tiger descending a mountain.
Matthew didn't dodge, meeting Dwayne Johnson head-on, his hands suddenly gripping Dwayne Johnson's arms.
Their arms locked together, creating a stalemate.
Outside the set, everyone watched the two powerful men.
Director Jon Turteltaub glanced at the action director, who didn't call a halt.
After discussing with the two actors, he had decided to shoot this action sequence in a long take.
Shooting long action takes is more difficult, demanding very high levels of action control from the actors.
It's not a common filming method for Hollywood action scenes, but when executed smoothly, the results are often excellent.
The action director still remembered the classic long action take of Matthew Horner in the final scene of The Scorpion King.
Now, with one actor having experience with similar long takes and the other being a master of routines from the professional wrestling world, he felt confident.
Things unfolded as expected.
In front of the camera, the two formidable actors fought.
They didn't strictly follow the pre-designed choreography, incorporating a lot of improvisation.
This made the action sequence look more realistic.
Whether it was Matthew Horner or Dwayne Johnson, if one made a change, the other reacted very quickly, immediately adjusting accordingly.
It didn't look like acting; it looked more like a real fight.
Justin Bartha and Diane Kruger stood on the sidelines, completely captivated by the two men on set.
"This is a man's scene," Justin Bartha murmured, seemingly with some emotion. "This is a man's fight."
Diane Kruger glanced at him but didn't speak.
She couldn't appreciate such men and didn't understand why Hollywood movies liked to use these muscular men.
Weren't actors with a French romantic flair better?
On set, Matthew let out a roar!
Justin Bartha and Diane Kruger's eyes widened, filled with disbelief.
Dwayne Johnson, who was as strong as a mountain, was actually picked up by Matthew Horner and thrown directly onto the green foam mat laid on the ground.
They had both been in close contact with Matthew Horner and knew that while this actor didn't appear as bulky as Dwayne Johnson at first glance, his rock-hard muscles were actually quite impressive, making him an incredibly powerful man.
On set, after Matthew took down Dwayne Johnson, he turned to run off, following the plot of the scene.
However, Dwayne Johnson, still on the ground, pulled a handgun from behind him, aimed it at Matthew, and shouted, "Ben, stop! Or I'll shoot!"
Matthew stopped, slowly turned around with his hands raised. "Ian, you wouldn't do that. We're comrades, we…"
"I would!" Dwayne Johnson's voice grew harder. "For the treasure, I'll do anything! I'm willing to do anything!"
He gestured with the gun. "Put it down!"
Matthew took off the cylinder from his back, placed it on the ground, and said, "Without me, you won't be able to solve the riddles."
"Cut!"
The action director, who was in charge of this scene, called a halt to the filming.
He glanced at Director Jon Turteltaub, saw him nod slightly, and then loudly announced, "Alright, that scene's a wrap."
Director Jon Turteltaub stood up and said, "Forty minutes' break."
They had been filming since seven in the morning, over three hours now, and the crew had been operating at high speed, so a timely adjustment was needed.
Matthew relaxed, stepping out of character, and walked over to Dwayne Johnson, reaching out to help him up from the ground.
Having filmed together for so long, Dwayne Johnson was actually quite an interesting person.
Although he had his share of little schemes, he had never targeted Matthew.
Beneath his tough exterior lay a heart that loved to play around.
"If it weren't for the plot design…" Dwayne Johnson stood up, complaining with a laugh, "Matthew, you definitely couldn't have wrestled me down."
Matthew directly said, "Isn't that obvious? You're a professional wrestler. If it's purely wrestling, how could I possibly beat you?"
Dwayne Johnson walked with him towards the Rest area, speaking as they went, "You mean you're better than me at other things…?"
Matthew said bluntly, "I've trained in boxing and free combat, and I still do."
Dwayne Johnson shrugged, not taking Matthew's bait.
Professional wrestling focuses more on choreographed action sequences, unlike free combat where punches are truly thrown.
Matthew had watched a bit of WWE, not extensively, but from what he had seen, WWE seemed very much like Hollywood action blockbusters.
WWE was very fake; from the plot to the actions, it challenged one's intelligence.
For example, in one segment he watched, the loser would crawl around on the ground, waiting for the protagonist to show off and then unleash a fatal move.
Or the villains were always illogically evil, inevitably defeated by the good guys representing justice.
Of course, at its core, WWE is still a sporting event, not a soap opera.
The charm of the sport is the core of WWE; the plot merely serves as a thread to weave each WWE event together.
This is similar to other sporting events: creating stories, crafting plots, and allowing the audience to emotionally invest, integrating them more deeply into a sport, like Stephen Chow's pissing beef balls: good-looking, delicious, and you can play ping-pong with them.
This can be compared to kung fu films: a kung fu film, no matter how artistic the cinematography by Christopher Doyle, how intricate the plot by Wai Ka-fai, or how exquisite the styling by Tim Yip, if the martial arts scenes aren't up to Yuen Woo-ping's standards, it's a failing film.
The core competitiveness of a kung fu film is spectacular fighting; similarly, the core competitiveness of WWE is spectacular wrestling.
Dwayne Johnson once told him that real wrestling is an extremely dangerous sport, yet its charm lies precisely in that.
As a public entertainment event, WWE couldn't be too bloody.
To attract audiences, WWE also couldn't compromise the quality of the wrestling moves.
But WWE needed to be both entertaining and safe, so what to do? They couldn't possibly perform those extremely dangerous moves for real, could they?
Otherwise, after the league crowned a champion, only one contestant would be left alive.
After much thought, they could only resort to faking it.
Such performances are very beneficial for WWE wrestlers transitioning into the film industry, especially for shooting action scenes, as they adapt more easily than ordinary people.
Everyone knows that shooting action scenes for action movies is completely different from real fighting, even with Matthew's realistic action design.
His training in boxing and free combat resulted in higher execution and completion rates.
Many difficult action designs didn't require stunt doubles; he could complete them relatively easily himself.
However, Matthew knew he was just an actor, and a star-level actor with a promising future, so he definitely wouldn't risk serious injury to compete with Dwayne Johnson to see whether his free combat or professional wrestling was superior.
According to Dwayne Johnson, just as accidents can easily occur during the filming of action sequences, there have been instances where WWE's choreographed moves, when executed, turned into serious injury and bloodshed.
Matthew and Dwayne Johnson arrived at the break area, and as soon as they sat down, an assistant from the crew handed them water bottles.
Matthew waved his hand, indicating he didn't need it for now.
He had previously wanted to place an advertisement in the newspaper to hire an assistant, but he had postponed it because he was filming this movie and simply didn't have time for interviews.
He also didn't want to leave it to Helen Herman, so he decided to wait until after filming "National Treasure."
In some ways, Matthew also had a tendency to procrastinate.
The action director walked over, pulled up a chair, and sat next to Matthew, saying to Matthew and Dwayne Johnson, "That was a brilliant action scene!"
He first looked at Matthew, then at Dwayne Johnson, "Aren't you two both at a professional level? A real fight between you would definitely be spectacular."
Dwayne Johnson completely ignored his comment; he was over thirty, not some brain-dead fool.
"Gordon, I think your skill level is very high," Matthew said intentionally. "How about this, Dwayne and I fight you, one against two?"
"Alright!" Dwayne Johnson immediately agreed, turning and winking at Matthew, saying, "I don't think the two of us together could necessarily beat Gordon."
The action director, named Gordon, raised his hands and said, "Alright, alright, I take it back."
Matthew suddenly had an idea. "How about this, Dwayne? You've always wanted to test my strength, right? How about we arm wrestle?"
Dwayne Johnson immediately agreed. "Alright!"
Matthew turned to Gordon and said, "I have another idea. Have someone film this part. Maybe we can use it for promotion later."
Gordon only considered it for a moment before saying, "You two wait a bit, don't arm wrestle yet! I'll go find Anderson Martinez."
As he spoke, he hurried off to find Director Jon Turteltaub, and then left the set.
Not long after, Gordon returned with Anderson Martinez.
News of Matthew and Dwayne Johnson arm wrestling had spread throughout the studio.
The crew was on break, and many people came to watch.
Inevitably, what was originally a casual arm wrestling match turned into a carefully designed promotional event by the crew.
Even the outcome was planned: Matthew and Dwayne Johnson were to be evenly matched.