Upon receiving the invitation, Matthew specifically showed it to Helen Herman. Helen Herman told him it was a very reputable art exhibition. Wells Gallery's investment consultant had recently been active in Los Angeles, looking for potential buyers for the exhibition's artworks. Hollywood stars like him, who were rich and famous, were undoubtedly the highest quality and most easily swayed client resources.
Helen Herman also told him that if he was interested, he could go and take a look to cultivate some artistic appreciation, but if he wanted to bid, he must be extremely cautious. It would be best to notify her in advance, as the industry was very deep.
Matthew heard her say it was a very formal art exhibition and planned to go and see it. Helen Herman also supported this, as even a commercial film star needed to show some high-class taste.
Of course, Matthew would definitely be very cautious about things he didn't understand.
He didn't know about this side of America, but he had been tricked and suffered losses when he was on the other side of the Pacific.
At that time, he often saw news online about someone finding a misprinted RMB, or someone finding a family heirloom at home, which, after appraisal, was worth hundreds of thousands or even millions.
He had just left school and was at his poorest. Coincidentally, his family had an old porcelain pot. Stimulated by these overnight wealth stories, he took photos and went to a so-called art company in the city where he worked to find someone to appraise it.
Even now, Matthew remembers very clearly that the person who received him, after carefully examining the photos, gave an estimated value of up to 800,000!
At that time, it was an absolute huge surprise, so stimulating that Matthew rushed home overnight to get the porcelain pot. His idea was simple: he didn't need 800,000; even selling it for 300,000 would solve his family's urgent needs.
Those two years were when art investment was at its hottest. Programs identifying family heirlooms were everywhere on TV, seemingly driving a craze for collecting and searching for family heirlooms throughout society.
Influenced by the general environment and lacking experience fresh out of school, Matthew was single-mindedly thinking of selling it for a high price. Besides, weren't there examples of finding treasures and getting rich in the novels he often read on certain websites?
But reality, after all, was not TV or novels.
Matthew took the porcelain pot to the art investment company. The other party found a white-haired old expert with a long list of titles to appraise it for him, which required a considerable appraisal fee.
Matthew didn't have much money at the time, only giving 300 yuan. The other party said something about helping him out because the item was very valuable.
After the appraisal, the porcelain pot was deemed invaluable. Matthew was overjoyed, just waiting for it to be auctioned for money. But the other party then said that auctions required exhibition fees, publicity fees, and insurance fees, which had to be paid in advance.
Hearing this, Matthew was doused with cold water. His money-crazed mind gradually cleared. He found an excuse to temporarily leave the art investment company, then made numerous inquiries and finally understood that these were all scams.
His boss at the construction site where he worked had been scammed in a similar way, paying a lot in appraisal, exhibition, and publicity fees. The item was indeed auctioned, but the so-called auction was just a few shills sitting there making a mess, and the art investment company's items were "successfully sold," while the client's artwork, predictably, went unsold.
Since they had already held an auction, the upfront fees were naturally gone. Even if one reported it to the police, the police couldn't do anything, as the art company was operating entirely according to the contract.
This incident served as a wake-up call for Matthew. Coupled with a series of messy affairs like unpaid wages and wage recovery in the following years, he quickly matured.
Although he was still swinging a sledgehammer due to the general environment and platform, he was no longer a simple-minded young man.
Hearing about art investment, Matthew instinctively became wary, yet he still wanted to go and see if American art companies also played such brilliant tricks.
In the next two days, news came from the 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith' crew: Charlize Theron, as expected, passed the audition for the role of Jane Smith, and her agent was preparing to negotiate with the crew.
Matthew called Charlize Theron, but Stuart Townsend answered. He simply offered a few words of congratulations to Charlize Theron for getting the lead role, then hung up.
The scene he witnessed in front of Depp's Black Mamba bar left him with a very poor impression of Stuart Townsend. However, Charlize Theron clearly intended to conceal it. Even today, the media reports about her and Stuart Townsend are all about their deep affection, with almost no negative news appearing.
While Charlize Theron's management team was still negotiating with the 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith' crew, Matthew had already entered the set at Warner Bros. Studio to prepare for the film's shooting.
In addition to firearms and action training, Matthew also had ample discussions with director Doug Liman and screenwriter Simon Kinberg.
Especially his discussions with Doug Liman made him understand the director's many special and metaphorical ideas beyond the filming and script scenes.
Doug Liman had told Matthew that his ideal film, especially the various conflicts between the male and female leads, was an alternative interpretation of real married life.
After communicating with the director, Matthew reread the script. Perhaps influenced by Doug Liman and Simon Kinberg, this guy with very limited cultural knowledge, combining his past experiences, seemed to have also discerned some things hidden behind the script.
For example, the two companies behind the male and female leads in the script could be seen as two families. Not to mention the opposite shore of the Pacific where he once lived, even in America, marriages in many places are often affairs between two families.
If we interpret the script with this premise, the male and female leads, in the first two years after marriage, always lived by the commands of their families. They loved each other very much, but they didn't show their true selves, so there always seemed to be a wall between them until one day, after a major conflict reached its peak, they came to understand each other more deeply.
This seemingly was just an internal reconciliation, but things are often more complicated than imagined, because life never goes as smoothly as one hopes. There's a scene in the script where the male and female leads fight side-by-side for a common goal, the "tank." In Doug Liman's interpretation, the "tank" can be understood as a child in the family. Couples always fight side-by-side for their children, and friction arises.
As the plot develops later in the script, things clearly become even messier. Marriage is a matter of two families, and the turmoil draws in more people. The male and female leads must persevere for love until the end.
According to Doug Liman and Simon Kinberg, the final gunfight scene in the script being set in a home goods store implicitly conveys the meaning that "marriage is like a war."
The male and female leads, wielding various firearms and coordinating tacitly, also reminded Matthew of the "Mandarin Duck Swords" and "Amorous Glances Sword" type of couple's moves he had read about in wuxia novels.
Only when their emotions reach a certain level of understanding can they defeat the enemy.
Based on Matthew's discussions with Doug Liman and Simon Kinberg, the true core of this film is family, and family is precisely one of the values America most likes to promote.
From this perspective, the value orientation of 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith' is very correct.
Having been in Hollywood for these past few years, Matthew had actually noticed that all award-winning films and mainstream commercial films in Hollywood had impeccably correct value orientations, without even the slightest deviation.
This Hollywood-style value system profoundly influences most films, and films, in turn, influence society.
Therefore, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, aside from their own fans, are almost universally reviled by the media and the public at present.
But the skin of Hollywood stars is definitely thicker than the frontal armor of a US main battle tank. Matthew is like this, and so is Brad Pitt.
Before he had even divorced Jennifer Aniston, and while they were still legally married, just temporarily separated, Brad Pitt, under the gaze of over 120 cameras, very publicly took Angelina Jolie to Africa to recuperate and have a baby.
The grand spectacle they created when they left made onlookers instinctively feel that they were a newlywed celebrity couple preparing for their honeymoon... Clearly, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, and their teams behind them, were very adept at publicity and public relations.
Such sensational celebrity couple events inherently create an omnipresent viewing and being-viewed phenomenon. Viewers are ubiquitous, and today's developed media act as people's curious eyes.
In today's highly developed information society, those who are watched can never hide, even if they hide in the slums of Paris or the deserts of Africa.
At the same time, the posture of the watched is also very ambiguous. The watched celebrities express their grievances, complaining about being persecuted by the media's gaze, and how they've lost their original lives. Yet, they still appear glamorous together, performing their highly publicized scenes of happiness, flaunting all the affection they can.
All of this transforms into a game of feigned resistance, where the sincerity most needed in a couple's love is obliterated.
The viewers' mentality is also very complex. They both hope they are together and hope they are not together. They need to see them together to satisfy their voyeuristic desires, and at the same time, they need to see them in various predicaments and not smoothly, to satisfy the common person's sour grapes mentality.
Let's put it this way: they are both pleased to see it happen and gloat over their misfortunes.
What exactly leads to so many so-called "celebrity couples"? is it genuine love, or the audience's strong expectations? Do they truly crave to be seen, or not to be seen? is their high-profile love an expression of inner need, or a need for self-promotion? is it more satisfying to be loved, or to be watched?
Matthew, being in this circle, couldn't find the answer himself.