The short vacation quickly passed, and Matthew ended his break, returning to Disney Studios to continue filming pirates of the caribbean: dead mans chest.
For publicity reasons, some of the situations that occurred when the Crew was filming in Dominica had already spread. Moreover, the Crew had hundreds of behind-the-scenes staff, and with so many people talking, some things could not be kept secret.
According to the Crew's plan, on the first day of resumed filming, the gates of Disney Studios were closed, prohibiting vehicle entry and exit. The main cast and Crew members had to get out of their cars at the entrance and face the barrage of reporters and paparazzi blocking the gates of Disney Studios.
Matthew was no exception; as soon as he got out of the car, he was surrounded by reporters.
"Excuse me, Mr. Horner..."
The dozen or so reporters surrounding Matthew immediately started asking frantic questions, "Did the Crew get attacked by local indigenous tribes in Dominica?"
"There was a slight misunderstanding," Matthew said, cooperating fully with the Crew's publicity efforts. "But it was resolved quickly."
Based on his observations, in the eyes of those indigenous people, Coca-Cola was far more important than any reputation related to cannibals or the like.
Another reporter loudly asked, "It is rumored that Johnny Depp was attacked at the hotel. Did you step in and save him?"
Matthew certainly wouldn't admit it directly. He said, "It wasn't an attack. A zealous fan of Jack Sparrow slipped into Depp's Room, wanting to get close to Depp. I stopped him when I found out."
When the words came out of his mouth, the meaning completely changed: "This proves one thing—Captain Jack Sparrow's charm is boundless!"
At this point, he started moving forward, but the reporters refused to let him leave easily.
A female reporter squeezed in front of him and asked, "An insider revealed that you and Keira Knightley rekindled your old flame and are back together?"
"That's not true," Matthew flatly denied. "Keira and I have always been good friends, and we are only good friends now."
Matthew was besieged by reporters, and Johnny Depp, who arrived shortly after, fared no better. With more and more reporters and paparazzi gathering, the situation at the studio entrance seemed poised to spiral out of control at any moment.
A team of security guards who had been standing by rushed out from inside the studio gates, cutting into the crowd of reporters like knives, intending to pave the way for Matthew and Johnny Depp with their bodies.
On this side, although Matthew and Johnny Depp had been notified by the Crew when they arrived and were mentally prepared, they were still troubled by the difficulty of shaking off the reporters' harassment.
On the other side, Eva Green had just gotten out of her car. A few newly arrived reporters glanced her way, and without hesitation, joined the fray besieging Matthew and Johnny Depp.
Walking past the reporters all the way until she entered Disney Studios, Eva Green didn't see a single reporter spare her a second glance.
"It doesn't matter," said the French manager beside Eva Green. "Once you succeed, you'll have as many media and reporter interviews as you want."
Upon entering Disney Studios, Eva Green didn't leave immediately. Instead, she stopped, glanced at her manager with eyes where the whites took up more than two-thirds of the space, and said, "You go ahead. I'll wait a bit."
Hearing this, the manager subconsciously turned his head and looked outside the studio gates.
Without saying anything further, he walked directly toward the sound stage.
Matthew and Johnny Depp finally escaped the reporters' entanglement, fighting their way through the "mountain of corpses and sea of blood" and into Disney Studios. However, both looked somewhat disheveled. Not only was Depp's suit wrinkled from the crush, but even Matthew's hairstyle was ruined.
If an explosion had occurred behind him right then, Matthew definitely wouldn't have looked back.
"Hi, Matthew."
Just entering Disney Studios, Matthew heard the greeting, then saw Eva Green, and replied with a smile, "Good morning, Eva."
Johnny Depp looked at Eva Green. Matthew urged them, "It's getting late. Let's hurry to the sound stage, or Director Verbinski will get angry."
Eva Green glanced at Johnny Depp. Seeing that Matthew did not intend to introduce them, she didn't greet Depp either, and walked alongside the two toward the sound stage.
"is Director Verbinski very bad-tempered?" Eva Green asked.
Matthew said as he walked, "He's alright, much better than the rumored James Cameron."
The sound stage was very close, and they arrived after walking a short distance. Matthew and Johnny Depp entered their respective private dressing Rooms, while Eva Green shared a dressing Room with another actress from the Crew.
Just like when filming pirates of the caribbean: the curse of the black pearl, Matthew grew a beard and let his hair grow long again. This effectively reduced the time needed for makeup, and in less than two hours, he appeared on the sound stage in Will Turner's attire.
This enormous sound stage was constructed to look like a tropical rainforest; they even built special troughs to serve as waterways running through the jungle.
Matthew handed his personal belongings to Bella Anderson and watched from the periphery for a while. The large investment made by the Crew was indeed effective; even when observed with the naked eye, the constructed scenery had a ninety percent similarity to an actual tropical rainforest.
Next up was the scene where Johnny Depp and Will Turner go to meet the witch Tia Dalma.
However, the styling for Johnny Depp and Eva Green was very complicated, and they had not yet emerged from the makeup Room.
A few days ago, Gore Verbinski's director team had emailed him, stating that after the filming wrapped up in Dominica, the shooting back at Disney Studios would no longer focus solely on dead mans chest scenes; they would also film some scenes for at worlds end that had overlapping sets.
Although Jerry Bruckheimer and Gore Verbinski had conflicts, they agreed on this point: all scenes for dead mans chest must be completed by mid-October at the latest, and filming for at worlds end must conclude before the end of this year.
Matthew's work schedule was adjusted accordingly based on pirates of the caribbean: dead mans chest and pirates of the caribbean: at worlds end. He had already informed Zack Snyder and David Ellison that the filming of 300 spartans would have to wait until February or March of next year at the earliest.
Since the film is scheduled for release in 2007, there is still plenty of time.
After watching from the edge of the set for a while, Gore Verbinski walked over. Matthew glanced at him; Gore Verbinski was clearly looking for him.
"Matthew," Gore Verbinski came up to him and said directly, "Are you free at the end of October?"
"It's hard to say right now," Matthew admitted truthfully. "I haven't finalized my October schedule yet."
He looked at Gore Verbinski, "is there something going on?"
Gore Verbinski adjusted his glasses and said, "The film I shot last year, the weather man, is holding its premiere at the end of October."
Matthew immediately replied, "As long as my schedule permits, I will definitely attend."
Gore Verbinski smiled and said, "Alright, I'll have someone send you an invitation."
Last year, he used the spare time while preparing for the two pirates of the caribbean sequels to specifically shoot a comedy film starring Nicolas Cage.
After Gore Verbinski left, Matthew waved Bella Anderson over and asked her to make a note of it. If there were no other urgent matters at that time, he would certainly attend the premiere.
In any case, maintaining a good relationship with the Crew's director is beneficial and harmless.
Furthermore, during the early preparation phase, he had expressed dissatisfaction with the dead mans chest script and, together with Keira Knightley, offered suggestions. Gore Verbinski made appropriate adjustments after careful consideration.
What Matthew was unhappy about at the time was the ambiguity between Elizabeth Swann and Jack Sparrow. The current Will Turner was not the Will Turner of the past; he was one of the two main protagonists of the film, and since Matthew was also an A-list star, such a plot offered him no benefits.
Matthew had a certain degree of influence within the Crew, supported by Keira Knightley, and later Depp also backed him. Gore Verbinski and the Crew thus revised the script accordingly.
In the film's final cut, there would absolutely be no scene of Elizabeth Swann kissing Jack Sparrow.
After more than twenty minutes, Johnny Depp and Eva Green appeared on set one after the other. Director Gore Verbinski gathered all the pirate actors involved in the shoot, gave them final instructions, and filming commenced.
Two small wooden boats entered the waterway in the tropical rainforest and slowly paddled forward. Matthew and Johnny Depp each sat at the very front of a boat to ensure the camera lenses prioritized capturing their faces.
For this scene, the bow of the boat was the standard protagonist position; naturally, other actors couldn't try to take it, nor did they have the qualifications to do so.
The wooden boats reached their destination, filming paused briefly, and then the Crew moved to a uniquely structured wooden house.
After filming resumed, Matthew followed among the many pirates and entered the wooden house, where he saw Eva Green dressed as a witch.
To be precise, Eva Green hadn't undergone overly specialized makeup; simply standing there, she exuded an inherent aura of evil, gloom, and mystery, as if she were a witch herself—capable of breathtaking beauty and of splitting a person's soul.
Without a doubt, Eva Green was naturally suited to play this kind of mysterious bad woman, a femme fatale.
For the following period, Matthew was intensely busy filming Will Turner's scenes. After returning to Los Angeles, Keira Knightley proactively distanced herself from him, and the two returned to being just good friends.
Matthew wasn't surprised by this. The only thing he was curious about was that Keira Knightley had specifically sought him out after one shoot to ask where he bought the medicated oil... Meanwhile, some work related to Matthew was moving forward. Walt Disney Pictures proactively contacted Helen Herman to discuss the filming of the national treasure sequel.