"This is Mr. Matthew Horn."
Inside the press room, after the introduction by the press officer of the crew, Matthew stood up and bowed slightly, his face full of a warm and brilliant smile. Coupled with the beard he had grown for his role in "Black Hawk Down" that he had not yet shaved off, he looked mature beyond his years.
The journalists were lukewarm in their reaction, but the press officer introduced him further, "Mr. Matthew Horn is the actor who plays the fourth company commander of Easy Company, Ronald Speirs."
This announcement immediately raised interest among the journalists, as the character seemed more appealing than the actor.
After a journalist was named by the press officer, a staff member handed over the microphone.
"Hello, Mr. Matthew Horn, I am a reporter from 'Empire' magazine," the reporter stood up to ask, "Can you tell us the truth about Ronald Speirs killing prisoners of war?"
The television series' second episode included related content, and subsequent edits also highlighted this aspect, prompting his question.
Matthew neither confirmed nor denied, intriguingly saying, "Have you noticed that everyone says this story came from someone who was there, but when you ask that person, they say they heard it from another person who was there."
Although the TV series took a fictional approach to whether Speirs actually killed POWs, killing prisoners of war is a relatively common phenomenon in Hollywood war films.
During filming, Matthew remembered a scene where Damian Lewis's character, Captain Winters, had his men remove bullets from their guns, leaving only one, which in his view was to prevent soldiers from killing POWs indiscriminately, indicating that killing POWs might have been relatively common.
After all, killing prisoners was seen as the simplest and most effective solution.
Following were two more questions from journalists, mostly procedural, concluding Matthew's media time, primarily because of his role as Ronald Speirs. Actors like James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender didn't even get the chance to enter the press room.
The press room hosted over a dozen actors, each with limited time for media interviews.
However, Matthew would participate in two promotional events for the crew in Los Angeles, one of which was a fundraiser for elderly and sick veterans lacking care.
After the premiere at Utah Beach, "Band of Brothers" officially aired on HBO for its paying subscribers. HBO, not a public broadcaster, had about 15 million users, making it one of the most expensive in the U.S. pay-TV market.
In other words, HBO catered to the top tier of the TV audience food chain.
Extensive promotion, high production quality, high production costs, influential producers, and a special historical period gave "Band of Brothers" impressive weekend premiere ratings.
On the Sunday night premiere and the next morning's rerun, "Band of Brothers" Episode 1 attracted over 10 million viewers. Although it couldn't compare with public television series, two-thirds of HBO's subscribers watched the show.
In the following weeks, viewership slightly declined, but "Band of Brothers" consistently maintained over 8 million viewers per episode.
Even more explosive than the viewership numbers was the acclaim "Band of Brothers" received.
Critics universally praised the mini-series, even before it finished airing, considering it a classic among WWII films and TV shows.
"Band of Brothers" was equally explosive among general audiences, maintaining a rating of over 9.5 on IMDB even after the ninth episode with over a hundred thousand rating users.
"Band of Brothers stands out because it consistently portrays the war with compassion for humanity, mostly depicting the lives of ordinary soldiers, with hardly any high-ranking officers. Compared to the highly realistic battle scenes, a group of vivid and memorable minor characters moved the audience even more."
Such accolades were numerous and overwhelming.
"From this day to the ending of the world, we shall be remembered. We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; for he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother."
After ten weeks of airing, "Band of Brothers" concluded its first run on HBO.
Thanks to the series' attention, Matthew, for playing the fourth commander of Easy Company, received some notice, although media coverage of him was not as extensive as expected. Even the lead actor Damian Lewis didn't escape this trend, as both audiences and media focused more on the series' storyline.
This could be considered a mini-series where the storyline far exceeded the roles.
Fortunately, the attention, albeit limited, was still there.
In a stylish apartment in Cambridge, Amanda sat in front of her computer, browsing the IMDB page for "Band of Brothers." In the character introduction section, one character caught her attention for a long time.
"Ronald Speirs: portrayed by Matthew Horn. Speirs was originally a platoon leader in D Company, who took command of Easy Company during the Battle of Bastogne, earning the trust of the entire company. He became a legend in the battalion, known for his bravery, decisiveness, and sometimes even cruelty, a true iron-blooded soldier. He also had a 'hobby' of 'collecting' war trophies."
Amanda looked at the character's photo, with a helmet covering half of his head, revealing a determined face below.
"Matthew..." Amanda smiled, "Are you really becoming a star?"
She remembered the actor, slightly older than herself, who had once mentioned visiting him on set, but she had been too busy with her studies to make it happen.
The reason she subscribed to "Band of Brothers," despite the inconvenience in the UK, was largely because of Matthew Horn.
Unexpectedly, the small role mentioned by Helen turned out to be quite colorful.
Amanda spent a while looking at stills and even created an IMDB account to leave her first movie review in life for "Band of Brothers."
"The incredibly charismatic character of Ronald Speirs in 'Band of Brothers'!"
"Having watched 'Band of Brothers,' the character of Easy Company's fourth commander, Ronald Speirs, left a deep impression on me..."
Amanda wrote a line, then struggled to continue. It was her first time writing such a thing, but after a long pause, she began typing again.
"The actor Matthew Horn portrayed one of the most distinctive characters in 'Band of Brothers,' at least in my opinion. His performance brought to life Ronald Speirs' calm determination, bravery, loathing for evil, and unyielding spirit... I liked this character more than Winters."
On the other hand, although the media focused more on the storyline, the character of Ronald Speirs did not go unnoticed.
"Entertainment Weekly," after the seventh episode of "Band of Brothers," had featured Ronald Speirs as the key figure of the episode.
"...Ronald Speirs never denied killing POWs in the series because he wanted to show that his ruthlessness was in line with the realities of war. We as viewers may admire Winters' care for his soldiers, but the true essence of a wartime soldier is embodied by Speirs."
"Compared to Sobel, Matthew Horn's portrayal was equally ruthless, but his philosophy came from the war he faced. When he advised the fearful Blithe in the third episode, he suggested that a soldier should 'be without mercy, without sympathy, without regret.'"
"Entertainment Weekly" focused more on the character of Ronald Speirs, with only a brief mention of actor Matthew Horn.
During filming, Matthew had a significant amount of screen time, but after watching the ten episodes, he realized Ronald Speirs was more of a significant background presence throughout the series.
Although somewhat disappointed, this was not unexpected, as the film's main character was Richard Winters, with the main roles revolving around him.
"Actually, you're quite popular with the audience."
In a suite at the Beverly Hills Hilton, Britney, wearing only a men's shirt, sat on the sofa browsing her laptop, her cheeks still flushed as if something hadn't faded away. She told Matthew, who was wearing a robe, "Come here and look, there are a lot of people commenting about you on Yahoo."
Matthew brought over two glasses of water, sitting next to Britney to look at the screen.
Britney pointed to the laptop provided by the hotel suite, "Right here, someone specifically asked about it."
Matthew saw it was indeed content related to him.
"In 'Band of Brothers,' who plays Lieutenant Ronald Speirs?"
The person asking clearly didn't recognize Matthew, but then again, not many people knew him yet.
One response read: "His name is Matthew Horn! A newcomer actor."
But the discussion didn't end there; more comments followed: "I really like this character! When he was called to lead Easy Company, it was like he activated a cheat mode, charging out of bomb smoke and then running through enemy territory back and forth, amazing! I've been paying attention to him ever since."
Britney scrolled down the webpage, and to Matthew's surprise, there were quite a few comments.
"This actor portrayed the character well, tall and robust, with dark hair, ruggedly handsome, and very stern. He has the look of a leader, and his demeanor is that of a leader, hmm... a strong, combative, brave, and tactically smart infantry platoon leader."
"So handsome, with so many mysterious events adding to his aura. Then, as expected, the ineffective Captain Dyke fumbled when he officially took the stage, and at that moment, with a loud bang from the ground, Matthew Horn made a shining entrance, taking command of the fight like a demon..."
After reading for a while, Matthew was quite pleased, but looking at Britney in front of him, he was brought back down to earth.
This level of online spread was still far from fame.
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