Sean Daniel

Sean Daniel is a minor character of the novel "最佳影星" inspired by the celebrity persona of Sean Daniel.

Volume 2 (2000)
He auditioned Matthew Horner for the role of Scorpion King for The Mummy Returns, the sequel to his hit movie The Mummy. Initially, he didn't care too much about the role but thanks to Helen Hermann subtly informing him that Dwayne Johnson, the director Stephen Sommers' main choice was African-American. Due to his southern roots, deep down, Sean Daniel was racist and didn't want to see an African-American have an important role in his film. As a result, he decided to cast Matthew for the role since he was a better fit. Naturally, he clashed with Stephen Sommers who wanted to cast Dwayne Johnson. Still, Sean Daniel didn't relent and chose Matthew for the role as he had absolute power in the crew. As a result, Stephen Sommers became cold towards Matthew.

A few weeks later, The Mummy Returns 's filming began. During his ten days of filming, Matthew became quite well-liked in the crew and even Stephen Sommers heard people saying nice things about him. He also agreed with their opinion as Matthew was one of the few young actors that were dedicated and sincere during the filming. By the time his scenes were finished, Stephen Sommers realized that all his bad feelings towards Matthew Horner was unknowingly dissipated. In fact, he even felt thankful that Sean Daniel had cast Matthew since he was aware that an acting rookie like Dwayne Johnson would have caused him a lot of trouble during filming.

Volume 3 (2001)
In May, the film was released and was very successful at the box office, however, as the film lacked interesting new elements, its reputation was terrible among the audience and the critics. Matthew Horner's performance as the Scorpion King was the only element of the film that garnered praise from the audience. Stephen Sommers spoke to Sean Daniel about this and the two decided to delay the sequel for 5-6 years. Instead, they decided to create a spin-off based on the Scorpion King. However, the executives at Universal Pictures were not convinced that Matthew alone could carry the box office of the film. However, they agreed to the spin-off after the marketing team's 10-week long, nationwide survey showed that Matthew Horner was the second most popular character in the film after Rachel Weisz' Evelyn O'Connell.

By July, production of The Scorpion King began. Thanks to his continuous success, Stephen Sommers became the main producer of the film and hired Chuck Russell as the director. Sean Daniel remained as one of the producers but he no longer the power to veto Stephen Sommers' decisions.

Volume 4 (2002)
In April, The Scorpion King was released. Over the next month, the film became very successful at the box office, earning over $100 million in North America and $200 worldwide at the meager budget of $40 million. He was very satisfied with Matthew thanks to his dedication and sincerity during the filming.

By September, Sean Daniel approached Zack Snyder to direct the remake of George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead who instantly agreed as he wanted an opportunity to enter Hollywood like his former colleague Michael Bay. After making a tentative production plan, the crew settled on casting Matthew Horner as the male lead as the latter was currently filming for Jerry Bruckheimer's Pirates of the Caribbean which many in the industry predicted would be a hit. He, along with Zack Snyder, approached Matthew and his agent who showed interest in the project but asked to see the finished script before making any promises. Sean Daniel agreed and had the writer, James Gunn, alter the script to cater to the male lead to impress Matthew.

Volume 5 (2003)
By February, the script was completed. After reading the script, Matthew agreed to play the role of the male lead but his agent delayed the contractual negotiations until the release of Pirates of the Caribbean which would allow her to quote a higher price for her client. Sean Daniel had been unaware of this but the main reason that Matthew agreed to participate in the film was due to him betting on Zack Snyder's debut film being a success considering the heights he would reach in the next decade.