Chapter 885 Walking in the Fire Is Full of Evil

New York, Brooklyn Studios.

The largest studio, No. 1, is arranged into three main shooting locations, namely a bar, a theater, and an old-fashioned apartment.

First Assistant Director Steve Downton is directing the set and props teams to modify several unsatisfactory places according to Martin's requirements.

Editor Joel Negron entered the group in advance and sat in a quiet place to look through Martin's storyboard drawings. He will watch the shooting from beginning to end to facilitate later editing.

The lighting team is adjusting the lighting.

Director of Photography Jeff Kronweiss stood in front of the laid camera track and discussed the shooting of the first scene with Martin.

Martin not only prepared the storyboard drawings, but also clearly conveyed the desired lens effects.

After a while, Steve Downton also came over, and the three of them gathered together to communicate for a long time.

In the afternoon, Martin put on makeup and came to the blue screen on the set, posing in various pre-designed styles and shooting promotional posters.

The crew will soon officially start shooting. On the day of the start of shooting, a round of publicity will be launched and several concept posters will be released.

The Joker is of course the top priority.

The first promotional poster has been finalized, with the city flames as the background of the Joker and the Joker's face blurred.

This "Joker" is a prequel to "The Dark Knight" in terms of publicity, and the Joker's design will be somewhat different.

After the promotional photos were taken, someone immediately took them to process them and they will be released across the United States soon.

The crew's various preparatory work is progressing in an orderly manner. Martin has borrowed a lot of David Fincher's ideas and methods for shooting "Split". The focus of the plot of "Joker" will be on the character's own experience.

"We are not shooting the DC Joker!" At the shooting coordination meeting, Martin said to the heads of various departments: "We are shooting the process of how a person becomes a Joker, and the focus is on this person!"

He emphasized: "Everyone put down your memory of the Joker in the comics and the Joker in "The Dark Knight". This is a brand new character."

Screenwriter Bradt continued: "When I created the script, I didn't refer to any previous Joker."

Others were basically listening.

Martin turned to look at actors such as Robert De Niro and Saoirse Ronan: "All the characters and backgrounds are black, dark, depressing, and there is no light."

Robert De Niro had communicated with Martin before, and said at this time: "Bad guys are never born, they are cultivated or created, and something happened in their lives that made them give up their faith in humanity."

"That's right." Martin snapped his fingers and glanced at Bradt.

As a screenwriter, Bradt further interpreted the Joker and the script for everyone so that the actors could integrate into the role more quickly: "Before the blackening, the Joker lived a miserable life and was a little neurotic, but not to the point of madness. It was the dark side of society that constantly penetrated into the Joker's heart. After suffering all kinds of discrimination, teasing, and abuse, the most terrible criminal Joker was born."

Martin said: "In short, the cruel society created the Joker."

In recent years, he has been influenced more by David Fincher and Christopher Nolan.

Nolan's various tricks in publicity and marketing have benefited Martin a lot. In this regard, the two can be said to have influenced and improved each other.

But in terms of film style, Martin prefers David Fincher's dark style.

Maybe for personal reasons, he prefers evil characters in madness.

This is neither a comic book superhero movie nor a commercial movie that follows the conventional Hollywood routine.

Martin is also taking advantage of the current social situation.

As for whether to use the film to explore any theme or idea, Martin will say yes during the promotion. In fact, people in the industry understand what is going on.

A few days later, when Martin faced an exclusive interview with The New Yorker, he had a deep face and said something very thoughtful.

Sitting in front of the first Joker poster that had just been made, Grant, the ace reporter of The New Yorker, asked Martin: "The last Joker role you played was hailed as the most classic villain in film and television. What is the difference between this time and the last time? There are multiple versions of the Joker in DC comics. Which version is mainly used in your movie?"

Martin thought for a while and said: "When writing the script, I, Daniel from Warner Pictures, Louise from Pacific Pictures, plus screenwriter Bradt, and Nolan and Emma Thomas who participated in the early work, after several discussions, finally decided not to follow any comic content. We finally wrote a brand new version to describe how the Joker became an agent of chaos."

Grant said again: "Can you talk about what kind of person this Joker is? In addition to chaos, madness and evil."

"From the earliest establishment of the project to the script writing stage, and now that the preparations are about to end, many people have asked me this question." Martin said nonsense seriously: "What kind of person is the Joker? Why does he have such charm? Because he represents a kind of freedom!"

Grant was slightly surprised.

Martin, this bastard, has always known how to play with public opinion and mainstream social values.

Even in today's America, where demons and monsters are rampant, organizations like LGBTQ are crazy, and they still use the banner of freedom.

So, the Joker is chaotic and evil, but he is also free.

Being able to set fires, explode and kill people freely is so consistent with the free America.

After all, America uses these methods to promote their democracy and freedom all over the world.

Faced with such correct words, Grant was slightly stunned before asking, "But the Joker's freedom may bring destruction."

This kind of question is not difficult for Martin. He said, "I think the Joker's goal is not to see the world destroyed, but the rebirth of the world."

Grant thought to himself, you are the director of the film, and whatever you say makes sense.

After the interview, the interview successfully appeared in The New Yorker, and the poster of the film also became the new issue of The New Yorker.

The crew took the opportunity to launch a wave of publicity. The official website and official social media of the film were established one after another, and their covers were all this poster of Martin as the male lead.

This has attracted widespread attention.

On the poster, with a burning city as the background, Martin, wearing a purple suit, proudly walks in the flames, interpreting the madness and evil of the Joker.

It seems that wherever the Joker walks, chaos will inevitably occur.

Many film newspapers and websites have joined in the report.

"The first version of the Joker poster is exposed, and Martin walks in the fire with evilness!"

Also announced at the same time is that the Joker will start shooting in Brooklyn Studios in New York, and the exact date of its North American release next year.

The Joker has long been a god among movie fans and the Internet.

Martin's version is hailed as the first villain in film history.

Once the Joker independent movie was announced, it immediately aroused a strong response from movie fans.

"Martin's Joker is so charming, Batman is like scum in front of him."

"The poster is super explosive, super looking forward to it!"

"The previous Joker created by Martin was enough to be a god, now he has to challenge himself, I hope he can achieve self-transcendence."

"Look forward to Martin bringing a masterpiece!"

"No comic style, no fake comic background, it must be made into a realistic film!"

"If Martin wins the Best Supporting Actor and then the Best Actor for the role of the Joker, it will be wonderful!"

Although it is better to just take a look at the comments on the Internet, some of them are not without reason.

In the hotel room, Saoirse Ronan had just given Martin a dance performance report, showing her body's flexibility without reservation. At this moment, she was browsing social media on her mobile phone and said, "Can this role really win another Oscar for acting?"

Martin poured two glasses of wine with a refreshed look, and handed one to Saoirse: "It's hard to say about other aspects, but the nature of the role is fine."

"The nature of the role?" Saoirse asked the teacher sincerely: "What exactly do you mean?"

Martin said directly: "Of course it's about selling misery. When I was chatting with Nicholson and Leonardo, they once told me that the Oscar for Acting should be renamed the Selling Miserable Award."

Saoirse thought about it for a while and said, "It seems to make some sense."

She recalled carefully: "I don't know too far away, but in the past 20 years, most of the actors who won the Best Actor and Best Actress had roles that were relatively miserable when they won the awards."

Martin nodded slightly.

Saoirse also gave a few examples: "Jodie Foster's role was criticized, Tom Hanks was first AIDS and homosexual, then mentally retarded, Daniel Day-Lewis was a cripple, Charlize Theron almost ruined her image, Russell Crowe's family died..."

There were so many examples of playing misery that she couldn't count them all at once.

Saoirse found that if she really followed this theory, there was really no problem with the role.

The Joker definitely meets the requirements of the Oscars Pitiable Association.

Martin picked up the glass, took a sip, and said: "Don't think about these things first. It's important to shoot the film smoothly. The difficulty of shooting this film is much higher than "The Shallows."

Saoirse encouraged Martin: "Teacher, you can do it."

Martin was still a little stressed and drank the wine slowly.

Saoirse knew her teacher too well and immediately saw that Martin was under pressure. As a good student, she would definitely find a way to help her teacher relieve the pressure. She said, "I'll find a few friends to come to New York for a party in a while. Do you have time, teacher?"

Martin certainly has time: "I should be able to attend."

Saoirse said, "The people who come are all familiar to us, Sofia Stallone, Elle Fanning and Dakota Fanning sisters. They will come to visit my class after the shooting starts."

Martin remembered that they had known Saoirse for a long time.

After the new week began, the crew's preparations continued. In addition to his work as a director, Martin also took time out to rehearse with actors such as Saoirse Ronan and Robert De Niro.

The various preparations he had made for "Split" can also be used in the performance of the Joker.

Of course, the various characteristics of split personality will not appear in the Joker. The character created by Martin will only develop towards madness and chaos.

At the same time, Louise negotiated with New York City Hall for location shooting.

Since the crew will not shoot location in Manhattan except New York City Hall, the location scenes are mainly shot in Queens, and the shooting time is relatively easy to adjust.

Then there is the New York subway. After the location team inspected it, they said that the old subway did not need to be specially arranged, and direct shooting could achieve the ideal effect. After all, the earliest line started operating in the early 19th century.

In addition, Wayne Manor has also found a suitable shooting location.

In addition to the apartment in the Upper East Side, Martin's house in New York also has a villa in Long Island.

The villa can be rented to the crew for shooting.

While the preparations were underway, Martin left New York in late April and came to Houston, the largest city in Texas, to attend the premiere of "Sicario" invested and filmed by Davis Studio.

Because the film involves issues on the Texas-Mexico border, the premiere was specially held in Houston.

Martin walked the red carpet and took photos with the main creators of the crew.

Director Denis Villeneuve was in high spirits. Due to the huge success of "The Town" and the overwhelming reputation of "Sicario" after several previews, he has received an invitation from 20th Century Fox to direct the sequel of the classic science fiction film "Blade Runner".

This film lost a lot of money at the time. After many years, it finally relied on the reputation accumulated offline and the profit figures generated, which finally made 20th Century Fox determined to put the sequel of the film on the agenda.

Martin didn't say much, congratulated Daniel Villeneuve, and rejected Villeneuve's invitation to play the leading actor.

High-concept science fiction films have a high chance of failure.

Later, Josh Brolin, who was confirmed to play Thanos, also came to greet Martin.

The main creative group of the crew entered the theater together, and Martin was finally left alone.

Alexandra Daddario came over, took his arm, and said, "This heroine is so weird."

Martin asked, "Why is it weird?"

"When filming, I thought she was the absolute protagonist." Alexandra had seen the preview, shrugged and said, "When the film was finished, I found that the protagonist was replaced halfway through the film. Kate, played by me, became a dispensable role, a pure tool and bystander."

Martin smiled and said, "So, director Denis Villeneuve is a genius."

He thought for a while and said, "I'll give you a disaster movie script later, and you should get familiar with the heroine."

Alexandra asked directly, "Is it the project you mentioned last time? The male lead is a member of the fire rescue team, and you are going to play it."

"That's right." Martin said briefly, "I'm not very satisfied with the script, and I'm asking the screenwriter to revise it. It will probably be around next month."

The main creative staff of the crew entered the theater, Martin went to the second row and sat down, and the film started playing soon.

This is not a purely commercial film, but a film with a strong personal style of director Denis Villeneuve. He seems to want to find a balance between art and business and explore the issue of "boundaries".

Although the changes between the protagonists of the film are unexpected, it is still very exciting overall.