novellhall Chapter 376 I am Arthur Fleck
Chapter 376 I am Arthur Fleck
Chapter 375 I am Arthur Fleck
"marvelous!"
"One more!"
Someone put some change into the hat in front of him.
Chen Xun smiled and waved his hand, stuffing all the change from his hat into the clown next to him. He winked at him, then turned and squeezed out of the crowd, walking to Christine's side on the street.
Christine took off her mask, her eyes filled with pride, and handed him a bottle of water: "Actor Chen, you sneaked out to perform on the street, and got mobbed by fans, didn't you?"
Chen Xun unscrewed the water bottle and took a big gulp, wiping the sweat from his face. Looking at the crowd still gathered at the street corner, discussing the matter, he felt a sense of clarity he had never felt before.
When he was performing in the crowd just now, he didn't deliberately act like Arthur.
But every movement and expression carries the shadow of Arthur.
He finally understood!
The best performance is never imitation, but empathy, becoming the character himself.
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"Did I embarrass you?"
Chen Xun chuckled and teased.
"It's more than just not embarrassing."
Christine waved her phone, the screen displaying the complete video she had just recorded: "I recorded it all. I'll show it to Todd later, and he'll be begging you to join the crew right away."
The two smiled and turned around, walking back along the old street, ignoring the commotion behind them.
No one recognized that the clown who had just performed on the street was Chen Xun, the Golden Globe-winning actor who is currently the most sought-after actor in Hollywood.
Videos of Chen Xun's performance were posted on Twitter by onlookers.
"Amazing clown performance on the streets of Los Angeles!"
The video was posted and within just two hours it had garnered over a million views and over 500,000 likes!
The comments section was full of praise: "This Joker was so well-acted! That clumsy yet tender feeling brought me to tears!"
"This actor is definitely a professional! His body control is amazing, his expressions are incredible, even better than many Hollywood Jokers!"
"His interactions with that male clown were so heartwarming! My God, how can there be such a gentle clown!"
The video's views are still skyrocketing.
Just then!
One netizen left a startling comment: "Wait a minute—this coin trick is exactly the same as Han Lee's coin trick in '2 Broke Girls,' and there's that little mole on the back of his hand...it's Chen Xun!"
This comment was instantly pushed to the top.
Netizens were instantly outraged!
Everyone went back and repeatedly skipped the progress bar.
Netizens compared the clown's hand shape, height, body shape, and signature coin trick in the video.
Soon, fans of "La La Land" discovered that his physical movements in the performance were somewhat similar to Sebastian's dance moves in the movie.
"Did Chen Xun secretly go to the streets of Los Angeles to perform as a clown?"
"I was watching the Spider-Man trailer just a few days ago, and today I saw him dressed as the Joker on the street!"
"No wonder he acted so well; he's about to play the Joker! Is this some kind of early life experience?"
"That's amazing! That's a real actor! Performing on the streets for a role!"
"He truly brought Arthur's brokenness to life. Just those few dozen seconds of street performance have already made me look forward to 'Joker'."
It's a movie!
The hashtag #ChenXunDressesAsAClownOnTheStreet# instantly topped the global trending lists on Twitter and Weibo.
The video went viral, spreading from Twitter to Instagram, Weibo, and Bilibili, and within half a day, it had garnered over 5 million views across the entire internet.
100 million.
Countless netizens were moved by this performance.
Chen Xun and Christine have returned to their villa in Beverly Hills.
Chen Xun washed off the face paint and changed into clean clothes.
I had just sat down on the sofa when I received a call from Todd Phillips. The director on the other end of the line sounded excited: "Chen! I saw the video of your street performance, you're practically Arthur Fleck himself!"
"I can't wait to turn it on!"
"Your understanding of this character has exceeded all my expectations!"
Monday morning.
Warner Bros. Pictures and director Todd Phillips jointly announced the news.
Joker has officially started filming in New York.
The official poster has no fancy design, only a photo of someone's back.
Chen Xun, who plays Arthur Fleck, stands hunched over at the foot of the famous staircase in the Bronx, wearing a faded old jacket. Above him is the gloomy sky of Gotham City, and below him are fallen leaves.
Just a glimpse of his back conveys the oppression and loneliness of this ordinary person.
The moment the official announcement was released, it immediately ignited the global internet.
A while ago, a video of Chen Xun dressed as a clown on the street went viral online, with views exceeding 10 billion and related topics generating a lot of discussion.
The official announcement of the start of filming has immediately pushed the hype to a new peak.
Three of the top five trending topics on Twitter worldwide are related to "Joker".
The hashtag #ChenXunTheClown# garnered over 5 million views within an hour.
Countless overseas netizens flooded the comments section with messages like, "Filming has really started! I've watched that street performance scene countless times; I can't imagine how Chen Xun will portray the clown in the final cut!"
"Just a while ago he was the sunny, approachable Spider-Man, and now he's playing Gotham's most insane Joker. Chen Xun's acting range is just too wide!"
"After watching that street performance, I suddenly felt that he might create a classic in film history!"
The popularity on Weibo in China is also skyrocketing.
The hashtag #ChenXunClownStartsFilming# immediately topped the trending search list.
Netizens were both excited and proud: "Who knows! A comic book adaptation with a Chinese actor as the male lead, and in an award-contending film like 'Joker,' Chen Xun has truly shattered the ceiling for Chinese actors!"
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"From Han Lee in '2 Broke Girls' to Spider-Man, and then to the Joker, he truly made his way up in Hollywood, turning the impossible into possible!"
"I was watching the Spider-Man trailer just a few days ago, and today we're already seeing Joker filming begin! Is Chen Xun living on the Hollywood set? He's working way too hard!"
The Hollywood industry was also completely shaken.
The Hollywood Reporter published an article about it directly.
"Chen Xun is making Hollywood history. He is the first person to hold two of Marvel's top superhero IPs and simultaneously star in a DC film."
He's an actor worthy of award-winning comic book adaptations, and the first Chinese actor to carry a Hollywood A-list production as the lead.
Even the notoriously critical Variety gave it extremely high praise.
"From his impromptu street performances, it's clear that Chen Xun's understanding of the Joker character is deeply ingrained. This film, 'Joker,' may become the biggest dark horse of the awards season."
The online frenzy had no effect on Chen Xun on the New York film set.
On the day the filming officially started, he moved into the apartment rented by the crew in Brooklyn, turned off all social media, and declined all unnecessary interviews and social engagements, completely isolating himself from the noise of the outside world.
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Todd originally wanted to take advantage of the hype to shoot some promotional behind-the-scenes footage, but Chen Xun politely declined: "First, establish the core of Arthur's character. Nothing else matters. I am Arthur Fleck now, not Golden Globe Best Actor Chen Xun."
Todd had no objection to this, and even wholeheartedly agreed.
The success or failure of this role depends entirely on Chen Xun's performance.
The week before filming began, the crew shot all the scenes of Arthur's daily breakdowns.
The cramped, dilapidated apartment, the indifferent and perfunctory social worker's office, the chaotic and filthy streets of Gotham—all these are Arthur's daily routines, crushed by life.
The first scene we filmed was Arthur writing in his diary in his apartment.
The apartment built by the art team was pitifully small, with peeling paint on the walls, old and worn-out furniture, and sunlight could only seep in through the narrow windows. The whole space was filled with a depressing musty smell.
Chen Xun, wearing a pilling old sweater, sat at his peeling desk, pen in hand, writing in his diary.
The script contains only one line: "I only hope that my death will be more meaningful than my life."
Chen Xun's performance was far more nuanced than the script itself.
As he wrote, his pen stopped on the paper, his shoulders began to tremble slightly, and a suppressed laugh escaped his throat.
The laughter grew louder and more uncontrollable.
He covered his mouth, trying to stifle his laughter, but instead laughed so hard he was shaking all over.
Tears streamed down her cheeks and onto her diary.
He didn't have any hysterical outbursts or exaggerated gestures; he just sat there, laughing and then crying.
That kind of despair, being overwhelmed by life, and the helplessness of wanting to bring joy to the world only to be met with ridicule, pierced directly into everyone's hearts through the surveillance cameras.
Behind the monitor, Todd held his breath, even forgetting to grab his walkie-talkie. Only after Chen Xun finished acting did he snap out of it and excitedly shout, "Cut!"
The entire set erupted in applause.
The staff member in charge of sound recording, with red eyes, said to the person next to him, "Just listening to his laughter gives me goosebumps, and it makes my heart ache."
The subsequent scenes in the social worker's office showcased textbook-level micro-expression acting to the entire crew.
Arthur sat across from the social worker, listening to the social worker tell him expressionlessly that the government had cut welfare budgets, his psychological counseling would be suspended, and he would no longer be able to get free medication.
Chen Xun's performance had no lines, only changes in his eyes.
From the initial cautious hope, to the bewilderment upon hearing the news, to the gradual fading of numbness, and finally to the deathly silence of being abandoned by the whole world.
In just over ten seconds, his eyes captured the entire journey of an ordinary person from hope to despair.
Even the veteran actors opposite him were drawn into the role by his performance, and after the show, they gave him a thumbs up repeatedly: "Chen, you didn't just play Arthur, you *are* Arthur."
The scenes of him being bullied by thugs on the street were particularly heartbreaking.
He was holding up a clown GG sign when some thugs snatched it from him, chased him for several blocks, and finally pinned him down in an alley and beat him until the GG sign was smashed to pieces.
He lay on the cold ground, watching the thugs laugh and run away. He couldn't help but laugh wildly. Passersby walked by indifferently, and not a single person stopped to help him.
After this scene was filmed, several more attribute orbs slowly drifted down:
[Empathetic portrayal of the living conditions of ordinary people at the bottom of society +30]
[Micro-expression performance accuracy without dialogue +28]
[Method Immersive Performance: Sense of Belief +25]
[The layering of suppressed emotions in the character is enhanced by +22]
[Historical Progress] Realm progress +0.5%, current progress 60.5%
Chen Xun silently absorbed the attribute orbs.
My understanding of the character Arthur has deepened once again.
He knew that these daily breakdowns and despairs were all paving the way for the subway shooting scene that would completely change Arthur's fate.
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