novellhall Chapter 394 A Bizarre Roadshow
Chapter 394 A Bizarre Roadshow
Chapter 393 A Bizarre Roadshow
The glory of winning the Venice Golden Lion Award propelled "Joker" to the forefront of the global film scene overnight.
Warner's PR department approached Chen Xun and Todd with a lavish roadshow plan they had prepared overnight.
The plan was filled with content about superhero movie roadshows.
Premieres at the world's top hotels, red carpet celebrations, IP collaborations, fan meet-and-greets with autographs and photos, and even themed events at amusement parks are all on the agenda.
Both of them refused.
"We won't do it that way!"
Chen Xun rejected the proposal, saying, "Joker has never been a traditional superhero commercial film. If we turn the roadshow into a commercial show, we will completely betray the film."
Todd immediately nodded in agreement: "Chen is right. We made this film to let the audience see those who are ignored and hear those silent cries. Roadshows should not be a stage for celebrities, but a place for them to have a real dialogue with the audience."
Warner's PR manager was dumbfounded.
A film that won the Venice Golden Lion and has garnered over 10 billion views worldwide, why would it skip a top-tier commercial roadshow and insist on having some kind of in-depth dialogue?
This is unprecedented in the history of Hollywood marketing.
But he also knew that Chen Xun and Todd now held absolute power in "Joker," and in the end, he had no choice but to compromise.
And so, the roadshow for the most unconventional comic book adaptation in film history officially began.
There were no glamorous red carpets or extravagant publicity stunts; even the main creative team traveled light and kept things simple throughout the entire event.
Chen Xun and Todd refused all the haute couture gowns sponsored by brands, and wore only the most ordinary black suits and plain sweatshirts throughout the roadshow. They never dressed up as clowns.
Even as countless fans and media outlets pleaded to see his clown look again, he consistently shook his head.
"I'm playing Arthur Fleck, not a symbol for entertainment."
Before the first screening in London, he calmly told the media who surrounded him: "For the roadshow, we won't talk about clowns, we'll only talk about people."
This statement became the core theme throughout the entire roadshow.
The first stop of the roadshow.
Instead of choosing a luxury movie theater in Manhattan, New York, they went to a homeless shelter in the Bronx.
This is one of the most chaotic slums in New York City.
Homeless people can be seen everywhere on the streets.
In the makeshift screening room of the shelter, there was only a temporary screen and dozens of folding chairs, all occupied by homeless people, veterans, and low-income people who barely make ends meet by doing odd jobs.
Chen Xun and Todd sat in the crowd and watched the subway shooting scene and the climax of the stand-up comedy show together with everyone.
When the lights came on, the entire screening room fell silent.
Just as the host was about to begin the formalities, Chen Xun stood up first, picked up the microphone, and asked, "Is there anyone who would like to talk about what came to mind after watching this?"
After a few seconds of silence, a veteran sitting in the corner shakily raised his hand. He had a prosthetic leg, his face was weathered, and his voice was hoarse: "I came back from Iraq, lost my leg, lost my job, my wife and children left me, and I slept under a bridge for two years."
"Nobody has ever asked me if I'm doing well. People on the street avoid me when they see me, calling me crazy and useless. Just now, when I saw Arthur being beaten in the subway, it was like seeing myself—I understand the feeling of him laughing and then crying."
As he finished speaking, several suppressed sobs echoed in the screening room.
Chen Xun took the microphone, walked up to the veteran, bent down slightly, and looked earnestly into his eyes: "Thank you for being willing to speak out. You're not crazy, nor are you useless; you've just never been treated well by this world."
"Arthur's tragedy was never just his madness; it was the world that forgot too many people like you in the corner."
The veteran looked at him, tears instantly streaming down his face, and nodded vigorously.
That afternoon, Chen Xun spent four hours in the shelter, listening to the stories of the people from the lower classes.
He talked with these people who had been forgotten by society about their most authentic lives.
As he was leaving, the shelter director held his hand, his eyes red-rimmed, and said, "No Hollywood star has ever been willing to come here and listen to us. Thank you for making them feel seen."
The accompanying New York Times reporter recorded the entire scene.
The following day, The New York Times published the article on its front page: "The Joker Roadshow: Not on the Red Carpet, But on Earth."
"Chen Xun and his 'Joker' did not turn the film into an entertainment extravaganza, but rather used a film to open the door to the real world."
Those who had previously mocked Chen Xun online for "getting cocky after winning the Golden Lion Award and creating gimmicks to grab attention" shut up after reading this report.
They dared not continue to be in the limelight.
After reading the report, passersby became fans, exclaiming, "These are true filmmakers!"
For the second stop in Chicago, the roadshow venue was a subway station in the city center.
This is the real-life location that inspired the subway shooting scene in the movie "Lisher".
The cold rails, the trains rushing by, the hurried pedestrians—it's almost exactly like the Gotham subway station in the movie.
Chen Xun changed into Arthur's most disheveled outfit.
Wearing a faded old jacket, ill-fitting trousers, carrying a tattered briefcase, hunched over, with messy hair and a tired and timid look on his face, he completely shed his star aura and looked exactly like Arthur with nowhere to turn.
As part of the pre-designed experiment, two actors playing street thugs surrounded him, shoving and verbally abusing him: "You lunatic, what are you doing blocking the way?"
"Look at your pathetic appearance, get lost!"
"Are you crazy?!"
Humiliating words kept ringing out.
Chen Xun's portrayal of Arthur is trembling slightly, his head bowed, and he keeps backing away, his eyes filled with helplessness, exactly like the way he looks when he's being beaten up in the movie.
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The passersby were stunned for a moment, then some frowned, some took out their phones to take pictures, but no one stepped forward.
Then, a Black boy of about fifteen or sixteen years old suddenly rushed over, stood in front of Chen Xun, and shouted angrily at the two thugs, "What are you doing? What kind of skill is it to bully an honest person?"
Immediately afterwards, several passersby gathered around, criticizing the two thugs, and some even took out their phones to call the police.
Only then did Todd come out with a microphone and explain the impromptu experiment to everyone, revealing Chen Xun's identity.
The surrounding passersby immediately erupted in an uproar.
The boy who had been blocking his way looked at Chen Xun with disbelief: "You—you're Spider-Man? You're Chen Xun, the one who played the Joker?"
Chen Xun straightened up, shedding Arthur's timidity, and patted the boy's shoulder with a smile: "It was me. Thank you for standing up just now. Your action just now could have stopped Arthur from going down a dead end."
He picked up the microphone and said to the crowd of passersby, "We're not doing this experiment to play a trick on you, but to show you that Arthur's madness is never a sudden thing."
"It was the repeated bullying, the repeated ignoring, and the repeated lack of help that gradually pushed him into the abyss. Each of us could be the one who pushed him, or the one who pulled him back."
Inside the subway station, hundreds of passersby listened quietly, some with their heads down, lost in thought.
The Black teenager looked at Chen Xun with eyes full of admiration and shouted, "I saw your Joker! I understand what you're saying!"
The video of this subway experiment went viral on social media platforms worldwide on the same day. Countless netizens were instantly moved after watching the video.
"It turns out that the indifference depicted in the movie is actually all around us. Chen Xun's experiment is so poignant."
"When that boy stood up, I burst into tears. The warmth of this world has always come from the small acts of kindness of ordinary people."
"I used to think Chen Xun was a good actor, but now I realize that he really understands the core of this movie. He is not exploiting the role; he genuinely wants to make the world a better place."
What's even more interesting is that a netizen who had previously been relentlessly criticizing Chen Xun online left a long comment in the comments section, publicly apologizing: "I used to mock Chen Xun as a traffic star who relied on capital to win awards. After watching this video, I realized how narrow-minded I was. He is truly using film to convey power. I apologize for my previous remarks."
This comment garnered hundreds of thousands of likes.
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Those who were still unwilling to give up have completely disappeared in the face of irrefutable facts.
This unconventional roadshow continued its journey, from New York to London, from Paris to Tokyo —
At the BFI cinema in London, instead of a red carpet autograph session, they turned off all the lights after showing the scene of Arthur laughing during his illness, and asked the entire audience to close their eyes and remain silent for 30 seconds.
"In these 30 seconds, I would like to ask everyone to think about those moments when you were crying inside but had to smile, and those moments when you couldn't hold on anymore but had to pretend that everything was fine."
Chen Xun's voice rang out in the darkness: "Arthur's laughter was never happiness, but rather his unbearable pain. And we have all had moments like that, when we couldn't laugh but had to."
When the lights came on, the entire venue fell silent.
A young woman in her early twenties raised her hand and cried, saying, "When my mother passed away, I was working overtime at the company. My boss told jokes in front of the whole company, and everyone was laughing. I laughed along with them, but my heart was breaking."
"At that time, I felt like Arthur, that I didn't even have the right to cry."
As she finished speaking, many audience members teared up.
Chen Xun walked up to her, handed her a tissue, and said softly, "You are not without the right to cry, it's just that the world owes you a chance to have a good cry. Thank you for being willing to speak out, you are very brave."
The screening eventually turned into a tender outpouring.
One by one, the audience members stood up and shared their stories.
Some cried, some comforted, no one cared about the cameras, no one cared about the celebrities, only the most sincere empathy between people.
At the end of the roadshow, each audience member received a blank piece of paper.
Chen Xun asked everyone to write down a question: "How do you think society kills a person?"
He promised that all the answers would be collected anonymously, compiled into a book, and handed over to professional social welfare organizations and relevant government departments.
They eventually collected 2.3 responses across 12 cities.
92% of the answers mentioned "mental health neglect", "class solidification" and "social apathy".
Chen Xun and Todd actually invited sociology experts to compile these answers into the "Clown Society Report," which was submitted to the U.S. Congress and social welfare departments in several European countries.
No one expected that a movie's promotional tour would ultimately drive social change.
The American Mental Health Association publicly stated that the promotion of "Joker" directly led to the revision of mental health laws in 17 states, enabling more underprivileged people to receive free mental health assistance.
The Los Angeles city government incorporated the "Arthur Metro Experiment" into its community violence prevention curriculum and brought it into local elementary and secondary schools;
Based on the "Clown Social Report," non-profit organizations in several European countries have launched assistance programs for homeless people and low-income workers.
A movie really changed reality.
The final stop of the roadshow was Tokyo.
At the press conference, a Japanese reporter asked the question that everyone was curious about: "Mr. Chen Xun, during the promotional tours of other superhero movies, the main characters would shout classic lines like 'I am Iron Man' or 'I am Spider-Man' and celebrate with the fans. But you never dressed up as the Joker once, and you never shouted 'I am the Joker.' Why is that?"
Chen Xun held the microphone, paused for a few seconds, and recalled a line he had spoken on the set of "2 Broke Girls" while playing Han Lee. He slowly began to speak: "I once played a character who said: 'You can insult me, but you can't insult the people I care about.' When I played Arthur, my deepest feeling was: You can ignore a person, but you can't push them to the brink."
"I don't call myself the Joker because the Joker has never been a heroic figure worthy of worship. He is an ordinary person killed by society. What we should see is not his madness, but why he went mad. Rather than making people remember the Joker, I hope that people can remember those who, like Arthur, struggle in the darkness."
As soon as he finished speaking, the press conference was filled with applause that lasted for a full minute.
By the end of this roadshow that spanned half the globe, global anticipation for "Joker" had reached its peak.
The number of people who want to see this on IMDB has broken all previous records.
Cinemas around the world have proactively increased their screen time allocation for these films.
Even though it's an R-rated movie with no superhero battle special effects, everyone thought it would be a cinematic miracle.
Weibo in China has already become a frenzy.
Fans watched Chen Xun's journey through the promotional tour, how he used a film to drive social change, and how he repeatedly etched the name of a Chinese actor onto the milestones of the world film industry, and they were filled with immense pride.
"Being a fan of Chen Xun is definitely the best decision I've ever made! He never lets us down!"
"He is truly paving the way for Chinese actors, step by step, making their careers increasingly successful!"
"Those who previously mocked him for not deserving the award have been thoroughly humiliated!"
"He deserves all the glory!"