American fame and fortune.

Chapter 884 Chaos is also a kind of order

Southern California city, San Diego.

In the parking lot of the Bay Hotel, four people, Martin, Lorraine, Leonardo and Nicholson, got into an old bulletproof commercial vehicle.

The bodyguards who followed behind got into another dirty off-road vehicle.

In the commercial vehicle, two bodyguards who had followed Martin for many years were checking their firearms. The bodyguard on the passenger seat said to Martin: "Boss, your gun is under the seat."

Martin pulled out a black bag, opened it, took out a pistol, and inserted it into the gun pocket under his arm.

Another civilian version of the AR short rifle was placed at his feet.

Lorraine grew up
Growing up in a privileged environment, he said, “Is it necessary to carry a gun?”

"It is necessary." Nicholson wiped his sunglasses: "The place we are going to next is a relatively chaotic community in California, which is full of black people..."

Leonardo corrected: "African!"

Martin reminded Lorraine: "Pay attention to the footage."

Martin also took out a DV and filmed the footage.

The Joker represents chaos, and that won't change in the new movie.

A dilapidated pickup truck rushed out of another box, and the gunman in the car fired randomly at the chasing crowd.

Lorraine filmed community life through the car window and said: "Everyone here seems to be sick."

"They are indeed sick." Martin slightly adjusted the DV lens: "They are sick, let alone doctors, even God can't cure them."

Nicholson couldn't agree more: "The main roads here are generally relatively safe during the day."

Although he grew up in a lower-class neighborhood in Atlanta, Martin has been away from that life for almost ten years.

Leonardo said: "This kind of mass shooting is also an accidental incident, and we happened to run into it."

Lorraine asked: "Can't you change to a safer community?"

"Oh God!" Lorraine's face turned pale. The scenes she had seen on TV and movies were not as impactful as seeing them with her own eyes: "This place is simply hell!"

Martin smiled: "Don't listen to your father's exaggerated words. This is either the most dangerous place in San Diego or the ordinary African-American and Mexican-American communities."

Two of the pursuers were holding a certain type of spray gun in their hands.

The car started and kept going.

When a large number of such people gather in a certain place, it often becomes a mess.

The old black men's painful screams could not be suppressed even by the sound of gunshots.

Lorraine said: "The police gave up this area?"

These people are not numb, but full of energy.

Martin and others stayed in the car for a long time and never heard the siren.

Just when the car ran over a pit, a sudden gunshot sounded like water droplets falling into hot oil, causing chaos all around.

This group of people had improved their marksmanship, and they were all masters of soul shooting. They only heard the sound of gunfire, but no one fell down.

Martin asked the driver to stop.

In the past ten years, life for the poorest Americans has been said to have become even more difficult.

San Diego is located next to Tijuana, Mexico, and is the first transit point for drugs entering California.

The gunfire stopped, and the surroundings quickly returned to normal, as if nothing had happened.

Nicholson nodded: “It was a place where African-Americans and Mexican-Americans gathered, and it was full of drugs, depravity and crime.”

The bodyguard on the co-pilot contacted the vehicle behind, and the two vehicles drove out of the underground parking lot one after another and headed to the southeast of Santiago along the planned route.

"It's not AIDS, it's a disease of poverty," Nicholson said.

Nicholson said: "It's normal. People here basically don't pay taxes. Instead, they have various welfare expenditures. They only pay but get nothing. Who is willing to protect them?"

Leonardo was slightly surprised: "I haven't heard of a large-scale AIDS outbreak in San Diego."

In an open community, the roads are bumpy and cracked like spider webs. The walls of independent houses on both sides are covered with graffiti. The wooden houses look extremely dilapidated. The people on both sides of the road are mainly black.

Martin also reminded: "If you usually speak smoothly, it will easily leak in public places."

Martin didn't speak, just filmed what was happening.

Lorraine has arranged the camera and is filming the crowd on the roadside.

Martin has lived in a similar community: "It will probably take a while before the police come, at least to make sure that the gun battle here is really over."

Nearly an hour later, the car approached the target community, and there was obviously more black on the road.

The crackling sounds came continuously.

The focus of his attention is chaos!

This time, someone finally fell down on both sides.

In the alley ahead, a group of old black men rushed out. They should be two gangs. The dozen or so in the back were chasing the four or five in front. Everyone had a gun in their hand.

Lorraine has rarely been exposed to these, and today she feels deeply: "This country is hell for poor people."

Nicholson patted his daughter on the shoulder and said, "Not just in the United States, but everywhere in the world, poor people live in hell."

These words reminded Leonardo, and he looked at Martin: "You came here for the role of the Joker. The Joker crawled out of hell?"

"There are factors in this regard." Martin simply said: "The clown was born in a place that is even more chaotic than this community. He was originally just an ordinary person with a weak personality who was often bullied. However, a series of changes made him taste With the benefit of chaos, his ambition and madness spread quickly."

At this point, Martin pointed outside: "These chaotic places will become his territory and become the clown's admirers."

Nicholson understood what Martin meant: "Are you planning to combine it with reality?"

The car stopped near an open space, and Martin temporarily turned off the DV and said: "A person will not fall for no reason, there is always a reason. This is easy to find. Since the financial crisis in 2008, the U.S. economy has been in decline, and social order has become increasingly... The heavy pressure faced by people at the bottom can drive people crazy.”

In addition to being an actor, Leonardo is also a producer and investor. He understood what Martin meant when he heard it: "Let this film become an outlet for public emotions?"

Martin unfolded his fantasy: "I plan that the exploited and oppressed people at the bottom of the American society in the film will be inspired by the clown's series to launch a large-scale urban riot."

Lorraine was surprised: "Do you want to incite Americans to riot?"

Martin laughed loudly: "Commercial movies, of course, are made as long as they can attract the majority of the audience. Most of the people who pay for Hollywood movies are ordinary people. These people are oppressed by companies and are quite dissatisfied with society. They think that the authorities are It’s a bunch of pigs in power.” Nicholson also laughed: “All the faults are the fault of the authorities and society?”

That's part of the plan, Martin said: "There's order in chaos."

"Have you forgotten the goal of this bastard Martin?" Leonardo revealed Martin's so-called true side revealed after drinking too much: "He wants to march into Washington and capture the White House..."

He deliberately teased Martin: "Is this film part of your plan?"

Martin also started talking nonsense: "I am pointing out an effective development path for the suffering American people."

This group of people took pictures and watched the excitement during the day, and produced a lot of material.

At night, the dangers in these places doubled. Martin could not risk the safety of a few of his best friends, so he simply stayed in the hotel and watched the footage together.

Although neither Leonardo nor Nicholson has ever been a director, they have been working in the film industry for decades. Their experience is more than rich, and they can give Martin some useful suggestions.

In the next few days, Martin and others wandered around Santiago and nearby cities.

During this period, we also encountered an American-style mariachi.

Two old gangsters were walking near Chula Vista Park and were questioned by the police. One of them actually pulled out a knife.

As you can imagine, the two Glocks emptied their magazines, and the old Hei who was holding the knife was shot more than 20 times.

Then, black protests broke out in Southern California.

Inside the Bay Hotel, standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window in the living room of the suite, Martin looked at the small square not far away, where many people were sitting in protest.

Leonardo looked at it for a while and said: "Among the people protesting, there seem to be more white people than African Americans."

Nicholson moved a chair and sat down: "Today's social conflicts are all focused on these bad things."

Martin said: "If a clown raised his arms and shouted at this time and became a model for the United States, would there be big riots in the early 1990s?"

"I found out." Leonardo picked up a glass of wine and raised it to Martin: "You always have a heart to destroy the United States."

Martin laughed: "It's a pity that I don't have such ability."

In the square, the protestors were relatively restrained, and the police did not take any other action except to be vigilant.

After all, these people are not protesting against America’s squid dads.

After four days in San Diego, the group returned to Los Angeles.

Martin immediately devoted himself to the preparation of "Joker".

Louise had signed a third-party guarantee with Fireman's Fund Insurance Company on behalf of the studio, and the casting director began selecting actors for the major roles.

Some of the behind-the-scenes staff who worked with Martin during the filming of "Shark Beach" gradually joined the crew.

However, the last film crew led by director of photography Dan Rostesin was a member of Chad Starsky's team. Chad is currently preparing to shoot "New York Continental Hotel", and the schedule conflicts with Martin's.

Martin chose Jeff Cromweis, who was recommended by David Fincher.

The latter started working with David Fincher when he directed "Fight Club."

Martin and Jeff Cromwes had filmed "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and "Gone Girl" together, and they knew each other fairly well.

Jeff Cromwes believed that filming TV series was not in line with his career plan, so he did not follow David Fincher to cooperate with Netflix and stayed in the film industry.

This photography style matches the dark and neurotic style of "Joker" very well.

In terms of location, Louise suggested choosing New York, where there are mature studios and the tax rebate policy is sufficiently favorable.

Martin has participated in filming at Brooklyn Studios many times. The only difficulty was that it was a little troublesome to shoot the location scenes. .

The film has a very important supporting actor role, and Martin tried to invite Nicholson. After all, it was a huge publicity boo.

But Nicholson was determined to retire and refused outright.

Martin also suggested choosing one of Nicolas Cage, Al Pacino or Robert De Niro, depending on the makeup audition and schedule.

"I don't think Cage is suitable." Louise rarely vetoes Martin's suggestions when it comes to casting, but this time she was extremely insistent: "In order to pay off debts and pay taxes in the past few years, Cage has accepted all bad movies and thrown them away casually. Give him a script and as long as the price is right, he will sign the contract."

Martin suddenly remembered the movie White Ghost. When people are poor, they really have no choice.

Louise added: "One failed movie after another, Cage has ruined his reputation. The current situation is that every movie Cage stars in will be promoted as his turnaround. , it was extremely disappointing to movie fans after it was released. After several times, movie fans didn’t want to buy movie tickets when they saw Cage’s name on the list of the film’s creators.”

Martin wasn't adamant: "Cage was taken off the shortlist."

He thought for a moment and then said: "In this case, Al Pacino is not suitable. He has been accepting all bad movies in recent years."

Louise nodded: "Yes, he took on movies like crazy in order to raise those sons and daughters."

"Robert De Niro is a little bit better than them," Martin said.

Louise said: "Choose Robert De Niro, you worked with him in "Never Ending"."

Martin responded: "Okay."

Louise returned the finished storyboard to Martin and said, "You have placed the clown in a realistic background."

"Although the movie is an adaptation of a comic, the main content is closely related to real society." Of course, Martin will not give up the influence of the comics: "Bruce Wayne will also appear in the film. I have so many fans, so I have to find a way to attract them. Purchase tickets and spend.”

Louise asked: "Who are you going to cast as young Bruce Wayne?"

Martin said directly: "For small roles that are not important, let's choose them through auditions, but we need to build momentum. This is Batman casting!"

Louise pushed up her glasses: "DC will have opinions."

"Don't worry about them." Martin said: "The copyright of this sequel is completely in the hands of Warner Pictures, and Daniel will support us."

Louise nodded and added: "I have communicated with Daniel that this film will be released during the holiday season next year, and the specific date can be October or November."

Martin thought for a while and said: "I have a "Split" this year, and the release time next year is just right. It seems that "The Revenant" that Leo is planning to invest in is also scheduled to be released next year... Haha, maybe I can get Leo Oh."

Leonardo, who has already won Best Actor once, can he win again for "The Revenant"?
In the following time, Martin concentrated on preparing for "Joker", focusing his energy mainly on the work of the director, leaving all the affairs of the crew to Louise.

The two look a bit like Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas.

By April, "Shark Tank" ended its overseas screenings, with a global box office of US$3.17 million.

Martin led the crew to leave Los Angeles and head to New York for final preparations and filming.

(End of this chapter)