Bab 75: 74. One Bad Day
Disclaimer: The story that I have written here takes on the names of real people, but this story is based in an alternate earth with some changes in its timeline.
This story does not intend to represent the celebrities/real people or make any commentary on them whatsoever. This story is entirely fictional, and it should be viewed entirely as such.
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Recap of the Previous Chapter –
We see Eva ruminating about the productive year for Mark with Eidolon this year – 4 books, 2 comics and 1 movie. But it wasn't about to slow down as Mark had planned for more releases - Ben 10: Vilgax's Return, Pokemon, Warcraft, Horizon: Zero Dawn and My Hero Academia.
She sees the draft for Beauty and the beast and sees that it is slated for next year and can't help but question Mark if he is taking too much onto his plate. We see a small flashback of how Mark in his post nut clarity thinks back on the night and realizes that the most likely culprit is Disney.
Then Mark decides on taking a proactive approach to destroy Disney's legacy before it can even be built upon. He decides to steal all the good animated movies that Disney will make over the next decade like – Beauty and the beast, Mulan, The Lion King, Hercules, etc.
And then decides to poach the Disney employees who are the true mvp's of these animated films like Linda Woolverton, Howard Ashman and Alan Menken. He even writes a letter to Mrs. Woolverton that he tells Eva to deliver, goes back to writing the draft for Beauty and the beast.
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– Quote of the chapter –
~ All it takes
is one bad day
to reduce
the sanest man alive
to absolute lunacy.
That is how far
the world is
from where I am.
Just ONE. BAD. DAY!
~ The Joker.
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~ Mark's POV ~
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Date: Monday, 17th September, 1990.
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Location: In Mark's private residence at the Eidolon HQ.
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Time: 05:22 pm.
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Eva had already left and Mark was on a roll; his genius intellect allowed him to better recall the movie plot of the Beauty and the beast. His fingers danced on the typewriter as he seemed to type the broad strokes of the storyline, the things to be focused on, etc.
It was only over an hour later when he was visited by someone that he came to a stop.
*Ring*
*Ring*
"Yes, who is it?" Mark asked, massaging his fingers and wrist as he looked at the draft.
"Its Keanu, Mr. Spencer. He wants to talk about something." Came the melodious voice of his beautiful secretary on the intercom.
"Oh, let him in." He replied as he decided to take a small break.
Mark saw Keanu walk in with a hesitant smile as if he was going to ask him something he didn't really feel comfortable with.
He decided to be accommodating and let him speak at his pace, it's not like he was in a time crunch.
Keanu took the seat and sat quiet for a few seconds as if thinking about what he was about to ask.
He sighed and decided to go for it, "Mark, sorry for distributing you while you're in the middle of something. But I wanted to ask you about something that River requested."
"What is it?" Mark asked, he had an inkling where this conversation was heading towards.
"It's about the script for your next movie. River – He.. He wants to read the script for the Killing Joke." He replied with an exhal, glad that he could get it out in one go.
Mark just raised his eyebrows, "you think it's a wise idea for him to do so? I know I haven't given you guys the detailed version but you know how twisted the tale is…"
"I am not really sure if he is in the right mental state for.." Mark stopped speaking as he thought about what River went through and then thought about the story of Arthur Fleck, of a broken man who became the Joker.
He saw the parallels between the two, this time in River's life might just be the perfect time to introduce him to the character of Arthur, a man who just wanted to make people laugh and help his sick mother.
"I changed my mind keanu, lets give it a shot but I am going to speak to him myself. This story is going to leave an indelible mark on him just like John wick is going to do for you but the story is much more dark, cruel and harrowing." Mark said to him with the thoughtful look on his face as he contemplated on his decision.
He went to the hidden safe and pulled out a copy of the script for the Killing joke. But this one was slightly special. It had Mark's thoughts about the movie, its messaging, how the character of Arthur fleck and his journey to become the Joker needs to be portrayed and shown on the big screen.
"I will meet him alone. Thanks for telling me about his request and also for looking after him. He is lucky to have a friend like you." Mark said with a fond smile on his face as he put on the mask and went out to speak with River.
Keanu followed from behind as he left the office as well. Mark was deep in his thoughts, thinking about how he will have to phrase the conversation to make River understand the daunting task that was ahead of him.
The mind of the Joker was a twisted maze, a hell that he wouldn't want anyone to ever have the misfortune of gazing into but it was also one where he will have to push his own friend into in one of his weakest moment in life.
He very well knew the consequence of such an action, he knew this experience will change him. It will leave a scar on him that will remain with him for the rest of his life. But that was the cost of a true artist trying to create his greatest performance yet.
Throughout this internal monolog Mark eventually reached the door to River's room he didn't hesitate or second guess himself as knew if he did, he might just walk away and so he entered.
He entered to see River watching the VHS tape of knives out on TV. It was one of the samples that they had gotten from Universal recently.
River turned his head towards Mark and saw the folder in his hand and asked, "you're here, so can I read it Mark?"
"Of course you can," Mark replied with a smile as he removed his mask and walked towards his bed. Upon reaching it he pulled out the chair and sat on it.
"But before I do that we need to have a conversation. I hope you don't mind." Mark said carefully trying not to show his nervousness.
"I am a little peeved but I trust you bro.. so what is it?" He asked, even though he knew that the story was dark but you felt like there was something hidden beneath the surface.
Mark let out a breath as he began explaining, "well the story is about the life of a man called Arthur Fleck, he is a struggling comedian and street performer, who is struggling to make ends meet, to find success."
"He loves to make people laugh and bring a smile to their faces but unfortunately his material just does not connect with his audiences." He said with a sad smile.
"This is the character that you will be playing and even though the character seems very simple at a first glance the story is anything but so." Mark said with a serious look on his face.
"But before I tell you his story, I must tell you my intentions with it. I did not write this story to portray Arthur as some kind of hero to be idolized even though I know that there are some people out there who will do just that after watching the movie." He said at the end with an exasperated tone.
But then he shifted to his "I mean business" tone again. "I wrote the script of the killing joke with only one purpose in mind and that is for it to serve as a precautionary tale to society. It has a lot of hidden messages and lessons that one can learn from watching the movie."
"But the one thing that I want everyone to take away from it is that, every single person in the world, no matter how pure or evil has a joker inside them, the potential for destruction and chaos."
"The monster that lives in their subconscious mind, never to come out, never to be unleashed."
"But there might come a moment in their life when they are pushed so far that they just snap. The consequences of it are never good, so one should never go around bullying and harrassing those that are weaker than them."
"Because one day you might just push them a bit too far and regret when the Joker comes out to play." Mark ended the explanation of his intent and sighed.
River was completely silent as he digested what Mark said. He understood that Mark wanted to spread a message through the story of Arthur but he could also see that acting in this film would be a harrowing experience for him as an actor.
*Mark, are you sure you want me to play the Joker?" River asked as he looked into Mark's eyes, he didn't want his friend to give him the role of the male lead out of pity.
Mark understood what he was asking so he gave him an honest answer, "Well I had written the script a few years back when I was in college and if you were to ask me then, who would I choose to play arthur? It would definitely be a toss up between Daniel Day Lewis and Robert De Niro."
River had a smile on his face after hearing the honest answer, but he felt doubtful if his friend had settled for him. As the two names he just mentioned were two of the greatest in the industry.
"But after meeting you, you changed my mind with your performance as Ransom. It was very sublime and you genuinely made everyone including even me hate your character and cheer and clap in theaters when Martha vomits on you on screen."
"If you can do that you can definitely pull off Arthur that I am sure of, but I don't just want you to act like the Joker. No, that's too easy, what I want is for you to embody him, I want you.. to become the Joker." Mark
Another thing that Mark couldn't tell him was that his younger brother Joaquin phoenix would become one of the best to ever play the role of the chaotic crazy villain. So it was almost poetic that River would be the one to play it now.
"I hope you realize that despite our greatest efforts and even the commercial success of knives out we aren't going to be winning much at the Oscars." Mark said trying to keep him from thinking to deep about the Joker.
"What?! but I thought that we are doing great, most of the critics praised us and even the box office is looking great. Why wouldn't we win big at the Oscars?" He asked in an agitated tone because he thought that Knives Out was definitely in the top 3 movies of the year so why wouldn't we be winning at the Oscars.
"Well it has mostly to do with Studio politics, after all Eidolon Entertainment is a very new company but it is also because our group consists mostly of young creatives and you know the Oscars are sticklers to give preference to those who are older and more experienced even if their work is below ours."
Mark explained the preferential treatment of the Oscar judges towards those who are older and more experienced.
"But then does it not mean that we won't be winning almost anything until we are at least in our 30s, Mark?!" River asked in a frustrated tone.
"In normal cases yeah you would be right but the Joker And The Killing Joke is anything but normal." Mark replied with a confident grin.
"The Oscar for Knives out will definitely be a death row for us and almost serve as a way for other studios to humiliate us after losing so badly to my film at the box office."
"But it's only a temporary fix because the next year when we come out swinging with the Killing joke. All of Hollywood will see just what kind of a director I am and what kind of a movie I can create. They will see what kind of an actor River Phoenix is."
"But why can't we do it this year with Knives Out?" River asked with some sadness in his voice because this felt like his last Oscar nominations all over again. The one that started him down on that dark path of substance abuse.
Mark sighed and thought about it for a second and decided to air a few things. "Knives out is a good movie, River and you guys did a great job in it as well. But if you want to bridge the gap of biased seniority then good just doesn't cut it anymore."
"You need something that is great, something which will force those stubborn old fogeys to bow their heads to acknowledge and accept that you are the most deserving of this Oscar.
"The Killing Joke is supposed to be just that. Also the style of shooting will also be different from what I used for Knives Out." Mark explained the situation.
"I see, so you're afraid I might lose myself in Arthur's character and never fully recover, especially now that I'm in this situation." River said as he came to the realization.
"Yeah, pretty much, the injustice that happened to you happened with Arthur as well. He is a man shunned and beaten down by society, a man who felt like he was alone in his world where no one understood his art – his jokes."
"Unfortunately he didn't have a support system to fall back on or the mental fortitude to forge ahead. So one bad day when he was pushed too far he snapped and gave in to the darkness and became the Joker, a madman who thinks life is meaningless and that the whole world is nothing but a cruel joke."
"You also had your one bad day last night. But your not that weak and you have us on your side, you always will. So don't worry about going mad as I am going to take this journey right alongside you."
"Here, I'll tell you a line that encapsulates it pretty well from the script. —" he said as he used his template to immerse the Joker's persona into himself.
"It's all just a joke! Everything anybody ever valued or struggled for... it's all a monstrous, demented gag! So why can't you see the funny side? Why aren't you laughing!" Mark said with a demented grin as pulled his hair in frustration and cried and laughed at the same time.
River was alarmed at Mark's sudden shift and awed at his talent. While the performance was just above average at best, it definitely wasn't something he expected to see from Mark of all people.
Mark closed his eyes and exhaled as he came off of the performance. "Something like that, but you will figure it out."
"Anyways, don't worry I will bring you souvenirs from the tour," Mark said, teasing him.
"I gotta go now though. Bye River, I will be calling everyday to check up on you." Mark said as he left River to read the script, he had already done all he could.
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River glanced at the script, he knew this will his big breakthrough. He could feel it, all he needed to do was try to understand the mind of a broken man and not lose himself in the process of it.
«The Killing Joke»
He went through the character analysis of Arthur Fleck that Mark had provided through the various arcs in the story. Something which even he didn't realize was that his shivers and withdrawal symptoms seemed to melt away as he immersed himself in the dark and brooding story.
He didn't even have to paint a picture in his head as Mark had been kind enough to give him the Master version of the script. It came with drawings and sketches of important scenes.
The movie started off in a basement. It was dark with a small spotlight shining down on Arthur as he stood on the stage. He is a struggling stand up comic, unfortunately his jokes don't land properly due to his lack of confidence and being able to connect with the people, so they boo and heckle him.
But suddenly he starts laughing out of nowhere as if he found the audience's reaction funny or as if he was laughing at them.
River could easily see how this would only serve to anger the crowd even more and it did. He read the script as it described the scene of the audience throwing their popcorn at him and cussing out at him, even going so far as to call him a freak.
River could see that Mark was trying to establish Arthur's character in the audience's mind, of him being a struggling stand up comedian and failing in his chosen career.
The next scene showed Arthur at home, he meets his mother who is sick lying on the bed. River is fascinated by how the sketch shows the gaunt woman who was most probably malnourished.
It showed the gentle and kind side of Arthur, how he took care of his mother and fed her the medicine he bought by scrounging together whatever he could earn from the last few days of work.
River had read many of Mark's works before so he knew what his intentions were, at least he thought so. He thought that Mark wanted to create a sense of empathy and pity in the audience's heart for Arthur.
So that when he eventually becomes the Joker in the film and the people see his twisted actions. They know where he is coming from and feel at least somehow his actions are validated if not justified.
If this was the previous Joker from Mark's past life then maybe River could be right but what Mark wanted to create was not a tragic villain who people would empathize with and even idolize.
No Mark planned on creating a monster the people would fear. He wanted to create an even horrifying and darker Joker, who was completely irredeemable with no hope for light in his life. After he embraces the persona of the Joker and becomes a symbol for anarchy, chaos and destruction.
River continued to read the script and saw the tragic life of Arthur, from being beaten and harassed by teenagers to losing his job. Turning to a life of crime to pay his mother's bills.
Being set up by his criminal associates to take the fall, somehow evading the police but completely losing his mind in the process when he found out that they killed his mother.
Becoming an urban legend in the criminal underbelly, robbing millions from the bank, blowing up the engagement of an honest police detective in a scheme to turn him mad by destroying everything he ever cared about.
River saw how the good, kind hearted Arthur became the insane Joker, a man hellbent on sticking it to the rich. To destroy the social que of the rich and poor, a man saw chaos as a ladder and used it as a means to climb up the ranks of criminal underbelly of New York.
There were moments in the script where the dialogues just sang to him. His shivering and drug withdrawal mind was at peace, it was a weird sight because instead of his own body. River. He was completely focused on the script in front of him.
He used his own style of acting and rehearsing, as he went over the lines. Slowly fully immersing him in character, he spoke, no, Arthur spoke, "The worst part of having a mental illness is the people who expect you to behave as if you don't."
He shifted and sat up as he put his mind in Arthur's shoes in the Joker's. But he kept his own Id as River at the back, he immersed him in the feelings that being Arthur invoked.
It felt weird to think like him, he got a feel of how hollow everything was to Arthur. The man didn't care for anything in life anymore, his mother, the only thread connecting him to the good inside of him, was dead.
And with her death, Arthur was reborn again as the Joker. He spoke his line, "I used to think my life was a tragedy but now I've realized, it's a comedy." He looked at the mirror as he spoke, trying to show a broken smile.
It came off wrong and he wasn't satisfied with it. So he kept repeating the line as he tried different smiles and facial expressions until he was satisfied with his delivery.
He was so hyper focused on his task that he didn't even realize when Keanu had entered the room. Keanu watched as his friend repeated that one line for over half an hour.
Trying to subtly manipulate his face to come off as naturally sinister and mentally unstable at the same time. The last one just gave him chills as he saw him pulling his hair, laughing and crying at the same time.
But suddenly River stopped, his aura that felt chaotic and crazy before was now completely calm.
He spoke again but it was River this time, analyzing his performance not really noticing Keanu's presence. "Hmm, the last one was definitely the best out of all my tries. Him just breaking out crying and laughing after finally understanding his lot in life is truly a good touch here."
"I will have to talk with Mark later and request him to put it in the script later on." He said to himself while thinking on how to improve the scene.
"River." Keanu said, drawing attention to himself as he looked at his friend in awe. His dedication to hone his performance to get better, stoked his fire as well.
He knew his role as John Wick was still over a year away but he decided to talk with Mark and start his Martial arts training sooner. He had read somewhere, building muscle memory takes a while and he wanted to get a head start.
While he was thinking of his own role after being inspired by River's dedication and commitment. His friend had already turned around, he had a sunny smile on his as if all was good in the world.
"Hey, Keanu, thanks for delivering my message to Mark." He gestured for him to take a seat and put the food aside.
"He came by and we had a talk, I- I ca-cant" he choked on his words as he emotional about how much care and love Mark had shown him. A true friend, someone who he knew would always have his back.
Like Keanu, like Johnny, he was glad and thanked the lord for meeting such good people in the cesspit of backstabbers and silver tongued devils that was Hollywood.
"I can't tell you how lucky I am to have you guys in my corner." He said after taking a deep breath.
He looked down as he spoke almost talking to himself while he admired Mark's talent for coming up with such a beautiful script. "The script is perfect, it's one of most mind bending stories I have ever read in my life, it's like a mirror to almost everything that's wrong with our society."
"It shines a light on all of it - our neglect towards mental illness and discrimination against people suffering from them, the underlying racism, the ever growing divide between the rich and poor, the broken healthcare industry, bullying, substance abuse and many more." River said, giving a list of all the social issues he found that were on display in the script.
"But you know the most mind blowing and impressive thing about it?" River asked with a teasing smile as if he knew something that Keanu didn't.
Keanu just smiled at seeing his friend back to normalcy and asked happy to play along. "What. What is it?"
River chuckled and replied with a proud face as if he was bragging about his own siblings. "It's the subtlety of it all, the way in which it's all shown in the script."
"It's never thrown at the faces of the audiences but it's almost ever present and subliminally integrated into the plot so seamlessly that it never feels out of place."
"Anyone can write a story with a message or even one with many. But to do so without destroying the story itself and telling a good story is very difficult and I feel like Mark pulled it off perfectly."
"I see, I'm glad for you, you seem like you just became a fan all over again." Keanu replied with some good natured ribbing, he could see how impressed River was with the script and couldn't help but fanboy over Mark's work.
"Here, let me tell you my favorite line from the script. It's a meet up scene between the joker – my character and a person whose life he would eventually completely ruin –" he said explaining the scene, Keanu understood the unasked question and decided to play along.
River gestured for him to lie down on his bed as he slowly immersed himself into the Joker. After keanu was in place, he grabbed his shoulder to stop him from moving. His eyes had a crazy gleam as the Joker came out and he spoke.
"You see, their morals, their code, it's a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be. I will show you when the chips are down, these.. uh. These civilized people, they will eat each other."
"You see, I am not a monster, I.. I'm just ahead of the curve." He said letting of him and standing up with a bow as if waiting for applause.
Keanu in the meantime was in a shock, the shift in his aura, the crazed performance his friend delivered really swept him in. He truly felt like River could kill him any second, the breakthrough that River had today was clear for him to see.
It was like the role of the Joker was perfect for him and the intensity with which River performed was palpable. The demanding nature of the role had really pushed him to his limits and as always he had delivered. He couldn't wait to see what it would look like on the big screen.
'He truly is a class apart.' Keanu thought to himself as he looked at River with a smile on his face. He was happy with his friend's talent but made up his mind to do better.
The therapy was already helping in him opening up to people and being more expressive with his emotions.
*That. That was something else." Keanu said, drawing River's attention.
"Right?!" River replied with a happy grin on his face. His ailment and problems are completely forgotten even if only for a few hours as he immersed himself in the performance.
They kept on trying different scenes to see what would work and how to play it out. Keanu was glad that River was so into the script that he could take his mind off of the withdrawals that he should be feeling.
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Later that night in Mark's office, he had accepted Eva's help to write a more personalized recruitment letter to Mrs. Linda Woolverton and even to Howard Ashman and Alan Menken.
After being done with the letters Eva asked him what his plans were for the movies he would be releasing next year.
"Well, I do have some plans. You asked me right, why do I want to release an animated movie next year? Well it's to capitalize on the darkness cast by the Killing Joke." Mark replied in a cryptic manner before he simplified it.
"I don't think there is anything better to wash down the intensity of the crazed clown than a wholesome, heartwarming animated movie."
"I was only going to release 2 movies actua–"
"Wait so it's 3 now?!" Eva said, alarmed by this development.
"Yup, why did you think I asked you to put together a team for Janet and Chris? I plan for them to shoot a low budget comedy movie that I plan on releasing next year as well. Most likely around the time of Christmas." He explained how the third movie will be all Jan and Chris with him only serving as the executive producer.
"Augh, okay. This could actually work. So you want to release two wholesome movies to counter the crazy shitshow that "the joke"?" Eva asked with a smile as she realized what Mark aimed to achieve with this.
"Yup, I want to create a synergistic effect between my films. «The Killing Joke» would be slated to release around May, giving it at least 2 to 3 months of run time at the theaters before the «Beauty and the Beast» is released in August." Mark replied as he explained the how he planned on releasing the movies next year.
"The comedy movie by Jan and Chris will be released in November. I want to drive the people to watch "the joke" to see the darker shades of life and then flock to watch the beauty to see that there is still good in the world, that true love always prevails."
"Obviously this message won't resonate with everyone. Especially the pessimistic kind, but it's better for us as they will once again go to watch the joke to refresh their memories and in turn drive up our ticket sales." He finished his explanation with a devious smile.
"That's a really good plan, Mark. But we are gonna need way more people if you want to pull it off." Eva replied, analyzing their needs.
"Ofcourse, that's why I have already started you on the second round of recruitment for Eidolon."
"Also could you please remind me to take the prop-masters from the Nirvana team and have them guide the prop specialist for Jan & Chris' team." Mark said as thought to himself if he was forgetting something.
"Hmm, sure. I will put it in the notes, also a good news the 3rd volume of Ben 10 is out as well. It should hit the shelves tomorrow in the USA and about a week before we start international shipping.
"Nice, I like the sound of that." Mark said, keeping a poker face. Internally he was jumping with joy as in a few days with a million dollars in sales he would finally have enough to buy the Harem King Template skill.
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{Author's Note: So here you guys get the first glimpse of the Killing Joke. You can see how it's a mixture of my two most favorite Joker movies. The Joker and the Dark Knight. But that's only for the plot after all with no Batman to stop the Joker is only going to be more unhinged and crazy before he is caught.
The story will be quite different though as some changes had to be made so that I could combine the two movies plots and Jokers together. I am excited to slowly reveal the changes in the upcoming chapters.
I was going to release the chapter yesterday but then I saw a few comments telling me to take it easy and not to be burnt out. I really appreciate you guys caring about me, thank you.
So I thought about doing a small experiment. This is a normal chapter of around 5k words. Tomorrow I am going to post another chapter that will be up around 2.5k to 3k words and after that the next day it will be another chapter with the same word count.
After those two chapters are posted I would like to do a small voting poll to see which kind of release you guys like –
1 long chapter every 2 days or 1 small/medium chapter every day.
Anywhos, moving on, thanks for reading my work. I am entirely motivated by interaction, suggestions and feedback. So please leave a comment or review and I will probably write faster.
If you like my work please throw a power stone my way so my book can climb the rankings. Slurp some nice ramen and I hope you all have a beautiful day. (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧
Update schedule for this book: Depends on the poll, even I dont know for now.}
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