Chapter 44: Media Interaction Event, Spider-Man's Performance Stuns the Entire Crowd!

"Now, please welcome the main creative team to the stage!"

The screening of "Spider-Man" had ended, and the atmosphere in the entire theater was even more hyped than at a Super Bowl.

Every movie fan was cheering and applauding with great excitement.

Even Leonard and the others, who were normally cautious and timid and didn't even dare to speak loudly, were now on their feet, hollering without restraint.

"Director Marc Webb!"

"Starring Willem Dafoe! James Franco! Emma Stone!"

"And our lead—Xu Can!"

When Xu Can walked toward the stage, the entire audience boiled over once more, shouting in unison.

"Spider-man! Spider-man! Spider-man!"

Xu Can offered a dashing smile and waved to the crowd, which only brought an even louder cheer.

Now who would still question him playing Spider-Man?

In the fans' hearts, no one was more suited for the role than him! No one else could do it!

The audience was so wild that the host had to shout several times in a row without being heard.

There was no choice but to hand the microphone to Xu Can, who currently had the hotter popularity.

"Folks, let's sit down first. If you haven't had enough, you can still buy tickets for the midnight show later and watch it again."

Xu Can stood on stage as calmly and confidently as a stand-up comedy master, chatting casually with the audience:

"If you haven't shouted enough, you can go back, shoot a short video, and post it online—I'll open every single one and watch. Of course, only pretty ladies, guys definitely don't film."

"Honestly, shouting loudly is bad for your throat. I only have two throat lozenges on me, one for me and one for Emma, so none for you guys."

In the impression of North Americans, Asian international students or Asian residents were always taciturn or introverted.

Xu Can's few humorous and witty quips had the live audience in stitches and no longer so frenzied.

The host secretly gave Xu Can a thumbs-up—the scene had been taken over by him so easily.

"Alright, our main creative team is already on stage. Next, the director will say a few words, and then we'll move on to the Q&A session."

Director Marc Webb began talking about the film's creative process.

"At first we spent a long time searching for Spider-Man and auditioned many actors, like Josh Hartnett, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jude Law…"

These were all well-known Hollywood heartthrobs, including the "Little Li" who had swept the world with "Titanic."

"Oh, and James Franco sitting right next to me… sorry, James, no offense."

The director cracked a joke with Franco.

Franco didn't understand it at first, but later, after seeing Xu Can's performance, he had long since let it go.

"No worries, I make a pretty good Green Goblin too."

The director then continued talking about the Spider-Man casting:

"As you all know, we held an open casting call for Spider-Man, open to both established actors and ordinary unknowns."

"Then one day I was at a coffee shop and spotted Xu. He looked ordinary on the surface, but on closer inspection he was anything but."

"He came in for an audition, and my gut told me he was simply the most fitting actor. Now as you can all see, my gamble paid off."

Marc Webb's talk drew enthusiastic applause.

The casting of Spider-Man and the creative philosophy gave everyone a deeper understanding of the story.

He also added that Xu Can was a co-screenwriter, and many of the concepts in the film had been proposed by Xu Can.

For instance, the villain setup, the film's hip-hop trendy style, and the choice of the female lead.

Not MJ, but the more youthful Gwen Stacy from the high school days.

MJ was the female lead—and marriage partner—that Peter met only after graduating and starting work.

That belonged to another chapter, and might only show up in the sequel.

Afterwards, Xu Can, Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, and others took turns chatting about fun anecdotes from the filming process,

and the atmosphere in the entire theater was quite joyful.

"You guys know what? On set I didn't even need to direct the scenes between these two!"

Marc Webb laughed:

"The interaction between the male and female leads was entirely improvised by them—I didn't even give them any lines."

"Did you guys get your sugar rush?"

But the audience answered in unison:

"So sweet! So sweet!"

There was even a hot-tempered brother who stood up and roared: "Just marry him already! Just marry him!"

Even Emma Stone, as socially bold as she was, couldn't help but blush and lower her head with a smile at that moment.

"Alright, alright, no more jokes—next up is the Q&A session everyone's been looking forward to."

Marc Webb announced.

The many media representatives present immediately perked up, raising their hands one after another like monkeys begging for food.

"The lady over there."

"Hello! I'm a reporter from the Los Santos Times. The film's effects are quite stunning, it should achieve a good result."

"May I ask if you have plans to shoot a sequel? What's the plan?"

The blonde female reporter was one of their own, so she took the lead in asking some relatively safe questions.

The producer blurted out:

"Yes, regardless of the box office, we will make a sequel. The initial plan is a trilogy, and we've already begun the preliminary preparation stage."

"Yeah!!!"

"Awesome!"

Before the producer could finish, cheers erupted from the crowd again.

"Spider-Man" Part One was such a smash hit that not making a sequel would be utterly inexcusable!

Fans were dying to see Part Two right now!

Then came another media outlet.

"I'm an NBC reporter. Before the release, Emma made a bet with a film critic that the box office would exceed $500 million. Currently, 'Pirates of the Caribbean 2' is at $423 million and is this year's box office champion. Do you still have the confidence to beat them?"

"$500 million — I was indeed a bit impulsive at the time. 'Pirates of the Caribbean 2' is indeed an excellent film, very strong…"

Emma Stone paused, then laughed:

"My initial prediction was a bit too conservative — I should have estimated higher! Sorry, Johnny Depp, I'm afraid our box office is going to beat yours."

The reporter's question did carry a slight hint of provocation,

but Stone showed no fear whatsoever — she was brimming with confidence.

The audience was equally confident, with applause breaking out continuously!

Everyone's feelings about this Spider-Man couldn't simply be described as satisfied — it had far exceeded expectations!

"Pirates of the Caribbean 2" was good, sure, but how could it possibly compare to Spider-Man?

Over the next several reporters and critics, the creative team answered each question in turn.

Everyone was full of confidence, their words much more relaxed, and the venue was filled with constant laughter — the atmosphere was excellent.

"Time is running short. We have one last question… over there, the lady in black."

"I'm a reporter from The New York Times. First, congratulations on the film's success. I've noticed that many of the battle scenes in the film are full of imagination, with utterly unbelievable action choreography — the difficulty is extremely high."

A thin, sharp-featured female reporter was planning to come in swinging.

"You previously promoted that the male lead, Xu Can, didn't use a stunt double at all — all the combat was performed by himself."

"I'm not trying to nitpick, but this is simply too unbelievable to accept. I believe no established actor could pull off those high-difficulty moves — only professionally trained stunt specialists who have trained for years could. And even then, a lot of special effects would still be needed…"

"I just want to hear the truth — do you admit to using stunt doubles? Did you use excessive special effects? Are you guilty of false advertising?"

The New York Times reporter's question was indeed quite aggressive, and some of the audience shared the same doubts.

Could it really be true — no stunt doubles, all real filming? Impossible, right?

The reporter had assumed this would stump the creative team and force them to admit to false advertising.

Unexpectedly, the creative team simply exchanged a smile.

Xu Can stepped forward: "Let me answer that personally."

With a charming smile, he walked calmly onto the open ground.

The audience was stunned, wondering what he was about to do!