Chapter 45

Outside the Warner Bros. studio, the Nolan brothers and Christian Bale were smoking in silence.

"Jonathan, what do you think?" Nolan asked his brother with a frown.

"I... I have never seen an actor like this. Jesus, no wonder he proposed to play the Joker; he clearly is the Joker himself, isn't he?"

Jonathan Nolan's tone revealed a hint of terror.

"To be honest, just reading the script gave me goosebumps. I was afraid he would pull out a revolver and blow me away."

Christian Bale was even more shaken.

He had played *American Psycho*, and his mental state hadn't been as worrying as Xu Can's.

"Hey, what are you guys talking about?"

A sunny voice came from behind, and the three grown men were startled.

"Nothing, just smoking."

Clearly, Xu Can was acting perfectly normal, his eyes as clear as ever.

The California sun was as scorching as ever,

but Nolan, bathed in the sunlight, felt a chill when facing Xu Can for some reason.

The good news was that if he could immerse himself in the character just by reading the script, Xu Can playing the Joker was a sure thing!

In Nolan's view, as long as he maintained this state, he could definitely surpass Jack Nicholson!

Create an unsurpassable Joker!

……

While the media and the internet were discussing the topic of Xu Can playing the Joker,

*The Dark Knight* officially began filming.

"Batman" Christian Bale, "Two-Face" Aaron Eckhart, "Alfred" Michael Caine, "Commissioner Gordon" Gary Oldman, "Black God" Morgan Freeman...

Numerous new and veteran powerful actors gathered at the New York studio, forming a luxurious cast.

The film started with a solo show by the villain Joker,

and when he was performing, there were no other actors' scenes.

But these veteran actors were all curious about Xu Can's performance and flocked to the set to watch him.

"Why are you all here? Putting pressure on me?"

"No, no, we heard you were a bit scary when reading the script, and everyone was curious about your performance state."

Gary Oldman joked.

"Oh? Is that so..."

With his Joker makeup on and wearing a purple suit, Xu Can suddenly curled his lips in a weird way and smiled at Gary Oldman:

"Now I'm going to rob a bank. Are you going to arrest me, Commissioner Gordon..."

"Jesus!"

Gary Oldman's heart tightened, and he suddenly felt like he wanted to run away.

He didn't know what kind of move the "madman" in front of him would make!

"Hey, Gary, I'm just joking, don't take it seriously."

Xu Can, still in the same Joker look, revealed a naive smile like Peter Parker's.

"You really scared me. Good kid, it seems my old bones are going to be phased out."

Gary Oldman gave a thumbs up from the bottom of his heart.

He himself was a "thousand-faced actor" who had shaped various distinct characters and knew deeply that every different character required forming a brand-new way of acting.

Less experienced actors simply couldn't fully grasp a character in a short time, and forced performances could only stay on the surface.

This was also the reason why many young actors could only act in the same style over and over again.

Xu Can's change in just one second was something even Gary Oldman himself couldn't achieve.

If he were to switch from "Sirius Black" to the villain "Norman Stansfield" in *Léon: The Professional*, he would probably need to brew for a few minutes.

At this moment, Gary Oldman's expression was just like the director Zhang Yimou in future short videos,

full of shock!

This kid will definitely achieve great things!

……

With the start of *The Dark Knight* filming, the days passed by quickly.

Not only was Xu Can busy, but the two women with whom he had the best relationships were also busy.

The Shura field Xu Can was worried about did not appear.

Taylor Swift was naturally creating her new album, and the finished versions of many songs had already been recorded.

The title track of the *Fearless* album had already been arranged for major radio stations through Sony Music's connections, preparing to start the album's early hype.

"Xu, my new song demo is ready for recording. Come help me listen to it."

"Oh? What song?"

"I'll sing it once with guitar accompaniment first, wait a moment while I go get the guitar."

That day, after Xu Can finished filming and was resting in his hotel room, Taylor Swift video-called him.

Mobile video software wasn't very mature yet, so Xu Can still used his laptop to open FaceTime and connect with Taylor.

Taylor, on the other side of the lens, ran to get her guitar like a little girl and then jumped back.

As long as she picked up an instrument, her entire temperament seemed to change, and she was completely immersed in it.

In a slightly upbeat country-style tune, Taylor sang softly.

"We were both young when I first saw you;"

"I close my eyes and the flashback starts."

"I'm standing there on a balcony in summer air."

"See the lights, see the party, the ball gowns."

"See you make your way through the crowd."

Huh?

Hearing this, Xu Can was extremely familiar with it!

In his past life, he had heard this song countless times,

but he didn't expect that what Taylor was describing in her song was the scene of their first meeting!

It was at that Sony party,

Xu Can walked through the crowd and found Taylor on the edge.

"You were Romeo, you were throwing pebbles..."

"And my daddy said, 'Stay away from Juliet'."

"But you were everything to me."

"I was begging you, 'Please don't go'."

"It's a love story, baby, just say, 'Yes'..."

……

After singing the song, Taylor put down the guitar and looked at the lens.

It was as if she wanted to see through Xu Can's eyes through the lens.

"How is it? My song is pretty good, right?"

"It's very good, I like it very much!"

"You're not just humoring me?"

"Of course, I could listen to this song for 10 years and never get tired of it!"

Xu Can was very serious; he had listened to this song for at least 15 years, and he was still listening to it in 2023.

Taylor didn't expect him to like it so much; she lowered her head in a rare moment of shyness, then smiled and looked at Xu Can.

"Then do you know... what the meaning of this song is?"

"I... am not sure."

Xu Can initially thought this song was written for him,

but then he thought about it—this *Love Story* existed in his past life, and the inspiration came from a boy Taylor knew during her student days.

He probably thought too much.

"If you want to know, I'll tell you next time we meet, how about that? You still owe me a date!"

Taylor Swift teased, but her expression wasn't coy; instead, she looked at the screen quite seriously.

Why was she hung up on the meaning of the song? Xu Can didn't know.

Anyway, the answer would be revealed next time they met.

"It's clearly you who owes me a date."