'I feel like I stepped into the big shoes' - fans flock to New York 'Joker' stairs
Record ID:
1438850
'I feel like I stepped into the big shoes' - fans flock to New York 'Joker' stairs
- Title: 'I feel like I stepped into the big shoes' - fans flock to New York 'Joker' stairs
- Date: 25th October 2019
- Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 25, 2019) (REUTERS ***WARNING: CONTAINS PROFANITY*** VARIOUS OF ASPIRING ACTOR FROM QUEENS, NEW YORK, ORION (INSTAGRAM.COM/ISTHATORION), DRESSED AS 'JOKER' / DANCING ON BRONX STAIRWAY VARIOUS OF ORION SMOKING ON STAIRS ORION DOING 'JOKER' LAUGH ORION POSING FOR PHOTO (SOUNDBITE) (English) ASPIRING ACTOR FROM QUEENS, ORION (INSTAGRAM.COM/ISTHATORION), SAYING: "You know, this morning when I was putting on the makeup and the suit, and shit like that, I did get into those shoes. I feel like I stepped into the big shoes that he had to fill. And I feel like that triumphant moment was my triumphant moment right now, because I'm thinking the shots came out pretty good." ORION TALKING TO OTHER PEOPLE ON STAIRS VARIOUS OF ORION APPLYING MAKEUP GRAFFITI OF 'JOKER' / STAIRS VARIOUS OF CROWD ON STAIRS / PEOPLE TAKING PHOTOS WOMAN POSING AS 'JOKER' MEXICAN TOURIST, LUIS ALVARADO, DOING THE 'JOKER' DANCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MEXICAN TOURIST, LUIS ALVARADO, SAYING: "Everyone has their own point of view, but I think, as much as it's also about violence, about how it's brought up in people, or maybe about how when people are treated like that, this is what happens, not because someone is bad, but because society makes them bad. But I don't think the movie is bad. Telling such stories is a good thing." ALVARADO SITTING ON STAIRS VARIOUS OF ITALIAN TOURIST POSING AS 'JOKER' (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRONX RESIDENT AND SECURITY GUARD, RAPHAEL, SAYING: "Well, I had somebody that told me the other day - and they're from this neighborhood - that, 'oh, you know, these are the steps that people came down that were poverty steps,' and everything. They would just wanted to get attention on social media, because, you know, social media is a platform for everybody. They just wanted to get their attention instead of saying that those were working people who came down these stairs and people going up the stairs and should be proud that the Bronx is getting attention right now. This is becoming a tourist attraction. You know, instead of making it negative, make it a positive. Do something about this. You know, if they fixed that, yeah, I understand they fixed it due to the movie and everything, that's fine. That's great. That's great. You got people coming from all over the world to come to these steps. And I'm proud that I live by it. So I'm good with it. Good publicity. You know?" STAIRS / INTERSECTION
- Embargoed: 8th November 2019 20:00
- Keywords: The Joker The Bronx Joaquin Phoenix Joker stairs
- Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- City: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Film,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA001B2LK2U1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: EDIT CONTAINS PROFANITY
Orion is an aspiring actor from the New York borough of Queens. And so in a bid to boost his brand - he has nearly 7,000 followers Instagram - he decided to do a photoshoot on a steep flight of steps in an out-of-the-way Bronx borough neighborhood that is quickly becoming a cult-movie landmark.
This fall Orion and a stream of fellow visitors have flocked to the stairway, known as a "step street," to see the real-life backdrop from a memorable scene in "Joker," the hit movie that tells the backstory of Batman's deranged foe, the Joker.
The scene captures the moment that loner Arthur Fleck, played by Joaquin Phoenix, transforms into the Joker as he dances down the steps to Gary Glitter's anthem "Rock & Roll Part 2," his hair dyed a menacing green and his face painted like a clown.
"I feel like that triumphant moment was my triumphant right now, because I'm thinking the shots came out pretty good," he told Reuters. He then broke into a theatrical strut mimicking the Joker's dance down the stairs.
Until recently not many tourists ventured into the Bronx, which has long sought to shake an unfair image as a crime-ridden backwater. The borough's biggest draws are the Bronx Zoo, the New York Botanical Gardens and the New York Yankees, the perennial baseball powerhouse that makes its home about a mile south of the steps, located on West 167th Street between Anderson and Shakespeare avenues.
But since the release of "Joker," many New Yorkers and out-of-towners have traveled there to gawk, take selfies and, in the spirit of the Joker's choreography, to ham it up.
For longtime Bronx residents like security guard Raphael, step streets are a common feature in the borough's hilly landscape. And they welcome the attention.
"You got people coming from all over the world to come to these steps. And I'm proud that I live by it," he told Reuters.
"Joker," directed by Todd Phillips and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, has dominated the box-office. It broke the record for the largest October opening weekend in movie history, at $96.2 million.
While the borough has struggled with its reputation as a dangerous place, it is perhaps ironic that a threatening figure like the Joker may have helped burnish its image.
(Production: Dan Fastenberg, Hussein al Waaile) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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