Joker (2019 Film) - Wikipedia

Joker (2019 film) - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joker_(2019_film)

Joker (2019 film)

Joker is a 2019 American psychological thriller film directed by Todd Phillips, who co-wrote the screenplay with Scott Silver. The film, based on DC Comics characters, stars Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker. An origin story set in 1981, the film follows Arthur Fleck, a failed stand-up comedian who turns to a life of crime and chaos in Gotham City. Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy, Brett Cullen, Glenn Fleshler, Bill Camp, Shea Whigham, and Marc Maron appear in supporting roles. Joker was produced by Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Films, and Joint Effort in association with Bron Creative and Village Roadshow Pictures, and distributed by Warner Bros.

Joker

Phillips conceived Joker in 2016 and wrote the script with Silver throughout 2017. The two were inspired by 1970s character studies and the films of Martin Scorsese, who was initially attached to the project as a producer. The graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke (1988) was the basis for the premise, but Phillips and Silver otherwise did not look to specific comics for inspiration. Phoenix became attached in February 2018 and was cast that July, while the majority of the cast signed on by August. Principal photography took place in New York City, Jersey City, and Newark, from September to December 2018. It is the first live-action theatrical Batman film to receive an R-rating from the Motion Picture Association of America, due to its violent and disturbing content.

Theatrical release poster

Directed by

Todd Phillips

Produced by

Todd Phillips Bradley Cooper

Joker premiered at the 76th Venice International Film Festival on August 31, 2019, where it won the Golden Lion, and was released in the United States on October 4, 2019. The film polarized critics; while Phoenix's performance was praised, the dark tone, portrayal of mental illness, and handling of violence divided responses.^[6]Joker also generated concerns of inspiring real-world violence; the movie theater where the 2012 Aurora, Colorado mass shooting occurred during a screening of The Dark Knight Rises refused to show it. The film has grossed over $610 million worldwide, making it the tenth-highest-grossing film of 2019, and set box office records for an October release.

Emma Tillinger Koskoff

Written by

Todd Phillips Scott Silver

Based on Starring

Characters by DC Comics

Joaquin Phoenix

Music by

Hildur Guðnadóttir

Cinematography Lawrence Sher

Contents

Edited by

Jeff Groth

Plot

Production companies

Warner Bros. Pictures

Cast Production

Development Writing

DC Films Joint Effort Bron Creative

Pre-production Filming

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Village

Post-production

Marketing

Roadshow

[1]

Pictures

Release

Distributed by

Warner Bros. Pictures

Reception

Box office
Records

Release date

August 31, 2019 (Venice)

Critical response Industry response Social commentary Accolades

October 4, 2019 (United States)

[2]

Future

Running time Country

122 minutes

Notes

United States English

References External links

Language Budget

$55–70

[3][4]

million

[5]

Plot

Box office

$610.9 million

In 1981, party clown and aspiring stand-up comedian Arthur Fleck lives with his mother, Penny, in Gotham City. Gotham is rife with crime and unemployment, leaving segments of the population disenfranchised and impoverished. Arthur suffers from a disorder that causes him to laugh at inappropriate times, and depends on social services for medication. After a gang attacks him in an alley, Arthur's co-worker, Randall, lends him a gun. Arthur invites his neighbor, single mother Sophie, to his stand-up comedy show, and they begin dating.

While entertaining at a children's hospital, Arthur's gun falls out of his pocket. Randall lies that Arthur bought the gun himself and Arthur is fired. On the subway, still in his clown makeup, Arthur is beaten by three drunken Wayne Enterprises businessmen; he shoots two in self-defense and executes the third. The murders are condemned by billionaire mayoral candidate Thomas Wayne, who labels those envious of more successful people as "clowns". Demonstrations against Gotham's rich begin, with protesters donning clown masks in Arthur's image. Funding cuts shutter the social service program, leaving Arthur without medication.

Arthur's comedy show goes poorly; he laughs uncontrollably and has difficulty delivering his jokes. Talk show host Murray Franklin mocks Arthur by showing clips from the routine on his show. Arthur intercepts a letter written by Penny to Thomas, alleging that he is Thomas' illegitimate son, and berates his mother for hiding the truth. At Wayne Manor, Arthur talks to Thomas' young son, Bruce, but flees after a scuffle with butler Alfred Pennyworth. Following a visit from two Gotham City Police Department detectives investigating Arthur's involvement in the train murders, Penny suffers a stroke and is hospitalized.

At a public event, Arthur confronts Thomas, who tells him that Penny is delusional and not his biological mother. In denial, Arthur visits Arkham State Hospital and steals Penny's case file; the file says Penny adopted Arthur as a baby and allowed her abusive boyfriend to harm them both. Penny alleged that Thomas used his influence to fabricate the adoption and commit her to the asylum to hide their affair. Distraught, Arthur goes to the hospital and kills Penny. He returns home and enters Sophie's apartment unannounced. Frightened, Sophie tells him to leave; their previous encounters were Arthur's delusions.

Arthur is invited to appear on Murray's show due to the unexpected popularity of his routine clips. As he prepares, Arthur is visited by Randall and fellow ex-colleague Gary. Arthur murders Randall, but leaves Gary unharmed for treating him well in the past. En route to the studio, Arthur is pursued by the two detectives onto a train filled with clown protesters. One detective accidentally shoots a protester and incites a riot, allowing Arthur to escape.

Before the show goes live, Arthur requests that Murray introduce him as Joker, a reference to Murray's previous

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mockery. Arthur walks out to a warm reception, but tells morbid jokes, admits he killed the men on the train, and rants about how society abandons the disenfranchised. After calling out Murray for mocking him, Arthur kills him, and is arrested as riots break out across Gotham. One rioter corners the Wayne family in an alley and murders Thomas and his wife Martha, sparing a traumatized Bruce.^[a]Rioters in an ambulance crash into the police car carrying Arthur and free him. He dances to the cheers of the crowd.

At Arkham, Arthur laughs to himself and tells his psychiatrist she would not understand the joke. He runs from orderlies, leaving a trail of bloodied footprints.

Cast

Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck / Joker: A mentally ill, impoverished stand-up comedian disregarded by society,^[8]whose history of abuse causes him to become a nihilistic criminal.^[9]Phoenix had been interested in a low-budget "character study" of a comic book character, and said the film "feels unique, it is its own world in some ways, and maybe ... It might as well be the thing that scares you the most."^[10]Phoenix lost 52 pounds (24 kg) in preparation,^[11][12]and based his laugh on "videos of people suffering from pathological laughter."^[13]He also sought to portray a character who audiences could not identify with and did not look to previous Joker actors for inspiration; instead, he read a book about political assassinations so he could understand killers and motivations.^[9]Director Todd Phillips said that he intentionally left it ambiguous as to whether Arthur becomes the actual Joker as seen in traditional Batman stories or inspires a separate character.^[14]

Robert De Niro as Murray Franklin:^[15]A talk show host who plays a role in Arthur's downfall.^[16]De Niro said his role in Joker pays homage to his character from The King of Comedy (1983), Rupert Pupkin, who is a comedian obsessed with a talk-show host.^[15]

Zazie Beetz as Sophie Dumond:^[17]A cynical single mother and Arthur's love interest.^[17][18]Beetz, a "huge fan" of Phoenix, said that it was "an honor" to co-star with him,^[19]and that she learned a lot working with him on set.^[20]

Frances Conroy as Penny Fleck: Arthur's mentally and physically ill mother,^[21]who formerly worked for Thomas Wayne.^[22]Hannah Gross portrays a young Penny.^[23]

Additionally, Brett Cullen plays Thomas Wayne, a billionaire philanthropist running for mayor of Gotham.^[24]Unlike in the comics, Thomas plays a role in the Joker's origins and is less sympathetic than traditional incarnations.^[25]Alec Baldwin was initially cast in the role but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts.^[26][27]Douglas Hodge plays Alfred Pennyworth, the butler and caretaker of the Wayne family,^[28]and Dante Pereira-Olson plays Bruce Wayne, Thomas's son, who becomes the Joker's archenemy Batman as an adult.^[29][30]

Additional cast members include: Glenn Fleshler and Leigh Gill as Randall and Gary, Arthur's clown co-workers;

[31][32]

Bill Camp and Shea Whigham as two detectives in the Gotham City Police Department;^[33]Marc Maron as
Gene Ufland, a producer on Franklin's show;^[34][35]Josh Pais as Hoyt Vaughn, Arthur's agent;^[31][36]Brian Tyree Henry as a clerk at Arkham State Hospital;^[37]and Bryan Callen as Javier, a co-worker of Arthur.^[38]Justin Theroux has an uncredited cameo as a celebrity guest on Franklin's show.^[39]

Production

Development

Between 2014 and 2015, Joaquin Phoenix expressed interest in acting in a low-budget "character study" type of film about a comic book villain, like the DC Comics character Joker.^[10]Phoenix had previously declined to act in the Marvel Cinematic Universe because he would have been required to play the roles, such as the Hulk and Doctor Strange, in multiple films.^[40]He did not believe his idea for a film should cover the Joker, however, as he thought the character had been depicted in a similar way before, and tried to think of a different one. Phoenix's agent suggested setting up a meeting with Warner Bros., but he declined.^[10]Similarly, Todd Phillips had been offered to direct comic-based films a number of times, but declined because he thought they were "loud" and did not interest

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him. According to Phillips, Joker was created from his idea to create a different, more grounded comic book film.^[11]He was attracted to the Joker because he did not think there was a definitive portrayal of the character, which he knew would provide considerable creative freedom.^[14]

Phillips pitched the idea for Joker to Warner Bros. after his film War Dogs premiered in August 2016.^[11]Prior to War Dogs, Phillips was mostly known for his

comedy films, such as Road Trip (2000), Old School (2003), and The Hangover

(2009); War Dogs marked a venture into more unsettling territory.^[41]During the premiere, Phillips realized "War Dogs wasn't going to set the world on fire and I was thinking, 'What do people really want to see?'"^[11]He proposed that DC Films differentiate its slate from the competing Marvel Studios' by producing low-budget, standalone films.^[42][43]After the successful release of Wonder Woman (2017), DC Films decided to deemphasize the shared nature of its DC-based film franchise, the DC Extended Universe (DCEU).^[44]In August 2017, Warner Bros. and DC Films

Joker director Todd Phillips in 2016

revealed plans for the film, with Phillips directing and co-writing with Scott Silver, and Martin Scorsese set to coproduce with Phillips.^[45]The announcement of the film was met with mixed reactions. Jared Leto, who portrays the Joker in the DCEU, was reportedly displeased with the existence of different contemporary Joker characters.^[46]

Warner Bros. pushed for Phillips to cast Leonardo DiCaprio as the Joker,^[41]hoping to use his frequent collaborator Scorsese's involvement to attract him.^[46]However, Phillips said that Phoenix was the only actor he considered,^[47]and that he and Silver wrote the script with Phoenix in mind, "The goal was never to introduce Joaquin Phoenix into the comic book movie universe. The goal was to introduce comic book movies into the Joaquin Phoenix universe."^[48]Phoenix said when he learned of the film, he became excited because it was the kind he was looking to make, describing it as unique and stating it did not feel like a typical "studio movie."^[10]It took him some time to commit to the role, as it intimidated him and he said "oftentimes, in these movies, we have these simplified, reductive archetypes, and that allows for the audience to be distant from the character, just like we would do in real life, where it's easy to label somebody as evil, and therefore say, 'Well, I'm not that.'"^[48]

Writing

Phillips and Silver wrote Joker throughout

“ It was a yearlong process from when we finished the script just

2017, and the writing process took about a

to get the new people on board with this vision, because I pitched

year.^[49]According to producer Emma Tillinger Koskoff, it took some time to get approval for the script from Warner Bros., partly because of concerns over the content. Similarly, Phillips commented that there were "a zillion hurdles" during the year-long writing process due to the visibility of the character.^[11]Phillips said

it to an entirely different team than made it. There were emails about: 'You realize we sell Joker pajamas at Target.' There were a zillion hurdles, and you just sort of had to navigate those one at a time.... At the time, I would curse them in my head every day. But then I have to put it in perspective and go, 'They're pretty bold that they did this.' ”

[11]
– Todd Phillips

that while the script's themes may reflect modern society, the film was not intended to be political.^[49]While Joker had appeared in several films before, Phillips thought it was possible to produce a new story featuring the character. "It's just another interpretation, like people do interpretations of Macbeth," he told The New York Times.^[47]

The script draws inspiration from Scorsese films such as Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), and The King of Comedy (1983),^[45][41]as well as Phillips' Hangover Trilogy.^[50]Other films Phillips has cited as inspiration include character studies released in the 1970s—such as Serpico (1973) and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)—the silent film The Man Who Laughs (1928), and several musicals. Phillips said that aside from the tone, he did not consider Joker that different from his previous work, such as his Hangover films.^[49]While the film's premise was

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inspired by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland's graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke (1988), which depicts the Joker as a failed stand-up comedian,^[11]Phillips said it does not "follow anything from the comic books... That's what was interesting to me. We're not even doing Joker, but the story of becoming Joker."^[51]Phillips later clarified that he meant they did not look to a specific comic for inspiration, but rather "picked and chose what we liked" from the character's history.^[52]

Phillips and Silver found the most common Joker origin story, in which the character is disfigured after falling into a vat of acid, too unrealistic.^[11]Instead, they used certain elements of the Joker lore to produce an original story,^[53]which Phillips wanted to feel as authentic as possible.^[11]Because the Joker does not have a definitive origin story in the comics, Phillips and Silver were given considerable creative freedom and "pushed each other every day to come up with something totally insane."^[49]However, they did try to retain the ambiguous "multiple choice" nature of the Joker's past by positioning the character as an unreliable narrator—with entire storylines simply being his delusions^[14]—and left what mental illnesses he suffers from unclear.^[41]As such, Phillips said the entire film is open to interpretation.^[14]

Pre-production

Following the disappointing critical and financial performance of Justice League (2017), in January 2018 Walter Hamada replaced Jon Berg as the head of DC-based film production at Warner Bros.^[54]Hamada sorted through the various DC films in development, cancelling some while advancing work on others; the Joker film was set to begin filming in late 2018 with a small budget.^[3]By June, Robert De Niro was under consideration for a supporting role in the film.^[55]The deal with Phoenix was finalized in July 2018,^[56]after four months of Phillips working on persuading him.^[11]Immediately afterwards,^[56]Warner Bros. officially green-lit the film,^[57]titled it Joker, and gave it an October 4, 2019, release date.^[58]Warner Bros. described the film as "an exploration of a man disregarded by society [that] is not only a gritty character study, but also a broader cautionary tale."^[59]

Scorsese's longtime associate Koskoff joined to produce,^[60][61]although Scorsese left his producing duties due to other obligations.^[60]Scorsese considered serving as an executive producer, but was preoccupied with his film The Irishman.^[11]It was also confirmed that the film would have no effect on Leto's Joker^[62]and would be the first in a new series of DC films unrelated to the DCEU.^[3]In July, Zazie Beetz was cast in a supporting role,^[18]and De Niro entered negotiations in August.^[16][63]Frances McDormand declined an offer to portray the mother of the Joker, and Frances Conroy was cast.^[64][21]At the end of July, Marc Maron, who had recently finished filming the third season of the web television series GLOW,^[35]and Bryan Callen joined the cast.^[34][65]Alec Baldwin was cast as Thomas Wayne on August 27, but dropped out two days later due to scheduling conflicts.^[26]

Filming

Principal photography commenced in September 2018 in New York City,^[b]under the working title Romeo.^[68]Shortly after filming began, De Niro, Brett Cullen, Shea Whigham, Glenn Fleshler, Bill Camp, Josh Pais, and Douglas Hodge were announced to have joined the film, with Cullen replacing Baldwin.^[69][31]Bradley Cooper joined the film as a producer,^[70]and the director of photography was Lawrence Sher, both of whom Phillips had previously collaborated with.^[31]On September 22, a scene depicting a violent protest filmed at the Church Avenue station (IND Culver Line) in Kensington, Brooklyn,^[71]although the station was modified to look like the Bedford Park Boulevard station in The Bronx.^[72]Filming of violent scenes also took place at the abandoned lower platform of the Ninth Avenue station in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.^[73]