Joker Todd Phillips

Development

Between 2014 and 2015, Joaquin Phoenix expressed interest to his agent in acting in a low-budget "character study" type of film about a comic book villain, like DC Comics character the Joker.[8] Phoenix had thought of the idea 1 to 2 years before Phillips conceived Joker in 2016.[37] Phoenix had previously declined to act in the Marvel Cinematic Universe because he would have been required to reprise a role, such as the Hulk (initially portrayed by Edward Norton before he was recast by Mark Ruffalo) or Doctor Strange (ultimately portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch), in multiple films.[38] Phoenix ruled out the Joker for his "character study" idea and tried to think of a different one. "I thought, 'You can't do the Joker, because, you know, it's just you can't do that character, it's just been done'". Phoenix's agent suggested setting up an exploratory meeting with Warner Bros., but he declined and let go of the idea.[8] 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 him. According to Phillips, Joker was created from his idea to create a different, more grounded comic book film.[39] 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.[40]

Phillips pitched the idea for Joker to Warner Bros. after his film War Dogs premiered in August 2016.[39] 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?'"[39] In addition, he found that it was difficult to make comedy films in the "woke culture", throughout opposition of "30 million people on Twitter". He finally thought that "How do I do something irreverent, but fuck comedy? Oh I know, let's take the comic book movie universe and turn it on its head with this".[42] He proposed that DC Films differentiate its slate from the competing Marvel Studios' by producing low-budget, standalone films.[43][44] 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).[45] In August 2017, Warner Bros. and DC Films revealed plans for the film, with Phillips directing and co-writing with Scott Silver and Martin Scorsese set to co-produce with Phillips.[46] According to Tatiana Siegel of The Hollywood Reporter, Scorsese considered directing Joker before Phillips was chosen, though a Warner Bros. source said he only became involved because the film needed a New York City-based producer.[47]

According to Kim Masters and Borys Kit of The Hollywood Reporter, Jared Leto, who portrayed the Joker in the DCEU, was displeased by the existence of a project separate from his interpretation.[48][49] In October 2019, Masters reported that Leto "felt 'alienated and upset'" when he learned that Warner Bros.—which had promised him a standalone DCEU Joker film—let Phillips proceed with Joker, going as far as to ask his music manager Irving Azoff to get the project canceled. Masters added that Leto's irritation was what caused him to end his association with Creative Artists Agency (CAA), as he believed "his agents should have told him about the Phillips project earlier and fought harder for his version of Joker". However, sources associated with Leto deny that he attempted to get Joker canceled and left CAA because of it.[49]

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.[48] However, Phillips said that Phoenix was the only actor he considered,[50] 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".[51] 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".[8] 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.'"[51]

Writing

It was a yearlong process from when we finished the script just to get the new people on board with this vision, because I pitched 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.'

– Todd Phillips[39]

Phillips and Silver wrote Joker throughout 2017 and the writing process took about a year.[52] 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.[39] Phillips said that while the script's themes may reflect modern society, the film was not intended to be political.[52] He also noted that Joker is a story about child trauma and mental illness.[53][54] In their script, Phillips talked about how difficult it is for patients to reveal their diagnoses, referring to a line from the film: "The worst part of having a mental illness is that people expect you to behave as if you don't".[54]

The script draws inspiration from Scorsese films such as Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980) and The King of Comedy (1983), as well as Phillips' Hangover Trilogy.[41][46][55] 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.[52] The film's premise was 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,[39] while the climactic talk show scene was inspired by a similar scene in Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns (1986).[56] However, Phillips said the film 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".[57] 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.[58] Having grown up in New York, Phillips also drew inspiration from life in New York City during the early 1980s.[59] The Subway shooting scene and its aftermath were inspired by the 1984 New York City Subway shooting,[59][60] while Arthur Fleck is partially based on the shooting's perpetrator, Bernhard Goetz.[60][59]

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.[39] Instead, they used certain elements of the Joker lore to produce an original story,[61] which Phillips wanted to feel as authentic as possible.[39] 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".[52] While the 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.[50] 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[40]—and left what mental illnesses he suffers from unclear.[41] As such, Phillips said the entire film is open to interpretation.[40]

When a draft of the film's script, written in April 2018, was leaked and spread on the internet, Phillips stated that it was an old version from six months before filming began.[62] Phillips also declined to take legal action against the spread of the script, stating that he liked having an old version circulate.[63]

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.[65] Hamada sorted through the various DC films in development, canceling some while advancing work on others; the film was set to begin filming in late 2018 with a small budget of $55 million.[2] Kim Masters of The Hollywood Reporter said Warner Bros. was reluctant to let Joker move forward and gave it a small budget in an effort to dissuade Phillips.[49] Phillips said that Hamada did not understand what he was trying to do.[66] By June, Robert De Niro was under consideration for a supporting role in the film.[67] The deal with Phoenix was finalized in July 2018,[68] after four months of persuasion from Phillips.[39] Immediately afterwards,[68] Warner Bros. officially green-lit the film,[69] titled it Joker and gave it an October 4, 2019, release date.[70] 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".[71]

Scorsese's longtime associate Koskoff joined to produce,[72][73] although Scorsese left his producing duties due to other obligations.[72] Scorsese considered serving as an executive producer, but was preoccupied with his film The Irishman.[39] It was also confirmed that the film would have no effect on Leto's Joker and would be the first in a new series of DC films unrelated to the DCEU.[74][2] In July, Zazie Beetz was cast in a supporting role and De Niro entered negotiations in August.[11][13] Frances McDormand declined an offer to portray the mother of the Joker and Frances Conroy was cast.[75][16] At the end of July, Marc Maron and Bryan Callen joined the cast.[30][29][76] Alec Baldwin was cast as Thomas Wayne on August 27, but dropped out two days later due to scheduling conflicts.[21] Baldwin also noted the character's description as a reason for his departure, which called Thomas Wayne "a cheesy and tanned businessman who is more in the mold of a 1980s Donald Trump".[77]

Filming

Principal photography commenced in September 2018 in New York City,[b] under the working title Romeo.[80] 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.[26][81] Bradley Cooper joined the film as a producer,[82] and the director of photography was Lawrence Sher, both of whom Phillips had previously collaborated with.[26] On September 22, a scene depicting a violent protest was filmed at the Church Avenue station in Kensington, Brooklyn,[83] although the station was modified to look like the Bedford Park Boulevard station in the Bronx.[84] Filming of violent scenes also took place at the abandoned lower platform of the Ninth Avenue station in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.[85]

According to Beetz, Phillips rewrote the entire script during production; because Phoenix lost so much weight for the film, there would not be an opportunity for reshoots. She recalled, "we would go into Todd's trailer and write the scene for the night and then do it. During hair and makeup we'd memorize those lines and then do them and then we'd reshoot that three weeks later".[86] Phillips recalled Phoenix sometimes walked off-set during filming because he lost self-control and needed to compose himself—to the confusion of other actors, who felt they had done something wrong. De Niro was one of the few Phoenix never walked out on and De Niro said he was "very intense in what he was doing, as it should be, as he should be".[87]

Filming in Jersey City started on September 30 and shut down Newark Avenue, while filming in November, starting on November 9, shut down Kennedy Boulevard. Filming in Newark began on October 13 and lasted until October 16.[80] Shortly before the Newark filming, SAG-AFTRA received a complaint that extras were locked in subway cars for more than three hours during filming in Brooklyn, a break violation. The issue was quickly resolved after a representative visited the set.[88] That month, Dante Pereira-Olson joined the cast as a young Bruce Wayne.[23] Whigham said towards the end of October the film was in "the middle" of production, adding that it was an "intense" and "incredible" experience.[28] By mid-November, filming had moved back to New York.[89] Filming wrapped on December 3, 2018,[90] with Phillips posting a picture on his Instagram feed later in the month to commemorate the occasion.[91]

In The Hollywood Reporter interview, Emma Tillinger Koskoff said that most stressful filming was the "Stair Dance" scene; because there were no laws on paparazzi in New York City, filming was disrupted by them.[92] The South Bronx stairs used for the biographical crime film American Gangster (2007) were originally to be used for these scenes, according to The New York Times, but were deemed too repaved and beautified to be aesthetically acceptable for the film's tone.[93] Initially, Lawrence Sher and Phillips had wanted to film on 65mm film for the 70mm format, but Warner Bros. rejected this due to cost, and the film was subsequently shot in using Arri Alexa 65 digital cameras. Warner Bros. did however end up giving Joker a limited theatrical release in converted 70mm and 35mm presentations.[94]

Post-production

Phillips confirmed he was in the process of editing Joker in March 2019.[95] At CinemaCon the following month, he stated the film was "still taking shape" and was difficult to discuss, as he hoped to maintain secrecy.[96] Phillips also denied most reports surrounding the film, which he felt was because it is "an origin story about a character that doesn't have a definitive origin".[97] Brian Tyree Henry was also confirmed to have a role in the film.[31] The visual effects were provided by Scanline VFX and Shade VFX and supervised by Matthew Giampa and Bryan Godwin, with Erwin Rivera serving as the overall supervisor.[98] Joker used less VFX work than other comics films, except few scenes including that Arthur smeared smile by his blood in crowd.[99]

One scene that was cut from the film depicted Sophie watching Arthur's appearance on Franklin's show. The scene was intended to show the audience that she is still alive (as the film otherwise implies that Arthur kills her), but Phillips decided it would disrupt the narrative, which is portrayed from Arthur's point of view.[100] In another deleted scene, Arthur reveals his crimes to a co-worker; the scene was ultimately removed because it provided "too much information" in the form of exposition.[101]

The film's final budget was $55–70 million, considered by The Hollywood Reporter "a fraction" of the cost of a typical comic book-based film.[2][3] In comparison, the previous villain-centered DC film, Suicide Squad (2016), cost $175 million.[41] $25 million of Joker's budget was covered by the Toronto-based financing company Creative Wealth Media, while Village Roadshow Pictures and Bron Studios each contributed 25%.[102][3] Joker was also the first live-action theatrical film in the Batman film franchise to receive an R rating from the Motion Picture Association of America, officially for "strong bloody violence, disturbing behavior, language and brief sexual images".[103] In the United Kingdom, the BBFC gave the film a 15 certificate for "strong bloody violence [and] language".[1]