Joker is the name of the new Todd Phillips directed movie, starring Joaquin Phoenix. It is about the origin story of the famous Batman villain.
So let’s unveil some trivia and facts about this new film!
- Joker is a 2019 American psychological thriller film
- It is directed by Todd Phillips
- He co-wrote the screenplay with Scott Silver
- The film, based on DC Comics characters, stars Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker
- Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
- It is intended to launch DC Black
- A series of DC-based standalone films
- The film, which acts as an origin story for the Joker, is set in 1981 and 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, and Frances Conroy appear in supporting roles
- Phillips conceived Joker in 2016
- And wrote the script with Silver throughout 2017
- The two were inspired by 1970s character studies and the works of Martin Scorsese (who was initially attached to the project as a producer)
- The graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke (1988) served as the basis for the film’s premise
- But Phillips and Silver otherwise did not look to specific comics for inspiration
- Phoenix became attached to the project in February 2018 and was cast that July
- While the majority of the cast signed on by August
- Principal photography lasted from September to December 2018 and took place in New York City, Jersey City, and Newark
- Joker was the first live-action Batman franchise film to receive an R-rating from the Motion Picture Association of America
- Due to its violent and disturbing content
- Joker premiered at the 76th Venice International Film Festival on August 31, 2019
- There it won the Golden Lion, the festival’s highest prize
- It is scheduled to be theatrically released in the United States on October 4, 2019
- The film received positive reviews from critics
- With particular praise for Phoenix’s performance
- The film will not play at the Aurora, Colorado movie theater where the 2012 mass shooting occurred during a screening of The Dark Knight Rises
- Three families of victims, as well as the mother of a witness, signed a letter to Warner Bros. with the request
- Warner Bros. restricted press access to the red carpet at the United States premiere on September 28, 2019 to photographers only
- Additionally, Landmark Theaters has prohibited moviegoers from wearing Joker costumes during its run
- And the Los Angeles Police Department will increase police visibility at area theaters
- Though it has “not received any specific threat”
- In August 2019, BoxOffice magazine analyst Shawn Robbins wrote that he expected Joker to gross $60- 90 million during its opening weekend in North America
- Following the film’s premiere, BoxOffice predicted Joker could open to $70- 95 million domestically
- Later updated to $85- 105 million
- Robbins suggested it could become the first October release to open to over $100 million
- And surpass the record set by Venom in 2018
- However, Comscore’s senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian thought the film would open closer to $50 million because it is not a “typical comic-book movie”
- Three weeks prior to its release, official industry tracking projected the film would debut to $65- 80 million
- With some estimates going as high as $90 million
- Between 2014 and 2015, Joaquin Phoenix was interested in acting in a low-budget “character study” type of film about a comic book villain like the DC Comics character Joker
- Phoenix had previously declined to act in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
- Because he would have been required to play the roles he was offered, like the Hulk and Doctor Strange, in multiple films
- He did not believe his idea for a film should cover the Joker, however, as he believed that 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
- 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 born from his idea to create a different, more grounded comic book film
- Phillips pitched the idea for Joker to Warner Bros. after his film War Dogs premiered in August 2016
- He proposed that DC Films differentiate its slate from the competing Marvel Studios’ by producing low-budget, standalone films
- After the successful release of the standalone feature Wonder Woman (2017), DC Films decided to deemphasize the shared nature of its DC-based film franchise, the DC Extended Universe (DCEU)
- 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 co-producing with Phillips
- 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 multiple different contemporary Joker characters
- By September 2017, Warner Bros. was considering casting Leonardo DiCaprio as the Joker
- Hoping to use his frequent collaborator Scorsese’s involvement to lure him
- But by February 2018, Phoenix was Phillips’s top choice for the role
- Phillips later said that Phoenix was the only actor he considered
- Padraig Cotter of Screen Rant noted that since the film was a standalone story
- Phoenix would not have to appear in sequels as he would have in the Marvel offer
- Phoenix said when he learned of the film, he became excited because it was the kind of film he was looking to make
- Describing it as unique and stating it did not feel like a typical “studio movie”
- However, it took Phoenix some time to commit to the role, as it intimidated him
- Principal photography commenced in September 2018 in New York City
- Under the working title Romeo
- 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
- Bradley Cooper also joined the film as a producer
- The director of photography was Lawrence Sher, with whom Phillips had previously collaborated with for his Hangover films
- On September 22, a scene depicting a violent protest took place in Brooklyn
- Although the station was modified to look like Bedford Park Blvd
- In late September 2018, filming of robbery scenes took place at the First Central Savings Bank in Astoria, Queens
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