The director of the upcoming Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix, expressed frustration with “outrage” he has been receiving about the content of the film that claims the superhero drama portrays a dark, violent loner reminiscent to some of the perpetrators of mass shootings.
Todd Phillips, who has also helmed the The Hangover and its sequels, said in a recent interview he had no intention of evoking violence from cinematic audiences, he just wanted to make a good movie. “We didn’t make the movie to push buttons,” Phillips said. “I literally described to Joaquin at one point in those three months as like, ‘Look at this as a way to sneak a real movie in the studio system under the guise of a comic book film’. It wasn’t, ‘We want to glorify this behavior.’ It was literally like ‘Let’s make a real movie with a real budget and we’ll call it f—ing ‘Joker’’. That’s what it was”
A letter signed by families of victims killed in the Aurora theater shooting in 2012 expressed their concern over the violent content and called on the film’s studio, Warner Bros., to make donations to help end gun violence. The group of families claimed the film “presents the character as a protagonist with a sympathetic origin story” and also called on the movie studio to end donations to political candidates who accept money from the NRA. “We are calling on you to be a part of the growing chorus of corporate leaders who understand that they have a social responsibility to keep us all safe,” the letter said.
Joker, which received an eight-minute-long standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival in August, has received similar backlash on social media. “So I have some thoughts on the new Joker trailer with Joaquin Phoenix,” one user wrote. “In a time of increasing violence perpetrated by disaffected white men, is it really the best thing to keep making movies that portray disaffected white men doing violence as sympathetic?”
So I have some thoughts on the new Joker trailer with Joaquin Phoenix.
In a time of increasing violence perpetrated by disaffected white men, is it really the best thing to keep making movies that portray disaffected white men doing violence as sympathetic?
— Hilary Agro ? (@hilaryagro) April 3, 2019
“It was not that long ago when a socially isolated disgruntled white man who felt ‘wronged’ by society quite literally dressed up as the Joker and shot up a movie theater in Colorado,” said Heather Antos, along with a detailed description of everything she felt the film got wrong.
It was not that long ago when a socially isolated disgruntled white man who felt “wronged” by society quite literally dressed up as the Joker and shot up a movie theater in Colorado.
— Heather Antos @ NYCC (@HeatherAntos) September 6, 2019
Phillips rebuked the criticism that his film would encourage violence and suggested instead Joker was an obvious target for a culture looking for things to be angry about. “I think it’s because outrage is a commodity,” he said. “I think it’s something that has been a commodity for a while.”
The director also noted that the outrage could be steeped in political motivation. “What’s outstanding to me in this discourse in this movie is how easily the far left can sound like the far right when it suits their agenda,” he said. “It’s been really eye-opening for me.”
