Joker
Short description
Joker is set in Gotham City in the early 1980s. Arthur Fleck lives with his ill mother and earns a living as a clown for hire while he dreams of becoming a stand-up comedian. He takes medication and has a condition that makes him laugh uncontrollably at the wrong moments, which leaves him isolated and a target for other people's cruelty. As his psychological support is withdrawn and his attempts at connection fail, Arthur's life takes a violent turn that makes him a figure of fear and, for some in the city, of revolt.
Todd Phillips directed the film and wrote the screenplay with Scott Silver. It came after a run of comedies including the Hangover trilogy, War Dogs and Due Date, and it marked a shift toward darker dramatic material. Joaquin Phoenix plays Arthur Fleck, with Robert De Niro as television host Murray Franklin, Zazie Beetz as Sophie Dumond, Frances Conroy as Penny Fleck, Brett Cullen as Thomas Wayne and Shea Whigham as Detective Burke. The production, backed by Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Films, Village Roadshow Pictures and Bron Studios, had a budget of about 55 million dollars.
Joker was released on October 1, 2019 and had a worldwide box office of roughly 1.08 billion dollars. On IMDb it holds 8.3 out of 10 from about 1.7 million votes, while on TMDB it stands at 8.1 from more than 28,000 votes. A film critics' rating of 7.3 from 598 reviews places professional assessments below the audience scores. Phillips returned to the character with Joker: Folie à Deux in 2024.
What's left behind the scenes
- A 118-minute version of the film was shown at the Venice Film Festival. At the end of the screening, the audience gave it an 8-minute standing ovation.
- Joaquin Phoenix based his character's laughter on a neurological disorder that causes people to have uncontrollable fits of laughter.
- Joaquin Phoenix also lost 53 pounds and rehearsed different kinds of laughter for months.
- To keep the film's production secret, the working title of the movie during filming was "Romero." This may be a reference to Cesar Romero, who also played the Joker.
- The Joker's line, "When I was a kid, I told people I was going to be a comedian, everyone laughed at me, and now no one laughs," was inspired by a statement from the late British comedian Bob Monkhouse: "People laughed at me when I said I wanted to be a comedian. Now they don't laugh."
- While preparing for the role, Joaquin Phoenix read about various personality disorders. He wanted to portray the Joker in such a way that psychiatrists wouldn't be able to determine his diagnosis.
- During the film, someone mentions that giant rats were seen in Gotham. The giant rats can be noticed in three scenes: when Arthur is talking on the phone in a phone booth, when he chases away the last young man near the subway station, and when Bruce mourns over his parents' bodies.
- Joaquin Phoenix based the Joker's laugh on a neurological disorder that causes uncontrollable bouts of laughter in people. He tried to depict a character that the public would find difficult to relate to.
- According to Joaquin Phoenix, he based his performance on the Joker from the comic book “Batman: Arkham Asylum – A Serious House on Serious Earth.” This comic was the only work about the Joker that he studied.
- The character played by actress Sharon Washington is named Debra Kane. The character was given the surname in honor of Bob Kane, the co-creator of the Batman comics.
- During the film, someone mentions that giant rats were seen in Gotham. A closer look at the computer-generated giant rats reveals them in three episodes: when Arthur is on the phone in a phone booth, when he chases away the last young man near the subway station, and when Bruce grieves over the bodies of his parents.
- The character played by actress Sharon Washington is named Debra Kane. The character's surname was given in honor of Bob Kane (1915-1998), a co-creator of Batman comics.
- Producers wanted Leonardo DiCaprio to play the role of the Joker. Other candidates for the role included Bradley Cooper, Jake Gyllenhaal, Adam Driver, James Franco, Will Poulter, Dan Stevens, Paul Dano, Caleb Landry Jones, Ivan Reon, and Bill Skarsgård.
- In preparing for the role, Joaquin Phoenix studied the movements and mimicry of silent film stars Buster Keaton and Ray Bolger.
- In the subway murder scene, Arthur fires 8 shots from a six-chamber revolver.
- The Joker's fictional residence is located at 10452 Anderson Avenue, 1147, Bronx, New York.
- The Joker's makeup was designed to resemble that of John Wayne Gacy Jr. (1942-1994), an American serial killer from the 1970s who moonlighted as a clown named Pogo at children's parties and events.
- In order to save money, computer graphics were practically not used in the film. One of the few scenes with computer graphics was the one where Arthur heads to the Arkham Asylum building to view his mother's medical records.
- In less than a month since its worldwide release, 'Joker' became the highest-grossing R-rated film in history.
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