Director David Fincher Says JOKER is a "Betrayal of the Mentally Ill" and He Talks About His 4-Year Netflix Deal
In a recent interview, director David Fincher (Fight Club, Se7en) shared his thoughts on Todd Phillips’ Joker and also talked about the four-year deal that he signed with Netflix and explained his reasoning behind teaming up with them.
While discussing Joker, Fincher called it “a betrayal of the mentally ill” and also slapped Hollywood studios for only green-lighting film projects that they think will “make them a billion dollars”. He said:
“Nobody would have thought they had a shot at a giant hit with Joker had The Dark Knight not been as massive as it was. I don’t think anyone would have looked at that material and thought, ‘Yeah, let’s take [Taxi Driver’s] Travis Bickle and [The King of Comedy’s] Rupert Pupkin and conflate them, then trap him in a betrayal of the mentally ill, and trot it out for a billion dollars.”
I know a lot of people feel the same way about Joker. There’s been a lot of discussion among fans regarding how mental illness was handled in the film, a lot of them believing that it was handled carelessly. Although, a lot of people also loved the movie and didn’t have any issues with how the Joker character was handled. Everyone sees the movie in a different way and there are really no right or wrong answers. It’s a different viewing experience for everyone and everyone has a right to their opinions.
Fincher then went on to explain why he ended up signing a four-year deal with Netflix, saying:
“The reality of our current situation is that the five families don’t want to make anything that can’t make them a billion dollars. None of them want to be in the medium-priced challenging content business. And that cleaves off exactly the kind of movies I make. What the streamers are doing is providing a platform for the kind of cinema that actually reflects our culture and wrestles with big ideas: where things are, what people are anxious and unsure about. Those are the kinds of movies that would have been dead on arrival five years ago.”
It makes sense to me that Fincher would make the movie to Netflix. They are going to give him the freedom to make the films and tell the stories that he wants. It’s the kind of deal that a lot of filmmakers would love to have. As a fan of Fincher’s films, I’m just happy that he’s found a place to make more movies!
Source: The Daily Telegraph via Deadline
