Todd Phillips Talks About an Cut JOKER Bathtub Scene That Was Too Insane For a R-Rated Movie
Todd Phillips’ The Joker has caused quite a stir during its run. Many loved it, many hated it, and it certainly got fans talking. Last week, it became the highest grossing Rated-R film, and Joaquin Phoenix’s portrayal has been buzzed about for awards season.
In a recent appearance at Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Phillips participated in a Q&A with the SBIFF Cinema Society (via CB). In the discussion, Phillips praised Phoenix’s acting skills and his willingness to try new things. He said:
"So the other thing that's great about Joaquin is that he's always up to try things. So, we would finish our days early sometimes and we started doing this thing, Joaquin and I, we called it ... a study of insomnia. It was our own fun little thing like we have an hour left in the day, let's light this kitchen, Joaquin let's do something over by the sink or the fridge, and let's just set up two cameras, Larry (Sher) would operate one, Jeff (Groth) would operate the other, and we would do these things -- the fridge was one of those. It wasn’t in the script it was something that Joaquin just kind of did and there was a few others, there's only one other that's in the movie and it's when he's laughing after he goes to Zazie's (Beetz) apartment and he comes back down the hall and he's laughing alone in that living room, that was another one."
So, many of these experiments ended in successful scenes that fit right into the film, but some did not. Phillips went on to talk a bit about one scene in particular, saying:
"There were two or three others we shot, one that is amazing in a bathtub, but I don't think we can actually include it in an R-rated movie and it's not because it was pornographic, it was just insane.”
Well, that makes sense. You make a movie about someone with severe mental illness, and there are going to be things that just don’t make it onto the screen. The film pushed enough boundaries, so it’s good that Phillips had the foresight to edit down the scenes that just didn’t translate.
Would you be interested in seeing a director’s cut, or some weird extra scenes in the bonus footage? I guess we will just have to see what they’re willing to share.
Joker is looking to hit shelves in early 2020.