Todd Phillips Talks About the Lack of Batman in His JOKER Film
As we wait around another week and a half for the opening of director Todd Phillips’s highly anticipated and unconventional comic book film, Joker, it’s fun to hear the great critic reviews and the behind the scenes stories from the director. Early on, fans speculated about whether the film would give us a glimpse of the newly cast Batman (Robert Pattinson), or any other version of the superhero who is always associated with the villain. But Phillips said from the start that this really was more than an origin story that would lead to a superhero showdown. This is the story, a brand new interpretation, that is a character study of a man who is driven to the brink of insanity by his surroundings, his circumstances, and his story. I can’t wait to see it.
Recently, while discussing the lack of the Caped Crusader, Phillips had this to say to ComicBook:
"There was probably a little more in earlier cuts, maybe. There definitely was a little more everything in the earlier cuts, but it was really about how fun it is that we get to keep one foot in the comic book world and one foot in not and like you said find that balance."
"It's hard to quantify how we found that balance, but it was, the movie is very liberating because DC, just speaking about comic books, DC as a company and Warner Bros as a studio really just let us do whatever we wanted with it. It wasn't like 'oh and you have to mention the Batmobile and you have to...' none of that. It was literally like 'yeah, were going to take this leap on this movie. Just go for it and do it.'"
"The movie just stands on its own. I don't see Arthur Fleck fighting anybody."
I love how in just the previews you can see every side of the character. He is a real human with complicated problems, and you can see his pain and sorrow. It was a perfect storm that Phillips took the risk to write this film for Joaquin Phoenix, and he actually accepted the part. I am so stoked for it, and I think they made all the right choices in keeping the movie about Arthur Fleck and the story of his life.