Joker is going to be unlike any other comic book movie you’ve ever seen. Starring Joaquin Phoenix and directed by Todd Phillips, Joker will deliver an experience that is destined to have audiences buzzing with discussion. Even before the movie comes out, there is a ton to talk about with this unique motion picture. And there are even some things you should know before you step into the theater.
Truly Original
Todd Phillips and co-writer Scott Silver have decided to do something very exciting with Joker: they are making a comic book movie that stands on its own in every possible way. That means their version of Joker was a totally new one. In Joker, the main character is named Arthur Fleck, a name that has never been associated with the character ever before.
“We didn’t follow anything from the comic books,” said Phillips in an interview with Empire magazine. “We just wrote our own version of where a guy like Joker might come from. That’s what was interesting to me.”
And that’s not all. Joker will stand apart from any and all other DC Comics films. In an age where superhero cinema has become dominated by interconnected stories and universes, Joker is an exhilarating change of pace by being a totally singular film. It’s going to be fascinating watching how audiences respond to such a bold and thrilling decision.
A Dedicated Lead
Phillips and Silver wrote the role of Arthur Fleck with Joaquin Phoenix in mind. Once Phoenix came on to the project, it was clear that he was going to give the role a level of commitment that would make it something absolutely special. And Phoenix knew they had something extraordinary once he read the script.
“[Joker is] certainly different than any movie that would fall into the superhero genre, but it was even different than dramas that I had read,” said Phoenix. “It seemed to have so many different flavors and tones.”
In order to achieve Arthur’s thin body frame, Phoenix lost 52 pounds for the role. As a way to get inside Arthur’s head, he also wrote entries in a journal that factors into the movie’s plot. This journal would be scanned by the prop department and then refitted into the on-set journal along with images created by production artists.
Dance with the Devil
One element of Phoenix’s performance that informs a huge amount of Arthur’s character is the way he moves. It might come as something of a surprise, but dance was a heavy factor in how Phillips and Phoenix decided to portray Arthur’s personality.
One of the pivotal scenes in Joker that showcases this element is a moment in a bathroom where Arthur first begins to feel something awakening in him. “We didn’t find the real intention of that scene until we went to set that day,” said Phoenix.
“When we arrived, we felt that we still needed something that would illustrate the emergence of a different part of Arthur’s personality. We landed on the idea because I had been studying all of this dance, and [Todd] started playing this cello music; it was a really effective piece of [Hildur Guðnadóttir’s] score that he had just gotten the previous night. And I said, “So maybe there’s a movement,” and he said, “Well, I would start on your foot. Start on your foot, and that’s your move,” and that’s all he said. And something else emerged…”
As you’ll see in the finished film, what emerged is a physical body language that makes Arthur’s transformation something you’ll never forget.
Gritty Gotham City
With such a distinct vision of Joker’s story, the movie also needed to have a specific take on where the film took place: Gotham City. For this, Phillips wanted to draw inspiration from the New York City of the ’70s and ’80s, and he achieved that goal through a number of impressive ways.
The main section of Gotham Square was filmed at the intersection of Newark’s Broad and Market Streets. Known as the Times Square of Newark, this area was particularly useful because its atmosphere and architecture are shockingly similar to New York’s Times Square of nearly 40 years ago.
But location wasn’t the only thing that brought Gotham City to life. Cars, buses, and even subway cars from the ’70s and ’80s were obtained from various museums in order to give the film’s 1981 time period the correct look. Even though Gotham City is a fictional place, Phillips and his production team wanted it to feel very real.
Can You Trust a Clown?
Maybe the most intriguing facet of Joker is framing the story around a character whose perspective might not exactly be trustworthy. Traditionally, this idea is known as an unreliable narrator, but Phillips felt Joker offered something beyond that.
“You have an intense amount of freedom with an unreliable narrator, and you have even more freedom when he’s Joker,” said Phillips. “…what I think is interesting about the movie is you don’t walk away having all the answers. Different people I’ve shown it to have different theories about what may or may not have happened.” That adds yet another level of curiosity to the picture.
And Phoenix found uncertainty incredibly compelling.
“Usually with characters like that it’s frustrating because you want to understand what their motivations are,” said Phoenix. “But it became like a liberation for this character, and I realized that it could go in any direction.”
What direction will Joker be going? The only way to find out is to see it when it opens in theaters on October 4.
