A Briefing on All the Drama Surrounding the 'Joker' Movie

From ELLE

Warning: Joker spoilers ahead.

Before anyone had officially seen Joaquin Phoenix apply a smear of red lipstick or frolic on those steps in the Bronx, Joker was a controversial movie. Some would assume it was simply because director Todd Phillips (The Hangover, War Dogs) was endeavoring to make a villain origin story separate from the DC Comics universe. But the anxiety surrounding Joker was steeped in decidedly real-world concerns.

Of course, fear that the film would incite gun violence, glorify mental illness, or be a rallying cry for incels turned out to be unfounded. It went on to become the highest-grossing R-rated movie ever made and led the Oscar nominations with 11 nods, including Best Picture. Below, a roundup of the offscreen drama that plagued the movie before its release.

Behind-the-Scenes Battles

In August 2017, Warner Bros. announced that a Joker movie separate from the DC Comics universe was in the works. At the time, Martin Scorsese was reportedly circling as a producer, with recent Oscar winner Leonardo DiCaprio rumored to play the iconic baddie.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Jared Leto—who portrayed the role in 2016’s Suicide Squad—was unhappy with the project. He reportedly brought his concerns over multiple Joker-centered films to his agents at CAA, threatening to bring his business to a competing agency.

A similarity between Phoenix and his predecessor, Leto? Both reportedly displayed bizarre behavior on-set while playing the Joker. During a New York Times interview in September 2019, Phillips said that often in the middle of a scene, Phoenix would ”just walk away and walk out,” adding, “and the poor other actor thinks it’s them and it was never them—it was always him and he just wasn’t feeling it.”

A clip of Phoenix’s alleged behind-the-scenes behavior was later played during an October appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! The footage showed Phoenix in character telling cinematographer Lawrence Sher to “shut the f*ck up.” The day after the actor's appearance, his publicist told Entertainment Weekly the clip “was a joke outtake” and his reaction was staged.

In July 2018, Deadline reported that Scorsese would no longer produce Joker. He would later tell The Hollywood Reporter during a director’s roundtable (which also involved Phillips) that daring movies including Taxi Driver and King of Comedy "were my fights." He continued," Look, I went through it all. And it's a personal issue about the kind of picture I want to make at this point in my life. You've seen Silence? I am more comfortable there. This picture, Irishman, I am more comfortable there." As of January, Scorsese still hasn't seen the movie.

Concerns Over Gun Violence Arise

More severe controversy began to ramp up as Joker hit the festival circuit. In September, the film won the top prize at the Venice Film Festival. Days earlier, a review of the film for Time criticized Phoenix's Arthur Fleck as the film's hero. “In America, there’s a mass shooting or attempted act of violence by a guy like Arthur practically every other week,” Stephanie Zacharek wrote in her review. “And yet we’re supposed to feel some sympathy for Arthur, the troubled lamb; he just hasn’t had enough love…the movie lionizes and glamorizes Arthur even as it shakes its head, faux-sorrowfully, over his violent behavior.”

Telegraph critic Robbie Collin tweeted the same day, "Here is my opinion of Joker: I think it's a very good film and I'm worried someone's going to get killed."

Phillips told Vanity Fair, “We’re making a movie about a fictional character in a fictional world, ultimately, and your hope is that people take it for what it is. You can’t blame movies for a world that is so fucked up that anything can trigger it.” Phoenix walked out of an interview with the U.K.’s The Telegraph when asked if he was worried Joker “might perversely end up inspiring exactly the kind of people it’s about, with potentially tragic results.”

“Aurora is obviously a horrible, horrible situation, but even that is not something you blame on the movie,” Phillips explained to the Associated Press. “I just saw John Wick 3. He’s a white male, he kills 300 people, and everybody’s laughing and hooting and hollering. Why does this movie get held to different standards?”

Phoenix and Phillips each received backlash for separate interviews during the Joker press tour. Phoenix drew criticism for referring to his 52-pound weight-loss for the role as "empowering" during an IndieWire interview. Phillips infamously told Vanity Fair that comedies "don't work anymore" in "this woke culture." (His comments were criticized by Joker cast member Marc Maron and directors Lulu Wang and Taika Waititi.)

Theater Chains and Police Departments Take Action

On September 24, five family members and friends of the 12 people killed during the Aurora, Colorado movie theater shooting during The Dark Knight Rises penned a letter to Warner Bros. chief executive Ann Sarnoff. It read, in part: "We are calling on you to be a part of the growing chorus of corporate leaders who understand that they have a social responsibility to keep us all safe." It urged the studio to not make campaign contributions to political candidates who accept money from the NRA, to lobby for gun reform, and to donate to gun-victim charities and gun-violence intervention programs.

The studio, which donated $2 million to victims and survivors of the Aurora massacre, released this statement:

Theater chain Cinemark and Warner Bros. announced later that Joker would not be screened at the Century Aurora theater (formerly the Century 16, where the massacre took place) or the Century XD. Theater chain AMC issued a statement that forbade audience members from wearing masks or face paint to screenings of the film. “AMC does not permit weapons or items that would make other guests uncomfortable or detract from the movie experience,” it read. Landmark Theaters reiterated its ban on masks and toy guns ahead of the film's release.

Larger organizations took action as the movie's October 4 release date neared. The Los Angeles Police Department issued a statement clarifying that while there were "no credible threats" connected to the film's Hollywood premiere, “the Department will maintain high visibility around movie theaters when it opens.”

The New York Police Department also took additional security measures for the film. Deadline reported that "a significant undercover detachment" would be deployed in addition to visible police coverage outside of screenings for the movie.

ABC News reported that the FBI would coordinate with other law enforcement branches to squash violence related to the film's release. The article also details a reported new subset to arise from the film's promotion called “clowncels.” “While many Incels do not engage in violence, some within the community encourage or commit violent acts as retribution for perceived societal wrongdoing against them,” the bulletin said, per ABC. “Some Incel attackers have claimed inspiration from previous mass shooters.” The U.S. Military even sent an email to service members warning "potential risk" surrounding the film.

In reaction to media concern, Warner Bros. didn't permit red carpet interviews for either the New York or Los Angeles premieres of the film.

The Joker's Release

The film opened on October 4, with Deadline reporting it would make $155 million globally. In spite of (or perhaps because of) the controversies, the movie amassed $80 million at the box office in its first three days, besting Venom ($80.25 million) as the top October movie of all time. In November, it became the first R-rated film to make $1 billion at the box office, and The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that Phillips is in talks to helm more dark DC origin stories. January brought 11 Oscar nominations, leading the field of nominees.

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