Director Todd Phillips is pushing back on recent criticism that his upcoming film “Joker,” starring Joaquin Phoenix, might promote real-world violence. He’s been quite active in holding interviews with several news outlets responding back to the critisicm claiming that Joker cannot be linked to real-world violence.
During an interview with the AP Entertainment, Phillips was asked his thoughts regarding the fear some people have going into Joker’s wide release.
Writer-director Todd Phillips says it isn't fair to link his #JokerMovie to real-world violence: "It's a fictional character in a fictional world that's been around for 80 years." pic.twitter.com/NcT4d9fjOQ
— AP Entertainment (@APEntertainment) September 24, 2019
“I think that Aurora is obviously a horrible, horrible situation,” Phillips said. “But even that is not something you blame on the movie. And quite frankly if you do your own research about Aurora, that gentleman wasn’t even going in as Joker, that was misreported. His hair was dyed red, he was having, obviously, a mental breakdown, and there’s something horrifying about it. But it wasn’t related to it, outside of the fact that it happened at a movie theater. But this is not the thing that the movie is trying to represent. The movie still takes place in a fictional world. It can have real world implications, opinions. But it’s a fictional character in a fictional world that’s been around for 80 years.”
The director refers to reports and rumors that the perpetrator of the Aurora shooting committed the act in-character as the Joker. These claims were later debunked by George Brauchler, the prosecutor on the case. “It is not true [and] ridiculous,” Brauchler said, describing the reports as “completely unfounded.” He added, “It had nothing to do that we can find with Batman.”
Phillips also addressed what he feels is a double standard regarding perception of films that portray graphic violence. “The one that bugs me more is — in toxic, white male thing — when you go, ‘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? It honestly doesn’t make sense to me.+”
Earlier Todd and star Joaquin Phoenix held an interview with IGN in which the two defend “Joker” against criticisms it will encourage violence. Phoenix walked out of an interview with The Telegraph when asked a question about the topic, but he was fully prepared to talk about the relationship between “Joker” and violence during his discussion with IGN’s Jim Vejvoda.
“Well, I think that, for most of us, you’re able to tell the difference between right and wrong,” Phoenix said. “And those that aren’t are capable of interpreting anything in the way that they may want to. People misinterpret lyrics from songs. They misinterpret passages from books. So I don’t think it’s the responsibility of a filmmaker to teach the audience morality or the difference between right or wrong. I mean, to me, I think that that’s obvious.”
Phillips said that “Joker” makes “statements about a lack of love, childhood trauma, and lack of compassion in the world.” The director, who also co-wrote the “Joker” script with Scott Silver, continued, “I think people can handle that message. It’s so, to me, bizarre when people say, ‘Oh, well I could handle it. But imagine if you can’t.’ It’s making judgments for other people and I don’t even want to bring up the movies in the past that they’ve said this about because it’s shocking and embarrassing when you go, oh my God, ‘Do the Right Thing,’ they said that about [that movie, too].”
Also, last Friday, Todd also spoke to TheWrap:
“We didn’t make the movie to push buttons,” Phillips told TheWrap’s Sharon Waxman during the interview last Friday when discussing the filmmaking process. “I literally described to Joaquin at one point in those three months as like, ‘Look at this as a way to sneak a real movie in the studio system under the guise of a comic book film’. It wasn’t, ‘We want to glorify this behavior.’ It was literally like ‘Let’s make a real movie with a real budget and we’ll call it f–ing Joker’. That’s what it was. “
Also present was Joaquin:
Phoenix said that people suffering from “emotional disturbance” can find “fuel” anywhere that makes them act violent, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be asking important questions or discussing topics that might provoke. “The truth is you don’t know what is going to be the fuel for somebody,” the actor said. “And it might very well be your question. It might be this moment, right? But you can’t function in life saying, ‘Well, I can’t ask that question for the small chance that somebody might be affected by [it].’ I wouldn’t ask you to do that.”
“It’s uncomfortable. It’s uncomfortable for all of us,” Phoenix continued. “I think we all are aware of these issues and we’re concerned, and I think that’s why we talk about it. I don’t think that we can be afraid to talk about it.”
Directed by Todd Phillips, Joker stars Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Bill Camp, Frances Conroy, Brett Cullen, Glenn Fleshler, Douglas Hodge, Marc Maron, Josh Pais and Shea Whigham. The film arrives in theaters Oct. 4.
Joker will not be screened at the theater where the 2012 Aurora shooting incident took place. And as a precautionary measure, the United States military has advised servicemen to be vigilant during showings of the film.
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