![]() ![]() In the “Joker” screenplay written by Phillips and Scott Silver, the protagonist is Arthur Fleck, a troubled clown-for-hire in rundown, uncaring Gotham City. In particular, Phillips was fascinated with the Joker, who had been so memorably played by Jack Nicholson ( in Tim Burton’s “Batman”) and by Heath Ledger ( in Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight”).Īs Phillips saw it, there was still room to tell a new story about this villain, closer in spirit to grimy urban narratives he admired, like “Taxi Driver,” “Death Wish” and “The King of Comedy.” “It’s just another interpretation, like people do interpretations of Macbeth,” he explained. What Phillips proposed to the studio was a series of smaller, stand-alone movies that would closely examine the DC characters without conflicting with previous films. “You can’t beat Marvel - it’s a giant behemoth,” he said. ![]() had been having only intermittent success with its DC superhero movies - “Wonder Woman,” yes, “Suicide Squad,” no - but Phillips saw a potential solution to everyone’s problems. He wondered how he could possibly compete. At the premiere of his 2016 crime caper, “War Dogs,” Phillips found himself anticipating its tepid reception while gazing at a billboard for a Marvel superhero juggernaut. LET’S SET ASIDE PHOENIX for the moment and return to Phillips, who is best known for directing the lucrative “Hangover” comedies. “I’m not going to talk about it.” (He did eventually talk about it.) “It’s so stupid to talk about,” he grumbled. Nor was he in any hurry to explain his process for figuring out his “Joker” character before filming began. “It sucks - this is why interviews are the worst,” he said despairingly, adding that he was tempted to make up a story “just to sound exciting.” I’d have to be sent home.”īut some of that lightness evaporated as soon as I asked how he’d been approached about the film and he replied that he could not remember. When I noted how nimble he looked in some of his dancing scenes in “Joker,” he swatted away the compliment, saying, “I would get injured just from doing a light jog down the street. Phoenix is 44, with hair that is a mixture of brown, copper and gray strands, and he spoke with an unexpected gentleness, like Commodus, the wicked emperor he played in “Gladiator.” (We know how it turned out for Commodus.) ![]()
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