One of the most polarizing films of the last few years, at least on social media, Todd Phillips’ “Joker” movie was released two years ago today. Starring Joaquin Phoenix as the Arthur Fleck / Joker character, a mentally ill man experiencing the worst few weeks of his life until he’s pushed over the edge of sanity, the movie was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and ultimately won two prizes including a Best Actor Oscar for Phoenix. To top that all off, the R-Rated movie grossed $1.074 billion, becoming the highest-grossing R-Rated movie of all time worldwide in the process.
Due to all its wild success, talk of a sequel popped up, both Phillips and Phoenix agreeing there was potentially more to explore with the character (reports of an officially greenlit film were somewhat walked back by arguing trades). Very recently, the sequel popped up again in the online rumor mill, supposedly moving forward once again. Well, if that’s true, Joaquin Phoenix doesn’t know anything about that.
This week, the Playlist spoke to Phoenix for his outstanding and awards-worthy performance in Mike Mills’ terrific new drama “Cmon Cmon,” releasing November 19 via A24 and also playing this week at the New York Film Festival.
Phoenix, who has been shooting Ari Aster’s “Disappointment Blvd” and was sporting a funny shaved up-top hairdo to play the part, wasn’t evasive open discussing the new film. But when asked point-blank whether the recent “Joker 2” rumors were true, just shrugged. “I dunno.”
Asked if there was any movement on the film to his knowledge or whether they’d ever make a sequel, Phoenix seemed to be very open to a sequel still — as he was at the time of the film’s original release—but appeared to be in the dark on any updates or whether the sequel will actually come to pass. “I mean, I dunno. From when we were shooting, we started to —you know, uhh, this is an interesting guy. There are some things we could do with this guy and could [explore] further. But as to whether we actually will? I don’t know.”
I tried to suggest that Phoenix even being open to a Joke sequel — considering how reticent he was to take the role initially and did a song and dance with Todd Philips for almost a year before he finally agreed to the part— was rather huge and indicative of how much he enjoyed the original. “Really, what do you mean?” he asked.
That he was open to this kind of thing (you know, a supervillain movie, as that’s what a sequel would be: no more origin story). “About what?” Well, that you’ve been known to be somewhat reticent to appear in these kinds of things, I countered. “What kind of thing? Interesting character, interesting movie?” he asked with a smile. And with that, we parted ways, but as of right now, Phoenix seems to have no knowledge about what’s happening with any potential “Joker” sequel, unless his poker face is that good.
“Cmon Cmon” is currently playing at the New York Film Festival and opens theatrically on November 19. It’s personally one of my favorite films of the year, and you’ll be hearing more from this interview, and one with director Mike Mills, soon.
![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://theplaylist.net/joaquin-phoenix-still-open-to-more-joker-hasnt-heard-updates-sequel-20211005/&media=https://cdn.theplaylist.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/14200321/51870-JOKER_-_Actor_Joaquin_Phoenix__4___Credit_-_Nico_Tavernise_.jpg&description=We spoke to Joaquin Phoenix this week and asked him about a "Joker" sequel. He's either got a great poker face or is totally in the dark.){kind=link}