Earlier this year, as he put the finishing touches on his new film, director Todd Phillips probably didn’t expect he’d have to answer such heavy questions regarding the political landscape, gun violence, and society, in general. However, when talking about “Joker,” these issues seem to be the only thing that people want to focus on. And according to the filmmaker, during the production of “Joker,” this sort of controversy was the furthest thing from his mind.
Speaking to The Wrap, Phillips talked about how his film has been the subject of intense debate, with Aurora shooting victims’ families and the US military dragged into the discussion. For the director, when he was creating the film, all he thought about was how he was sneaking a “real movie” into a studio system obsessed with superhero films.
“We didn’t make the movie to push buttons,” Phillips said. “I literally described to Joaquin [Phoenix] 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 fucking “Joker.”’ That’s what it was.”
But now that he finds himself in the middle of one of the most controversial films of the year, Phillips says he’s surprised, specifically by how the discussion seems to be so contentious.
“I’m surprised… Isn’t it good to have these discussions? Isn’t it good to have these discussions about these movies, about violence? Why is that a bad thing if the movie does lead to a discourse about it?” he asked.
Phillips added, “I think it’s because outrage is a commodity, I think it’s something that has been a commodity for a while. What’s outstanding to me in this discourse in this movie is how easily the far left can sound like the far right when it suits their agenda. It’s really been eye-opening for me.”
While there are some filmmakers that would retreat in the face of criticism and controversy, it appears that Phillips is not going to stand down and will continue to defend his film, as you might expect. And in doing so, it seems as if the discussion surrounding these issues and “Joker” isn’t going away any time soon.
“Joker” arrives in theaters on October 4.