Joker (film) Trivia

Trivia about Joker.

Joaquin Phoenix called perfecting the Joker's laugh the toughest part of playing the character.
Joaquin Phoenix based his laugh on "videos of people suffering from pathological laughter." He also sought to portray a character with which audiences could not identify. Pathological laughter is a real-life disorder which causes the patient to suffer from uncontrollable laughter attacks in response to tense or stressful situations. Although the disorder isn't usual, these attacks can stop the normal flux of oxygen to the brain or lungs, causing hypoxia or even asphyxia in the patient.
The film is the first R-rated movie in history to make $1 billion worldwide.
In a recent interview with SFX magazine, Joaquin Phoenix acknowledged that while the violence in "Joker" is "a little more visceral and raw" than films such as the Avengers series, he "didn't have any hesitation about it." "You always want it to feel real, and you want the little violence that we have to have an impact," he said. "What happens in a lot of movies is that you get numb to it, you're killing 40,000 people, you don't feel it. While being a fictional story in a fictional world, you always want it to feel real. Everything that happens in this movie as far as violence goes, you feel it."
Joaquin Phoenix said about the 52 lb weight loss: "Once you reach the target weight, everything changes. Like so much of what's difficult is waking up every day and being obsessed over like 0.3 pounds. Right? And you really develop like a disorder. I mean, it's wild. But I think the interesting thing for me is what I had expected and anticipated with the weight loss was these feelings of dissatisfaction, hunger, a certain kind of vulnerability and a weakness. But what I didn't anticipate was this feeling of kind of fluidity that I felt physically. I felt like I could move my body in ways that I hadn't been able to before. And I think that really lent itself to some of the physical movement that started to emerge as an important part of the character."
Speaking about the villain's iconic laugh, Joaquin Phoenix called it "Something that's almost painful. I think for Joker it's a part of him that wants to emerge. I think we all kind of assume what a Joker laugh is and it felt like a new, fresh way of looking at it. I didn't think that I could do it", he added. "I kind of practiced alone but I asked Todd to come over to audition my laugh. I felt like I had to be able to do it on the spot and in front of somebody else. It was really uncomfortable. It took me a long time".
Todd Phillips described Joaquin Phoenix's take on Arthur as, "a guy who is searching for identity who mistakenly becomes a symbol. His goal genuinely is to make people laugh and bring joy to the world."
According to Todd Phillips on New York Times, Joaquin Phoenix "lost his composure on the set, sometimes to the bafflement of his co-stars." "In the middle of the scene, he'll just walk away and walk out," Phillips said. "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." Phoenix might have walked off set, but he always returned after taking a breather. Phillips remembered Phoenix reassuring him after an especially tense moment, "We'll take a walk and we'll come back and we'll do it." One person Phoenix never walked out on was Robert De Niro, De Niro told The Times that Phoenix was a "consummate professional" when they were on set together. "Joaquin was very intense in what he was doing, as it should be, as he should be," De Niro said. "There's nothing to talk about, personally, on the side, 'Let's have coffee.' Let's just do the stuff."
Joaquin Phoenix talked about how his conception of Joker changed during production and what interested him in the character. "Throughout the course of shooting it felt like every day we were discovering new parts of his personality, up until the very last day," said Phoenix. "It was his struggle to find happiness and to feel connected and to feel warmth and love and that's the part of the character I was interested in. He was so many different things to me. Who he was in the first few weeks of shooting was completely different than who he was in the end. He was constantly evolving. I've never had an experience like this. The more unpredictable and looser we left it, the more exciting it was."
The joke "When I was a little boy and told people I was going to be comedian, everyone laughed at me. Well no one's laughing now" is a paraphrase of the joke written by much loved late British comedian, actor and music hall (vaudeville) performer Bob Monkhouse's "People used to laugh at me when I said I wanted to be a comedian. Well they're not laughing now." Interestingly, Bob Monkhouse famously had hundreds of handwritten books of jokes that he had written over his long career in much the same vein as Arthur's joke book.
Joaquin Phoenix was cagey during interviews at the Venice Film Festival when asked about siding with Arthur. Phoenix told press that any questions they might have about "Joker" will be left up to the audience to decide. "The great joy of the film for the audience is that they get to decide for themselves [what to think about Arthur's transformation]," Phoenix said. "That's what I was attracted to. In most movies, certainly in genre movies where there is a hero and the villain, the motivations of the character are clear. What I like about this is that I was never certain what was motivating him. I have my own opinion. I think I know what it is for me. But I wouldn't want to impose on anyone who hasn't seen the movie."
Joaquin Phoenix revealed that Ray Bolger heavily influenced the Joker's quirky dance moves in the movie. "There was a particular song called 'The Old Soft Shoe' that he performed and I saw a video of it and there's this odd arrogance almost to his movements and, really, I completely just stole it from him," the star explains. "He does this thing of turning his chin up. This choreographer, Michael Arnold, showed me that and tons of videos and I zeroed in on that one. 'That was Joker, right?' There's an arrogance to him, really. That was probably the greatest influence. But also disco."
Todd Phillips won the Venice film festival's prize, the Golden Lion, for Best Film. During his acceptance speech, Phillips thanked "Warner Bros. and DC for stepping out of their comfort zone and taking such a bold swing on me and this movie," according to The Hollywood Reporter. Phillips also thanked Joaquin Phoenix, who joined him on stage. "There is no movie without Joaquin Phoenix. Joaquin is the fiercest and brightest and most open-minded lion I know. Thank you for trusting me with your insane talent," said Phillips.
The filmmakers cite Alan Moore's comic "The Killing Joke", which tells the Joker's origin and descent into insanity, and the Martin Scorsese films Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), and The King of Comedy (1982) as an influence on the film.
The song heard in the teaser trailer is "Smile", its melody composed as an instrumental theme by Sir Charles Chaplin for his film Modern Times (1936). Lyrics were added 18 years later by John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons. The Chaplin film is being viewed by a life audience in the teaser trailer.
Arthur Fleck performs stand up at 'Pogo's Comedy Club' in Gotham. Pogo the Clown was the stage name of real life professional clown and serial killer John Wayne Gacy.
In September 2019, director and co-writer Todd Phillips said he wants comic book movie fans to know that there is no chance of Joaquin Phoenix's villain and Robert Pattinson's Batman ever crossing over on the big screen. He added that doesn't mean Pattinson won't ever possibly face off against Joker, it just won't be his version.
When asked about violence in the R-rated film, Todd Phillips said, "Violence in the movie was always meant to be a slow burn. People assume and think it's going to be a really violent movie; it affects you differently. You could watch something like John Wick 3 and there's a much higher amount of violence. We tried to paint it with as realistic a brush as possible so that when it comes it feels like a punch in the stomach. But it's all a balancing act of tone." And when asked about tone, "I think movies are oftentimes mirrors of society, but never molders. We wrote it in 2017 so inevitably certain themes find their way in." When he continued, "It's not a political film" there was laughter in the press room, and he added "for some I think it depends the lens which you view it through."
Costing $55 million, this is the least expensive film to gross over $1 billion worldwide.
In an interview in Vanity Fair, leading neurocriminologist Adrian Raine said he was stunned by how authentically the film depicted the psychology of the criminal mind. "For 42 years, I've studied the cause of crime and violence. And while watching this film, I thought - WOW, what a revelation this was. It is a great educational tool about the making of the murderer," he said. In the article, Raine went on to diagnose the character of Arthur Fleck with schizotypal personality disorder. "Those who suffer from it have bizarre beliefs, odd behavior, odd appearance, odd speech, no close friends other than family members, and emotional-affect issues - either being completely shut down or way over the top," Raine said. He now uses the film as part of a course he teaches at the University of Pennsylvania.
In terms of prep, the first part for Joaquin Phoenix was physical: "You really start to go mad when you start to lose that much weight in that amount of time." He also read about political assassins and would-be assassins, but was careful not to overly define Arthur. "I wanted the freedom to create something that wasn't identifiable. I didn't want a psychologist to be able to identify the kind of person he was," he explained. A key element of finding the character came during rehearsal when Todd Phillips gave Phoenix a journal which acts as a prop in the film. Said Phoenix, "That was really helpful but I wasn't sure how to start. It became a really important part of discovery for me at that time."
Zazie Beetz was asked by Variety at TIFF about whether or not the movie sympathizes with Joaquin Phoenix's Arthur Fleck, a struggling stand-up comedian and clown for hire whose psychological unraveling leads him to become the notorious Batman villain. Beetz doesn't deny that "Joker" has a sympathetic viewpoint, but she argued that it's less towards Arthur/Joker and more towards Arthur's predicament on a broader scale. "It's kind of an empathy toward isolation," Beetz said, "and an empathy towards what is our duty as a society to address people who slip through the cracks in a way. There is a lot of culture of that right now. So is it empathy for that or just an observation on personalities who struggle?"
Originally, Warner Bros. wanted Martin Scorsese to make this film with Leonardo DiCaprio as Arthur and Robert De Niro to play Murray Franklin. However in the end this proved to be logistically impossible as DiCaprio had already signed on to do Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019) for Quentin Tarantino which was due to start filming at the same time. Scorsese had also committed himself to another project, The Irishman (2019), which also starred De Niro. However, De Niro himself had just finished filming his scenes for that film by the time this film went into production so was able to commit himself to do this film too.
While being honored for his acting career and for this film at the Venice Film Festival, Joaquin Phoenix stated in his speech that he owes his career to his late brother and fellow actor, River Phoenix. He stated that his brother came home one day from work with a copy of the film, Raging Bull (1980), which starred Robert De Niro, who eventually became his co-star in this film. Joaquin goes on to state that he was in his teens at the time and he had quit acting. River had him watch the film that evening and the next day. He stated that River encouraged him to not give up on acting.
Fans believed that Joaquin Phoenix was, in fact, following extreme medical advice and eating just an apple a day in order to keep losing the weight, but he says that's not true. "It wasn't an apple a day," he said. "No, you've also got lettuce and steamed green beans." Such a vast reduction in his daily calorie intake meant that Phoenix was able to drop 28kg, all the while resisting temptation in the form of Joker director Todd Phillips. "Todd did have these fucking pretzels that I love," he said. "And he'd just have bags of them in his office! And that was difficult."
Joaquin Phoenix unexpectedly shedded a tear during the first take when his character looked in the mirror, and the director Todd Phillips kept it in. Phillips said that he played the film's score for Joaquin Phoenix because he "wanted the music to affect and infect the set in a way." During the first take as the score was playing, Philipps revealed that "as Joaquin is struggling with Arthur's smile, this little tear appears, and we just had the scene and we moved on."
The premiere of the film at the Venice Film Festival drew an eight-minute standing ovation.
Arthur takes a moment to enjoy a Sir Charles Chaplin film. The Joker, in most continuities, is a fan of classic comedians, with Chaplin being one of his favorites.
Joaquin Phoenix had been interested in a low-budget "character study" of a comic book character, and said the film "feels unique; it is its own world in some ways, and maybe [...] It might as well be the thing that scares you the most." Phoenix originally did not think the film should be about the Joker, but couldn't think of another good character, so he abandoned the idea. It wasn't until Todd Phillips started putting together this movie that he became interested again.
For the Joker's laugh, Todd Phillips broke down into three types: "the affliction laugh, the one of the guys laugh and the authentic joy laugh", the director described it to Joaquin Phoenix as "something that is almost painful, part of him that's trying to emerge." That was "a really interesting way of looking at this laugh. We all assume what a Joker laugh is. This was new and exciting."
ain August 2018, Hildur Guðnadóttir was hired to compose the film's score. Guðnadóttir began writing music after reading the script and met with Todd Phillips, who "had a lot of strong ideas" about how he thought the score should sound. She worked on the Joker score alongside the score for the drama miniseries Chernobyl (2019); Guðnadóttir said switching between the two was challenging because the scores were so different. She won a Grammy, Emmy, and Oscar for her work on both.
After winning the Best Actor Oscar for his role in this film, Joaquin Phoenix's Oscar acceptance speech mentioned treating people right and animal rights. He ended his speech in tears with a musical lyric written by his late brother, River Phoenix, which goes, "Run to the rescue with love, and peace will follow."
Joaquin Phoenix said he took the role of the Joker "because I wasn't sure how I felt about him. When I have all the answers, I get bored. This one really kept me guessing."
The first theatrical DC Comics film to be rated R since Watchmen, released ten years earlier.
Speaking at the Venice Film Festival where the film premiered, Joaquin Phoenix stated that he wanted his version of the Joker to be extremely complex, so he did extensive research on various personality disorders so that even psychiatrists would not be able to identify what his character was. He also added that even the filmmaker and Phoenix himself were in the process of discovering new aspects of the character and his personality up until the very last day of the shooting.
With his nomination for this film, Todd Phillips is the first director ever to receive a Best Director nomination at the Academy Awards for a comic book film.
Warner Bros. were initially hesitant in making this film as it was thought to be too dark and violent. They were concerned that it may tarnish Joker for kids who annually buy millions of toys and related merchandise. However, a year later and after some convincing from Todd Phillips, they finally agreed to go ahead with this project. A violent R-rated DC comic book film adaptation is nothing new to Warner Bros. who spent a considerable amount on V for Vendetta and Watchmen with the latter costing more than $130m, more than double that of the Joker.
Taking a page from Sergio Leone, writer-director Todd Phillips asked composer Hildur Guðnadóttir to write the score before filming, something unusual. This was in order to use the music to set the mood on set while shooting the scenes.
The two films showing at the theater the Wayne family is shown exiting near the end are Blow Out (1981) and Zorro: The Gay Blade (1981). Both are real movies that were released on back-to-back weekends in July 1981. "Zorro," of course, is traditionally the movie that the Wayne family is supposed to have seen on the fateful night of Batman's origin story.
Joaquin Phoenix was considered to play Batman in Darren Aronofsky's canceled Batman: Year One movie and Nite Owl in Paul Greengrass' canceled Watchmen movie in the 2000s.
Todd Phillips spoke of the iconic staircase "We thought it would be a pretty iconic moment for the movie, I didn't know the stairs would turn into sort of New York's version of the Rocky stairs," he said with a laugh.
Early footage shows Arthur walking by a sign for Amusement Mile, Gotham City's version of Coney Island, which features prominently in the original Killing Joke graphic novel. Joker co-creator Bill Finger was partly inspired by a sign for Steeplechase Park in the real Coney Island which featured a grotesque grinning face.
Co-writer and director Todd Phillips doesn't see Joker as that big of a departure from comedy. "It's different tonally than a lot of my work, but, ultimately, it's storytelling. I was influenced by the movies I grew up on, character studies of the 70s, so I thought why can't you do genre film like that in the comic book world, a deep dive on a character like Joker. I thought with a great actor we could really do something special."
In the scene where Arthur is in the audience of a comedy club, the performing comedian is Gary Gulman, who is a stand-up comic. The bit he performs about role-playing with his girlfriend can be heard on Gulman's 2012 album "No Can Defend."
Director Todd Phillips stood to earn up to $100 million from this film due to his participation deal as the movie has, as of November 2019, reached a worldwide box office of over $1 billion. In 2020, after some estimation with Warner Bros., Phillips ultimately earned $70 million.
The film is Joaquin Phoenix's fourth Oscar nomination for acting (and his first-ever win).
Following the disappointing critical and financial performance of Justice League, in January 2018 Walter Hamada replaced Jon Berg as the head of DC-based film production at Warner Bros. Hamada sorted through the various DC films in development, canceling some while advancing work on others. This film was expected to begin filming in late 2018 with a small budget. By June, Robert De Niro was under consideration for a supporting role in the film. The deal with Joaquin Phoenix was finalized in July 2018, after four months of persuasion from Todd Phillips. Immediately afterward, Warner Bros. officially green-lit the film, titled it "Joker," and gave it an October 4, 2019, release date. Warner Bros. described the film as "an exploration of a man disregarded by society [that] is not only a gritty character study, but also a broader cautionary tale".
According to Todd Phillips about writing the script: "It was a yearlong process from when we finished the script just to get the new people on board with this vision, because I pitched it to an entirely different team than made it. There were emails about: 'You realize we sell Joker pajamas at Target.' There were a zillion hurdles, and you just sort of had to navigate those one at a time. At the time, I would curse them in my head every day. But then I have to put it in perspective and go, 'They're pretty bold that they did this.'
Todd Phillips actually believes his movie is about kindness and empathy. The filmmaker recently explained this distinction, saying: "If I had to drill down on one overarching theme for me, it's about the power of kindness and a lot of people miss that. I think if you don't see that you either don't have a soul or you're being reductive to make up for your own struggles in that area. But, really, to me, that's where it started from and there are other things in the movie like lack of love, the lack of empathy in society, and childhood trauma, but the power of kindness really runs through this film."
By September 2017, Warner Brothers were considering casting Leonardo DiCaprio as the Joker, hoping to use his frequent collaborator Martin Scorsese's involvement to lure him, but by February 2018, Joaquin Phoenix was Todd Phillips' top choice for the role. Padraig Cotter of Screen Rant noted that since the film was a standalone story, Phoenix would not have to appear in sequels as he would have in the DC offering. Phoenix said when he learned of the film, he became excited because it was the kind of film he was looking to make, describing it as unique and stating it did not feel like a typical "studio movie". However, it took Phoenix some time to commit to the role, as it intimidated him and he said "oftentimes, in these movies, we have these simplified, reductive archetypes, and that allows for the audience to be distant from the character, just like we would do in real life, where it's easy to label somebody as evil, and therefore say, 'Well, I'm not that.'"
Joaquin Phoenix's Joker makeup took 15 to 20 minutes to apply. A discarded version of the scene where Arthur does his bathroom dance had him washing off his makeup before leaving. There were approximately 16 takes of the scene, and makeup artist Nicki Ledermann had to reapply it each time in order to keep it consistent.
Joaquin Phoenix is now the second actor to win an Academy Award for playing The Joker. The previous winner of the award for the character was that of Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight (2008). This is the second time ever when two different actors won an Oscar for playing the same character in different films. The first time was when Marlon Brando won an Oscar for playing Vito Corleone in The Godfather (1972), and two years later Robert De Niro also won an Oscar for playing the same character in The Godfather Part II (1974).
The film has become the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time, unadjusted for inflation, having overtaken Deadpool 2 (2018) (which grossed $785 million) within its first month of release and grossing over $1 billion (which, to reiterate, makes it the first R-rated movie in history to do so). It also overtook the unadjusted global gross of The Dark Knight, which had the most successful modern live-action incarnation of the character up to this point. Due to these high returns and its modest budget, some analysts have suggested that this film may be the most profitable movie based on comic books ever. This is remarkable especially due to the film not only being R-rated but also has never been released in the second-largest movie market in the world, China. It is also the highest-grossing film based on a DC Comics character in France.
Todd Phillips and Scott Silver wrote Joker throughout 2017, and the writing process took about a year. According to producer Emma Tillinger Koskoff, it took some time to get approval for the script from Warner Bros., partly because of concerns over the content. Similarly, Phillips commented that there were "a zillion hurdles" during the year-long writing process due to the visibility of the character. Phillips said that while the script's themes may reflect modern society, the film was not intended to be political.
A poster and a short clip of the Charlie Chaplin film 'Modern Times' can be seen at the protest. This film shares a similar theme to Joker where Chaplin's iconic Little Tramp character struggles to survive in the modern, industrialised world, much like Arthur.
In the German, Italian, French, Spanish, Russian and Hungarian version of the movie, all of Arthur's diary entries and his card explaining his illness are in the respective national languages. This is rather unusual for a live-action film since it required producing extra props, and subsequently shooting them.
Director Todd Phillips said that Joaquin Phoenix was the most "nimble" actor that he's ever worked with.
Director Todd Phillips spoke about Joaquin Phoenix acting style, stating, "You would come over to him and give him one line of direction, and it would literally change everything in a great way."
Joaquin Phoenix originally only signed on to do this one standalone film, as he did not want to be involved in a movie franchise. However such has the critical feedback it's popularity with audiences been, he has subsequently said (as of November 2019) he is not averse to the idea of considering doing a second film providing he is not expected to join the DCEU and any sequel has a similar feel and look like the first film.
Joaquin Phoenix named Tim Curry's performance in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) as one of his inspirations for his performance in this film.
On September 22, 2018, a scene depicting a violent protest took place in Brooklyn, although the station was modified to look like Bedford Park Blvd. In late September 2018, filming of robbery scenes took place at the First Central Savings Bank in Astoria, Queens. According to Zazie Beetz, Todd Phillips rewrote the entire script during production; because Joaquin Phoenix lost so much weight for the film, there would not be an opportunity for reshoots. She recalled: "we would go into Todd's trailer and write the scene for the night and then do it. During hair and makeup, we'd memorize those lines and then do them and then we'd reshoot that three weeks later."
An early reference for Todd Phillips and co-screenwriter Scott Silver was the silent film The Man Who Laughs (1928). They felt they had "a lot of freedom because Joker never really had an origin story in the comics. We thought it was really liberating because there really were no rules or boundaries, Scott and I just pushed each other every day to come up with something totally insane."
Todd Phillips said in interview that first cut of the film was 155 minutes long, and how there were multiple different cuts of it. There are several promotional stills which show deleted scenes, and there are some more which are glimpsed in all the trailers.
When Arthur is dancing in the living room with the gun, Joaquin Phoenix improvises the scene and ad-libbed the line, "Hey Arthur, you're a really good dancer".
After viewing the film, actor Vincent D'Onofrio praised Joaquin Phoenix's performance. D'Onofrio tweeted, "This young man deserves recognition for this performance." Actress Jessica Chastain agreed with D'Onofrio, tweeting, "I agree. It's one of the greatest pieces of acting that I've ever seen. Mouth was dropped open in the theatre as it played. It left me shook."
While promoting the film, Joaquin Phoenix took the time to pay tribute to late actor and close friend, Heath Ledger. Ledger had previously portrayed the character of The Joker in The Dark Knight.
When preparing for the role, Joaquin Phoenix studied the movements of iconic silent film stars like Buster Keaton and Ray Bolger.
Co-writer/director Todd Phillips said that Joaquin Phoenix's lighter side came through behind the scenes between takes. "To inhabit the character of Arthur slash Joker in the movie, he had to go to some dark places," the filmmaker said. "And really on this film - we would say 'Cut!' and we'd be off to the side joking around or laughing about something and then we'd get back into it. He's really intense as an actor, but as a guy on set he's actually kind of light."
The "super-rats" segment on Murray Franklin's show and in the news references Ratcatcher, an obscure D-list villain who could mind control rats. The character is set to appear in James Gunn's The Suicide Squad.
Alec Baldwin was in talks to play Thomas Wayne, but dropped out a day after being announced in the role, due to scheduling conflicts.
Director Todd Phillips stated that what he liked about Joaquin Phoenix was his style and his unpredictability which he felt fits into this character and he was just never locked in to one thing.
Director Todd Phillips revealed that he did the movie because he loves bad guys, because as he says, "It's fun to say, 'Why is he like that? What made him like that?' And that's ultimately, really what the goal of the movie is. It's not this gigantic statement on the world today, and there is stuff thematically in there, but really it's like, 'What makes somebody that way?' And with Joker, I just liked his sense of mayhem and chaos."
All of the clocks in the film show the time as 11:11. Fans came up with theories concerning Bible verses. When asked about this idea, director Todd Phillips stated, "It's a coincidence. No, I mean, I don't know. I think it's a coincidence."
The reason they edited the movie for so long, according to director Todd Phillips, "Because I think there's 18 trillion versions of this movie just based on the way he (Joaquin Phoenix) would do things so differently every time."
Joaquin Phoenix has won nearly every award he has been nominated for his role in this film, including Best Actor at the Academy Awards, Golden Globes, and Screen Actors Guild.
A week after the film's release, Joaquin Phoenix secretly attended a screening of the film at the Alamo Drafthouse movie theater in San Fernando Valley and surprised fans who finished viewing the film. Phoenix ended up answering questions about the film, posing with fans for photos, and shaking hands. He got a little stage fright when asked to do his tormented Joker laugh from the film.
It took Joaquin Phoenix a bit to find the version of the character he wanted to bring to the screen. That meant plenty of takes, especially early on, attempting to root out the core of the character, and ironically it really came to fruition with one scene that didn't even make it into the final cut of the movie. Phoenix was accepting Variety's Creative Impact in Directing Award during the Palm Springs Film Festival, and during his speech, he revealed what the scene was and how it really changed his take on the character. "He always encouraged me to fail, which I did a lot. A few weeks into shooting I think it became unbearable for him and we were shooting a scene, it was like the fourth take, and I said well that's about...I don't know what else I can do...that was all the ideas I have', and he said 'I think you should try another one'. I said 'okay', so I tried another one and basically just did some more bullshit, and he said 'I think you should try another one', and he wasn't specific because I think he knew that I had to find it on my own, and I just decided to stop all of my actory stuff and just to listen to the other actor and to just be aware of the space that I was in and we did this take and it felt really good, and he came out and said 'that was a good take'. I said 'yeah, it felt good to me'. He said 'what was that', and I said 'sincerity'. And he said 'well you should be sincere more often'" "It was a scene that was ultimately cut out of the movie but it ended up being kind of the most important scene in the movie because it helped me find sincerity," Phoenix said.
Sharp-eyed New York City lovers will recognize the Brooklyn Army Terminal's annex at Arkham State Hospital. The hospital is a recurring touchpoint for Arthur Fleck. Early conversations with his state-provided social worker indicate that he spent time in Arkham State Hospital for undisclosed misdeeds before the film began, and his mother's records there indicate that both members of the Fleck family have drifted in and out of the grim state-run facility.

Helpful•46 4 Before filming, director Todd Phillips said that Joker's laughter should be almost painful. Joaquin Phoenix practiced many different kinds of laughter and "played" them for the director at his own request. The end result is a catchy as well as disturbing laugh. Helpful•63 7 When Joaquin Phoenix performed his bathroom dance sequence, it was right after he first heard Hildur Guðnadóttir's score played to him by director Todd Phillips from his iPhone. In an interview with Guðnadóttir, she said that when she submitted the music for the scene, she was visualizing the Joker's physical reaction to the music. When she saw Phoenix dancing to it, her reaction was, "How did he know??". Helpful•38 3 This film was banned from airing in Indian television in 2020 for being "too violent" even after cutting out 58 scenes. Helpful•24 1 Film composer Hildur Guðnadóttir performed the cello soloist sections herself. Helpful•44 4 According to a profile by GQ, there was a point of contention between Joaquin Phoenix and Robert De Niro. While Phoenix doesn't like to rehearse or do table readings, it was reportedly a demand by the latter actor. What resulted was a small conflict at the very start of Joker's production. Phoenix uses his anxiety to fuel his film performances, which is why rehearsing and read-throughs are against his process; he wants total spontaneity. Phoenix's refusal to do a table reading inspired a strong reaction by De Niro, as he reportedly told Todd Phillips: "Tell him he's an actor and he's got to be there. I like to hear the whole movie and we're going to all get in a room and just read it." Meanwhile, Phoenix responded, "There's no fucking way I'm doing a read-through." In the end, the pair came to compromise and Phoenix attended a read-through at De Niro's production office. Phoenix is reportedly a huge fan of De Niro since Raging Bull (1980), courtesy of Joaquin's brother, River Phoenix, but struggled as he "mumbled" his way through Joker's table read. Phoenix said he felt sick and originally declined De Niro's offer for a private talk in his office. Thankfully, it ended on a positive note after De Niro kissed Phoenix on the cheek and reassured him, "It's going to be OK, bubbeleh." Helpful•44 4 Since the film's release, in late 2019, the character of Arthur Fleck/Joker became a symbol of protest in countries all over the world such as Lebanon, Chile, Iraq, and China for government corruption protests. In June and July 2020, the Arthur Fleck/Joker imagery emerged in the George Floyd protests. Helpful•31 2 When Joaquin Phoenix first stepped into the role of Arthur Fleck/Joker, he had to put all of the other actors who portrayed the character of The Joker out of his mind. This was for him to be less distracted, less doubtful of his own performance, and to make this performance unique. Helpful•23 1 Veteran Joker voiceover actor Mark Hamill expressed his utmost praise for the film on his Instagram page. Hamill writes, "The awesome Joaquin Phoenix, Todd Phillips, and Scott Silver brilliantly re-imagine the character as never seen before! 2 thumbs-up from that old school, comic book version...me." Helpful•52 6 The film is the third film to earn $1 billion worldwide without being released in China. The first two movies are Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) and The Dark Knight (2008), respectively. In late December 2021, Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) followed this film, becoming the fourth film. In late June 2022, Top Gun: Maverick (2022) became the fifth film. Helpful•22 1 Before release, the film was initially projected to earn around $50 to $80 million on its opening weekend. The numbers gradually grew as good word-of-mouth became evident despite mainstream media's attack on the film. Ultimately, the film made almost double its initial tracking numbers in its opening weekend by making $96 million. Helpful•22 1 Due to the film's success, director Todd Phillips will write and direct the sequel. Helpful•22 1 Joaquin Phoenix and Heath Ledger, both of whom portrayed the character of The Joker, were close friends in real life. Ledger portrayed The Joker in The Dark Knight (2008). And Phoenix portrays Arthur Fleck/Joker in this film. Helpful•14 0 Todd Phillips originally wanted to shoot the film on 70 mm film cameras partially because he prefers film stock. But Phillips had to abandon the idea due to the tight production budget. He ruled out standard RED digital cameras and 35mm film cameras, too, due to the number of close up shots planned, and to give the film an 'intimate', obtrusive feel. Phillips insistence on using large format cameras led cinematographer Lawrence Sher to investigate using Arri Alexa 65 digital cameras as a compromise and in the end, this is what was eventually used. Helpful•56 8 The second DC movie featuring the Joker to be R-rated after Batman: The Killing Joke (2016). Helpful•93 17 After the film grossed $1 billion worldwide, director Todd Phillips thanked the fans for supporting the film on his Instagram account. Phillips made a 20-second video of various clips from the film with quotes from fans on Twitter in the style of a movie ad with quotes from movie critics. Helpful•19 1 During pre-production, due to being very hesitant to produce the film, the film's budget was cut by Warner Bros. chairman Toby Emmerich in order to discourage director Todd Phillips. But Phillips was adamant in making the film, and Warner Bros. and Emmerich reluctantly allowed Phillips to proceed with production. Helpful•19 1 By the sixth week of its release, the film's $1.018 billion worldwide box office earnings had beaten The Dark Knight (2008)'s $1.008 billion worldwide box office record. However, this is not adjusting for inflation. Helpful•49 7 After viewing the film, actor Josh Brolin found the film powerful. Brolin stated, "To appreciate 'Joker', I believe you have to have either gone through something traumatic in your lifetime (and I believe most of us have) or understand somewhere in your psyche what true compassion is." Helpful•12 0 The film stayed on the top of the U.K.'s box office for 6 consecutive weeks which became the first film since Avatar (2009) to do so. Helpful•38 5 The film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, the most any film in the 2020 Oscars for the year. Helpful•23 2 In Arthur's home, there's a painting above the television, of "The Blue Boy" by Thomas Gainsborough which was also seen in the art museum of Batman (1989). Helpful•32 4 Frances McDormand turned down the Penny Fleck role. Helpful•189 47 Joaquin Phoenix disagreed about gravitating towards tormented characters, stating he had been "interested in the light of Arthur for lack of a better word. It wasn't just the torment, it was the joy, his struggle to find happiness and to feel connected. To have warmth and love. I don't think of a character as tormented." Ultimately, Phoenix said of Arthur/Joker, "He was so many different things to me at different times, the more unpredictable it was the more inspiring." Helpful•87 19 Joaquin Phoenix is the sixth person to receive an Oscar nomination for portraying a comic book character, after: Jackie Cooper - Skippy (1931) Al Pacino - Dick Tracy (1990) Paul Newman - Road to Perdition (2002) William Hurt - A History of Violence (2005) Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight (2008) Of these six, only Ledger and Phoenix have won. Helpful•26 3 A month after the film's release and days after the film officially made over $1 billion worldwide, there was a brief video of Joaquin Phoenix shooting a scene for the film that went viral. The video shows Phoenix, dressed as The Joker, beginning to dance down the stairs which is the now iconic dancing down the stairs scene. The video was filmed by an unknown person who lived in the Bronx. Helpful•42 7 Jackson C. Frank's soulful folk song, "My Name is Carnival", features in the soundtrack and is discussed in dialogue. Helpful•21 2 Before the film was released, there were heavy amounts of skepticism and ire from mainstream media which deemed the film supposedly "too dangerous" and would "incite violence". This controversy had gotten so bad, Warner Bros. banished most mainstream media outlets from attending the film's premiere to avoid any unwanted questions and incidents toward the cast and crew. Helpful•21 2 When Arthur is speaking with Hoyte in his office, there is a constant shot of a clown directly to the left of his shoulder. This is a shot emphasizing the duality. The proverbial devil on his shoulder as Arthur descends into madness from being belittled. Helpful•21 2 When the trailer for Cruella (2021) was released in February 2021, many people compared it to this film and its trailers. This is due to the similar tone and atmosphere. It was even suggested that the trailer made the origin story of Cruella de Vil seem more like an origin story for a Batman villain than a Disney villain. Comedian Matthew Highton combined the audio from the film's first trailer with the footage of the Cruella (2021) trailer and reactions to it supported the notion of the similarities between the two films. Helpful•16 1 Director Guillermo del Toro states that he's a huge fan of the film. Helpful•37 6 The iconic song chosen for the Joker dance downing the staircase is "Rock'N Roll Part 2", performed by Gary Glitter and belonging to the 1972 album "Glitter". The election of the song caused strong controversy after Glitter was discovered as sex offender in the late 90s, being arrested and incarcerated by child sexual abuse and child rape several times over the years. Helpful•14 1 While Warner Bros. gave Christopher Nolan full backing for his version of Joker in The Dark Knight (2008), Todd Phillips had a much different experience making this film. As Phillips recently revealed during an interview with filmmaker Michael Moore, Warner Bros.' former boss was a major hurdle: "When the regime changed on the Warner side, the regime also changed on the DC side," Phillips told Moore. "They put a guy in charge at DC, Walter Hamada, who had been running a small horror label at New Line. So he didn't have muscle to stop it, and I'm not saying he would have, but he didn't get it. And because On paper, it's crazy. [He] just stepped into this new job, and 'we just made Shazam! and Wonder Woman. We're doing okay; do we really want to mess with the formula?' And so I really understood his point. But in some ways, I had enough weight behind me at that point - not overrule it, because they could have easily said no...but we just kept our foot on the gas, and the squeaky wheel gets the grease as you say. We just made a thing of it for a long time. Truth be told, the budget was so small - and I say so small in relation to other comic book films, not small. We ultimately made the movie for $60 million, but at Warner Bros. or at DC, that's like an independent film to them. So we kept it so under the radar and so small that in some way, it felt like...not a can't-lose, but like, 'okay what could we really lose on this if it's a disaster and nobody wants to see it if it's boring?' So they let us go and do it." Helpful•31 6 Production moved to New Jersey afterward. Filming in Jersey City started on September 30 and shut down Newark Avenue, while filming in November (starting on November 9) shut down Kennedy Boulevard. Filming in Newark began on October 13 and lasted until October 16. Shortly before filming in Newark began, SAG-AFTRA received a complaint that extras were locked in subway cars for more than three hours during filming in Brooklyn, a break violation. However, the issue was quickly resolved after a representative visited the set. That month, Dante Pereira-Olson and Douglas Hodge joined the cast. Whigham said towards the end of October the film was in "the middle" of production, adding that it was an "intense" and "incredible" experience. By mid-November, filming had moved back to New York. Filming wrapped on December 3, 2018, with Todd Phillips posting a picture on his Instagram feed later in the month to commemorate the occasion. Helpful•57 16 Robert De Niro confirmed that his role was a nod to his earlier performance in the film, The King of Comedy (1982). De Niro states, "There's a connection, obviously, with the whole thing. But it's not as a direct connection as the character I'm playing being Rupert many years later as a host." Helpful•12 1 The first film based on a comic book to win the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Helpful•19 3 The film is the second comic book film to be nominated for the Best Picture Oscar. The first film is Black Panther (2018). Helpful•18 3 Much like Marvel's Punisher (Frank Castle), the Joker is canonically featured as having the billed heights of either 6'0" to 6'5" (depending on each writer's depiction). For this film, at 5'8", Joaquin Phoenix is the shortest actor to play the Joker in a DC film. The other actors' heights are as follows: Jack Nicholson - 5'10" Jared Leto - 5'11" Cameron Monaghan - 6' Heath Ledger - 6'1" Cesar Romero - 6'3" Helpful•23 5 This film marks the second time that the character of The Joker has another name besides "The Joker" moniker. In Batman (1989), The Joker's real name is Jack Napier. In this film, The Joker's real name is Arthur Fleck. This shows that the character has many possible identities due to his mysterious past from the comics. Helpful•45 14 Since the creation of the MPAA and the R rating in 1968, for 51 years, there were no films with this rating that earned $1 billion until this film. During that time, the MPAA had introduced the PG-13 rating in 1984 after films like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and Gremlins (1984) caused outrage among parents due to both films being rated PG while having gruesome imagery and dark elements, and the PG-13 rating was created in order to appease parents. Unlike the R rating, it took 14 years from its creation for a PG-13 rated film, which is Titanic (1997), to earn $1 billion. Helpful•14 2 Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider. Helpful•19 4 The film was released 30 years after Batman (1989), the second major theatrical film based on Batman-related properties, and the film released 53 years after the first major theatrical film based on Batman-related properties, Batman: The Movie (1966). All three films prominently feature the Joker. Helpful•10 1 The film's $96 million opening weekend has beaten It Chapter Two (2019)'s $92 million weekend debut for the best opening weekend for an R rated movie in 2019. Both films are also Warner Bros. films. Helpful•30 9 Costume designer Mark Bridges styled Arthur Fleck/Joker's wardrobe in polyester with an early 1980s color palette. Bridges states, "I imagined if he ever did laundry, everything went into the washer at the same time. We made a kind of a bad laundry feel to the clothing." He goes on to state, "It's those subtle choices you can make for a character that informs the audience who they are and how they live." Helpful•6 0 Due to the surprise and incredible success of this film, it's rumored that Joaquin Phoenix will be paid $50 million to return as Arthur Fleck/Joker in the two sequels. Helpful•6 0 In Reno, Nevada, a murder suspect, whose name was later revealed as Juan Carlos Hernandez, was arrested for robbery and murder at an annual Halloween event in 2019. While in custody, the perpetrator claimed that his name was the film's main character, Arthur Fleck. Reports stated that Hernandez was dressed as the film's version of The Joker at the annual Zombie Crawl when he committed the crime. Helpful•15 3 Due to the film's surprise success and after so much trepidation, Warner Bros. stated that they vowed to take more risks with R-rated film projects. Helpful•15 3 In some scenes where Arthur is shirtless, Joaquin Phoenix's tattoo, which is a perfect circle on his left bicep, was digitally removed. Helpful•15 3 Due to not having very much faith in the film, Warner Bros. enlisted two other production studios to co-produce the film, Bron Creative and Village Roadshow Pictures. After the film had unexpectedly earned over $1 billion worldwide, the profits were split between the three companies. Helpful•14 3 After the film's success, artist Joe Simko created a Garbage Pail Kid collection card in tribute to Joaquin Phoenix and his character, Arthur Fleck/Joker. The card depicts a Garbage Pail Kid as an Arthur Fleck/Joker caricature falling down on what is now commonly referred to as the Joker stairs in a wacky manner with makeup items scattered around. The card is named, "Walking Joaquin". Helpful•27 9 Sharon Washington's character is named Debra Kane as a tribute to Batman's co-creator Bob Kane. Helpful•66 30 The film's success had partially inspired directors Zack Snyder and James Gunn to create and direct their R-rated DC films, Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021) and The Suicide Squad (2021), respectively. Helpful•13 3 While shooting C'mon C'mon (2021), Joaquin Phoenix had to stop his younger co-stars from calling him "Joker". According to director Mike Mills, filming took place during the promotion of this film and there were numerous posters of Phoenix's face as Arthur Fleck/Joker plastered all over the media. Helpful•5 0 As of 2/8/22, out of the nine Academy Award nominations Bradley Cooper has received, this is the only one for a film where he does not appear as an actor. When the film received a nomination for Best Picture, he was one of three producers nominated. Helpful•5 0 The multi-colored curtains behind De Niro when he does his stand-up stage act are almost identical to the ones on Johnny Carson's TV show. Helpful•5 0 Arthur Fleck, the main character, played by Joaquin Phoenix repeatedly walks up and down the steps as part of his routine are locally now known as the Joker Stairs. They are a step street connecting Shakespeare and Anderson avenues at West 167th Street in Highbridge in the Bronx, New York City. Helpful•8 1 One of three movies that were released theatrically in 2019 in which (despite the movies not being musicals) characters sing a song from a Stephen Sondheim musical. In Noah Baumbach's Marriage Story, the character played by Adam Driver sings "Being Alive", and the character played by Scarlett Johansson sings "You Could Drive a Person Crazy," both from Sondheim's 1970 musical Company. In Knives Out (2019), the character played by Daniel Craig sings part of "Losing My Mind" from Sondheim's 1971 musical "Follies." In Joker (2019), the bullies who attack Arthur (Joaquin Phoenix) in the subway sing "Send in The Clowns" from "A Little Night Music". Helpful•30 12 This film is the first theatrical live-action Batman spin-off since Suicide Squad (2016). Helpful•131 78 Fight Club (1999) director David Fincher disliked the film, criticizing it as another corporate Hollywood franchise film that steals from other works. On the film, Fincher said, "I don't think anyone would have looked at that material and thought, 'Yeah, let's take Travis Bickle and Rupert Pupkin and conflate them, then trap him in a betrayal of the mentally ill, and trot it out for a billion dollars." He further elaborated "The reality of our current situation is that the five [major studios] don't want to make anything that can't make them a billion dollars," he said. "None of them want to be in the medium-priced challenging content business. And that cleaves off exactly the kind of movies I make." Helpful•40 19 Martin Scorsese confirmed that not only has he not seen the finished film, but he has no plans to. This is only in the latest chapter in the journey that launched last year in which Scorsese expressed that he wasn't interested in superhero movies, noting that he doesn't consider them "cinema." As many fans understandably thought it was hypocritical to dismiss all superhero movies while his name was attached to one, it was later confirmed that Warner Bros. merely needed Scorsese's filmmaking crew to pull off production in New York City. "I saw clips of it," Scorsese revealed to The New York Times. "I know it. So it's like, why do I need to? I get it. It's fine." Helpful•33 15 The scene where Arthur dances in the public restroom inspired hilarious Tik Tok videos of people dancing similar to the character whenever something "bad" has happened. Composer Hildur Guðnadóttir's score was even used in the videos. Helpful•15 5 Director Joe Russo stated in an interview in early 2020 that he initially wasn't able to see the film during its theatrical release. This was due to Russo's busy shooting schedule. Once he finally saw it, he loved it. Russo called the film "a beautiful piece of filmmaking" and noted the film's themes of existential isolation and feelings. Helpful•7 1 This is the fifth comic book film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, after Ghost World (2001), American Splendor (2003), A History of Violence (2005), and Logan (2017), respectively. Helpful•13 4 The film is director Todd Phillips's first drama film. Helpful•11 3 The role of Arthur Fleck/Joker was realized in taking into account the acting characteristics of Joaquin Phoenix. Phoenix received the script at the end of 2017. Even his mother had a say in deciding on whether he should join the film's production or not. Helpful•9 2 The film takes place in October 1981. The film itself was released in October 2019. Helpful•14 5 The film's non-release in China was unusual as the Chinese film board had no political issues with the film. It was akin to the Chinese rejection three years earlier of Deadpool (2016). The censors in China found the former film was too explicit for release and the American film studio (in this case Warner Bros) refused to submit an edited version for the Chinese market. Helpful•4 0 The film was the second R-rated comic book film released in 2019. The first 2019 comic book film released is Hellboy (2019). Helpful•10 3 The film is the third film that Joaquin Phoenix was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar out of his four Oscar nominations. This film became his first win. His first two Best Actor Oscar nominations were for Walk the Line (2005) and The Master (2012), respectively. His first was the Best Supporting Actor nomination for Gladiator (2000). Helpful•6 1 There are 162 visual effects in the entire film. Helpful•6 1 According to the Hollywood Reporter, Jared Leto was deeply displeased that Warner Bros. had greenlit a Joker film separate from his own version of the character, complaining to his CAA agents, and reportedly asking his music manager Irving Azoff to convince the head of Warner's parent company to cancel the project. Warner did announce a spin-off for Leto's Joker in 2018, but nothing came of it. After this film's release, one insider said, "How do you play the Joker you established following [Joaquin Phoenix]? It kind of ends [Leto's] Joker run." Leto played the Joker one last time for a cameo in Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021). Helpful•6 1 Jack Nicholson's Joker also says, "Put on a happy face!" in Batman (1989). Helpful•22 12 Blair Rich, who was Warner Bros. marketing executive at the time of the film's release, fought hard for this film when Warner Bros. wanted to cancel the film. Before leaving Warner Bros. and despite several cinematic duds, this film as well as It Chapter Two (2019) became some of Rich's best accomplishments. Helpful•9 3 This is the second Batman-related film that Brett Cullen had starred in. The first film is The Dark Knight Rises (2012). He portrays Congressman Gilley in the former film. And he portrays Thomas Wayne in this film. Helpful•9 3 The film is director Todd Phillips's second crime film. The first crime film Phillips directed is the dark comedy, War Dogs (2016). Helpful•7 2 The film is the fourth DC movie to gross over $1 billion worldwide after The Dark Knight (2008), The Dark Knight Rises (2012), and Aquaman (2018), respectively. Helpful•3 0 For this film, Hildur Guðnadóttir became the fourth woman to win the Academy Award for Best Score after Marilyn Bergman for Yentl (1983) (song score), Rachel Portman for Emma (1996), and Anne Dudley for The Full Monty (1997), respectively. Helpful•3 0 Adriano Giannini, who dubbed Arthur Fleck/Joker in the Italian version, had previously provided the voice for Heath Ledger's Joker in 2008. His father, Giancarlo Giannini, dubbed Jack Nicholson's version of the character in 1989. Helpful•3 0 The film held the record for the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time for five years until Deadpool & Wolverine (2024). Helpful•3 0 Joaquin Phoenix earned about $4.5 million for portraying Arthur Fleck/Joker in this film. Helpful•5 1 The film reached the $1 billion mark a little over a month after its release. Helpful•5 1 Lady Gaga was considered for the role of Catwoman/Selina Kyle in The Dark Knight Rises (2012) now she's going to portray Harley Quinn in this film's sequel. Helpful•9 5 Zazie Beetz (Sophie Demond) and Brian Tyree Henry (Carl, the Arkham Clerk) are costars on FX's Atlanta (2016). Helpful•13 10 According to director Todd Phillips, the film was initially 155 minutes long. Phillips further stated that there are several cuts of the film. There are some deleted scenes that are briefly glimpsed in the trailers and the promotional stills. Eventually, he decided to cut the scenes that didn't really add very much to the plot and made sure that the final cut had a reasonable runtime of 122 minutes. Helpful•5 2 The very same step street now locally known as Joker Stairs was used previously in A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014) starring Liam Neeson. Helpful•6 3 This is director Todd Phillips's tenth film. Helpful•7 4 In an interview on Good Morning America a month before the 2020 Oscars, when discussing the film's success, director Todd Phillips stated, "The audience turned up and it became their movie." Helpful•7 4 This is the sixth film grossing over $1 billion nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, after Titanic (1997), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), Avatar (2009), Toy Story 3 (2010), and Black Panther (2018). Helpful•6 4 This film marks the second time that the live-action version of The Joker has long hair. The first time is Heath Ledger's portrayal of the character in The Dark Knight (2008). The second time is Joaquin Phoenix's portrayal of the character as Arthur Fleck in this film. And the third time is Jared Leto's second portrayal as the character in Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021). Leto's Joker previously had short hair in Suicide Squad (2016). Also, as each of these Jokers goes in terms of chronological portrayals, the hair length becomes longer than the last one. Helpful•9 8 The film was rated by IMDb.com as the best film of 2019. Helpful•3 1 According to Deadline Hollywood, it's estimated that Warner Bros. spent $120 million on international promotions and advertisements for the film. Helpful•3 1 In the scene when Arthur is rehearsing coming out of the curtain whilst watching an old video taped episode of the Murray show, the actor on the Murray show is introduced by Murray as Ethan Chase. The main character in Due Date was called Ethan Chase played by Zach Galifianakis although he users Ethan Tremblay). Due Date was also directed by Todd Phillips. Helpful•3 1 Robert De Niro was considered to play The Penguin in Batman Returns (1992) and Two-Face in Batman Forever (1995), and Zazie Beetz was considered to play Catwoman in The Batman (2022). Helpful•3 1 While the movie never makes it explicit what year it takes place in, there is a key indicator that it takes place in 1981 when the climactic riot shows a poster for the movie Wolfen (1981) outside a movie theatre. Wolfen (1981) was, much like this film, a very bleak and violent R-rated drama, only with fantasy-supernatural elements, released from Warner Bros., and it was released in 1981. Another indication of the film taking place in 1981 is the radio announcer at the beginning of the film stating that it was Thursday, October 15. Helpful•4 2 The film is the first live-action Batman-related film that's rated R. Helpful•4 2 Producer Bradley Cooper claimed that he was heavily involved in post-production, particularly the sound mix. Helpful•4 2 Martin Ballantyne, who portrayed Joker's Henchman in The Dark Knight (2008), expressed a preference to reprise his role for this film. Helpful•57 111 By the middle of 2020, the film grossed more than Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019)'s $1 billion with $1.07 billion. Helpful•7 7 Judging by the radio announcer stating the date as Thursday, October 15 at the beginning of the film, the film takes place in October 1981 since the 15th does fall on a Thursday in that month. Helpful•5 4 During the promotion for Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021), the first look at Jared Leto's second take on The Joker was a photo that showed his gloved hand holding a Joker card up close to the camera while his face was out of focus in the background. Leto's out-of-focus Joker face was said to resemble Joaquin Phoenix's Joker-painted face from this film. Helpful•4 3 Joaquin Phoenix, who plays Arthur Fleck/Joker in this film, is the former brother-in-law of Casey Affleck, who was married to Joaquin's sister, Summer Phoenix from 2003 to 2017. Casey is also the younger brother of Ben Affleck, who portrayed Bruce Wayne/Batman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), Suicide Squad (2016), Justice League (2017), and Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021). This marks the first time that an actor who has played the Joker has been related, through marriage, by an actor who has played Batman. Helpful•9 13 The film is the first film released in 2019 that starred Robert De Niro. The second film is The Irishman (2019), which was released a month after this film. Both films went on to gain major award recognition and accolades. Helpful•7 9 This film is Warner Bros.' seventh film that has crossed $1 billion worldwide with $1.074 billion. The first six films are Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011) with $1.34 billion, Aquaman (2018) with $1.148 billion, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) with $1.12 billion, The Dark Knight Rises (2012) with $1.08 billion, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) with $1 billion, and The Dark Knight (2008). Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) follows this film with $1 billion when it was released in China in 2020. Helpful•4 4 The film passed Venom (2018)'s October opening record of $80.25 million with $96 million. Helpful•5 6 By mid-2020, the film earned over $830 million in global revenue across theatrical rentals, home entertainment, and television. Helpful•2 1 The film's logotype was created by graphic designer Chad Danieley. Danieley used a wood-type letterpress to create the logo and then, digitized it. Helpful•1 0 The name of the talk show host Murray Franklin can be said to be derived from Joe Franklin a talk show host of 70's and Maury Povich a talk show host later on. Murray may have been a way for the writers to not use Maury directly thus using Murray to create a difference in similarity. Helpful•1 0 In 2020, the film became the best-selling home entertainment film in the UK. It sold more than 1.4 million copies across discs (DVD and Bluray), electronic sell-through (EST), and transactional video-on-demand (TVOD). Helpful•4 5 The film was released 80 years after Batman was introduced in the comic books. The character was introduced in the 27th issue of Detective Comics in May 1939. Helpful•3 3 The film is the first comic book film to win the Venice International Film Festival's Golden Lion for Best Film. Helpful•3 3 The film is the highest-grossing film to win The Gold Lion at the International Venice Film Festival. Helpful•3 3 Boris Rehlinger, who dubbed Arthur Fleck/Joker in the French version, also dubbed Bruce Wayne/Batman in the French versions of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), Suicide Squad (2016), Justice League (2017), and Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021). Helpful•3 4 This is Brian Tyree Henry's second comic book film and first live-action comic book film. Henry's first comic book film is Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), in which he provided the voice of Officer Jefferson Davis, Miles Morales' father. And Henry's third comic book film and second live-action comic book film is Eternals (2021), in which he portrays one of The Eternals, Phastos. Helpful•2 3 This is the sixth comic book movie nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, after Dick Tracy (1990), Batman Forever (1995), Road to Perdition (2002), Batman Begins (2005), and The Dark Knight (2008). Of these six, only Road to Perdition has won. Helpful•2 3 Heath Ledger, Jared Leto, and Joaquin Phoenix, who portrayed the character of The Joker, respectively, all have tattoos. The only exceptions are Jack Nicholson and Cesar Romero Helpful•6 22 Indie directors Ana Lily Amirpour, Kelly Fremon Craig, and Alex Ross Perry are surprise fans of the film. Helpful•2 5 The film shares the same title as the 2008 DC Comics graphic novel, "Joker". The graphic novel was written by Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo. The story is about a con-man named Johnny who becomes one of The Joker's henchmen and descends into madness as The Joker's crimes become too much for him to handle. Helpful•2 5 The iconic Joker dancing down the stairs scene inspired so many humorous memes, including memes where the character dances to different types of music and songs regardless of music genres. Helpful•6 30 This is the second DC Comics film in which the main character's name is Arthur. The first DC Comics film is Aquaman (2018). In the former film, the main character's name is Arthur Curry. In this film, the main character's name is Arthur Fleck. Helpful•4 21 Film debut of Mick Szal. Helpful•2 7 Joaquin Phoenix previously starred alongside Michael Caine in the film, Quills (2000). Both actors went on to portray DC Comics characters. Caine portrayed Alfred Pennyworth in The Dark Knight Trilogy. And Phoenix portrayed Arthur Fleck/Joker in this film. Helpful•2 7 Three visual companies provided the visual effects for this film. They are Scanline VFX, Shade VFX, and Branch VFX. Helpful•1 2 This film marks the third time that an actor who portrayed The Joker in live-action films has a first name that starts with a "J". The first two actors are Jack Nicholson in Batman (1989) and Jared Leto in Suicide Squad (2016) and Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021), respectively. In this film, it's Joaquin Phoenix. Helpful•4 26 Surpassed Meet the Fockers (2004) as Robert De Niro's highest-grossing film. Helpful•0 0 In this film, Robert De Niro plays a TV talk show host who is murdered by a would-be comic. In the film" The King of Comedy" (1982), De Niro played a would-be comic who kidnaps a TV talk show host. The filmmakers have even mentioned in the film as an influence, and De Niro has also noted a connection. Helpful•0 0 This is the second consecutive comic book movie to win the Academy Award for Best Original Score, after Black Panther (2018), and the sixth to be nominated, after Superman: The Movie, Men in Black (1997), Road to Perdition, The Adventures of Tintin (2011) and Black Panther.

Douglas Hodge is the first actor to play Alfred with facial hair since Alan Napier in Batman: The Movie.
Arthur pulls a bouquet of flowers out of his sleeve, a reference to the musical number 'Put On A Happy Face' from Bye Bye Birdie (1963)

Helpful•1 5 It's noted by some people that in the main promotional advertisement for The Matrix Resurrections (2021) which is a callback to the main poster for The Matrix (1999), Morpheous' suit looks similar to Arthur Fleck/Joker's suit in this film. In this film, Arthur's suit is a burgundy-red suit with a gold-yellow suit vest and a green buttoned-down shirt with a pop-up collar. Morpheous' suit is a darker burgundy suit with a green buttoned-down shirt with a pop-up collar, and the jacket is much longer like a trench coat with the inside of it being the same color green as his shirt. Helpful•1 8 Spoilers While Arthur's mother is legitimately delusional, a freeze-frame shot in her psychiatric file reveals she was lobotomized. Helpful•171 0 Joaquin Phoenix revealed his favorite part of filming was sassing off Robert De Niro's character Murray Franklin, he stated: "It was one of my favorites, saying 'Murr-AY.' ... Todd loved that too. And when I did that I thought: Is De Niro just going to throw an ash tray at me?" Helpful•799 10 When Arthur lets himself into Sophie's (Zazie Beetz) apartment, he tells her "I've had a bad day". This is a reference to the iconic comic book "The Killing Joke", in which the Joker's theory is everyone is just one bad day from madness. Helpful•761 14 The unnamed woman on the subway that was harassed by the 3 Wall Street men that Arthur unintentionally "rescued" is shown later at the rally wearing a clown mask (the one in the taxi that Arthur passes) who were inspired by his murders of the three. Helpful•233 2 In a deliberate attempt to keep the budget down there are almost no CGI effects shots in this film. One of the very few is the scene where Arthur Fleck walks towards the building named Arkham Asylum in his attempt to look at his mothers medical records. This scene was CGI enhanced but otherwise most of this films effects were either practical or created in camera. Helpful•317 6

Todd Phillips: [popular songs from whatever era the film takes place in are played throughout the film] The film has several songs from the late 1970s and early 1980s being played. Similarly, in some of Phillips' films, The Hangover (2009) and The Hangover Part II (2011), popular songs from the late 2000s to early 2010s are played.