I thought it was bold and complex and like nothing I’d ever read before: Joaquin Phoenix

Undoubtedly the most anticipated film of 2019, Joker is the filmmaker Todd Phillips’ original vision of the infamous DC villain, an origin story infused with, but distinctly outside, the character’s more traditional mythologies. Phillips’ exploration of Arthur Fleck, who is indelibly portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix, is of a man struggling to find his way in Gotham’s fractured society. Longing for any light to shine on him, he tries his hand as a stand-up comic, but finds the joke always seems to be on him. Caught in a cyclical existence between apathy and cruelty and, ultimately, betrayal, Arthur makes one bad decision after another that brings about a chain reaction of escalating events in this gritty, allegorical character study. 

Interestingly, though he’d resisted any sort of genre- inspired projects in the past, Joaquin Phoenix was intrigued when he read the script of Joker. Talking about what he liked about the story and working with Todd Phillips he says, “I thought it was bold and complex and like nothing I’d ever read before. Todd has a unique way of looking at things that is really perfect, I think, for this movie,” Phoenix observes.  “When I work with a director, I want somebody who has a singular take on the material, and nobody could have made this movie but Todd.”   

Directed, co-written and produced by Todd Phillips, Joker is all set to release in India on Oct 4 by Warner Bros. Pictures.