''Joker'' is a 2019 American psychological drama thriller film directed by

Todd Phillips Todd Phillips (né Bunzl, born December 20, 1970) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He began his career in 1993 and directed films in the 2000s such as ''Road Trip (film), Road Trip'', ''Old School (film), Old School'', ...

, who also co-wrote the screenplay with

Scott Silver Scott Silver (born November 30, 1964) is an American screenwriter and film director. Silver is best known for such films as '' Johns'', ''The Mod Squad'', '' 8 Mile'', ''The Fighter'', for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Or ...

. The film, based on

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. ( doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with the ...

characters, stars

Joaquin Phoenix Joaquin Rafael Phoenix (; né Bottom; born October 28, 1974) is an American actor. He is known for playing dark and unconventional characters in independent films. He has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academ ...

as the Joker and serves as a standalone

origin story In entertainment, an origin story is an account or backstory revealing how a Character (arts), character or group of people become a protagonist or antagonist, and it adds to the overall interest and complexity of a narrative, often giving reason ...

for the character. Set in 1981, it follows Arthur Fleck, a failed clown and aspiring stand-up comic whose descent into mental illness and

nihilism Nihilism (; ) is a philosophy, or family of views within philosophy, that rejects generally accepted or fundamental aspects of human existence, such as objective truth, knowledge, morality, values, or meaning. The term was popularized by I ...

inspires a violent countercultural revolution against the prosperous in a decaying

Gotham City Gotham City ( ), or simply Gotham, is a fictional city appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, best known as the home of the superhero Batman and his List of Batman supporting characters#Bat-Family, allies and List of Batman fa ...

Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor. Known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, he is considered to be one of the best actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of various accolades ...

Zazie Beetz Zazie Olivia Beetz ( ; ; born June 1, 1991) is a American actress. She stars in the FX comedy-drama series ''Atlanta'' (2016–22), for which she received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy ...

and

Frances Conroy Frances Hardman Conroy is an American actress. She is best known for playing Ruth Fisher on the television series '' Six Feet Under'' (2001–2005), for which she won a Golden Globe and three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and received four Prime ...

appear in supporting roles. Distributed by

Warner Bros. Pictures Warner Bros. Pictures is an American film production and distribution company of the Warner Bros. Pictures Group division of Warner Bros. Entertainment (both ultimately owned by Warner Bros. Discovery). The studio is the flagship producer of li ...

, ''Joker'' was produced by Warner Bros. Pictures and

DC Films DC Studios is an American film and television studio that is a division of Warner Bros., which is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. It is dedicated to the production of films, series, and animations based on characters from DC Comics, ...

in association with

Village Roadshow Pictures Village Roadshow Pictures is the American subsidiary of the Australian co-producer and co-financier of major Hollywood motion pictures established in 1986. It is a division under Village Roadshow Entertainment Group (VREG), which in turn is o ...

Bron Creative Bron Studios (stylized as BRON) is a Canadian motion picture company based in British Columbia owned by Bron Media Corporation. Bron's notable productions include '' Joker, Bombshell, Queen & Slim, Greyhound, Judas and the Black Messiah,'' '' ...

and Joint Effort. Phillips conceived ''Joker'' in 2016 and wrote the script with Silver throughout 2017. The two were inspired by 1970s character studies and the films of

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, incl ...

, particularly ''

Taxi Driver ''Taxi Driver'' is a 1976 American film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Paul Schrader, and starring Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Harvey Keitel, Peter Boyle, Leonard Harris, and Albert Brooks. Set in a decaying ...

'' (1976) and '' The King of Comedy'' (1982), who was initially attached to the project as a producer. The film loosely adapts plot elements from '' Batman: The Killing Joke'' (1988), but Phillips and Silver otherwise did not look to specific comics for inspiration. Phoenix became attached in February 2018 and was cast that July, while the majority of the cast signed on by August.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as ...

took place in New York City,

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Newark, from September to December 2018. ''Joker'' is the first live-action theatrical ''Batman'' film to receive an R rating from the

Motion Picture Association The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distribu ...

. ''Joker'' premiered at the

76th Venice International Film Festival The 76th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 28 August to 7 September 2019. Film director Lucrecia Martel was appointed as the President of the Jury. '' The Truth'', directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, was selected to open the f ...

on August 31, 2019, where it won the

Golden Lion The Golden Lion ( it, Leone d'oro) is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguis ...

and was theatrically released in the United States on October 4, 2019. While Phoenix's performance, Phillips' direction, the visual style, editing, musical score, and cinematography were praised, the dark tone, portrayal of mental illness, and handling of violence divided opinions and generated concerns of inspiring real-life violence. The film was a box office success and set records for an October release. It grossed over $1 billion, the first R-rated film to do so and became the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2019 during its theatrical run. The film also received numerous other accolades. A

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwo ...

sequel, titled '' Joker: Folie À Deux'', is scheduled to be released on October 4, 2024.

Plot

Arthur Fleck, a clown, lives with and cares for his mother, Penny, in crime-infested and economically stagnant

. Arthur suffers from a neurological disorder that causes him to laugh uncontrollably at inappropriate times, and is dependent on medication from a community service program. After Arthur is deliberately attacked by juvenile thugs, his co-worker Randall gives him a handgun for self-defense. Arthur pursues a relationship with his neighbor, single mother Sophie and invites her to see his stand-up routine at a comedy club. At a children's hospital, Arthur's gun falls out of his trouser leg onto the floor in full view of the children. Randall lies to their manager, stating the handgun was Arthur's own prop and Arthur is immediately sacked. Depressed on the subway, still in clown makeup, Arthur suffers a laughing fit and becomes accosted by a group of three drunk businessmen, shooting two of them in self-defense and killing the third as he attempts to flee. The killings are condemned by billionaire mayoral candidate Thomas Wayne, whom the men worked for, calling supporters of the murderer "clowns." Protesters react by donning clown masks in Arthur's image. Budget cuts shut down the community service program, leaving Arthur without medication. Sophie attends Arthur's stand-up routine, which goes badly; he laughs uncontrollably and his jokes fall flat. Arthur intercepts a letter from Penny to Thomas, alleging that he is Thomas's illegitimate son, and berates his mother for hiding the truth. He goes to Wayne Manor, where he meets Thomas' young son Bruce, but flees after a struggle with the family butler

Alfred Pennyworth Alfred Thaddeus Crane Pennyworth is a fictional Character (arts), character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, most commonly in association with the superhero Batman. Pennyworth is depicted as Bruce Wayne's loyal and tire ...

. Penny suffers a stroke and is hospitalized. Arthur's idol, popular late-night talk show host Murray Franklin, mocks Arthur by showing clips of his failed performance, calling him a "joker", angering Arthur. Arthur sneaks into a private event at a cinema and confronts Thomas, who tells him that he is not his father and that Penny is not his biological mother. In denial, Arthur visits Arkham State Hospital and steals Penny's file, which states she was a narcissist who adopted Arthur while working as a housekeeper for the Waynes in the 1950s. Penny then raised Arthur with her abusive boyfriend, who later died in prison. Penny was subsequently institutionalized at Arkham for failing to stop the abuse. Distraught, Arthur enters Sophie's apartment unannounced. Frightened, Sophie talks to Arthur as if the two had never met, saying that she just recognizes him from down the hall, then asks him to leave. The film flashes back to moments where Arthur had seen Sophie, revealing that Sophie had not actually been there, confirming that the two were strangers and her presence in his life was a delusion. The following day, Arthur murders Penny at the hospital, killing her for her deceit. Arthur is invited to appear on Murray's show due to the sudden popularity his stand-up clips have attracted, and he accepts while secretly planning to commit suicide on live television. Arthur's ex-colleagues Randall and Gary visit him at his apartment, and Arthur stabs Randall out of revenge while sparing Gary for treating him well in the past. As Arthur, now dressing in a colorful costume and clown makeup, walks to Murray's TV studio, he is intercepted by two detectives who suspect his involvement in the subway murders. The detectives pursue him onto a subway filled with clown protestors. One detective accidentally shoots a protester and incites a

riot A riot is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people. Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The property targete ...

, allowing Arthur to escape in the chaos and arrive at the studio. Before the show goes live, Arthur asks Murray to introduce him as Joker, in reference to Murray's earlier mockery. On stage, Arthur tells dark jokes before confessing to the subway murders, ranting about how society abandons the downtrodden and psychologically ill and berating Murray for mocking him. Murray argues with Arthur, who becomes enraged and shoots him in the face, murdering him on live television. The horrified audience flees, and Arthur begins to monologue to the camera before the feed is cut. He is arrested as riots erupt across Gotham. One of the rioters corners the Wayne family in an alley and kills Thomas and his wife Martha, sparing Bruce. Rioters in an ambulance ram into the police car carrying Joker, freeing him; he stands atop the car and begins dancing to the cheers of the rioters, smearing blood on his face in the shape of a smile. Later, at Arkham, Joker laughs menacingly to himself about a joke during a session with a therapist, but declines to tell it, claiming she wouldn't get it. He escapes, leaving behind bloodied shoeprints as an orderly chases him throughout the corridors.

Cast

as Arthur Fleck / the Joker: A mentally ill, impoverished party clown and stand-up comedian disregarded by society, whose history of abuse causes him to become a

nihilistic Nihilism (; ) is a philosophy, or family of views within philosophy, that rejects generally accepted or fundamental aspects of human existence, such as objective truth, knowledge, morality, values, or meaning. The term was popularized by Iva ...

criminal with a clown motif. 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 lost 52 pounds (23 kg) for his role in the film. *

as Murray Franklin: A talk show host who plays a role in Arthur's downfall. De Niro said his role in ''Joker'' pays

homage Homage (Old English) or Hommage (French) may refer to: History *Homage (feudal) /ˈhɒmɪdʒ/, the medieval oath of allegiance *Commendation ceremony, medieval homage ceremony Arts *Homage (arts) /oʊˈmɑʒ/, an allusion or imitation by one arti ...

to his character from '' The King of Comedy'' (1983), Rupert Pupkin, who is a comedian obsessed with a talk-show host. *

as Sophie Dumond: A cynical single mother and Arthur's "love interest". Beetz, a "huge fan" of Phoenix, said that it was "an honor" to costar with him and that she learned a lot working with him on set. *

as Penny Fleck: Arthur's mentally and physically ill mother, who formerly worked for Thomas Wayne. Canadian actress

Hannah Gross Hannah Gross (born ) is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her role as Debbie Mitford in the Netflix drama '' Mindhunter''. Early life Gross grew up in Toronto. She is the daughter of actors Martha Burns and Paul Gross. She attended N ...

portrays a young Penny. Additionally,

Brett Cullen Peter Brett Cullen (born August 26, 1956) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Dan Fixx in ''Falcon Crest'' (1986-1988), Sam Cain in '' The Young Riders'' (1989-1990), Governor Ray Sullivan in ''The West Wing'' (2005-2006), Go ...

portrays Thomas Wayne, a billionaire running for mayor of Gotham.

Alec Baldwin Alexander Rae Baldwin III (born April 3, 1958) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. In his early career, Baldwin played both leading and supporting roles in a variety of films such as Tim Burton's '' Beetlejuice'' (1988), Mike Nic ...

was initially cast in the role, but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. Carrie Louise Putrello portrays Thomas's wife

Martha Martha (Hebrew: מָרְתָא‎) is a biblical figure described in the Gospels of Luke and John. Together with her siblings Lazarus and Mary of Bethany, she is described as living in the village of Bethany near Jerusalem. She was witness ...

, although the character has no lines and is never referred to by name.

Douglas Hodge Douglas Hodge is an English actor, director, and musician who has had an extensive career in theatre, as well as television and film where he has appeared in '' Robin Hood'' (2010), '' Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return'' and '' Diana'' (2013), '' ...

plays

, the butler and caretaker of the Wayne family, and Dante Pereira-Olson plays

Bruce Wayne Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

, Thomas' son, who becomes the Joker's archenemy Batman as an adult. Additional cast members include

Glenn Fleshler Glenn Fleshler (born September 5, 1968) is an American actor. On television he is noted as a recurring cast member on ''Boardwalk Empire'' who portrayed real-life bootlegger George Remus, for appearing on '' Billions'', and as Errol Childress in ...

and

Leigh Gill Leigh Gill is an English actor. He is best known for his roles in ''Game of Thrones'' and '' Joker''. Filmography * ''Game of Thrones'' (2016) * ''Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'' (2016) * '' Hot Dog A hot dog (uncommonly spell ...

as Randall and Gary, Arthur's clown co-workers; Bill Camp and Shea Whigham as detectives Garrity and Burke in the

Gotham City Police Department Gotham City ( ), or simply Gotham, is a fictional city appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, best known as the home of the superhero Batman and his allies and foes. Created by writer Bill Finger and artist Bob Kane, the ...

;

Marc Maron Marcus David Maron (born September 27, 1963) is an American stand-up comedian, podcaster, writer, actor, and musician. In the 1990s and 2000s, Maron was a frequent guest on the '' Late Show with David Letterman'' and has appeared more than fort ...

as Gene Ufland, a producer on Franklin's show; Sharon Washington as Arthur's social worker; Josh Pais as Hoyt Vaughn, Arthur's agent;

Brian Tyree Henry Brian Tyree Henry (born March 31, 1982) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Alfred "Paper Boi" Miles in the FX comedy-drama series ''Atlanta'' (2016–2022), for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstan ...

as Clark, a clerk at Arkham State Hospital; Ben Warheit, Michael Benz and Carl Lundstedt as bankers who harass Arthur;

Gary Gulman Gary Lewis Gulman (born July 17, 1970) is an American stand-up comedian. He was a finalist on the NBC reality-talent show ''Last Comic Standing'' in its second and third seasons. He released his first CD, '' Conversations With Inanimate Objects'' ...

and

Sam Morril Sam Morril is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. Early life Morril grew up in New York City, the son of Ashkenazi Jewish parents. His mother, Marilyn Greenberg, is a painter and his stepfather is publishing industry a ...

as comedians at an

open mic An open mic or open mike (shortened from "open microphone") is a live show at a venue such as a coffeehouse, nightclub, comedy club, strip club, or pub, usually taking place at night, in which audience members may perform on stage whether t ...

where Arthur performs; and

Bryan Callen Bryan Callen (born January 26, 1967) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer and podcaster. He studied acting at the Beverly Hills Playhouse. Callen initiated his career as one of the original cast members on the sketch comedy serie ...

as Javier, a co-worker of Arthur.

Justin Theroux Justin Paul Theroux (; born August 10, 1971) is an American actor and filmmaker. He gained recognition for his work with director David Lynch in the mystery film ''Mulholland Drive'' (2001) and the thriller film ''Inland Empire'' (2006). He also ...

has an uncredited cameo as Ethan Chase, a celebrity guest on Franklin's show.

Production

Development

Between 2014 and 2015,

expressed interest to his agent in acting in a low-budget "character study" type of film about a

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

villain, like

character the Joker. Phoenix had thought of the idea 1 to 2 years before Phillips conceived ''Joker'' in 2016. Phoenix had previously declined to act in the

Marvel Cinematic Universe The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published ...

because he would have been required to reprise a role, such as the

Hulk The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of ''The Incredible Hulk (comic book), The Incredible Hulk' ...

(initially portrayed by

Edward Norton Edward Harrison Norton (born August 18, 1969) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has received numerous awards and nominations, including a Golden Globe Award and three Academy Award nominations. Born in Boston, Massachusetts and raised ...

before he was recast by

Mark Ruffalo Mark Alan Ruffalo (; born November 22, 1967) is an American actor and producer best known for playing Bruce Banner / Hulk since 2012 in the superhero franchise of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and in the television series '' She-Hulk: Attorne ...

) or

Doctor Strange Doctor Stephen Strange is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Steve Ditko, the character first appeared in ''Strange Tales'' #110 (cover-dated July 1963). Doctor Strange serves as Sorce ...

, in multiple films. Phoenix ruled out the Joker for his "character study" idea and tried to think of a different one. "I thought, 'You can't do the Joker, because, you know, it's just you can't do that character, it's just been done.'" Phoenix's agent suggested setting up an exploratory meeting with Warner Bros., but he declined and let go of the idea. Similarly,

had been offered to direct comic-based films a number of times, but declined because he thought they were "loud" and did not interest him. According to Phillips, ''Joker'' was created from his idea to create a different, more grounded comic book film. He was attracted to the Joker because he did not think there was a definitive portrayal of the character, which he knew would provide considerable creative freedom. Phillips pitched the idea for ''Joker'' to Warner Bros. after his film ''

War Dogs Dogs in warfare have a very long history starting in ancient times. From being trained in combat, to their use as scouts, sentries, messengers, mercy dogs, and trackers, their uses have been varied and some continue to exist in modern military ...

'' premiered in August 2016. Prior to ''War Dogs'', Phillips was mostly known for his

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending ( black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the o ...

s, such as ''

Road Trip A road trip, sometimes spelled roadtrip, is a long-distance journey on the road. Typically, road trips are long distances travelled by automobile. History First road trips by automobile The world's first recorded long-distance road trip by ...

'' (2000), '' Old School'' (2003) and ''

The Hangover ''The Hangover'' is a 2009 American comedy film directed by Todd Phillips, co-produced with Daniel Goldberg, and written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore. It is the first installment in ''The Hangover'' trilogy. The film stars Bradley Cooper, E ...

'' (2009); ''War Dogs'' marked a venture into more unsettling territory. During the premiere, Phillips realized "''War Dogs'' wasn't going to set the world on fire and I was thinking, 'What do people really want to see?'" In addition, he found that it was difficult to make comedy films in the "woke culture", throughout opposition of "30 million people on Twitter". He finally thought that "How do I do something irreverent, but fuck comedy? Oh I know, let's take the comic book movie universe and turn it on its head with this". He proposed that

differentiate its slate from the competing

Marvel Studios Marvel Studios, LLC (originally known as Marvel Films from 1993 to 1996) is an American film and television production company that is a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, a division of the Walt Disney Company. Marvel Studios produces the Ma ...

' by producing low-budget,

standalone film A standalone film is a film that does not have any relation with other films. In the late 1990s, it was typical to create standalone films with no plans for sequels. The term "standalone film" appeared when sequels, spin-offs, and franchises bec ...

s. After the successful release of ''

Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byrne, are credited as bein ...

'' (2017), DC Films decided to deemphasize the

shared Shared may refer to: * Sharing * Shared ancestry or Common descent * Shared care * Shared-cost service * Shared decision-making in medicine * Shared delusion (disambiguation), Shared delusion, various meanings * Shared government * Shared intellig ...

nature of its DC-based film franchise, the

DC Extended Universe The DC Extended Universe (DCEU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films and television series produced by DC Studios and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is based on characters that ...

(DCEU). In August 2017, Warner Bros. and DC Films revealed plans for the film, with Phillips directing and co-writing with

and

set to co-produce with Phillips. According to Tatiana Siegel of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly large ...

'', Scorsese considered directing ''Joker'' before Phillips was chosen, though a Warner Bros. source said he only became involved because the film needed a

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

-based producer. According to Kim Masters and Borys Kit of ''The Hollywood Reporter'',

Jared Leto Jared Joseph Leto ( ; born December 26, 1971) is an American actor and musician. Known for his method acting in a variety of roles, he has received numerous accolades over a career spanning three decades, including an Academy Award and a Gold ...

, who portrayed the Joker in the DCEU, was displeased by the existence of a project separate from his interpretation. In October 2019, Masters reported that Leto "felt 'alienated and upset'" when he learned that Warner Bros.—which had promised him a standalone DCEU Joker film—let Phillips proceed with ''Joker'', going as far as to ask his music manager

Irving Azoff Irving Azoff (; born December 12, 1947) is an American entertainment executive and chairman of Full Stop Management, which represents recording artists. In the mid-1980s, he brought success to MCA Records. Since September 2013, he has been cha ...

to get the project canceled. Masters added that Leto's irritation was what caused him to end his association with

Creative Artists Agency Creative Artists Agency LLC (CAA) is an American talent and sports agency based in Los Angeles, California. It is regarded as an influential company in the talent agency business and manages numerous clients. In March 2016, CAA had 1,800 emplo ...

(CAA), as he believed "his agents should have told him about the Phillips project earlier and fought harder for his version of Joker." However, sources associated with Leto deny that he attempted to get ''Joker'' canceled and left CAA because of it. Warner Bros. pushed for Phillips to cast Leonardo DiCaprio as the Joker, hoping to use his frequent collaborator Scorsese's involvement to attract him. However, Phillips said that Phoenix was the only actor he considered, and that he and Silver wrote the script with Phoenix in mind, "The goal was never to introduce Joaquin Phoenix into the comic book movie universe. The goal was to introduce comic book movies into the Joaquin Phoenix universe." Phoenix said when he learned of the film, he became excited because it was the kind he was looking to make, describing it as unique and stating it did not feel like a typical "studio movie." It took him 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."

Writing

Phillips and Silver wrote ''Joker'' throughout 2017 and the writing process took about a year. According to producer

Emma Tillinger Koskoff Emma Tillinger Koskoff (born 1972) is an American film producer. She is best known for her collaborations with Martin Scorsese, including acting as a producer on his films '' The Wolf of Wall Street'' (2013), ''Silence'' (2016) and '' The Irishma ...

, 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. He also noted that ''Joker'' is a story about child

trauma Trauma most often refers to: *Major trauma, in physical medicine, severe physical injury caused by an external source *Psychological trauma, a type of damage to the psyche that occurs as a result of a severely distressing event *Traumatic inju ...

and mental illness. In their script, Phillips talked about how difficult it is for patients to reveal their diagnoses, referring to a line from the film: "The worst part of having a mental illness is that people expect you to behave as if you don't." The script draws inspiration from Scorsese films such as ''

'' (1976), ''

Raging Bull ''Raging Bull'' is a 1980 American biographical sports drama film directed by Martin Scorsese, produced by Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler and adapted by Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin from Jake LaMotta's 1970 memoir '' Raging Bull: M ...

'' (1980) and '' The King of Comedy'' (1983), as well as Phillips' '' Hangover Trilogy''. Other films Phillips has cited as inspiration include character studies released in the 1970s—such as ''

Serpico ''Serpico'' is a 1973 American neo-noir biographical crime drama film directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Al Pacino in the title role. The screenplay was adapted by Waldo Salt and Norman Wexler from the book of the same name written by ...

'' (1973) and ''

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest may refer to: * ''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' (novel), a 1962 novel by Ken Kesey * ''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' (play), a 1963 stage adaptation of the novel starring Kirk Douglas * ''One Flew Over the ...

'' (1975)—the silent film ''

The Man Who Laughs ''The Man Who Laughs'' (also published under the title ''By Order of the King'' from its subtitle in French) is a novel by Victor Hugo, originally published in April 1869 under the French title ''L'Homme qui rit''. It takes place in England beg ...

'' (1928) and several

musicals Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...

. Phillips said that aside from the tone, he did not consider ''Joker'' that different from his previous work, such as his ''Hangover'' films. The film's premise was inspired by

Alan Moore Alan Moore (born 18 November 1953) is an English author known primarily for his work in comic books including '' Watchmen'', ''V for Vendetta'', '' The Ballad of Halo Jones'', ''Swamp Thing'', ''Batman:'' ''The Killing Joke'', and '' From He ...

and

Brian Bolland Brian Bolland (; born 26 March 1951)Salisbury, Mark, ''Artists on Comic Art'' ( Titan Books, 2000) , p. 11 is a British comics artist. Best known in the United Kingdom as one of the definitive Judge Dredd artists for British comics anthology '' ...

's graphic novel '' Batman: The Killing Joke'' (1988), which depicts the Joker as a failed stand-up comedian, while the climactic talk show scene was inspired by a similar scene in

Frank Miller Frank Miller (born January 27, 1957) is an American comic book writer, penciller and inker, novelist, screenwriter, film director, and producer known for his comic book stories and graphic novels such as his run on ''Daredevil'' and subsequen ...

's ''

The Dark Knight Returns ''The Dark Knight Returns'' (alternatively titled ''Batman: The Dark Knight Returns'') is a 1986 four-issue comic book miniseries starring Batman, written by Frank Miller, illustrated by Miller and Klaus Janson, with color by Lynn Varley, and pub ...

'' (1986). However, Phillips said the film does not "follow anything from the comic books... That's what was interesting to me. We're not even doing Joker, but the story of becoming Joker." Phillips later clarified that he meant they did not look to a specific comic for inspiration, but rather "picked and chose what we liked" from the character's history. Having grown up in New York, Phillips also drew inspiration from life in New York City during the early 1980s. The Subway shooting scene and its aftermath were inspired by the

1984 New York City Subway shooting On December 22, 1984, Bernhard Goetz () shot four young men on a New York City Subway train in Manhattan after they allegedly tried to rob him. Goetz surrendered to police nine days later and was charged with attempted murder, assault, reckles ...

, while Arthur Fleck is partially based on the shooting's perpetrator, Bernhard Goetz. Phillips and Silver found the most common Joker origin story, in which the character is disfigured after falling into a vat of acid, too unrealistic. Instead, they used certain elements of the Joker lore to produce an original story, which Phillips wanted to feel as authentic as possible. Because the Joker does not have a definitive origin story in the comics, Phillips and Silver were given considerable creative freedom and "pushed each other every day to come up with something totally insane." While the Joker had appeared in several films before, Phillips thought it was possible to produce a new story featuring the character. "It's just another interpretation, like people do interpretations of ''

Macbeth ''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...

''," he told ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. However, they did try to retain the ambiguous "multiple choice" nature of the Joker's past by positioning the character as an

unreliable narrator An unreliable narrator is a narrator whose credibility is compromised. They can be found in fiction and film, and range from children to mature characters. The term was coined in 1961 by Wayne C. Booth in ''The Rhetoric of Fiction''. While unr ...

—with entire storylines simply being his delusions—and left what mental illnesses he suffers from unclear. As such, Phillips said the entire film is open to interpretation. When a draft of the film's script, written in April 2018, was leaked and spread on the internet, Phillips stated that it was an old version from six months before filming began. Phillips also declined to take legal action against the spread of the script, stating that he liked having an old version circulate.

Pre-production

Following the disappointing critical and financial performance of ''

Justice League The Justice League (also known as The Justice League of America) are a team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #28 (March 1960). The team was conceived b ...

'' (2017), in January 2018

Walter Hamada Walter Hamada is an American film executive and producer. He joined New Line Cinema in 2007, where he served as an executive producer on horror films such as ''The Conjuring'' (2013), '' Annabelle'' (2014), ''The Conjuring 2'' (2016), '' Lights ...

replaced

Jon Berg The DC Extended Universe (DCEU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films and television series produced by DC Studios and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is based on characters that a ...

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; the film was set to begin filming in late 2018 with a small budget of $55 million. Kim Masters of ''

'' said Warner Bros. was reluctant to let ''Joker'' move forward and gave it a small budget in an effort to dissuade Phillips. Phillips said that Hamada did not understand what he was trying to do. By June,

was under consideration for a supporting role in the film. The deal with Phoenix was finalized in July 2018, after four months of persuasion from Phillips. Immediately afterwards, 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

hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

is not only a gritty character study, but also a broader

cautionary tale A cautionary tale is a tale told in folklore to warn its listener of a danger. There are three essential parts to a cautionary tale, though they can be introduced in a large variety of ways. First, a taboo or prohibition is stated: some act, lo ...

." Scorsese's longtime associate Koskoff joined to produce, although Scorsese left his producing duties due to other obligations. Scorsese considered serving as an executive producer, but was preoccupied with his film ''

The Irishman ''The Irishman'' (subtitled onscreen as ''I Heard You Paint Houses'') is a 2019 American epic gangster film directed and produced by Martin Scorsese and written by Steven Zaillian, based on the 2004 nonfiction book ''I Heard You Paint Hou ...

''. It was also confirmed that the film would have no effect on Leto's Joker and would be the first in a new series of DC films unrelated to the DCEU. In July,

was cast in a supporting role and De Niro entered negotiations in August.

Frances McDormand Frances Louise McDormand (born Cynthia Ann Smith; June 23, 1957) is an American actress and producer. Throughout her career spanning over four decades, McDormand has received numerous accolades, including four Academy Awards, two Primetime Emm ...

declined an offer to portray the mother of the Joker and

was cast. At the end of July, Marc Maron, and Bryan Callen joined the cast.

was cast as Thomas Wayne on August 27, but dropped out two days later due to scheduling conflicts. Baldwin also noted the character's description as a reason for his departure, which called Thomas Wayne "a cheesy and tanned businessman who is more in the mold of a 1980s

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

Filming

commenced in September 2018 in New York City, under the

working title A working title, which may be abbreviated and styled in trade publications after a putative title as (wt), also called a production title or a tentative title, is the temporary title of a product or project used during its development, usually ...

''Romeo''. Shortly after filming began, De Niro, Brett Cullen, Shea Whigham, Glenn Fleshler, Bill Camp, Josh Pais and Douglas Hodge were announced to have joined the film, with Cullen replacing Baldwin.

Bradley Cooper Bradley Charles Cooper (born January 5, 1975) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award and two Grammy Awards, in addition to nominations for nine Academy Awards, si ...

joined the film as a producer, and the director of photography was

Lawrence Sher Lawrence Sher, (born February 4, 1970) is an American cinematographer and film director, best known for comedy films such as '' Garden State'', '' The Dictator,'' and ''The Hangover'' series, frequently collaborating with directors Todd Phillips ...

, both of whom Phillips had previously collaborated with. On September 22, a scene depicting a violent protest was filmed at the Church Avenue station in

Kensington, Brooklyn Kensington is a neighborhood in the central portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, located south of Prospect Park and Green-Wood Cemetery. It is bordered by Coney Island Avenue to the east; Fort Hamilton Parkway and Caton Avenue to ...

, although the station was modified to look like the Bedford Park Boulevard station in

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New ...

. Filming of violent scenes also took place at the abandoned lower platform of the Ninth Avenue station in

Sunset Park, Brooklyn Sunset Park is a neighborhood in the southwestern part of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, bounded by Park Slope and Green-Wood Cemetery to the north, Borough Park to the east, Bay Ridge to the south, and Upper New York Bay to the ...

. According to Beetz, Phillips rewrote the entire script during production; because 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." Phillips recalled Phoenix sometimes walked off-set during filming because he lost self-control and needed to compose himself—to the confusion of other actors, who felt they had done something wrong. De Niro was one of the few Phoenix never walked out on and De Niro said he was "very intense in what he was doing, as it should be, as he should be." Filming in

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.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 the Newark filming,

SAG-AFTRA The Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA, stylized as SAG·AFTRA ) is an American labor union representing approximately 160,000 film and television actors, journalists, radio personalities, recordi ...

received a complaint that extras were locked in subway cars for more than three hours during filming in Brooklyn, a break violation. The issue was quickly resolved after a representative visited the set. That month, Dante Pereira-Olson joined the cast as a young Bruce Wayne. 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 Phillips posting a picture on his Instagram feed later in the month to commemorate the occasion. In ''The Hollywood Reporter'' interview,

said that most stressful filming was the " Stair Dance" scene; because there were no laws on paparazzi in

, filming was disrupted by them. Initially, Lawrence Sher and Phillips had wanted to film on 65mm film for the 70mm format, but Warner Bros. rejected this due to cost, and the film was subsequently shot in using Arri Alexa 65 digital cameras. Warner Bros. did however end up giving Joker a limited theatrical release in converted 70mm and 35mm presentations.

Post-production

Phillips confirmed he was in the process of editing ''Joker'' in March 2019. At

CinemaCon The National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) is an American trade organization whose members are the owners of movie theaters. Most of the worldwide major theater chains' operators are members, as are hundreds of independent theater opera ...

the following month, he stated the film was "still taking shape" and was difficult to discuss, as he hoped to maintain secrecy. Phillips also denied most reports surrounding the film, which he felt was because it is "an origin story about a character that doesn't have a definitive origin." Brian Tyree Henry was also confirmed to have a role in the film. The visual effects were provided by

Scanline VFX Scanline VFX is a global visual effects and animation company founded 1989 in Munich. The studio is led by VFX Supervisor Stephan Trojansky. The company has 7 locations including Munich, Stuttgart, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Montreal, London, and Se ...

and Shade VFX and supervised by Matthew Giampa and Bryan Godwin, with Erwin Rivera serving as the overall supervisor. ''Joker'' used less VFX work than other comics films, except few scenes including that Arthur smeared smile by his blood in crowd. One scene that was cut from the film depicted Sophie watching Arthur's appearance on Franklin's show. The scene was intended to show the audience that she is still alive (as the film otherwise implies that Arthur kills her), but Phillips decided it would disrupt the narrative, which is portrayed from Arthur's point of view. In another deleted scene, Arthur reveals his crimes to a co-worker; the scene was ultimately removed because it provided "too much information" in the form of exposition. The film's final budget was $55–70 million, considered by ''The Hollywood Reporter'' "a fraction" of the cost of a typical comic book-based film. In comparison, the previous villain-centered DC film, ''

Suicide Squad The Suicide Squad is an antihero/supervillain team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The first version of the Suicide Squad debuted in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #25 (September 1959) and the second and modern version, cre ...

'' (2016), cost $175 million. $25 million of ''Joker'' budget was covered by the Toronto-based financing company Creative Wealth Media, while

and

Bron Studios Bron Studios (stylized as BRON) is a Canadian motion picture company based in British Columbia owned by Bron Media Corporation. Bron's notable productions include '' Joker, Bombshell, Queen & Slim, Greyhound, Judas and the Black Messiah,'' '' ...

each contributed 25%. ''Joker'' was also the first live-action theatrical film in the ''Batman'' film franchise to receive an R rating from the

Motion Picture Association of America The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distrib ...

, due to "strong bloody violence, disturbing behavior, language and brief sexual images." In the United Kingdom, the

BBFC The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC, previously the British Board of Film Censors) is a non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of fi ...

gave the film a 15 certificate for "strong bloody violence ndlanguage".

Design

Set

in ''Joker'' was set in 1980s

, according to Todd Phillips, "to separate it, quite frankly, from the DC universe". Mark Friedberg, the production designer of this film, said he established the filming location of Gotham Square in Newark as a film set because there was still poverty. He wanted Gotham to look like a gritty city, as described in ''

'', therefore named all structures and lines in this film and drew a specific map of Gotham city. He displayed 1970s brightly colored

muscle car Muscle car is a description according to '' Merriam-Webster Dictionary'' that came to use in 1966 for "a group of American-made two-door sports coupes with powerful engines designed for high-performance driving." The '' Britannica Dictionary'' ...

s on the set, "conveying dissonance and being awful and beautiful at the same time". He also tried to describe Gotham as a decaying city through graffiti, garbage on the road and cracked sidewalks. The VFX team added fictional buildings, changing the skyline of the city to give the sense that the city was pressing down on Arthur.

said sodium-vapor lights were used in this film, representing Arthur's isolation and his more hopeful side. Arkham State Hospital is based on

Arkham Asylum The Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane (), commonly referred to as Arkham Asylum, is a fictional psychiatric hospital/prison, named after the city of Arkham which appeared first in the stories of H. P. Lovecraft, and later appear ...

. Warner Bros. Korea explained that it is a more realistic name in the real world. The exterior of Arkham State hospital was filmed at

Brooklyn Army Terminal The Brooklyn Army Terminal (BAT) is a large warehouse complex in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, New York City. The site occupies more than between 58th and 63rd Streets west of Second Avenue, on Brooklyn's western shore. The complex was originally u ...

, while the interior was pictured in

Metropolitan Hospital Center Metropolitan Hospital Center (MHC, also referred to as Metropolitan Hospital) is a hospital in East Harlem, New York City. It has been affiliated with New York Medical College since it was founded in 1875, representing the oldest partnership bet ...

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Ha ...

. Throughout the film, two walls are shown inside Arkham State Hospital; one is clearly white in the first and last scenes, the other is dirty yellow in the scene in which Arthur runs with a medical report. This difference was intended to make the audience confused and to question the possibility that Arthur had been in hospital the entire time.

Character design

One of the most important inspiration affected behavior of Arthur is Little Tramp in ''Modern Times''. Phillips confirmed that his ridiculous movement was referred from

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is conside ...

, in commentary video of ''Vanity Fair''. Phoenix revealed that Arthur's dance was inspired by that of

Ray Bolger Raymond Wallace Bolger (January 10, 1904 – January 15, 1987) was an American actor, dancer, singer, vaudevillian and stage performer (particularly musical theatre) who started in the silent-film era. Bolger was a major Broadway performer in ...

, while the gesture making smile by two fingers was from

scarecrow A scarecrow is a decoy or mannequin, often in the shape of a human. Humanoid scarecrows are usually dressed in old clothes and placed in open fields to discourage birds from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops.Lesle ...

in ''The Wizard of Oz''. In preparation, Phoenix lost to look “wolf-like and malnourished and hungry.”, and based his laugh on "videos of people suffering from pathological laughter." He also sought to portray a character who audiences could not identify with and did not look to previous Joker actors for inspiration; instead, he read a book about political assassinations so he could understand killers and motivations. In a behind-the-scenes video, Phillips explained that Arthur's normal face is the real mask and the Joker is the true personality. He also said, in ''

LA Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' interview, that the genuine laugh of Arthur is only in the last scene. Director

said that he intentionally left it ambiguous as to whether Arthur becomes the Joker of traditional

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on March 30, 1939. I ...

stories or inspires a separate character, although Phoenix believes that Arthur is the former.

Make-up and costumes

Nicki Ledermann and Kay Georgiou, the makeup designer and hairstylist tried to show Arthur Fleck to "be handmade and realistic". Georgiou designated Arthur as a man with unwashed hair. Arthur's costumes, designed by Mark Bridges, were matched to look "aged, overdyed and distressed" through wearing him with cheap polyester pants and acrylic sweater. His color palette was set in 80s; blue, maroon, brown, mauve and gray. In ''Deadline Hollywood'' interview, Bridges explained Arthur costume color started to juvenile mode, going darker with the tone of the story. In the first scene, Arthur's "too small" hooded jacket and white socks emphasize the childish concept. It was a reflection of him living with his mother Penny, with her calling him "my little boy", and the influence of

. However, he wore a charcoal sweater in the interview with the social worker and finally was in a "scab-colored knit top" in Arkham State Hospital. A line depicting his old suit for many years was interpreted a mustard-toned vest and a patterned bottle-green shirt. Meanwhile, Arthur in doctor costume is the homage of Joker in ''The Dark Knight'', wearing nurse uniform to meet Harvey Dent in Gotham Hospital. After turning Arthur into Joker, his design was also changed. His hair was dyed "broccoli" green and he wore a suit similar to the one in the original ''Batman'' series. However, the Joker suit in this film had different colors compared to previous films (purple suit with a green or yellow shirt). Mark Bridges noted that it was result of Phillips' intention to not want to be "connected to anything else". Initially, the color of the suit in the script was set to

Terracotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terra ...

, but Bridges changed this to red to give "more expressive" emotion. Additionally, his suit colors (green, yellow, purple and red) were compared with those of his antagonists, including Thomas Wayne, giving them to gray and blue like Batman. Clown makeup was drawn with a classic, antique feel, with darker colors and tones and menacing eyebrows. Due to copyright laws stating that no two clowns can look alike, Ledermann faced a challenge.

Music

In August 2018,

Hildur Guðnadóttir Hildur Ingveldardóttir Guðnadóttir (born 4 September 1982) is an Icelandic musician and composer. A classically trained cellist, she has played and recorded with the bands Pan Sonic, Throbbing Gristle, Múm, and Stórsveit Nix Noltes, and ...

was hired to compose the film's score. Hildur began writing music after reading the script and meeting with 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 Chernobyl ( , ; russian: Чернобыль, ) or Chornobyl ( uk, Чорнобиль, ) is a partially abandoned city in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, situated in the Vyshhorod Raion of northern Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. Chernobyl is about n ...

''; Hildur told ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the sec ...

'''s Divya-Kala Bhavani switching between the two was challenging because the scores were so different. Additionally, the film features the songs " That's Life", " Send In the Clowns", " White Room" and "

Rock and Roll Part 2 "Rock and Roll" is the debut single by English glam rock singer Gary Glitter that was released in 1972, from his debut studio album ''Glitter''. Co-written by Glitter and Mike Leander, the song is in two parts: Part 1 is a vocal track reflecting ...

". The use of "Rock and Roll Part 2" generated controversy when it was reported that its singer, convicted child sex offender

Gary Glitter Paul Francis Gadd (born 8 May 1944), best known by his stage name Gary Glitter, is an English former singer, songwriter, and record producer. He achieved success during the glam rock era of the 1970s and 1980s, and his career ended after he ...

, would receive royalties, but it was later confirmed he would not. The score was released on October 2, 2019, by

WaterTower Music WaterTower Music (formerly New Line Records from 2000 to 2010) is an American record label serving as the in-house music label and run by entertainment company Warner Bros., ultimately owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The name and logo are based ...

. Hildur's music won numerous awards including an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

, a

Satellite Award The Satellite Awards are annual awards given by the International Press Academy that are commonly noted in entertainment industry journals and blogs. The awards were originally known as the Golden Satellite Awards. The award ceremonies take place ...

, a

Saturn Award The Saturn Awards are American awards presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The awards were created to honor science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, but have since grown to reward other films be ...

, the Hollywood Music in Media Awards (HMMA) and the

Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score The Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score is a Golden Globe Award presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), an organization of journalists who cover the United States film industry, but are affiliated with publications ...

, with the latter making her the first woman to win as a solo composer in that category.

Marketing

Phillips promoted the film by posting on set photos on his Instagram account. On September 21, 2018, he released test footage of Phoenix in-costume as the Joker, with "

Laughing Laughter is a pleasant physical reaction and emotion consisting usually of rhythmical, often audible contractions of the diaphragm and other parts of the respiratory system. It is a response to certain external or internal stimuli. Laughter ...

" by

The Guess Who The Guess Who are a Canadian rock band formed in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1965. The band originated in 1962 and achieved an international hit single with a cover of " Shakin' All Over" in 1965 under the name Chad Allan and the Expressions. After ...

accompanying the footage. At CinemaCon on April 2, 2019, Phillips unveiled the first trailer for the film, which was released online the following day. The trailer, prominently featuring the song "

Smile A smile is a facial expression formed primarily by flexing the muscles at the sides of the mouth. Some smiles include a contraction of the muscles at the corner of the eyes, an action known as a Duchenne smile. Among humans, a smile expresses ...

" performed by

Jimmy Durante James Francis Durante ( , ; February 10, 1893 – January 29, 1980) was an American comedian, actor, singer, vaudevillian, and pianist. His distinctive gravelly speech, Lower East Side accent, comic language-butchery, jazz-influenced son ...

, generated positive responses, with some commentators comparing it to ''Taxi Driver'' and ''

Requiem for a Dream ''Requiem for a Dream'' is a 2000 American psychological drama film directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Christopher McDonald and Marlon Wayans. It is based on the 1978 novel of the same na ...

'' and praising Phoenix's performance. Writers described the trailer as dark and gritty, with ComicBook.com's Jenna Anderson feeling it appeared more like a

psychological thriller Psychological thriller is a genre combining the thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting. In terms of context and c ...

than a comic book film. Actor

Mark Hamill Mark Richard Hamill (; born September 25, 1951) is an American actor and writer. He is known for his role as Luke Skywalker in the '' Star Wars'' film series, beginning with the original 1977 film and subsequently winning three Saturn Awards ...

, who has

voiced Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds (usually consonants). Speech sounds can be described as either voiceless (otherwise known as ''unvoiced'') or voiced. The term, however, is used to refer ...

the Joker since the 1992 cartoon '' Batman: The Animated Series'', expressed enthusiasm on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

. Conversely, ''

io9 ''io9'' is part of Gizmodo media since 2015, and it began as blog launched in 2008 by Gawker Media. The site initially focused on the subjects of science fiction, fantasy, futurism, science, technology and related areas but over the years has ...

''s Germain Lussier said the trailer revealed too little and that it was too similar to photos Phillips had posted on Instagram. While he still believed it exhibited potential, Lussier overall thought the trailer was not "a home run." The trailer received over eight million views in the first few hours of release. On August 25, 2019, Phillips released six brief teasers that contained flashes of writing, revealing the second trailer would be released on August 28. Filmmaker

Kevin Smith Kevin Patrick Smith (born August 2, 1970) is an American filmmaker, actor, comedian, comic book writer, author, YouTuber, and podcaster. He came to prominence with the low-budget comedy buddy film '' Clerks'' (1994), which he wrote, directed, ...

commended the trailer, stating he thought the film "would still work even if

C Comics C, or c, is the third letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''cee'' (pronounced ), plural ''cees''. History "C" ...

didn't exist" and praising its uniqueness. Overall, ''

Deadline Hollywood ''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. The site is updated several times a day, wi ...

'' estimated that Warner Bros. spent $120 million on promotion and advertisements. After release in theaters, Warner Bros. used negative critics on this film for promotion.

Release

Theatrical

''Joker'' had its world premiere at the

on August 31, 2019, where it received an eight-minute

standing ovation A standing ovation is a form of applause where members of a seated audience stand up while applauding after extraordinary performances of particularly high acclaim. In Ancient Rome returning military commanders (such as Marcus Licinius Crassus a ...

and won the

award. It also screened at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...

on September 9, 2019. The film was released theatrically by Warner Bros. Pictures on October 4, 2019, in the United States and a day earlier in Australia and several other international markets. On November 16, 2019, it was screened at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

for President

, who reportedly enjoyed the film. Some theaters released this movie on 70mm film, by original intention of the movie's director. Following its nominations at various awards shows, the film was scheduled to be rereleased in theaters across North America, beginning on January 17, 2020.

Security concerns

On September 18, 2019, the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

distributed an email warning service members of potential violence at theaters screening the film and noting the Joker character's popularity among the incel community. A separate memo revealed the Army received "credible" information from Texas law enforcement "regarding the targeting of an unknown movie theater during the release." However, according to ''Deadline Hollywood'', the FBI and the

United States Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-ter ...

found no credible threats surrounding the release of the film. In an interview with ''

TheWrap ''TheWrap'' is an American online news website covering the business of entertainment and media via digital, print and live events. It was founded by journalist Sharon Waxman in 2009. Awards ''TheWrap'' has won awards for its journalism, incl ...

'', Phillips expressed surprise at criticism of the film's dark tone, stating "it's because outrage is a commodity" and calling critics of the film "

far-left Far-left politics, also known as the radical left or the extreme left, are politics further to the left on the left–right political spectrum than the standard political left. The term does not have a single definition. Some scholars conside ...

". Phoenix walked out of an interview by ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

'' when asked if the film could inspire mass shooters. He later returned to finish the interview, but did not answer the question. Following this, journalists were disinvited from the premiere at

TCL Chinese Theatre Grauman's Chinese Theatre (branded as TCL Chinese Theatre for naming rights reasons) is a movie palace on the historic Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States. The original Chinese T ...

, with only photographers being allowed to interact with the filmmakers and cast on the carpet. In a statement to ''Variety'', Warner Bros. said that "A lot has been said about ''Joker'' and we just feel it's time for people to see the film." The film did not play at the

Aurora, Colorado Aurora (, ) is a home rule municipality located in Arapahoe, Adams, and Douglas counties, Colorado, United States. The city's population was 386,261 at the 2020 United States Census with 336,035 residing in Arapahoe County, 47,720 residing in ...

movie theater where the 2012 mass shooting occurred during a screening of ''

The Dark Knight Rises ''The Dark Knight Rises'' is a 2012 superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan, who co-wrote the screenplay with his brother Jonathan Nolan, and the story with David S. Goyer. The film is based on the DC Comics character Batman, it is th ...

''. Three families of victims, as well as the mother of a witness, signed a letter to Warner Bros. with the request. Additionally,

Landmark Theaters Landmark Theatres is a movie theatre chain in the United States. It was formerly dedicated to exhibiting and marketing independent and foreign films. Since its founding in 1974, Landmark has grown to 35 theaters with 178 screens in 24 mark ...

prohibited moviegoers from wearing Joker costumes during its run, while the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

and

New York City Police Department The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of government who act i ...

s increased police visibility at area theaters, though they did not receive "any specific threat."

Home media

''Joker'' was released on Digital HD on December 17, 2019, and on DVD,

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

and

Ultra HD Blu-ray Ultra HD Blu-ray (4K Ultra HD, UHD-BD, or 4K Blu-ray) is a digital optical disc data storage format that is an enhanced variant of Blu-ray. Ultra HD Blu-ray discs are incompatible with existing standard Blu-ray players, though a traditional Bl ...

on January 7, 2020. It debuted on HBO on May 16, 2020, and on

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Ne ...

when it launched on May 27, 2020.

Reception

Box office

''Joker'' grossed $335.5 million in the United States and Canada and $738.5 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $1.074 billion. It is the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2019 and the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time, as well as the first R-rated film to pass the billion-dollar mark. In terms of budget-to-gross ratio, ''Joker'' is also the most profitable film based on a comic book, due to its small budget and little decline in week-to-week grosses during its theatrical run, surpassing the record previously held by ''

Deadpool Deadpool is an antihero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Fabian Nicieza and artist/writer Rob Liefeld, the character first appeared in ''New Mutants'' #98 (cover-dated Feb. 1991). Initially, Deadpo ...

''. ''Deadline Hollywood'' estimated the film made a net profit of $437 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues. In August 2019, ''BoxOffice'' magazine analyst Shawn Robbins wrote that he expected ''Joker'' to gross $60–90 million during its opening weekend in North America. Following the film's premiere, ''BoxOffice'' predicted ''Joker'' could open to $70–95 million domestically. Later updating to $85–105 million, Robbins suggested it could become the first October release to open to over $100 million and surpass the record set by ''

Venom Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a st ...

'' in 2018. However, Comscore's senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian thought the film would open closer to $50 million because it is not a "typical comic-book movie." Three weeks prior to its release, official industry tracking projected the film would debut to $65–80 million, with some estimates going as high as $90 million. The week of its release, Atom Tickets announced pre-sale totals for the film were outpacing those of ''Venom'' and ''

It Chapter Two ''It Chapter Two'' is a 2019 American supernatural horror film directed by Andy Muschietti, with a screenplay by Gary Dauberman. A follow-up to '' It'' (2017), it is the second of a two-part adaptation of the 1986 novel '' It'' by Stephen King ...

'' ($91.1 million debut) and that ''Joker'' was its second-bestselling R-rated film of 2019 behind '' John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum''. ''Joker'' opened in 4,374 theaters in North America and made $39.9 million on its first day, including $13.3 million from Thursday night previews, besting ''Venom''s respective October records. The film also had the biggest October opening day of any film, beating out ''

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observan ...

''. It went on to break ''Venom'' record for having the biggest October opening weekend, finishing with a domestic total of $96.2 million. The film set career records for Phoenix, Phillips and De Niro and was the fourth-largest debut for an R-rated film of all time. This record would cross over ''

The Matrix Reloaded ''The Matrix Reloaded'' is a 2003 American science-fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis. It is a sequel to '' The Matrix'' (1999) and the second installment in the ''Matrix'' film series. The film stars Keanu Reeves, Lau ...

'', staying behind ''Deadpool'', ''

Deadpool 2 ''Deadpool 2'' is a 2018 American superhero comedy film based on the Marvel Comics character Deadpool. Distributed by 20th Century Fox, it is the sequel to ''Deadpool'' (2016) and the eleventh installment overall in the ''X-Men'' film series. ...

'' and '' It''. It was also Warner Bros.' biggest domestic opening in two years. In its second weekend the film fell just 41.8% to $55.9 million, remaining in first and marking the best second-weekend October total (besting ''

Gravity In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...

''s $43.1 million in 2013). It made $29.2 million in its third weekend and $19.2 million in its fourth, finishing second behind '' Maleficent: Mistress of Evil'' both times. After 155 days, ''Joker''s American theatrical run wrapped up on March 5, 2020 with a final gross of $355.5 million, making it the fourth-highest domestic gross for an R-rated film, behind ''

The Passion of the Christ ''The Passion of the Christ'' is a 2004 American epic biblical drama film produced, directed and co-written by Mel Gibson and starring Jim Caviezel as Jesus of Nazareth, Maia Morgenstern as Mary, mother of Jesus, and Monica Bellucci as Mary ...

'', ''Deadpool'' and ''

American Sniper ''American Sniper'' is a 2014 American biographical war drama film directed by Clint Eastwood and written by Jason Hall. It is loosely based on the memoir '' American Sniper'' (2012) by Chris Kyle, with Scott McEwen and Jim DeFelice. The film ...

''. Worldwide, the film was projected to debut to around $155 million, including $75 million from 73 overseas territories. It made $5.4 million from four countries on its first day and $18.7 million from 47 in its second, for a two-day total of $24.6 million. It went on to greatly exceed expectations, making $140.5 million from overseas territories and a total $234 million worldwide. Its largest markets were South Korea (a Warner Bros. record $16.3 million), the United Kingdom ($14.8 million), Mexico ($13.1 million) and Japan ($7 million). With this, it became the biggest worldwide opening for an October film. During its second weekend, the film made an additional $125.7 million worldwide, and $77.9 million in its third. By this point, industry analysts expected ''Joker'' to become the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time, with some suggesting that it could finish its run with over $1 billion. The film became the highest-grossing R-rated film in its fourth weekend, during which it grossed $47.8 million internationally, and passed the billion-dollar mark about a month into its theatrical release.

Critical response

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, ''Joker'' holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The site's critical consensus reads, "''Joker'' gives its infamous central character a chillingly plausible origin story that serves as a brilliant showcase for its star – and a dark evolution for comics-inspired cinema."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 59 out of 100 based on 60 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data. Background Ed Mintz founded Ci ...

gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while those at

PostTrak PostTrak is a U.S.-based service that surveys film audiences for film studios. History The service conducts surveys in the top 20 markets in the U.S. and Canada with the use of polling cards and electronic kiosks. A PostTrak report for a film ...

gave it an overall positive score of 84% (with an average 4 out of 5 stars) and a 60% "definite recommend".

Mark Kermode Mark James Patrick Kermode (, ; ; born 2 July 1963) is an English film critic, musician, radio presenter, television presenter and podcaster. He is the chief film critic for ''The Observer'', contributes to the magazine '' Sight & Sound'', pr ...

of ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'' rated the film 4 out of 5 stars, stating "''Joker'' has an ace card in the form of Joaquin Phoenix's mesmerisingly physical portrayal of a man who would be king." Writing for IGN, Jim Vejvoda gave ''Joker'' a perfect score, saying that the film "would work just as well as an engrossing character study without any of its DC Comics trappings; that it just so happens to be a brilliant ''Batman''-universe movie is icing on the Batfan cake." He found it a powerful and unsettling allegory of contemporary neglect and violence and described Phoenix's performance as the Joker as engrossing and "

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

-worthy". Similarly, Xan Brooks of ''The Observer''—who also gave the film a perfect score—called it "gloriously daring and explosive" and appreciated how Phillips used elements from Scorsese films to create an original story. ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

''s

Owen Gleiberman Owen Gleiberman (born February 24, 1959) is an American film critic who has been chief film critic for '' Variety'' magazine since May 2016, a title he shares with . Previously, Gleiberman wrote for ''Entertainment Weekly'' from 1990 until 2014. ...

wrote, "Phoenix is astonishing as a mentally ill geek who becomes the killer-clown Joker in Todd Phillips' neo-''Taxi Driver'' knockout: the rare comic-book movie that expresses what's happening in the real world." ''ComicBook.com''s Brandon Davis acclaimed ''Joker'' as a groundbreaking comic book adaptation that he found scarier than most 2019

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, ap ...

s. Davis compared it favorably to the 2008 ''Batman'' film ''

The Dark Knight ''The Dark Knight'' is a 2008 superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan from a screenplay he co-wrote with his brother Jonathan Nolan, Jonathan. Based on the DC Comics superhero, Batman, it is the sequel to ''Batman Begins'' (2005) and t ...

'', praised the cinematography and performances and called it a film that needed to be seen to be believed. ''Deadline Hollywood''s Pete Hammond believes the film redefines the Joker and is "impossible to shake off". Hammond also praised the story and performances and summarized the film as "a bravura piece of filmmaking that speaks to the world we are actually living in today in ways that few movies do."

Peter Travers Peter Joseph Travers (born ) is an American film critic, journalist, and television presenter. He reviews films for ABC News and previously served as a movie critic for ''People'' and ''Rolling Stone''. Travers also hosts the film interview prog ...

of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' said he was lost for words in describing Phoenix's performance, calling the film "gut-wrenching" and "simply stupendous". David Ehrlich of ''

IndieWire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Holl ...

'' was more mixed and gave the film a "C+". He felt that while "''Joker'' is the boldest and most exciting superhero movie since ''The Dark Knight''", it was "also incendiary, confused and potentially toxic". Ehrlich thought that the film would make DC fans happy and praised Phoenix's performance, but criticized Phillips' direction and the lack of originality. A critical review came from Glenn Kenny of

RogerEbert.com ''RogerEbert.com'' is an American film review website that archives reviews written by film critic Roger Ebert for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' and also shares other critics' reviews and essays. The website, underwritten by the ''Chicago Sun-Times ...

, who gave the film two stars out of four. Though he praised the performances and thought the story worked, Kenny criticized the social commentary and Phillips' direction, finding the film too derivative and believing its focus was "less in entertainment than in generating self-importance". In an analysis of the character Joker, Onmanorama's Sajesh Mohan wrote that the movie was cliché-ridden, the only original part being Joaquin Phoenix's acting. "The movie, with great pain and in detail, explains how Arthur Fleck turns into Joker dejected by the way the world treats him. Thanks to Phillips and Silver, Phoenix was able to bring out the king among the Jokers," the analysis read.

Stephanie Zacharek Stephanie Zacharek is an American film critic at ''Time'', based in New York City. From 2013 to 2015, she was the principal film critic for ''The Village Voice''. She was a 2015 Pulitzer Prize finalist in criticism. Early life Stephanie Zachare ...

of ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...

'' magazine, in a negative review, labeled Phoenix's performance over-the-top and felt that while Phillips tried to " iveus a movie all about the emptiness of our culture... he's just offering a prime example of it." She argued the plot was nonexistent, "dark only in a stupidly adolescent way" and "stuffed with phony philosophy". Meanwhile,

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

Glen Weldon Glen Weldon is an American writer, cultural critic, and podcaster. He has written for publications such as ''The Washington Post'', ''The New York Times'', ''Slate'', ''The Atlantic'', and ''McSweeney's''. Weldon currently writes for the NPR Arts ...

thought the film lacked innovation and said its sympathetic take on the Joker was "wildly unconvincing and mundanely uninteresting". Weldon also described ''Joker'' as trying too hard to deviate from the comics and, as a result, coming off as an imitation of films like ''Taxi Driver''.

Peter Bradshaw Peter Bradshaw (born 19 June 1962) is a British writer and film critic. He has been chief film critic at ''The Guardian'' since 1999, and is a contributing editor at ''Esquire''. Early life and education Bradshaw was educated at Haberdasher ...

of ''The Guardian'' called it "the most disappointing film of the year". While praising Phoenix's performance and the first act, he criticized the film's political plot developments and overall found it too derivative of various Scorsese films.

Industry response

''Joker'' generated positive responses from industry figures. DC Comics chief creative officer

Jim Lee Jim Lee (Korean 이용철; born August 11, 1964) is a Korean American comic-book artist, writer, editor, and publisher. He is currently the Publisher and Chief Creative Officer of DC Comics. In recognition of his work, Lee has received a Harvey ...

praised it as "intense, raw and soulful" and stated that it had remained true to the character despite deviating from the source material. Actor

, who has voiced the Joker in animation and video games since '' Batman: The Animated Series'', thought the film had "brilliantly" reinvented the character and gave it " wothumbs up". ''

Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book '' Action Comics'' #1 ( cover-dated June 1938 and pu ...

'' (1978) director

Richard Donner Richard Donner (born Richard Donald Schwartzberg; April 24, 1930 – July 5, 2021) was an American filmmaker whose notable works included some of the most financially-successful films during the New Hollywood era. According to film historian ...

called the film "brilliant", "fascinating", "really well-written" and stated that Phoenix's performance was "genius". Documentary filmmaker

Michael Moore Michael Francis Moore (born April 23, 1954) is an American filmmaker, author and left-wing activist. His works frequently address the topics of globalization and capitalism. Moore won the 2002 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for ' ...

called ''Joker'' a "cinematic masterpiece" and stated it was a "danger to society" if people did not see it. Actor

Josh Brolin Joshua James Brolin (; born February 12, 1968) is an American actor. He has appeared in films such as ''The Goonies'' (1985), '' Mimic'' (1997), '' Hollow Man'' (2000), '' Grindhouse'' (2007), '' No Country for Old Men'' (2007), '' American Gan ...

found the film powerful: "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". Actor

Vincent D'Onofrio Vincent Philip D'Onofrio (; born June 30, 1959) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his supporting and leading roles in both film and television. He has been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. His roles include Private Leonar ...

vocally commended Phoenix's performance in the film on Twitter, stating that he "deserve recognition for this performance", while actress

Jessica Chastain Jessica Michelle Chastain (born March 24, 1977) is an American actress and producer. Known for primarily starring in films with feminist themes, she has received various accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. ''Time'' ...

agreed, replying: "It's one of the greatest pieces of acting I've ever seen". Actress and screenwriter

Phoebe Waller-Bridge Phoebe Mary Waller-Bridge (born 14 July 1985) is an English actress and screenwriter. She is best known as the creator, head writer, and star of the BBC sitcom ''Fleabag'' (2016–2019), which was based on her one-woman show of the same name. ...

also praised the film, stating: "I think the reason people got so uncomfortable ith the filmis because it feels too true, too raw. I was watching it and thinking to myself, God, if this came out a year into Obama's time in office, I don't think we'd be feeling as worried about it". Filmmaker

David Fincher David Andrew Leo Fincher (born August 28, 1962) is an American film director. His films, mostly psychological thrillers and biographical dramas, have received 40 nominations at the Academy Awards, including three for him as Best Director. F ...

said of the film's unexpected success, "Nobody would have thought they had a shot at a giant hit with ''Joker'' had ''The Dark Knight'' not been as massive as it was. I don't think anyone would have looked at that material and thought, 'Yeah, let's take 'Taxi Driver''s Travis Bickle and 'The King of Comedy''sRupert Pupkin and conflate them, then trap him in a betrayal of the mentally ill and trot it out for a billion dollars'". Actor

Brendan Gleeson Brendan Gleeson (born 29 March 1955) is an Irish actor and film director. He is the recipient of three IFTA Awards, two British Independent Film Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award and has been nominated twice for a BAFTA Award and four times fo ...

felt that Phoenix's performance as the Joker was absolutely "indelible" and one of the most magnificent achievements in cinema he has ever seen, incidentally being that the reason he opted to join the film's sequel '' Joker: Folie à Deux'' (2024).

Accolades

Joaquin Phoenix's performance in the film won him multiple awards, including an

Academy Award for Best Actor The Academy Award for Best Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role in a film released that year. The ...

, a

BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Best Actor in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film Award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film. Superlatives Note: ...

, a

Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actor The Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actor is an award given out at the annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards. The awards are presented by the Critics Choice Association (CCA) and was first presented in 1995. There were no official nominees an ...

, a

Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama The Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama is a Golden Globe Award that was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association as a separate category in 1951. Previously, there was a single award for "Best Actor i ...

and a

Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role The Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role in a Motion Picture is an award given by the Screen Actors Guild to honor the finest acting achievements in film. Winners and nominees 1990s 2000s 2 ...

. ''Joker'' won the Best Actor (Phoenix) and Best Original Score awards at the

92nd Academy Awards The 92nd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored films released in 2019 and took place on February 9, 2020, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, beginning at 5:00 p ...

. It received overall eleven nominations (including

Best Picture This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

) from the ceremony, breaking the record of eight held by ''

'' for the most nominations received by a film based on a comic book,

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics ter ...

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

also became the first woman to win an original score Oscar since ''

The Full Monty ''The Full Monty'' is a 1997 British comedy film directed by Peter Cattaneo, starring Robert Carlyle, Mark Addy, William Snape, Steve Huison, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Barber and Hugo Speer. The screenplay was written by Simon Beaufoy. The film is ...

'' in 1998. At the

73rd British Academy Film Awards The 73rd British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFAs (or BAFTAs), were held on 2 February 2020 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, honouring the best national and foreign films of 2019. Presented by the British Academy of Film ...

, the film won Best Actor in a Leading Role (Phoenix), Best Casting and Best Original Music out of a leading eleven nominations including

Best Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

. The film was nominated for four

Golden Globe Awards The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

for the 77th ceremony, winning the awards for Best Original Score and Best Actor (Phoenix). The film was nominated for seven awards at the

25th Critics' Choice Awards The 25th Critics' Choice Awards were presented on January 12, 2020, at the Barker Hangar at the Santa Monica Airport, honoring the finest achievements of filmmaking and television programming in 2019. The ceremony was broadcast on The CW and ...

, winning Best Actor (Phoenix) and Best Score and was included in the American Film Institute and Cahiers du Cinéma's top 10 films of 2019. Having won an award at the

26th Screen Actors Guild Awards The 26th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, honoring the best achievements in film and television performances for the year 2019, were presented on January 19, 2020 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. The ceremony was broadcast li ...

for Phoenix's performance, ''Joker'' also received nominations from other guilds including the

Writers Guild of America Awards The Writers Guild of America Awards is an award for film, television, and radio writing including both fiction and non-fiction categories given by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America West since 1949. Eligibility T ...

and the

Producers Guild of America The Producers Guild of America (PGA) is a 501(c)(6) trade association representing television producers, film producers and New Media producers in the United States. The PGA's membership includes over 8,000 members of the producing establishment w ...

. It won a Best Period and/or Character Make-Up in a Feature-Length Motion Picture award from the

Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild The Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild is an American labor union representing make-up artists and hair stylists in feature films, television programs, commercials, live network events and theatrical productions in the United States. The memb ...

. An American production, the film won the Golden Lion at the 76th Venice International Film Festival.

Themes and analysis

''Joker'' deals with the themes of mental illness and its effects. While its depiction of the Joker has been described as reminiscent of those who commit

mass shootings in the United States Mass shootings are incidents involving multiple victims of firearm-related violence. Definitions vary, with no single, broadly accepted definition. One definition is an act of public firearm violence—excluding gang killings, domestic violen ...

as well as members of the incel community, Christina Newland of ''The Guardian'' concludes that Fleck is not an incel, but wrote that incels are likely to relate to him. Vejvoda, Hammond and Newland interpreted the film as a cautionary tale—society's disregard of those who are less fortunate will create a person like the Joker. Stephen Kent, writing for the ''

Washington Examiner The ''Washington Examiner'' is an American conservative news outlet which consists principally of an online/digital website with a weekly magazine, based in Washington, D.C. It is owned by MediaDC, a subsidiary of Clarity Media Group, which is ...

'', described Arthur Fleck as blending shared aspects of mass shooters and interpreted its message as a reminder that society is riddled with men like the Joker. Writing in ''

People's World ''People's World'', official successor to the ''Daily Worker'', is a Marxist and American leftist national daily online news publication. Founded by activists, socialists, communists, and those active in the labor movement in the early 1900s, t ...

'', Chauncey K. Robinson said the film "walks a fine line between exploration and validation" of Joker's character and is "ultimately an in-your-face examination of a broken system that creates its own monsters." Some writers have expressed concern that ''Joker'' sympathetic portrayal of a homicidal maniac could inspire real-world violence. Richard Lawson of ''

Vanity Fair Vanity Fair may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Literature * Vanity Fair, a location in '' The Pilgrim's Progress'' (1678), by John Bunyan * ''Vanity Fair'' (novel), 1848, by William Makepeace Thackeray * ''Vanity Fair'' (magazines), the ...

'' found the film was too sympathetic towards "white men who commit heinous crimes" and that the sociopolitical ideologies represented in the film are "evils that are far more easily identifiable" to people "who shoot up schools and concerts and churches, who gun down the women and men they covet and envy, who let loose some spirit of anarchic animus upon the world—there's almost a woebegone mythos placed on them in the search for answers." Jim Geraghty of ''

National Review ''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief ...

'' wrote he was "worried that a certain segment of America's angry, paranoid, emotionally unstable young men will watch Joaquin Phoenix descending into madness and a desire to get back at society by hurting as many people as possible and exclaim, 'finally, somebody understands me! Contrarily, Michael Shindler, reviewing the film in ''Mere Orthodoxy'', while agreeing that ''Joker'' depicts a sympathetic wish fulfillment fantasy, contends (drawing on insights from

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts i ...

and

Jacques Lacan Jacques Marie Émile Lacan (, , ; 13 April 1901 – 9 September 1981) was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist. Described as "the most controversial psycho-analyst since Freud", Lacan gave yearly seminars in Paris from 1953 to 1981, and ...

) that it is for precisely that reason that the film will, if anything, preemptively quell real-world violence by rendering "the Flecks of the world into meek

somnambulist Sleepwalking, also known as somnambulism or noctambulism, is a phenomenon of combined sleep and wakefulness. It is classified as a sleep disorder belonging to the parasomnia family. It occurs during slow wave stage of sleep, in a state of low ...

s." British neurocriminologist Adrian Raine was impressed by how accurate the film's depiction of the psychology of a murderer was. In an interview with ''Vanity Fair'', he described it as "a great educational tool" and stated that he planned to present film clips during his classes. Psychiatrist Kamran Ahmed highlighted the factors in Arthur's childhood such as parental abuse and loss and family history of mental illness in the genesis of his condition. American

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...

Imani Walker, who is known for her Bravo television series ''Married to Medicine Los Angeles'' and working with violent criminals with

mental disorders A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitt ...

, analyzed the Joker's apparent mental disorders and circumstances and noted that Arthur tries to find help before his downfall, only to be abandoned. She says of Arthur and others in poverty who have mental illness: "We as a society don't even pretend that they're real people and that's what this movie is about. He never had a chance." Forensic psychiatrist Ziv Cohen criticized the film as misrepresenting the mentally ill as violent. He argued the film conflates psychopathy (a lack of conscience) with mental illness, thereby creating a false impression of the mentally ill as dangerous. Micah Uetricht, managing director of ''

Jacobin , logo = JacobinVignette03.jpg , logo_size = 180px , logo_caption = Seal of the Jacobin Club (1792–1794) , motto = "Live free or die"(french: Vivre libre ou mourir) , successor = P ...

'', opined in a review published by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' that he was shocked that the media did not understand the movie's message: "we got a fairly straightforward condemnation of American

austerity Austerity is a set of political-economic policies that aim to reduce government budget deficits through spending cuts, tax increases, or a combination of both. There are three primary types of austerity measures: higher taxes to fund spend ...

: how it leaves the vulnerable to suffer without the resources they need and the horrific consequences for the rest of society that can result"; Uetricht thus declares that ''Joker'' presents a world that has devolved into "

barbarism Barbarism, barbarity, or barbarous may refer to: * Barbarism (linguistics), a non-standard word, expression, or pronunciation ** Hybrid words, formerly called "barbarisms" * Any society construed as barbarian ** Barbarian invasions, a period of ...

". Uetricht states that these themes are unsubtle to the extent that it was surprising that most media outlets had not identified them. Ahmed also highlights the lack of funding for already-stretched mental health services worldwide being alluded to.

Cultural impact

During a

Five Star Movement The Five Star Movement ( it, Movimento 5 Stelle , M5S) is a political party in Italy. Its leader and president is Giuseppe Conte, Prime Minister of Italy from 2018 until 2021. The M5S was founded on 4 October 2009 by Beppe Grillo, a comedian an ...

event in October 2019, Italian comedian and politician

Beppe Grillo Giuseppe Piero "Beppe" Grillo (; born 21 July 1948) is an Italian comedian, actor, blogger, and politician. He has been involved in politics since 2009 as the co-founder (together with Gianroberto Casaleggio) of the Italian Five Star Movement ...

gave a speech wearing the Joker's makeup. Yusuke Kawai, the governor of

Chiba Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama Prefecture to t ...

, appeared on

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

with a Joker costume in 2021. References to the character were also found in anti-government protests worldwide. During the 17 October Revolution, a group of graffiti artists called Ashekm painted a mural of the Joker holding a Molotov cocktail and it was also reported that there was a Joker facepaint station at the protests in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

. In

Los Ángeles, Chile Los Ángeles () is the capital of the province of Bío Bío, in the commune of the same name, in Bío Bío, in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 186,671 inhabitants ( census 2012). ...

, during the

2019–2022 Chilean protests The 2019–2022 Chilean protests, known in Chile as the ''Estallido Social'' (lit. ''social outburst''), are a series of massive demonstrations and severe riots that originated in Santiago and spread to all regions of Chile, with a greater impact ...

, the phrase "We are all clowns", which is adopted by Gotham City protesters in the movie, was written at the foot of a statue. In

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

, protesters challenged an emergency decree prohibiting the wearing of masks by wearing those of fictional characters such as the Joker. In France, during the Yellow Vest Protests, firefighters donned Joker makeup holding placards. In 2020, during the

George Floyd protests The George Floyd protests were a series of protests and civil unrest against police brutality and racism that began in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020, and largely took place during 2020. The civil unrest and protests began as part of internat ...

, Argentine president

Alberto Fernández Alberto Ángel Fernández (; born 2 April 1959) is an Argentine politician, lawyer and professor, serving as president of Argentina since 2019. Born in Buenos Aires, Fernández attended the University of Buenos Aires, where he earned his law ...

compared the pictures of the protests to those seen in the film. One of the locations seen in the film, a set of stairs in the Bronx, New York City, has been dubbed the

Joker Stairs The "Joker Stairs" is the colloquial name for a step street connecting Shakespeare and Anderson avenues at West 167th Street in Highbridge in the Bronx, New York City. Located near the 167th Street station on the New York City Subway's , the s ...

. The stairs have become a tourist destination and the subject of

internet meme An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...

s, with visitors often reenacting the scene from the film in which Fleck dances down the stairs in his Joker attire. Ukrainian boxing champion

Oleksandr Usyk Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Usyk ( uk, Олекса́ндр Олекса́ндрович У́сик; born 17 January 1987) is a Ukrainian professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the unified ...

wore a suit resembling that of Joker in a pre-fight press conference leading up to his fight with

Anthony Joshua Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua (born 15 October 1989) is an English professional boxer. He is a two-time former unified world heavyweight champion, having held the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO titles twice between 2016 and 2021. At r ...

Sequel

While ''Joker'' was intended to be a standalone film with no sequels, Warner Bros. Entertainment also intended for it to launch a new franchise named DC Black, which would include DC Comics-based films unrelated to the DCEU with darker and more experimental material. In August 2019, Phillips stated that he would be interested in making a sequel, depending on the film's performance and Phoenix's interest. He stated that the movie was pitched as standalone, "one movie, and that's it." In October 2019, Phoenix stated in an interview, "I can't stop thinking about it...if there's something else we can do with Joker that might be interesting," and concluded, "It's nothing that I really wanted to do prior to working on this movie. I don't know that there is ore to do..Because it seemed endless, the possibilities of where we can go with the character." In November 2019, ''The Hollywood Reporter'' announced that a sequel was in development, though this was later disputed by ''Deadline Hollywood''. Phillips responded to these reports, by saying that there were discussions with Warner Bros. for a sequel, but that it was not currently in development. He later clarified that despite ongoing rumors, the then-upcoming

Matt Reeves Matt Reeves (born April 27, 1966) is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He first gained recognition for the WB drama series '' Felicity'' (1998–2002), which he co-created with J. J. Abrams. Reeves came to widespread attentio ...

-directed

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...

centered around

was not related to ''Joker''. Later, he expressed interest in a potential spin-off film centered around Batman in his ''Jokers universe, stating: "What I would like to see someone tackle is what Batman looks like from that Gotham. I'm not saying I'm going to do that." In May 2021, it was stated that a ''Joker'' sequel was in development. Later that month, Phillips had entered negotiations to serve as a screenwriter. In January 2022,

Willem Dafoe Willem James Dafoe (; born July 22, 1955) is an American actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including the Volpi Cup for Best Actor, in addition to receiving nominations for four Academy Awards, four Screen Actors Guild Awards, t ...

expressed interest in appearing in the sequel. By June, the sequel was officially confirmed to be in development with Phillips serving as director with a script he co-wrote with Silver. The working title of the project was revealed to be ''Joker: Folie à Deux''.

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...

reportedly was in negotiations to star alongside Phoenix as

Harley Quinn Harley Quinn is a character (arts), character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Quinn was created by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm as a comic relief henchwoman for the supervillain Joker (character), Joker in ''Batman: The An ...

and it was also reported that the film would be a

movie musical Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serve merely as breaks ...

. Phoenix's salary, as a result of the first film's commercial success, increased from $4.5 million to $20 million for the sequel. On August 3, Warner Bros. Pictures announced that the film will be released on October 4, 2024. Gaga confirmed the next day that she would star in it. Shortly after, Beetz was in negotiations to reprise her role as Sophie Dumond in the sequel. She was confirmed on September 1, 2022, alongside

. On September 7 and September 13 respectively,

Catherine Keener Catherine Ann Keener (born March 26, 1959) is an American actress. She has portrayed disgruntled and melancholic yet sympathetic women in independent films, as well as supporting roles in studio films. She has been nominated twice for the Acad ...

and

Jacob Lofland Jacob Seth Lofland (born July 30, 1996) is an American actor best known for his role as Neckbone in the film ''Mud'' and for his role as Aris in '' Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials'' and '' Maze Runner: The Death Cure''. Life and career Lofland w ...

were cast in undisclosed roles. On October 20, ''

Industry Industry may refer to: Economics * Industry (economics), a generally categorized branch of economic activity * Industry (manufacturing), a specific branch of economic activity, typically in factories with machinery * The wider industrial sector ...

'' actor Harry Lawtey was reported by ''

'' to have been cast in what was described to be a "big role" in the film. On December 10, 2022, production began, with Phillips releasing a first look of Phoenix's reprisal as the Joker on his Instagram account.

Notes

References

External links

* *
Lady Gaga starring in Joker sequel
* *
Official screenplay
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Plot

Cast

Production

Development

Writing

Pre-production

Filming

Post-production

Design

Set

Character design

Make-up and costumes

Music

Marketing

Release

Theatrical

Security concerns

Home media

Reception

Box office

Critical response

Industry response

Accolades

Themes and analysis

Cultural impact

Sequel

See also

Notes

References

External links