Todd Phillips, the director of Joker, has commented on the biggest difference between Joaquin Phoenix’s and Heath Ledger’s version of the titular villain.
Joker is one of those characters that fans just can’t get enough of seeing on the big screen and this is partly due to some exceptional performances by actors over the years. One of the most beloved is certainly Heath Ledger’s rendition in The Dark Knight.
Joaquin Phoenix is the latest to give the character a go but how different is this version from Ledger’s iconic take on the villain? Well, at a press conference following Joker’s acclaimed premiere (via ComicBook.com), director Todd Phillips commented on the biggest difference:
“I don’t think it was this Joker’s goal to watch the world burn. This Joker had an entirely different goal in mind. In the beginning of the movie he’s sitting here doing this [forcing himself to smile and frown] in the very first scene, and it’s a guy searching for identity.
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“I think he becomes, mistakenly, a symbol, and really what he was looking for was adulation. He was never looking for the world to burn, this Joker. As for the past ones, that’s a different thing. But our guy, that wasn’t his goal.
“He thought he was put here on this Earth to make people laugh and bring joy to the world, and he made a few bad decisions along the way, but no, his goal was not that. I think he became a mistaken leader, so to speak, or a symbol. Even [Robert] De Niro, [who plays] Murray [Franklin], says it to him. And Arthur says, ‘No, I’m not political.’ He just didn’t get what he was creating.”
Fans can see just how different Phoenix’s rendition of the character is for themselves next month but what do you think of these comments? Do you like the sound of this version of the Joker? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter @flickeringmyth…
SEE ALSO: Why are people getting so crazy about Joker?
Joker centers around Arthur Fleck, who is indelibly portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix, is of a man struggling to find his way in Gotham’s fractured society. A clown-for-hire by day, he aspires to be a stand-up comic at night…but finds the joke always seems to be on him. Caught in a cyclical existence between apathy and cruelty, Arthur makes one bad decision that brings about a chain reaction of escalating events in this gritty character study.
Joker is set for release on October 4th 2019 and stars Joaquin Phoenix (The Sisters Brothers), Robert De Niro (Goodfellas), Zazie Beetz (Deadpool 2), Bill Camp (Red Sparrow), Frances Conroy (American Horror Story), Brett Cullen (Narcos), Glenn Fleshler (Billions), Douglas Hodge (Penny Dreadful), Marc Maron (GLOW), Josh Pais (Motherless Brooklyn), Shea Whigham (Kong: Skull Island), Douglas Hodge (Robin Hood) and Dante Pereira-Olson (You Were Never Really Here).
