Todd Phillips, the director of the hugely successful Joker, believes the success of the film is not due to the character’s affiliation to Batman.
In a recent interview with Deadline, during their The Contenders New York Event, Phillips was asked if the Joker’s ties to the Dark Knight made it successful, to which he responded with “it was more than that.”
“I think it was more than that,” he said. “I mean, I think there are themes in the movie that really resonated with people. None of us thought an R-rated movie could do over $1 billion across the world. But I think the themes in it really resonated. The thing Scott Silver and I set out to do when we wrote the movie together was to make something meaningful in that comic book space, but also something really that addressed what was going on in 2016 when we started writing. It’s pretty obvious what was happening in our country in 2017 while we were writing it, and really wanted to use Joker to make a movie about the loss of compassion and the lack of decorum in the world.”
“I’ve been around the world with the movie,” he continued, “and, speaking to the audiences, some people see it as an indictment of America and other people see it as a mirror for what’s going on in their country, both with the lack of compassion and with the wealth and equality issues.”
SEE ALSO: Kevin Smith claims Joker originally had a much darker alternative ending
Although the Joaquin Phoenix-starring feature only reached a rating of 69% on Rotten Tomatoes, the film was a financial success after grossing over $1 billion worldwide at the box office. There isn’t long to wait to see if Joker will receive any nominations at the Academy Awards either, with the nominees set to be announced on January 13th.
Do you think the success of Joker is tied to his connection with Batman? Let us know in the comments below or tweet us @flickeringmyth…
