Joaquin Phoenix Is Totally Down for a 'Joker' Sequel
It wouldn't be exaggerating to say that Joker has been the single most talked-about movie of the year, for both good reasons and bad. Regardless of the discourse surrounding the film's depiction of mental illness and concerns that it might inspire violence, the consensus is that Joaquin Phoenix gave a stellar performance, transforming both figuratively and physically. And he has just revealed that he found playing the Joker so fascinating that he would be open to the idea of a sequel.
Speaking to The Envelope, Phoenix said that his original reluctance towards playing a comic book character came from a worry that there wouldn't be enough compelling material, but that his experience working with Todd Phillips yielded plenty.
"I guess the fear was that you’d get locked into doing something repeatedly that you don’t really care about, that doesn’t motivate you or excite you," he said. "Part of the whole attraction to me was there was no expectation. I didn’t sign a deal to do more. It was a one-off."
However, it wasn't long before Phoenix found himself still thinking about the character and what might happen next in his story. "Long before the release or before we had any idea if it would be successful, we talked about sequels," he said. "In the second or third week of shooting, I was like, 'Todd, can you start working on a sequel? There’s way too much to explore.' It was kind of in jest — but not really."
Phillips, meanwhile, insists that a sequel would only happen if they were able to justify telling another story set in this world. "We’ve only talked about the fact that if we ever did one — and I’m not saying we are because right now we’re not — it couldn’t just be this wild and crazy movie about the 'Clown Prince of Crime'. That just doesn’t interest us," he said. "It would have to have some thematic resonance in a similar way that this does."
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