We now know that Todd Philips' standalone
Joker movie will be rated R, but the director has revealed that convincing Warner Bros. to make the film more adult-orientated took some doing.
Apparently, then-studio chief Kevin Tsujihara and then-production president Greg Silverman were completely on board with Philips' idea for the character, but shifting regimes at WB meant that the new studio heads were a little more apprehensive.
“It was a year-long process from when we finished the script just to get the new people on board with this vision, because I pitched it to an entirely different team than made it,” Phillips told
The LA Times.
“There were emails about: ‘You realize we sell Joker pajamas at Target.’ There were a zillion hurdles, and you just sort of had to navigate those one at a time.... At the time I would curse them in my head every day. But then I have to put it in perspective and go, ‘They’re pretty bold that they did this.’”
Philips also touched on the fact that his film will not follow any of the established comic book lore surrounding the iconic Batman villain, and is fully aware that this will come in for a lot of backlash from the hardcore fans.
“There are always going to be naysayers, but from what I gather about the momentum of the movie and the response to the teaser we put out, the majority of fans seem to be excited about going down a different road,” Philips said. “
But also this will not be the last Joker movie ever made,” he added.
“It might be the last one Joaquin and I do, but someone else is going to come along and do another one, just like with Spider-Man. So if you don’t like this one, don’t worry — it’ll get reinvented again."
Joker has its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival this Saturday, so first reactions should be online soon after. In the meantime, let us know what you thought about Philips' comments down below, and check out some screen-grabs from yesterday's new trailer.