Joker grossed over $1 billion at the worldwide box office and received widespread critical acclaim, so it's really no great surprise that it dominated the Golden Globes nominations yesterday.
The R-Rated DC Comics adaptation picked up "Best Drama," "Best Actor", and "Best Director" nods among others, and when
Variety caught up with filmmaker Todd Phillips, they asked for his thoughts on the awards attention the movie has recieved.
"When I first pitched this movie to Warner Bros., I never thought about nominations or grosses," he admitted.
"I was just thinking how we would push this through to achieve a finished product. As for why audiences were drawn to the film, it was a combination of things: obviously Joaquin and his performance, it was so immersive and he really dove into what he was doing. I used to joke with the DP during the shoot that rather than massive visual effects, Joaquin was that special effect for us."
"Before we started shooting, I really knew how invested he was in this role and knew we possibly had something very special ahead of us." That seems like an accurate assesment, but what about the rumoured follow-up?
"As for a sequel," Phillips notes,
"it’s way too early [to tell]. I swear I haven’t even talked to Joaquin about that yet or what that would even be."
So, it sounds like it's still early days for another Joker movie, and there's no guarantee it will even happen despite how successful the first instalment was. It's also hard to imagine what direction it could take, but Arthur Fleck's continuing descent into madness and full transformation into the Clown Prince of Crime would seem like the most obvious route.
What do you guys think?
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amazing behind the scenes photos from Joker!