Joaquin Phoenix Comments On ‘Joker’ Sequel Possibilities

Joker Joaquin Phoenix Warner Bros Todd Phillips Oscar

Joker was originally envisioned as a one-off, but Joaquin Phoenix thinks that there’s potential for a sequel to further explore Arthur Fleck’s downfall.

While Phoenix ironically approached Joker as a single commitment rather than to engage in a multi-film contract, it’s seeming more and more likely that he could be up for at least one sequel to the film. Talking to The LA Times, Phoenix explained that what attracted him to the movie was the self-contained nature of the film:

“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. Part of the whole attraction to me [of Joker] was there was no expectation. I didn’t sign a deal to do [more movies]. It was a one-off… “

Phoenix dismissed the notion of committing to a sequel just because the first one did well, but that doesn’t mean that he’s not interested in the idea of doing one. In fact, early on into filming on Joker, Phoenix was actually the one to approach director Todd Phillips to pitch the idea of doing another film:

“Long before the release or before we had any idea if it would be successful, we talked about sequels. 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.”

Joker still has a shot of potentially making $1 billion worldwide, as it’s set to clear $900 million this weekend. While it certainly wasn’t expected to get to this point, the fact that the movie has made that much has indicated that the film inspired conversation rather than controversy (or, worse, copycat violence). DC Films are likely considering the possibility of doing a sequel to this film considering that the movie has performed so far above their expectations, and the active interest of Phoenix is something that could push a Joker Part II forward.

Here is the official synopsis for Joker:

Director Todd Phillips’ Joker centers around the iconic arch nemesis and is an original, standalone fictional story not seen before on the big screen. Phillips’ exploration of 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.

Directed by Todd Phillips from a script he co-wrote with Scott Silver, Joker stars Joaquin Phoenix, Zazie Beetz, Bill Camp, Frances Conroy, Brett Cullen, Glenn Fleshler, Douglas Hodge, Marc Maron, Josh Pais, and Shea Whigham. The movie is not part of the DC Extended Universe, and seems to play into Warner Bros.’s interests of making creator-driven superhero movies over necessarily building a hyper-connected shared universe… At least for the time being.

Joker is now playing in theaters.

Source: The LA Times