Warner Bros. Didn’t Think Joaquin Phoenix’s ‘Joker’ Would Inspire Violence

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Warner Bros. Chairman Toby Emmerich recently explained that the company never thought that Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker could inspire real-world violence.

While Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker still proves to be incredibly popular with audiences, Warner Bros. Chairman Toby Emmerich has revealed that the company felt comfortable releasing the movie even though many of the reactions on social media were horrified at what they thought Joker was trying to do. Joker‘s controversial nature has been a major topic of conversation among fans and critics. While some were worried Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker might inspire real-world violence, the Warner Bros. movie was still met with critical acclaim.

The Hollywood Reporter recently interviewed the top executives of Warner Bros., Disney, Netflix, Sony, Universal, Paramount, Amazon and Netflix about a variety of topics regarding the state of the film industry. When asked about the realistic violence in Joker and the horrific Aurora shooting in 2012, Warner Bros. Chairman Toby Emmerich explained that they had to judge the film on its own merits rather than a possibility of it being held against something else. He also mentioned that Warner Bros. looked at the film closely before its release and didn’t think it would inspire violence. Take a look at what he had to say about Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker below.

“There were a lot of misunderstandings around the history of the tragic shooting in Aurora, [Colorado, in 2012,] which happened at a Batman film. And we were certainly supersensitive to it [and the tragedy for the victims and their loved ones]. But that film and that shooting had no connection in any way to the Joker character. So we had to judge our film on its own merits. A lot of the social media comments around the film were by people who hadn’t seen the film and didn’t know what it was. We looked at the film really closely and did feel that it was a great film. That it was a piece of art. And we didn’t think it would inspire violence. We took it to Venice, where it won the Golden Lion. And we felt comfortable releasing the film.”

What do you think about Warner Bros. releasing Joker after the topic of real-world violence came up? Do you think Joaquin Phoenix’s performance was as dangerous as some outlets reported? Tell us in the comments!

Here is the official synopsis for Joaquin Phoenix’s 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. Stay tuned for the latest news regarding Warner Bros. and the Joaquin Phoenix movie.

Source: THR

Eammon Jacobs

Eammon Jacobs

British dork who can be found online raving about how good Tron: Legacy is.