History Trivia / Joker2019

** Marc Maron, who has a rather well-documented dislike of the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, said he agreed to take part in the film because getting a chance to work with Creator/RobertDeNiro and Joaquin Phoenix was too big an opportunity to pass up.

** Marc Maron, who has a rather well-documented dislike of comic book movies, said he agreed to take part in the film because getting a chance to work with Creator/RobertDeNiro and Joaquin Phoenix was too big an opportunity to pass up.

** During the fateful confrontation between Arthur and Murray, Phoenix was suppose to say "What do you get, when you cross a mentally ill loner, with a ''system''...", but instead said "With a '''''society'''''...". Can also count as an AscendedMeme for all the jokes involving "society".

* DearNegativeReader: Zig-zagged: During an interview, Todd Phillips launched into a tirade about his desire to do ''Joker'' and leaving comedy was because of "woke culture" dictating what comedy should be and the like. Mind you, this was ''before'' the movie dropped. The result led to some mockery from the internet as a result of Phillips's tirade, especially considering [[Film/TheHangover his original foray in comedy]]. People immediately shut up, however, when the film ended up getting praise by moviegoers and ranking a ''billion'' at the box office, without China to boot! Some even believe [[MagnificentBastard Phillips intentionally caused discourse]], knowing [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity how prevalent the media was with slandering the movie and making accusations towards it]].

* AdaptationalContextChange: In most incarnations of the story, Thomas and Martha Wayne are killed in a random street robbery gone violent or a hitman put on them by Gotham's mob. In this version, their killer targeted them and went for the kill during an EatTheRich riot.

* DearNegativeReader: Zig-zagged: During an interview, Todd Phillips launched into a tirade about his desire to do ''Joker'' and leaving comedy was because of "woke culture" dictating what comedy should be and the like. Mind you, this was ''before'' the movie dropped. The result lead to some mockery from the internet as a result of Phillip's tirade, especially considering [[Film/TheHangover his original foray in comedy]]. People immediately shut up however when the film ended up getting praise by moviegoers and ranking a ''billion'' at the box office, without China to boot! Some even believe [[MagnificentBastard Phillips intentionally caused discourse]], knowing [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity how prevalent the media was with slandering the movie and making accusations towards it]].
* DeletedScene: The scene of the [[https://youtu.be/6Bt0slFQVI8?list=PLemwFZPH1UMhor6dWb22MNH-1RI0IARLJ leaked filming footage]] that showed Arthur interacting in the street with Randall, with only Randall dressed as a clown. Arthur takies Randall's clown nose and throwing it on the ground. The trailer also has shots such as Arthur walking down the hall of his apartment complex in the Joker make-up and outfit, while carrying the flower prop from an earlier scene, which don't appear in the final cut.
* DoingItForTheArt:
** Joaquin Phoenix stated that he always wanted to do a character study of a superhero or supervillain, but didn't want the strings that come attached with being involved in a franchise like the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse (as he turned down the title role for ''Film/DoctorStrange2016''). When he heard that Creator/WarnerBrothers (which owns Creator/DCComics and all related media) was looking to make a lower budget standalone film that focused on ComicBook/TheJoker, he became interested in the project since it was so similar to his previous idea.

* ExecutiveVeto: Cinematographer Lawrence Sher revealed that him and Creator/ToddPhillips wanted to shoot on 70mm film like ''Film/TheHatefulEight'', ''Film/{{Dunkirk}}'' and ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'', partially because Phillips prefers film stock [[https://www.indiewire.com/2019/11/joker-warner-bros-turned-down-70mm-film-shoot-1202189137/ but Warner Bros. refused to let them so they had to shoot digital]].

** On related note, it is, as of 2020, the highest grossing film to win Golden Lion award and one of big 3 film festival award. [[note]]In case if you are wondering, the highest grossing Golden Bear winner so far is Creator/HayaoMiyazaki's ''Anime/SpiritedAway'' and the highest grossing [[UsefulNotes/PalmeDOr Palme d'Or]] winner is Creator/MichaelMoore's ''Film/Fahrenheit911''.[[/note]]

* BigNameFan:
** DC Comics chief creative officer Jim Lee praised it as "intense, raw and soulful," and said that it remained true to the character despite deviating from the source material.
** Creator/MichaelMoore called it a "cinematic masterpiece" and said it was a "danger to society" if people did not see it.
** Creator/JoshBrolin found the film powerful:
--->"To appreciate ''Joker'' I believe you have to have either gone through something traumatic in your lifetime (and I believe most of us have) or understand somewhere in your psyche what true compassion is."
** Both Creator/JessicaChastain and Creator/VincentDOnofrio love the film and championed Creator/JoaquinPhoenix getting an Oscar nomination.
** Creator/MichaelMann [[https://www.indiewire.com/2019/11/michael-mann-joker-letter-praise-review-1202191065/ wrote a letter]] about how much he loved the film.
** Directors [[Film/AGirlWalksHomeAloneAtNight Ana Lily Amirpour]], [[Film/TheEdgeOfSeventeen Kelly Fremon Craig]] and Alex Ross Perry are some unexpected fans of the film, with Fremon Craig having this to say:
--->"You can feel Todd Phillips’ passion for the project all over it, and who else but Joaquin Phoenix could’ve pulled off the role? That eerie choked laugh. I held my breath the whole runtime."
** Creator/GuillermoDelToro is also a huge fan of the film.
** Creator/GretaGerwig is a massive fan of the film as is [[Series/KillingEve Phoebe Waller-Bridge of all people]].

** The scene of Arthur dancing in the bathroom after his first three kills was completely improvised by Phoenix, leading to one of the most memorable quiet moments in the film. In the script, Arthur simply runs into the bathroom, hides the gun, washes his face, and [[MirrorMonologue talks to himself while looking at the mirror]].

* It has also scored 11 UsefulNotes/AcademyAward nominations, and another 11 UsefulNotes/{{BAFTA}} noms, making it the most nominated comic book movie since ''Film/BlackPanther''. It ended up winning two of said Oscars (Best Actot and Best Score), which also means the Joker is the second character who two different actors won Oscars for playing, after Vito Corleone from ''Film/TheGodfather''.

* It has also scored 11 UsefulNotes/AcademyAward nominations, and another 11 UsefulNotes/{{BAFTA}} noms, making it the most nominated comic book movie since ''Film/BlackPanther''.

** Creator/ShaileneWoodley, Creator/GuguMbathaRaw, Creator/DakotaJohnson, [[Series/HowToGetAwayWithMurder Aja Naomi King]], and Creator/MaryElizabethWinstead were considered for the role of Sophie Dumond before the casting of Creator/ZazieBeetz. Winstead would later go on to portray [[Comicbook/{{Huntress}} Helena Bertinelli]] in ''Film/BirdsOfPrey2020'' set within the Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse.

** For Creator/DCFilms itself. The studio was initially created to shepherd the Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse, with the focus being on blockbuster-type comic book films. ''Joker'' is the first comic book film produced by them to deviate from the blockbuster formula (being more of a straight up tragedy and character study without a trace of CGI and without much action scenes). It's a straight-up ProtagonistJourneyToVillain with no {{superhero}}ic figure, has not been marketed as a typical franchise (not necessarily aiming at sequels) and is not set in the DCEU.
* SimilarlyNamedWorks:

** The scene of Arthur dancing in the bathroom after his first three kills was completely improvised by Phoenix, leading to one of the most memorable quiet moments in the film.

* It’s also scored 11 nominations at the Academy Awards, the most of any comic book film.

** Another element from the leaked script that didn't make the cut was a scene where Arthur originally told Sophie a story during a date, explaining that he cut a slight smile onto his face as a child to scare off bullies. The scene would get a call-back at the end of the film, where Arthur, now the Joker, would have used a glass shard from the car wreck to carve those wounds open again and spread them even wider in front of the crowd. Instead, he paints a smile on his face with his own blood in the finished film.

** [[https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2487559/jokers-reported-alternate-ending-sounds-horrifying An alternate ending]] intended for the film had the Arthur revealing to his therapist on Arkham that the joke he was thinking was that he had killed Thomas and Martha Wayne himself and left Bruce Wayne to cry before turning back and killing the boy. The ending was cut because Bruce's death would mean that Batman will never come to exist in the film's universe.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfBq8Jb5ahY&feature=emb_title An alternate ending]] intended for the film had the Arthur revealing to his therapist on Arkham that the joke he was thinking was that he had killed Thomas and Martha Wayne himself and left Bruce Wayne to cry before turning back and killing the boy. The ending was cut because Bruce's death would mean that Batman will never come to exist in the film's universe.

** Making things yet more interesting, the final film has almost the ''polar opposite'' political standpoint to what was assumed, instead being a polemic in favor of empathy towards the mentally ill and in favor of [[EatTheRich violence against the wealthy.]] Any "incel" that watched this film and understood it would come away very disappointed, not emboldened.[[note]]After the film's release saw none of the violence forewarned by the media, it was noted that the only true effect the movie had was leading to a tourism boom for the Bronx staircase for fans photographing themselves dancing on the steps... Which led to (more tepid) worries that [[https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/joker-steps-south-bronx-highbridge-gentrification Joker was gentrifying the area.]][[/note]]

** Directors [[Film/AGirlWalksAtNight Ana Lily Amirpour]], [[Film/TheEdgeOfSeventeen Kelly Fremon Craig]] and Alex Ross Perry are some unexpected fans of the film, with Fremon Craig having this to say: