When it comes to the upcoming Joker movie, it seems as though we will be going into completely uncharted territory.
While there have been multiple Joker origins told over the years, it is retconned on a regular basis. Even Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight played with this concept by having his Joker (Heath Ledger) tell multiple origins within the span of the same movie. The Joker has always been an enigma no matter what the source material.
Speaking with Empire, writer and director Todd Phillips discussed how he handled it with this film, saying “We didn’t follow anything from the comic books, which people are gonna be mad about.” He went on to add, “We just wrote our own version of where a guy like Joker might come from. That’s what was interesting to me. We’re not even doing Joker, but the story of becoming Joker. It’s about this man.”
We completely understand where Phillips is coming from, and with any other character in the DC pantheon, he would probably be right. With the Joker, however, we’ve just kind of learned to go, “Well, that’s one possible take on it.” With the Joker, it is far more about the performance than it is about how close they stick to the comics. If Joaquin Phoenix delivers a killer performance, then the origin story will probably be just fine with everyone as it will be changed by the next time someone has an idea.
Joker hits theaters on Oct. 4.
SOURCE: Empire
