Joker
From awards - season bombination to ultimately unfounded fears that the plastic film would instigate real acts of violence , Todd Phillips’Jokerhas been one of the most talked - about movies of the yr . Heavily inspired by the Martin Scorsese - helmed classicsTaxi DriverandThe King of Comedy , Phillips departed drastically from the mirthful ledger in his telling of the Joker ’s extraction narrative .
Joaquin Phoenix play the title character reference , picture here as a mentally ominous comedian in the ‘ 80 who is inspired to release to a life of crime by the prevalent class divide in Gotham City . Here are 10 Behind - The - Scenes Facts AboutJoker .
Todd Phillips had to convince two lots of Warner Bros. executives to make the movie
Todd Phillips pitched his vision forJokerto Warner Bros. executives , they loved it , he went aside and wrote the hand , and when it was done , the administrator had mostly been replaced and he had to pitch his vision all over again , to another band of executives , and convince them to make it .
“ It was a class - long process from when we terminate the script just to get the young masses on board with this vision , becauseI pitched it to an entirely unlike team than made it . There were emails about : ‘ You realize we sell Joker pajamas at Target . ’ There were a zillion hurdling . ”
Joaquin Phoenix said the Joker’s laugh was the toughest thing to get right
wreak Arthur Fleck was no soft feat – and what made it more difficult is the fact that Joaquin Phoenix ready out to craft a character that the consultation would not be able-bodied to relate to , at odds with the common Hollywood convention – but Phoenix has say that the grueling part of portraying the type was figuring out his laugh .
The actor watch out videos of people who stomach from the same pathologic express joy disorder that the character meet from for get it just proper . In the death , he breeze through the Joker ’s laugh , play it with more sadness and nuisance than happiness .
Warner Bros. originally wanted Leonardo DiCaprio to play Arthur
earlier , Warner Bros. wanted its low - budget character study of the Joker to be directed by Martin Scorsese . They want Leonardo DiCaprio to represent Arthur Fleck and Robert De Niro to make for Murray Franklin . Scorsese drop off out of directing to helmThe Irishman . He was initially attached as an executive producer , butdropped out of that role , too .
DiCaprio could n’t make prison term for take as he ’d already signed on to asterisk in Quentin Tarantino’sOnce Upon a fourth dimension in Hollywood . In the end , De Niro was the only member of the holy Blessed Trinity who actually had blank in his docket to do the movie .
Alec Baldwin was initially cast to play Thomas Wayne
AlthoughJokeris primarily the write up of Arthur Fleck , Thomas Wayne wreak a pretty pregnant role in the film , stand for the rich , elitist 1 % of society ensure Gotham City ’s wealth and keep people like Arthur lodge in impoverishment . primitively , Alec Baldwin was set to play Wayne in the movie .
However , just two daytime after his casting was announced , he pull out of the undertaking , citing programming conflict as his reason for relinquishing the part . Baldwin probably would ’ve done a corking job with the role of Thomas Wayne , but his transposition Brett Cullen had an admirable take on the reference , too .
The movie contains virtually no CGI effects
In an attempt to keepJoker ’s budget down , Todd Phillips used virtually no CGI effects in the movie . Most of the film ’s force were created with either practical methods or in - camera trickery . One of the very few estimator - enhanced shots appear in the scene in which Arthur arrives at Arkham Asylum to attend at his female parent ’s aesculapian records .
The exterior dig was slick to pull off , because Arkham Asylum does n’t actually exist . The stroke was done practically ; CGI was simply required to shine out some of the scratchy edges . By contrast , 2,500 ofAvengers : Endgame ’s 2,700 shots contain some form of computer - generated effect .
Joaquin Phoenix was previously offered two Marvel roles
What pull him toJokerwas the fact that it was n’t tying into a prominent cinematic macrocosm , setting up future sequel .
Todd Phillips tempted Joaquin Phoenix with pretzels during his weight loss
Joaquin Phoenix manage to drop a whopping 52 lbs during pre - production onJokerin order to give Arthur Fleck a appropriately emaciated appearance . Some report claim that the actor only ate an apple a mean solar day during this weight loss , but he claims he also ate lettuce and steamed green bean . Still , it was a drastic decline in his daily calorie intake .
While he was losing weight , he was regularly match with manager Todd Phillips to talk over the pic . Phillips would have bags filled with pretzels from Phoenix ’s favorite pretzel shoes , and it would drive him half-baked as he was diet .
Warner Bros. almost vetoed the R rating midway through production
When Todd Phillips was in the center of shootingJoker , Warner Bros. executive started to get a little antsy about the graphic force in the dailies they were being designate . Having accord to makeJokerwith an R rating when Phillips initially pitched his vision for it , the studio considered disallow the rating and almost storm the director to hygienize the movie halfway through production .
Phillips had to convince the executive to let him keep making the pic with its eventual gas constant military rank . honestly , ifJokerwas draw to be toned down for a PG-13 rating , while still maintaining the same story , it would ’ve been a complete muckle .
Composer Hildur Guðnadóttir wrote the score before the film was shot
It ’s highly rare for a film score to be written before the film itself is shot . unremarkably , the score is write when the movie has been mostly cut together , so that the composer can craft the speech sound the complement the look-alike . But Sergio Leone used to do things very differently .
He ’d have his composers compose the score before shooting , then recreate the music on the set to create the correct mood and give the actor a gumption of the flavour of the movie . Todd Phillips emulate this technique when he madeJoker , asking composer Hildur Guðnadóttir to write the score before filming began so that he could play it on the set .
Joaquin Phoenix lost so much weight that the producers couldn’t do reshoots
Joaquin Phoenix ’s weight going forJokerwas so extreme that there was no opportunity for reshoots . Usually , when a movie break down into the editing leg , the producers figure out which shot do n’t quite work and which ones they take to retake . But they would n’t be able to do that withJoker , for the sake of Phoenix ’s health .
So , Todd Phillips was continually rewrite the script throughout production . According to Zazie Beetz , Phillips would work on the script with the actors in his lagger , then they ’d hear their fresh lines while their whisker and makeup was applied , and they ’d shoot it that Clarence Day .
NEXT : Why So Serious ? : 10 Behind - The - Scenes Facts About The Dark Knight Trilogy
