'Joker' explores nuances of iconic supervillain

Director Todd Philips, left, and actor Joaquin Phoenix greet journalists through a live video conference, held at Yongsan CGV, Thursday, for the film “Joker.” Courtesy of Warner Bros. Korea

By Lee Gyu-lee

DC Comics is famous for stories about superheroes fighting for good and defeating supervillains. But the new film "Joker" looks to explore the other side of the story.

Director Todd Philips shows things from the villain's perspective, showing what turned the Joker into the vicious character he became.

A poster for “Joker” which portrays the back story behind the notorious villain. Courtesy of Warner Bros. Korea

“Todd and I were striving for something unique. We wanted to create our own understanding of the character and his own history,” actor Joaquin Phoenix, who played the Joker, said at a live video conference held at Yongsan CGV in Seoul, Thursday.

Though the Joker has appeared in several Batman films, Phoenix said approaching this as something completely new was his guiding principle.

The film aims to create a new, more nuanced image of the Joker and breathe life into the notorious criminal mastermind. And it's that subversion of the comic book genre that helped the film be chosen as the winner of Golden Lion Best Film at Venice Film Festival in September.

The film takes place in Gotham City in the 1980s, a city going through economically devastating times. Arthur struggles to make ends meet and take care of his mother.

He longs to be a standup comedian spreading happiness, as his mother nicknamed him “Happy,” but barely holds onto his job as a professional clown who gets bullied. His comedy always fails and he ends up as the punchline. He is an outcast, socially awkward and has a strange medical condition leading him to burst into uncontrollable bouts of laughter.

Despite his hope to be noticed and to spread joy, he has a bleak outlook on life, scrawling in his journal, “I hope my death makes more cents than my life.” Being ridiculed and ignored he violently lashes out, through which he finally gets the spotlight he always wanted, as the Joker.

Phoenix gives a stunning performance, creating an unprecedented depiction of the Joker. The transition from insecure, unstable Arthur to lunatic criminal the Joker is meticulously articulated through every move, especially using dance moves as an outward expression of his enjoyment of cruel acts of violence.

On top of his transcendent acting, Phoenix put in effort to physically embody the “wolf-like and malnourished” Arthur, suffering the side effects from taking multiple medications for his mental illness. He lost 23 kilograms for the role, eating an apple a day, to play the gaunt-looking, unstable character.

Despite the extreme diet, he expressed that he felt energized and inspired by his character. “There are certainly days when I had enough. But this was the kind of movie that the more you put into it, the more it gave that out to you,” he said.

A scene from “Joker” shows Arthur Fleck dancing down some stairs after dressing as the Joker. Courtesy of Warner Bros. Korea

“It felt like we are steeped in this world, it never really stopped. I didn't feel like I was drained energetically at all. I was so fueled and motivated.”

In the film Arthur says, “I used to think that my life was a tragedy. But now I realize, it's a comedy.” The director, who has a long background in comedy including the film “The Hangover,” referred to this film as being “partly an exploration of comedy.”

“As I have worked a lot with comedy and comedians, I've noticed there's pain and desperation in the performance, not in a bad way, but from trying to make people laugh,” he said. “(The movie) is partly about the line between comedy and tragedy and what defines it.”

Phillips expressed that he's proud to cover certain issues that audiences will relate to. “The movie is clearly set in the late 70s or early 80s but we wrote it in 2017 so, as always, the movie reflects on what's going on in the current time,” he noted.

“It's a little bit about childhood trauma, which has existed since forever, a little bit about socio-economic status, a little bit about the way we treat less-fortunates. I think they are all themes that, when being explored, they can lead to discussion.”