Warner Bros/ YouTube
It’s safe to say when Warner Bros announced a standalone Joker movie starring Joaquin Phoenix, no-one quite knew what to expect. A striking lead performance certainly, but aside from that it appeared to be a wild card.
Directed by Todd Phillips (The Hangover) and set in the early Eighties, the simply-titled Joker was a mysterious box of tricks. A box that had been spewed out of the unwieldy DC Cinematic Universe and left for an unsuspecting public to open.
Then the exhilarating yet downbeat trailer landed and we saw exactly what Phillips and co-producer Bradley Cooper had in mind – the humiliating and hellish journey of one eccentric man’s unravelling. A process that ends with his transformation into the Clown Prince of Crime.
Watching the trailer brings to mind some movies the filmmakers could have been inspired by. So while we wait for October’s release, let’s check out those flicks which create a build up to Phoenix and co’s powerful punchline…
The Man Who Laughs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KhzpkSDwHA
1928’s The Man Who Laughs is a silent classic. It’s also a key movie because it reflects the Joker legend in various ways. For starters, the story of a misfit entertainer (Conrad Veidt) struggling with both life and love.
There’s also the effect it had on the creation of the Joker himself in 1940. Comic book icons Bob Kane, Bill Finger and Jerry Robinson saw Veidt’s role as a big visual influence. Jack Pierce’s makeup presented him as a disfigured outcast.
Based on a novel by Victor Hugo (Les Misérables) and directed by Paul Leni, the film is getting a 4K release later this month, so there’s never been a better time to check it out.
The Dark Knight
With his long hair and unpredictable style, Phoenix’s Joker resembles Heath Ledger’s radical take on the character from 2008’s The Dark Knight. This epic vision saw Batman and his nemesis wage a bleak war on Gotham’s streets.
In fact you could maybe see the new film as a companion piece of sorts to co-writer/director Christopher Nolan’s game changing franchise entry. Like The Man Who Laughs, Ledger’s Joker was similarly mutilated about the face.
Ledger’s tragic death meant we would see no more of his startlingly original enemy. This gave the sequel an unexpected power and earned the late actor a raft of awards.
The King Of Comedy
The new Joker has a background as a comedian, appropriately enough. As seen in the trailer, he is also a laughing stock for unintended reasons. Phoenix is frequently bashed around, something he eventually finds chillingly hilarious.
Robert De Niro’s presence, plus what looks like a talk show set, can’t fail to remind movie fans of Martin Scorsese’s The King Of Comedy (1982). De Niro played unstable performer Rupert Pupkin, whose rejection by Jerry Lewis’s host leads to crime.
Unsurprisingly, director Phillips has mentioned it as an influence. With Scorsese himself working on the project as producer, the connection was probably inevitable.
The Master
This next movie is far removed from a comic book. However it is worth seeing for Phoenix’s intense and dangerous central performance. In director Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2012 drama, he played a war veteran consumed by the teachings of an offbeat religion.
The late Philip Seymour Hoffman took the title role, said to have been inspired by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. It isn’t for everyone but the future Joker’s eyeball-scorching appearance is good prep for his upcoming bad guy gig.
Hoffman was given the Batman treatment (albeit without his knowledge) when a mock up image of him as The Penguin did the rounds online in 2008. The actor reportedly wasn’t interested.
Modern Times
The strongest movie reference in Joker‘s trailer is also the most subtle. Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times (1936) is seen in poster form as Phoenix’s character is thrown down some steps. But the link goes deeper than that.
Modern Times shows Chaplin’s factory worker caught up in the crazy cogs of an industrial future. A place where a man could lose his marbles as easily as sticking forks in potatoes and doing a little dance.
The Joker preview is memorably accompanied by an eerie cover of Smile, first written by Chaplin for this release. In both this and Phoenix’s movie, comedy and tragedy are strongly intertwined.
Joker will be released on October 4th. Watch the trailer below:
