Kevin Smith Defends Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker Origin Movie

The Flash and Supergirl director and geek king Kevin Smith is hopeful about Warner Bros.' upcoming Joaquin Phoenix-led Joker movie and praised DC Films for experimenting with lower-budgeted adult fare.

"Think about it, there was a time in our lives where there were no Joker films, and no prospect of a Joker film. I'll take 'em," Smith told Hollywood Babble-On co-host Ralph Garman in its July 13 episode.

"Here's the thing, at the end of the day, I'll see a trailer — I know me. Even if the trailer is terrible, even if the trailer is a minute of footage of them killing my mother in front of me, I'm sure I'll be like, 'Well, I'll give it a shot when it comes out.' I know I'm gonna f—n' watch this movie."

Smith compared Warner Bros.' strategy to the same move employed by Fox with R-rated Wolverine threequel Logan, which wielded a relatively low $97 million budget in exchange for the metal-clawed X-Man's first R rating.

"I think what they're doing is smart. This is a cheap movie, it's $55 million. They're not spending — $55 [million] for a comic book property? That's very inexpensive. They're going Logan model, which is keep it low-budget and make it more adult," Smith said.

"They're experimenting. You gotta applaud 'em for this. Everyone's always sh—tting on Warner Bros. going, 'You're f—king up your movies!' And like, this is them trying a new direction where they're like, 'Look, obviously the extended universe stuff we're having a problem with. How about we just go back to the old way, which we used to do, where we just f—in' take material, give it to a director, and say f—in' go, and we don't worry about a fanbase and connecting the movies.'"

Garman is less optimistic: "'We'll take a villain away from the hero that makes him relevant and we'll just make him stand alone,'" Garman said. "Couldn't you come up with a Penguin movie where he just eats fish all day? Couldn't you come up with that? Where's that script? What the hell! You don't make a Joker movie without Batman. Make one good movie first, make a good Batman movie."

"I love these movies and at the end of the day, you gotta go real far to f— up in my eyes or to disappoint me in some way," Smith said, joking about the movie ending with Batman unmasking and revealing he's actually Adolf Hitler.

"So I'm in the bag for this stuff to begin with. But I want this to be good, I want this to be a good idea, so if this works, then maybe one day somebody's like, 'Let's make a Mr. Freeze movie,'" Smith said. "They've got so many great characters in the rogues gallery, they don't always need to do a Batman story. Play with the villains."

The Hollywood Reporter confirmed last week the Todd Phillips-directed Joker movie enters into production later this year.

Warner Bros. describes the Martin Scorsese-produced movie, set outside the shared DCEU continuity already home to Ben Affleck's Batman and Jared Leto's Joker, as an "exploration of a man disregarded by society [that] is not only a gritty character study, but also a broader cautionary tale."

The studio is also moving ahead on a planned standalone Joker movie starring Suicide Squad's Leto, who is also set to reprise the role in Suicide Squad 2 and a potential Harley/Joker spinoff movie reteaming him with his Puddin' (Margot Robbie).