Joker Director Todd Phillips Says It’s Way Too Early for Sequel

Joker director Todd Phillips today received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Director – Motion Picture. He spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the news, mentioning that it’s too early to talk about sequel potential. “When I first pitched this movie to Warner Bros., I never thought about nominations or grosses. I was just thinking how we would push this through to achieve a finished product. As for why audiences were drawn to the film, it was a combination of things: obviously Joaquin and his performance, it was so immersive and he really dove into what he was doing. I used to joke with the DP during the shoot that rather than some massive visual effects, Joaquin was that special effect for us. Before we started shooting, I really knew how invested he was in this role and knew we possibly had something very special ahead of us. As for a sequel, it’s way too early [to tell]. I swear I haven’t even talked to Joaquin about that yet or what that would even be.”

In November, Phillips debunked reports that he had signed onto a Joker sequel. In a separate interview, he did reveal that his original pitch was for three films to launch the DC Black Label film brand.

“But I don’t really want to name them, because then it’ll become a thing and I’m pulling these directors into it when I’ve never even told them about it. It was just me telling Warner Bros. about it.

“I still think it’s a great idea. But I’ll be honest with you, their argument – well, it wasn’t an argument – their thing is, there’s no reason to create its own label, there’s no reason to go to all that trouble. Just when we want to one of these kind of movies, we’ll do it, just like Joker is. I get that, but I also thought it was just kind of cool if it became a thing.”

Joker received four Golden Globe nominations in total. It is nominated for Best Motion Picture – Drama. Its star, Joaquin Phoenix, is nominated for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama. The film’s score by Hildur Guðnadóttir is nominated for Best Original Score.

Joker has made more than $1 billion at the box office, becoming the first R-rated film to achieve that level of box office success. The film is a grounded origin story for Batman’s archnemesis, the Joker. Joaquin Phoenix plays Arthur Fleck, who descends into madness and emerges as the clown-faced killer known as the Joker. The film also stars Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy, Brett Cullen, Glenn Fleshler, Bill Camp, Shea Whigham, and Marc Maron.