Joker Movie Cut Scene Revealed

Todd Phillips isn’t one to talk about the movies that could’ve been, and if he releases a film it’s pretty much the way he intended it to be. That goes for Joker as well, and during a recent interview with Collider, he revealed just how much he doesn’t like extended cuts and deleted scenes. “I hate f****** extended cuts. I hate deleted scenes…They’re deleted for a reason,” Phillips said. So yeah, don’t expect an extended cut of Joker anytime soon, though after Joaquin Phoenix brought up that Joker did have deleted acts, we did get a bit of insight into one of the most heartbreaking scenes that had to be cut from the film.

“There was a scene that, that during the shoot we thought was one of the best scenes and we loved his behavior in the scene, and I’d always really liked the scene,” Phoenix said. “And Todd told me and said, ‘We’re cutting that scene out.’ And at first I thought, like, ‘Wait a minute, what do you mean you cut that scene out?’ And then of course I saw it, and it was very obvious. It has to go.”

The scene itself took place between Arthur Fleck and Randall (Glenn Fleshler), who talk in the stairwell after their original scene in the film. It was cut simply because it wasn’t required for the audience to understand the callback to it when Arthur writes on a sign on the stairwell, and Phoenix said not seeing the original sequences “makes total sense, and then you’re fine with it.”

“It’s funny, you talked about deleted scenes before and I was just thinking, while I don’t like deleted scenes, we did cut this fun thing together of all the times — I haven’t showed it to you yet — of him walking out on Murray Franklin because every time the guy would go, Murray would stand and go, ‘Please welcome Joker,”‘and the curtains would open and he comes out and does something different every time. You know the thing in the movie, he spins, he kisses the woman. But we cut this thing together of ‘Please welcome Joker,’ and I don’t know, we did it 13 times maybe, and they’re all different and they’re so funny and there’s so many good ones. I was like, ‘Oh, I wonder why I didn’t use that one?’”

We probably won’t see that special cut, but it’s cool to know it’s a thing. At least Phoenix will get to enjoy it.

Joker stars Phoenix (Arthur Fleck/Joker), Zazie Beetz (Sophie Dumond), Robert De Niro (Murray Franklin), Brett Cullen (Thomas Wayne), Frances Conroy (Penny Fleck), Marc Maron (Ted Marco), Douglas Hodge (Alfred Pennyworth), Josh Pais (Hoyt Vaughn), Bryan Tyree Henry, Bryan Callen, Shea Whigham, and Glen Fleshler. You can find the official description below.

“Drama. Joker centers around the iconic arch-nemesis and is an original, standalone story not seen before on the big screen. The exploration of Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix), a man disregarded by society, is not only a gritty character study but also a broader cautionary tale.”

Joker is in theaters now.