Joker Movie Script Officially Released Online

The awards season will kick into high gear with the new year as the various Hollywood guilds announce their award nominations, leading up to the Oscars. Among the movies campaigning for Oscar gold is WB’s Joker, and the billion dollar film is already racking up awards nominations. In order to make sure potential voters are considering the film in every possible category the studio has screened it for Academy members and sent copies to critics groups around the country and now they’re taking their campaign a step further by releasing the complete screenplay.

Written by director Todd Phillips and Scott Silver, the final draft of the script to the film has been released in full for those interested in reading it and comparing it to the final cut that has broken box office records in theaters. Fans will no doubt find some differences in the script and the final cut, as some moments that have already become iconic with the character were improvised on the set by star Joaquin Phoenix. The script will also reveal a few moments that were meant to be a little more ambiguous that may not have played that way on screen. You can read the whole thing for yourself by clicking here.

“We purposely set out to leave some things vague and unanswered,” Phillips told Deadline. “That was a clear intent from the beginning.”

The director and co-writer opened up in a new interview about the film to coincide with the release of the script, talking about lines from the film that have been embraced by the public and fans of the film.

“I think a lot of different things about the film have really connected with people and one of the things I’ve noticed has really caught on is the idea of what Arthur writes in his notebook: ‘The worst part of a mental illness is that people expect you to behave as if you don’t.’ That really resonated with a lot of people who do suffer from mental illness and saw a little bit of themselves in the movie, or in Arthur, or in his experiences in different ways. I’ve had so many people write me emails or posts on my Instagram saying, ‘That line is exactly what it feels like…’ “

“If you have a broken leg people hold the door open for you and you clearly have an ailment, but when you have a mental illness it’s a hidden thing so even when people know you have it they just expect you to behave as if you don’t. They don’t see it on you and often they don’t see you at all.”

The controversial new DC film has garnered a few more major nominations over the past few weeks including being shortlisted for two categories at the Academy Awards including the Makeup and Hairstyling category and the Best Original Score category. In addition the film received four nominations at the Golden Globes earlier this month, and managed an outstanding showing at the Critics’ Choice awards nominations where it nabbed seven total nominations. The broadcast critics nominated Joker for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, Best Hair and Makeup, and Best Score.

The film was also nominated for multiple awards at the Screen Actors Guild Awards including Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role for star Joaquin Phoenix and Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture.

Finally, Joker was honored by the American Film Institute (AFI) where it was named one of the top 10 films for the year

Joker will debut on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray on January 7.