Joker (2019) on Netflix
In 1981 Gotham City, party clown and aspiring comedian Arthur Fleck has uncontrollable laughing fits. After he kills three men on a subway, protesters wear clown masks in his image.
- Netflix3.8/5
- IMDb8.3/101,725,987 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes68%
Trailer
Plot summary
Arthur Fleck is a party clown and aspiring stand-up comedian in Gotham City. He lives with his mother, Penny, and has a neurological disorder that causes uncontrollable laughing fits. After street youths attack him, his co-worker Randall gives him a revolver. During a children's hospital performance, the gun falls from his pocket and he is fired. On the subway, three drunk Wayne Investments employees mock and assault him, and he kills them. Thomas Wayne, a billionaire mayoral candidate, condemns the killings, while protesters begin wearing clown masks in Arthur's image.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Joker (2019)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Warner Bros. pushed Todd Phillips to cast Leonardo DiCaprio as the Joker, hoping Martin Scorsese's involvement would attract him, but Phillips said Joaquin Phoenix was the only actor he considered and that he and Scott Silver wrote the script with Phoenix in mind.
- The film's original script ended with Arthur carving himself a Glasgow smile in front of his crowd of supporters, but then-Warner Bros. executive Christopher Nolan shot the idea down, mandating that only Heath Ledger's Joker in The Dark Knight (2008) should have a Glasgow smile.
- Zazie Beetz said Todd Phillips rewrote the entire script during production because Joaquin Phoenix lost so much weight for the film that there would be no opportunity for reshoots.
- The subway shooting scene and its aftermath were inspired by the 1984 New York City Subway shooting, and Arthur Fleck is partly based on the shooting's perpetrator, Bernhard Goetz.
- Joker became the first R-rated film to gross over $1 billion worldwide, also setting records for an October release.
- At the 92nd Academy Awards, Joker won Best Actor for Joaquin Phoenix and Best Original Score, and its eleven nominations, including Best Picture, broke the record of eight held by The Dark Knight for a film based on a comic book.
- The use of "Rock and Roll Part 2" drew controversy when it was reported that its singer, convicted child sex offender Gary Glitter, would receive royalties; it was later confirmed he would not, having long since sold the rights.
- The Bronx stairs where Arthur dances have been dubbed the Joker Stairs and became a tourist destination and the subject of internet memes, with visitors reenacting the scene in his Joker attire.
