4.4 out of 5! ‘Violent and Asphyxiating’, DC’s best film since The Dark Knight, is in theaters

What is it about? The film, which tells an original story never before seen on the big screen, focuses on the iconic figure of Batman’s sworn enemy. He paints a portrait of Arthur Flack, an uncompromising man hated by society.

Critical and commercial success

2019’s Joker was a phenomenal success: With an estimated budget of $55 million (which pales in comparison to typical superhero blockbusters, which cost around $200 million), Todd Phillips’ film surpassed $1 billion worldwide.

Film critics and viewers won over. This is evidenced by the feature film’s press rating of 4.1/5 (on AlloCiné, 44 critics) and audience rating of 4.4/5 (making it the best DC film since The Dark Knight , which has a rating of 4.5).

In addition, Joker won the Golden Lion in Venice, an extremely rare event in the superhero genre. Then Joaquin Phoenix, among other things, won the Oscar for Best Actor (for the first comic book adaptation, Heath Ledger won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor).

Weight loss for Joaquin Phoenix

To interpret the Joker, Joaquin Phoenix He lost weight until he was just skin and bones. He was already subject to such discipline for his role in Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master (2013). The actor lost 25 kilos for Todd Phillips’ film!

“The first thing you had to do was lose weight. That’s where I started. Because it really affects your psychology. It’s crazy when you lose so much weight. Weight in such a short time. (…) Life was scary that way”Phoenix said.

Martin Scorsese as an inspiration

Todd Phillips claims to have several influences on his Joker. First, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Martin Scorsese’s The Dolls. A comic book A killing joke It was also a source of inspiration for the director, who preferred to create an original story rather than adapt a DC Comics comic book.

Moreover, in Joker, Robert De Niro plays Murray Franklin, an arrogant TV host who is close to the character played by Jerry Lewis. Waltz of the dolls by Scorsese. In this film, De Niro plays Rupert Pupkin, a failed comic who decides to kidnap this host, who also happens to be his idol.

Things are very different in Todd Phillips’ feature film, as this time it’s De Niro playing a nasty small screen tycoon (and Joaquin Phoenix playing a comedian/loser clown)!

The tension between Phoenix and De Niro

According to director Todd Phillips, there was some tension between Joaquin Phoenix and Robert De Niro before filming Joker. Scorsese’s favorite actress wanted to read the script before filming, which Phoenix hates. At the filmmaker’s urging, the Joker’s interpreter still allowed the exercise without putting himself in it.

This greatly upset De Niro, leading to a showdown between the two stars. Finally, the actors kept their distance during the filming and did not talk much to each other. Contrary to the narrative of the feature film, this tension undoubtedly contributed to the credibility of their characters and their relationships. Long live the actor’s studio!

Joaquin Phoenix talks about the Joker

Joaquin Phoenix talks about his choice to play the Joker: “As always, I spend a lot of time choosing a role. My way is obviously to read the script, meet with the director and continue the discussion. I find him impressive, he knows this world very well and knows what. What he wants to say there.”

“It feels unique to me, it’s almost a different world that he’s created, and it kind of scares me. I called my agent three or four years ago to ask him why he wouldn’t get one if it was a lower-budget movie. It’s a character study, and why not?” About a supervillain?”

“I thought I couldn’t do Joker because it had already been done, so I was trying to find other characters and I wanted to set up a meeting with the people at Warner Bros.; I said I couldn’t go on those dates. … So I forgot about it until I heard about this About the idea that got me thinking.”

From June 7 to August 29, UGC cinemas celebrate 100 years of Warner Bros. with a special program of 100 studio masterpieces in 20 UGC cinemas across France throughout the summer at €8.50 per seat.

All programming at ugc.fr:

UGC Ciné Cité les Halles: 1 film per day, or 84 films during the summer, and various events and entertainment to accompany this anniversary program.

UCG Ciné Cité Bercy: special retrospectives around franchises and filmmakers (Lord of the Rings, Christopher Nolan, DC Universe, etc.)

Dedicated programming in 18 cinemas in France on Saturday and Sunday evenings: UGC Ciné Cité Vélizy, UGC Ciné Cité Créteil, UGC Ciné Cité Cergy, UGC Issy les Moulineaux, UGC Ciné Cité La Défense, UGC Ciné Ciné Cité Créteil UGC Ciné Cité Parly, UGC Ciné Cité Noisy -le-Grand, UGC Ciné Cité Part-Dieu (Lyon), UGC Ciné Cité Internationale (Lyon), UGC Ciné Cité Atlantis (Nantes), UGC Ciné Cité Bordeaux, UGC Ciné Cité Cité Cité Cà CàC. Fleet (Bordeaux), UGC Talence (Bordeaux), UGC Ciné Cité Lille, UGC Ciné Cité Strasbourg, UGC Nancy.