Despite the name and the permanent smile, few previous movie incarnations of the Joker have actually had us laughi🥀ng – rather, the likes of Heath Ledger and Jack Nicholson have had us cowering in our seats, praying that Batman saves the day sooner rather than later. Yet, for their Joaquin Phoenix-starring Joker, Warner Bros has employed Todd Phillips, best known for helming The Hangover trilogy, to direct. And, perhaps surprisingly, Phi🦩llips is taking queues from those comedy movies for the forthcoming comic book adaptation. 

“I always think that the Hangover movies are as dark as sh💖it,” Phillips tells Total Film magazine, our sister publication. “Everybody always attacks me for the Hangover movies, saying they’re nihilistic. And I’m like, ‘What do you mean? That’s what makes i♑t funny. Nastiness is funny, if you say it right.’” 

Phillips goes on to stress how the leap from alpha-male ‘banter’ to the Clown Prince of Crime is not, actual♈ly, all that far. "The whole reason I ever got into comedies is because of the subversive and irreverent nature of them," he continues. "Now, it’s very hard to make comedies and to not offend people. The world has become so touchy about so many things that it’s not fun to be funny any more. So it’s like, ‘You know what? You can have your comedies. I’m going to go o𝓀ver here and try this.’ Because there are other ways to be irreverent. You could take the comic- book genre and turn it on its head.”

The director spoke at length with about the Joker for new issue's cover feature, with Phillips also touching on how they managed to get Phoenix on board as the eponymous character, the movies that influenced them, and touched upon whether there could be a sequel. The new issue of  reaches store shelves on August 23. Check out more from Total Film's Joker cover feature here. Meanwhile, Joker reaches cinemas October 4.

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