Joaquin Phoenix and Todd Phillips Explain Their Thoughts on Joker: Folie à Deux‘s Ending

The choices made at the extremity of Joker: Folie à Deux are arguably the biggest reasons wherefore the movie has been truthful polarizing. While immoderate find them absorbing and insightful, galore others find them maddening and subversive. Two radical who bash similar the ending, though, are the film’s co-writer and manager Todd Phillips and its prima Joaquin Phoenix, and successful a caller interview, the brace spoke successful detail astir the ending.

Speaking to IGN, Phillips and Phoenix discussed Arthur’s prime to permission down Joker—along with the information that helium dies, and the idiosyncratic who kills him. Let’s commencement with the thought of what these movies person been astir successful a larger consciousness which, arsenic you’ll read, speaks to the idiosyncratic who kills Arthur astatine the extremity of the film.

“One of the things that radical ne'er understood astir the archetypal movie was, ‘I don’t get it. He visits Bruce Wayne and he’s 30 years older than Bruce Wayne. What benignant of geriatric Joker is going to combat successful the future?'” Phillips said. “I don’t cognize if you’ve ever saw the publication of the archetypal movie. The archetypal movie is called Joker. It’s not called The Joker, it’s called Joker. And the archetypal movie nether the publication ever said ‘An root story.’ Never said ‘THE root story.’ It was this thought that possibly this isn’t THE Joker. Maybe this is the inspiration for the Joker. So, successful essence astatine the extremity of this movie, the happening you’re being near with is ‘Wait, what is that happening happening down him? Is that the guy?'”

Okay, we conjecture that makes sense. It does besides spell on with Phillips thought of Arthur’s mindset astatine the extremity of the movie close earlier he’s murdered. “I deliberation Arthur has recovered bid with the idea, with the conflict that it’s good to beryllium yourself,” Phillips said. “And that’s truly what he’s ever struggled with, you cognize what I mean? I similar to deliberation helium died astatine bid successful a mode being himself. The kid says to him, ‘You privation to perceive a joke?’ And adjacent though helium thinks possibly it’s [Lee waiting to sojourn him] downstairs. We don’t adjacent cognize what’s downstairs, but that benignant of optimism that Arthur has, that’s inactive successful him. He’s like, ‘Well, yeah, okay, of course’ due to the fact that helium knows that feeling of wanting to marque idiosyncratic laugh. So helium gives the kid that moment, right? Obviously it goes atrocious because, again, everything goes atrocious for Arthur, but I ever deliberation that’s specified a beauteous infinitesimal wherever it’s similar Arthur inactive has hope.”

Phoenix echoed those sentiments. “There’s a warmth successful that scene, which is nice,” the Oscar victor said. “That’s each that I was reasoning astir that I was after, is here’s this young antheral who’s telling maine a gag and he’s tense to archer maine the joke, I tin archer that he’s nervous, and I’m going to perceive him out. And it’s a beauteous bully setup.”

So, basically, Phillips is saying the films are astir a antheral who goes done a travel to find himself, yet does, and dies successful the process. Then, on the way, helium inspires others to instrumentality his persona to the adjacent level and, well, we’ll spot wherever it goes from there.

If you’d similar to work much from Phillips and Phoenix, head implicit to IGN. Joker: Folie à Deux is present successful theaters.

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