Todd Phillips breaks down the opening scenes of Joker

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Much has been written about Todd Phillips' JOKER now that it's hit theaters, and the director himself spoke with Vanity Fair to break down the film's opening scenes, which introduces us to the sad life of Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix). You can check out the video for yourself above, but Phillips gets the ball rolling by saying that he's most proud of the tone of JOKER, with its slow ramp up into insanity.

"Everything in the movie is meant to be unsettling," Phillips said of our first introduction to Arthur. "So anytime we kind of move the camera intentionally like this, it’s always to give off this unsettling vibe of this guy, who's pretty much separated from everyone else." Phillips also revealed that at least part of the film's score, which was composed by Hildur Guðnadóttir (SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO), was recorded based on the script so that they would be able to play it while the scene was being shot in order to "infect" the set.

JOKER is now playing in theaters, so be sure to check out reviews of the film from our own Paul Shirey and Chris Bumbray as well as let us know what you thought of the film!

Joker, Todd Phillips, Joaquin Phoenix

Source: Vanity Fair

About the Author

News Editor

Favorite Movies: Alien, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, read more Braveheart, The Bridge on the River Kwai, City of God, Cloud Atlas, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Edge, The Fifth Element, Galaxy Quest, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Godfather Parts I & II, Goodfellas, The Good the Bad and the Ugly, Gladiator, Lawrence of Arabia, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Magnificent Seven, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, The Prestige, Prisoners, Psycho, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Rear Window, The Shining, Sorcerer, The Talented Mr. Ripley, There Will be Blood, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Zodiac

Likes: Drawing, cooking, watching movies, trying and failing to come up with read more more items for my likes list.

The comment section exists to allow readers to discuss the article constructively and respectfully, focused on the topic at hand.

What’s Not Allowed

  • Abusive language, insults, or harassment toward other users or staff.
  • Hate speech of any kind is strictly prohibited.
  • Bickering, bullying, personal attacks, or baiting others to argue
  • Extended off-topic debates, especially those centered on politics or religion rather than the article topic
  • No AI content or SPAM