“Joker: Folie à Deux” was well received critically and at the box office, but not with Quentin Tarantino. The director recently appeared on “The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast” and raved about the divisive “Joker” sequel, which has barely reached $60 million domestically after nearly a month in theaters. The film’s worldwide total is $201 million, which is a significant drop from the $1 billion gross of the 2019 film.
“I really, really liked it. A lot. I went to see it tremendously, expecting to be a fan of the making of the film,” Tarantino said. “But I thought it was going to be a far-fetched intellectual exercise, which in the end I don’t think it works like a film, but I I will appreciate it for what it is. And I’m nihilistic enough to enjoy a movie that doesn’t quite work as a movie or feel like a big, giant mess to some degree. I did not find it an intellectual exercise. I really fell into it. I really liked the musical sequences. I really caught on. I thought the more corny the songs were, the better. “I find myself listening to the lyrics of ‘For Once in My Life’ in a way I’ve never heard them before.”
Tarantino said he saw part of the “Natural Born Killers” story in the sequel to “Joker,” where he compared Arthur Fleck, who played Joaquin Phoenix, and Lee Quinzel, who played Lady Gaga, to the troubled serial killer couple Mickey (Woody Harrelson). and Mallory (Juliet Lewis). .
“As much as the first one was indebted to Taxi Driver, it feels very indebted to Natural Born Killers, which I wrote. This is the ‘Natural Born Killers’ I’ve been dreaming of seeing. As the guy who created Mickey and Mallory, I loved what they did with it,” Tarantino said. “I liked the direction it took. “I mean, the whole movie was a Mickey Knox dream.”
“On top of that, I thought it was really funny,” Tarantino added, saying that he watched the film in an “almost empty IMAX theater” and so he could “laugh without annoying everyone. I know I’m laughing at scenes that other people wouldn’t laugh at.”
Tarantino particularly praised Phoenix, whose performance as the Joker in the 2019 film won him an Oscar for Best Actor (over Leonardo DiCaprio in Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”). The director said that Phoenix gives “one of the best performances I’ve ever seen in this movie,” referring to “Folie à Deux,” and also praised director Todd Phillips for being a clown himself.
“The Joker directed the movie. The whole concept, even him spending the studio money, he spends it like the Joker spends it, okay? And then his big surprise gift — haha! – Jack in the Box, when he extends his hand to you for a handshake and blows a 10,000-volt whistle at you – he’s the comic book nerd. He says fuck you to all of them. He’s saying fuck you to the film’s audience. He’s saying fuck you to Hollywood. He’s saying fuck you to anyone who owns any stock in DC and Warner Brothers […] Todd Phillips is the Joker. The Joker movie, well, it is what it is. “It’s the Joker.”
Tarantino liked the sequel much more than the 2019 original, which he found “one-note” for most of the runtime until it reached the climactic scene in which Joaquin’s Joker portrays talk show host Robert De Niro live. The director described that moment as “one of the best scenes filmed in the last 20 years of this century.” easily! The whole movie was worth it.”
With its many musical numbers and divisive ending, “Joker: Folie à Deux” alienated many comic book movie goers. But Tarantino views these provocative choices as strengths. Listen to Tarantino’s full discussion on “The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast” here.
