Legendary director Martin Scorsese opened up about why he decided not to produce Joker at the Hollywood Reporter's Director Roundtable.
The Irishman director was very close to producing the film, directed by Todd Phillips. But he decided to let his producing partner, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, take the reins instead.
"Personal reasons, scheduling," Scorsese admitted. "And quite honestly, Taxi Driver and King of Comedy and Last Temptation of Christ. Those were my fights. We went and did King of Comedy and we were attacked for that and the film was considered the flop of the year at Entertainment Tonight. [But by then] the whole of Hollywood had turned against that kind of filmmaking."
Scorsese's response is to avid moviegoers who say Joker was influenced by his classics, The King of Comedy and Taxi Driver.
"I’m fascinated by the fact that it’s influenced by King of Comedy and Taxi Driver," the director said in an interview with The Guardian last week. "Especially King of Comedy, because I always point out that the only place that King of Comedy was appreciated was Britain. But I didn’t want to get involved with it."
Back in October, Scorsese sparked a heated debate after he criticized Marvel movies as "not cinema."
