There was much confusion this week upon the spreading of a widely believed report of a Joker sequel being a done deal, marking a wave of excitement for fans of the Joaquin Phoenix-starring hit that was immediately capsized by reports stating the exact opposite.
Now, director Todd Phillips has offered up some clarity.
Speaking withIndieWire's Eric Kohn, Phillips said the initial Hollywood Reporterpiece "jumped the gun" with its assessment of the current sequel situation and additional DC origin story films.
"I can honestly say to you there was no meeting that ever happened on October 7 where I marched in," Phillips said. "First of all, if you know me and my career, that's not my style . . . I'm not the kind of guy who goes marching in saying I want these 40 titles. I just don't have the energy."
Phillips added that he did pitch Warner Bros. "at the start of his Joker journey" on the idea of a "whole label" of character-focused comic book adaptations, though the studio ultimately only agreed on what became this year’s Joker.
As for a Joker 2, Phillips confirmed again that he and Phoenix have had such conversations dating as far back as week two of shooting the original, though "there's not a contract for us to even write a sequel." Furthermore, Phoenix has not been formally approached about revising the character.
"Will that happen?" he said. "Again, I just think the article was anticipatory at best." Check the full discussion here.
As Phillips himself acknowledges in these latest comments, sequel discussions are of course inevitable whenever a movie crosses that coveted billion-dollar mark at the global box office. And while Phoenix has exactly zero sequels in his filmography thus far, it's next to impossible to imagine a Joker 2 succeeding (or even making sense) without him.
Stay tuned.
