Director David Fincher criticized Joaquin Phoenix's Oscar-winning performance in Joker, suggesting that the film "was a betrayal of the mentally ill."
"Nobody would have thought they had a shot at a giant hit with Joker had The Dark Knight not been as massive as it was," Fincher recently told The Telegraph. "I don’t think anyone would have looked at that material and thought, 'Yeah, let’s take Travis Bickle and Rupert Pupkin and conflate them, then trap him in a betrayal of the mentally ill."
The fictional characters of Rupert Pupkin and Travis Bickle were both iconically played by Robert DeNiro, who also starred in Joker. Rupert was a delusional and aspiring stand-up comic in 1983's The King of Comedy. Travis was a violent, paranoid veteran who goes on a killing spree in 1976's Taxi Driver.
Fincher credited the success of Joker to the fact that Warner Bros. allowed a big budget and tied Robert DeNiro to the project, adding, "But I cannot imagine that movie would have been released had it been 1999."
He continued to contrast how Joker was received versus his own controversial 1999 film Fight Club, noting, "The general view afterward among the studio types was, 'Our careers are over.' The fact we got that film made in 1999 is still, to my mind, a miracle."
In the same interview, Fincher discussed how streaming platforms are an asset for creatives who want to make challenging content. "What the streamers are doing is providing a platform for the kind of cinema that actually reflects our culture and wrestles with big ideas: where things are, what people are anxious and unsure about," he explained. "Those are the kinds of movies that would have been dead on arrival five years ago."
Released in 2019, Todd Phillips' Joker starred Phoenix as Arthur Fleck, a man who becomes increasingly manic and violent as he takes on the persona of the Clown Prince of Crime. The film became the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time upon its release in 2019 and received 11 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. Phoenix also walked away with the Best Actor trophy for his portrayal of the titular villain.
Joker stars Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Bill Camp, Frances Conroy, Brett Cullen, Glenn Fleshler, Douglas Hodge, Marc Maron, Josh Pais and Shea Whigham. The film is available now on Digital HD, Blu-ray, 4K UHD, DVD and HBO Max.