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Joker Director Todd Phillips Suggests Arthur Fleck Might Not be Real Clown Prince of Crime


Joaquin Phoenix's Joker movie might have been nothing short of commercial and critical success, however, the film's director Todd Phillips suggests that Arthur Fleck may not actually be the real Joker that fans have come to know in DC.

Fans might have come to love Phillip's gritty character study of Gotham's Clown Prince of crime because of Phoenix's extraordinary take on the DC villain and because of the film's depiction of mental illness and its take on class struggle. However, in the 22-minute behind the scenes featurette Joker: Vision and Fury (via ComicBook.com), the filmmaker reminds his followers that there's a whole lot of ambiguity in the film. Arthur Fleck was never a reliable narrator, to begin with, and to Phillips, Joker might just be a "version" of the character's origin.

"There's many ways to look at the movie. He might not be Joker," Phillips explains, "This is just a version of a Joker origin. It's just the version this guy is telling in this room at a mental institution. I don't know that he's the most reliable narrator in the world, you know what I'm saying?"

That could be true. After all, in the film, Arthur Fleck seems to be around his 30s, which means that he'd be around his late forties or in his fifties by the time Bruce Wayne comes of age to fight with Joker. Perhaps Arthur Fleck was one of the first Jokers. Perhaps he inspired another who would, later on, become the Clown Prince of Crime who plays games with the Dark Knight.

What do you think? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below.

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