‘Joker 2’ – Director Todd Phillips Sets The Record Straight

Yesterday we, along with most of the media, reported that Joker 2 was happening and that Todd Phillips was returning to both write and direct. The story went as far as say that Phillips may also be working on a gritty origin reboot of another DC character. Well, it turns out that we were all bamboozled. In a new interview with Indiewire, Phillips has just set the record straight:

“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 made a huge comedy at Warner Bros., ‘The Hangover,’ and I didn’t suddenly become a comedy factory producer, like, oh, let’s just churn out movies. Bradley [Cooper] and I have a production company at Warners. I’ve been at Warners for 15, 16 years. We have two things in development at all times, not 40 things like some people. I’m not the kind of guy who goes marching in saying I want these 40 titles. I just don’t have the energy.”

“Here’s the real truth about a sequel. While Joaquin and I have talked about it, and while touring the world with Warner Bros executives — going to Toronto, and Venice, and other places — of course, we’re sitting at dinner and they’re saying, ‘So, have you thought about…?’ But, talking about contracts, there’s not a contract for us to even write a sequel, we’ve never approached Joaquin to be in a sequel. Will that happen? Again, I just think the article was anticipatory at best.”

In the end, this movie is probably going to happen. It’s hard to imagine Warner Bros being OK with the idea of leaving a billion-dollar property unexploited. It just sounds like we aren’t nearly as close to a real announcement as was previously reported.