Joaquin Phoenix Reveals His Theory About Todd Phillips’ ‘Joker’ Ending

Joaquin Phoenix recently discussed what the ending of Todd Phillips’ Joker really means, and how it’s connected with audiences across the world.

While Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker has been a huge box office success, it’s still generating an interesting conversation among fans about whether Arthur Fleck really is the Joker or whether he’s the figure that eventually inspires the Clown Prince of Crime. Joaquin Phoenix recently addressed the theories about the ending to Todd Phillips’ Joker as well as what he thinks happened to Arthur Fleck by the end of the film. He certainly had an interesting take on the divisive ending.

Joaquin Phoenix explained to the L.A. Times that he’s been fascinated by the response from fans to Todd Phillips’ Joker. He addressed that the charm of the film relies on the audience participation surrounding the ending. Joaquin Phoenix specifically noted in the interview that he believes Arthur Fleck became the villain as we know him, but that’s his  just opinion, and he didn’t want to ruin the experience for the fans. Take a look at Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker theory below.

“It’s been super interesting how people react to the movie and what they see — and to me, all of those answers are valid. Normally you have to answer those questions. But this really is participatory and interactive. It’s up to the audience. That’s so rare, especially with a big studio movie, and I don’t want to ruin that by saying, ‘No, this is what it is.’ To me, there are so many different ways to view this character and his experience that I don’t think you can come up with a particular meaning. But I don’t know, it’s just my opinion.”

Do you agree with Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker theory? What’s your theory about the ending to Todd Phillips’ film? Tell us in the comments!

Here’s the synopsis for Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker:

Director Todd Phillips’ Joker centers around the iconic arch nemesis and is an original, standalone fictional story not seen before on the big screen. Phillips’ exploration of Arthur Fleck, who is indelibly portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix, is of a man struggling to find his way in Gotham’s fractured society. A clown-for-hire by day, he aspires to be a stand-up comic at night…but finds the joke always seems to be on him. Caught in a cyclical existence between apathy and cruelty, Arthur makes one bad decision that brings about a chain reaction of escalating events in this gritty character study.

Directed by Todd Phillips from a script he co-wrote with Scott Silver, 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.

Joker is now playing in theaters.

Source: LA Times