Martin Scorsese Explains Why He Dropped Out Of Joaquin Phoenix’s ‘Joker’

Martin Scorsese explained why decided to exit Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker as a producer.

In the early days of Joker, it was reported that Martin Scorsese was attached to the film as a producer when the project was in the early stages. Of course, Martin Scorsese ultimately opted to exit Joker and the revered filmmaker explained the reason behind his decision during an interview with BBC Cinematic.

When the topic of his recent criticism towards the Marvel films was raised, Martin Scorsese was asked if he also considered Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker to be a theme park ride considering it was inspired by his previous work. In response, Martin Scorsese stated that is not sure about the answer to that question, later adding that he did not have time to work on Joker:

“I don’t know about that. I know the film very well, and I know Todd very well. My producer, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, produced it. So it’s an interesting question. Because I thought about it a lot over the past four years, the Joker, and I decided that I didn’t have the time for it. And also, you’re right, it is influenced by… Todd told me, he said, ‘Marty, this is your style.’ But anyway, personal reasons why I didn’t get involved.”

Martin Scorsese also commended Joker as a “remarkable work” and praised Joaquin Phoenix’s “incredible” performance. However, Martin Scorsese noted that film transforming Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck into a comic book character was ‘not for him’:

“But for me, ultimately, I don’t know if I make the next step, which is to this character developing into a comic book character. You follow? It develops into an abstraction. That doesn’t mean it’s bad art, it could be, but it’s not for me.”

How do you feel about Martin Scorsese’s assessment of Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker? Let us know below!

Here is the official 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 fracturedsociety. 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: BBC Cinematic