Variety: Todd Phillips ‘Wanted Nothing to Do’ With DC

[Celloo Deng 53,598]

Interesting article from Variety shedding more light on the making of JFAD. This whole thing is fascinating to me. 

https://variety.com/2024/film/news/joker-folie-a-deux-bombs-what-went-wrong-todd-phillips-1236170946/

... Todd Phillips “wanted nothing to do with DC” during the making of the film, says one agent familiar with the director’s unique carve-out, which allowed him to bypass any oversight from the brand’s gatekeepers. Although Gunn has publicly supported the film on social media, Phillips has distanced himself from DC. As the animated title-card sequence unspooled inside the iconic Hollywood cinema in the opening minutes, it became apparent that Phillips had just given DC the middle finger. There was no DC Studios logo. “If the first movie was about some down-on-his-luck, mentally ill guy in a downtrodden city, it makes maybe $150 [million] worldwide. Not a billion,” says a source familiar with the internal awkwardness. “People showed up because that guy was Joker.”

... Now that the dust has settled on the sequel’s disastrous opening weekend, plenty of soul-searching is taking place on the Burbank lot. The overarching question being asked is: Why spend $200 million to make — and nearly $100 million to market — a tentpole that ignores the DC fan base? And “ignores” may be putting it mildly. As a Rolling Stone review of the film succinctly put it: “‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ Has a Message for Fans: Go F-ck Yourselves.”

... The movie began production in December 2022, two months after Gunn and Safran took control of DC, and many expected the duo to provide notes and feedback on the R-rated musical, especially given the capital outlay involved. But Phillips balked and would only liaise with De Luca and Abdy. And he has done little to dispel the appearance of friction, even though Gunn and Safran were on hand for the first director’s cut screening for the studio. When asked by a Collider reporter if the production process changed when the pair succeeded DC head Walter Hamada or if they had any input, Phillips replied, “With all due respect to them, this is kind of a Warner Bros. movie.”

And even Warner Bros.’ feedback was sometimes ignored. Sources say Zaslav met one-on-one with Phillips shortly after WarnerMedia and Discovery merged in April 2022 and was open to filming in Los Angeles if the director would make the sequel at a lower price point. (The studio preferred London, where it would have cost about 20% less.) But Phillips insisted on shooting in Los Angeles, and the budget didn’t change. (A Warners spokesperson says the studio “supported the decision to film in Los Angeles” and the Zaslav-Phillips confab was merely a meet-and-greet where they discussed what else the director wanted to make there.) Insiders say studio brass did not want to debut the film at the Venice Film Festival, as it had done five years ago with “Joker,” but Phillips pushed back. A Warners spokesperson says the studio “fully supported the decision to bring the film to Venice.”

Other battles of will between Phillips and Warners ensued. Phillips refused to test screen “Joker 2.” So its premiere in Venice marked the first time an audience saw it. The critics rejected it, and the film tallied a disastrous 33% score on Rotten Tomatoes well before earning a dismal “D” CinemaScore. To put that grade into context, the much reviled “Madame Web” landed a “C+” earlier this year. (A Warners spokesperson says, “Given the film contains spoilers, the studio did not want to unnecessarily divulge plot points too early to test audiences, but rather, allow moviegoers to discover the film in their own time.”)

Making a sequel to a billion-dollar movie, whether it’s “Aquaman” or “Joker,” is considered a smart bet. But with its outsize budget, which included $20 million upfront for Phoenix, $20 million for Phillips and $12 million for Gaga, the film needed to make at least $450 million theatrically to break even — a now unlikely scenario. 

... “No one could get through to Todd,” says one source directly involved with the film. “And the one thing about genre stuff: If you don’t listen and pay attention to what the fan expectations are, you’re going to fail.”

[SEANGT 4,959]

The only mistake anyone made was blowing $200 million on this lol. It's a good movie for what it is. It could've been made way cheaper and been successful. 

[27monster27 11,431]

This would probably explain why the movie feels so different usual DC stuff.

[Didymus 34,379]

Still have no idea where the $200m went even with the more expensive LA location.

[Roughhouse Dandy 8,692]

Kinda bad*ss in my opinion lol

 

[proxy 817]

4 minutes ago, Cello said:

Todd Phillips “wanted nothing to do with DC” during the making of the film

After this he will be lucky if he have chance to make movies at all. He can forget about movies with budget of $200m again 

 

[Red 94,942]

It’s giving Robert Pattinson talking about Twilight 

[River 105,891]

It's funny how the media is over analyzing it only because Gaga is there..

[Oriane 19,832]

In one week, he went from being a director whose work I appreciated/was curious to see more, to a person and artist I absolutely respect. He knew very well they wouldn't understand his vision and did it with all their money anyway.

[RAMROD 104,663]

Because of his ego, everyone else dealing with this project have to suffered the consequences, directly and/or indirectly. That is not bad ass, that is weak and selfish af.  F this guy honestly 

[Obobo 2,702]

honestly this is so camp and who doesn’t love a big F U to corporations. In a weird twist, the incels like anti-establishment in movies but not in real life. Oh, what a reverse Jokerian experience! Drama not the bling! 

[RoadToLouis 105]

1 hour ago, Didymus said:

Still have no idea where the $200m went even with the more expensive LA location.

This seems to be a big issue in Hollywood atm. They spend $200m on films that look worse than they did 20 years ago in most aspects. Poor CGI, cheap costume design and no proper sets, only green screens. I really don’t get where all that money is really going. 
 

Not to mention the millions they spend on marketing agencies that don’t really understand their audiences.

If JFAD had a budget closer to the original’s, the narrative would be slightly diferent, I feel.

[Magic Mike 2,661]

3 minutes ago, Obobo said:

who doesn’t love a big F U to corporations

I came here to write this 🫰. You’re so right

[Bronco 6,393]

Honestly I think its a classic case of "director has one major artistic success and ego grows exponentially". 

Like none of his serious works prior to Joker ever attracted major success or acclaim. His most successful works were lad comedies like The Hangover series.

I think the success of Joker made Todd think he was the next Scorcese. When the reality was he'd just made a good Batman universe movie at a time when comic book media was the most profitable it had ever been. 

[Ashley 8,629]

I thought this excerpt from the article was interesting 

“Joker: Folie à Deux” also may have suffered from not having Bradley Cooper’s voice at the table. Cooper, who was a producer on 2019’s “Joker” and is known for his commercial instincts including his low-budget hit “A Star Is Born” with Gaga, was not involved with the sequel after dissolving his producing partnership with Phillips in 2021.

I didn’t know Bradley produced the first Joker movie so when I googled it I found this 

https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/bradley-cooper-joker-editing-room-1202205304/

Spoiler

“We kept this one pretty close to us,” Groth said when asked about test screening the film. “We screened it more personally for people and filmmakers. Bradley Cooper definitely came in a couple of times. He was a producer on the movie, but he definitely watched the movie many times and sat with us. We could call him if we got stuck with something and be like, ‘Hey, can you come over and take a look at things?’”

Groth continued, “He doesn’t miss a thing. He would watch stuff and he would pick out even some of the smallest things. He was definitely a huge help. I think he’s got a lot more experience in editing than most people would realize.”

If only he was still involved with the sequel