Violence, Aurora theater shooting connection has everyone talking about the ‘Joker’

LOS ANGELES  |  There may be no such thing as bad publicity, but the spotlight on “Joker” is testing the limits of that old cliche.

The origin story about the classic Batman villain has inspired pieces both in defense of and against the movie. It’s been hailed as the thing that’s going to finally get Joaquin Phoenix an Oscar and also decried for being “dangerous,” ”irresponsible” and even “incel-friendly.” Last week, some parents of victims of the 2012 Aurora movie theater shooting even wrote to the Warner Bros. CEO asking for support for anti-gun causes. The studio issued a statement in response saying that the film is not “an endorsement of real-world violence of any kind.”

Too close for comfort

Sandy Phillips’ daughter, Jessica Ghawi, was one of 12 people killed in the Aurora theater during a midnight showing of the Batman film, “The Dark Knight Rises,” also distributed by Warner Bros.

Phillips said she and four other people who lost loved ones in Aurora sent a letter to Warner last week, asking the studio to lobby Congress for gun control, support survivor programs and end any contributions to politicians backed by the National Rifle Association.

“When we learned that Warner Bros. was releasing a movie called ‘Joker’ that presents the character as a protagonist with a sympathetic origin story, it gave us pause,” the letter reads. “We want to be clear that we support your right to free speech and free expression. But as anyone who has ever seen a comic book movie can tell you: with great power comes great responsibility.”

Warner issued a statement later saying it has always supported victims of gun violence and calling on policymakers to enact bipartisan legislation to address what it called an epidemic.

Phillips says she was compelled to act after seeing a trailer for “Joker,” the name of the Batman villain portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix in the film being released Oct. 4.

“My jaw dropped. I went, ‘Oh my god.’ And that was just the trailer. I was immediately triggered,” she said.

“Our purpose is to make the movie studios, the directors, the actors aware that when they make movie like this, they affect us directly,” Phillips said. “For someone who idolizes mass shooters, idolizes guns, that’s the kind of movie they absolutely love.”

Phillips’ support group, “Survivors Empowered,” and activist Igor Volsky of Guns Down America sent the letter to Warner CEO Ann Sarnoff.

“Companies like Warner have real leverage where Congress has failed,” said Volsky, citing recent actions by Walmart to stop selling handgun and short-barrel rifle ammunition after a string of mass shootings. “That’s why we are not calling for a boycott of this film. They have an opportunity to lead on this issue.”

“Joker” has been the subject of much debate since it premiered late last month at the Venice International Film Festival, where it won the top prize. It’s also expected to be a major awards contender.

The film is a character study of how Arthur Fleck, a mentally ill aspiring stand-up comedian and clown-for-hire, becomes the classic Batman nemesis.

Director and co-writer Todd Phillips told the AP last month that the villain portrayed by Phoenix is presented in an “empathetic way.”

“You’re kind of on his side until you can’t be any longer,” Todd Phillips said.

Todd Phillips also questioned why some are conflating “Joker” with the movie theater shooting in Aurora in 2012.

“Aurora is obviously a horrible, horrible situation,” Todd Phillips said. “But even that is not something you blame on the movie.”

Prosecutors and a psychiatrist who evaluated Aurora shooter James Holmes have discounted some initial press reports that Holmes had told authorities he was the Joker.

Phoenix told the AP that he thinks it’s a good thing for movies to challenge an audience and that it’s not incumbent on the film or filmmaker to hold back because of how an audience might misinterpret the message.

“I don’t think it’s the filmmaker’s responsibility to teach morality,” Phoenix said. “And if you don’t know the difference between right and wrong, then there’s all sorts of things that you are going to interpret in the way that you want.”

“Make no mistake: Neither the fictional character Joker, nor the film, is an endorsement of real-world violence of any kind,” the Warner statement said. “It is not the intention of the film, the filmmakers or the studio to hold this character up as a hero.”

Tom Sullivan, whose son, Alex, was killed while celebrating his 27th birthday inside the Aurora theater, said he wasn’t aware of efforts to send the letter until late Monday and didn’t sign it but that he supported Sandy Phillips’ endeavor. He also said he saw the film’s debut differently.

“I’m not afraid of the movie. I don’t think someone is going to watch it and go into their closet and pull out their firearms and do something tragic. That sort of process takes a long time,” said Sullivan, who has counseled shooting victims across the country and was elected a Democratic state lawmaker last year.

“‘Joker’ is art,” said Sullivan, “and art is supposed to create conversations.”

The Aurora theater was remodeled and renamed after the 2012 shooting that also wounded 58 people. Holmes was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Reached by telephone, an employee at Century Aurora and XD said Tuesday there were no immediate plans to show “Joker” at the theater but referred calls for comment to Cinemark spokesman James Meredith.

Joker has always been anything but

In his 80 years as part of the culture, the Joker has always had a way of getting under people’s skin — whether it’s because of who the character appeals to, what he represents or even the stories actors tell about how they got into character. But perhaps the biggest irony of all this time around is that for all the discourse and hand-wringing, the film has yet to even open in theaters. That doesn’t happen until Thursday night.

It’s made for a complicated release for the high-profile film, which got off to a triumphant start premiering at and then winning the top award from the Venice Film Festival. And while reviews are mostly positive, it’s also been heavily scrutinized and put the filmmakers on the defensive. Director and co-writer Todd Phillips doesn’t mind the discussion.

“I’ll talk about it all day,” he said. “I’m not shy about it.”

He just wishes people would see the movie before drawing conclusions.

“It’s a little troubling when people write think pieces without having seen it. And even in their think pieces write, ‘I don’t need to see it to know what it is.’ I find it astounding, to be quite frank, how easily the far left can sound like the far right when it suits their agenda,” Phillips said. “To that point, I’ve been disappointed.”

The pre-emptive backlash is all the more baffling to Phillips because he hopes it inspires conversations: About guns, about violence and about the treatment of people with mental illness.

“Part of the reason we made the movie is a response to the comic book world of movies,” Phillips said. “Like, ‘Why is this celebrated? Why is this funny? Why is this fun? What are the real world implications of violence?'”

The film itself is a slow-burn character study of how a mentally-ill, middle-aged man named Arthur Fleck becomes the Joker. When the audience drops in on his life, he’s working as a clown-for-hire, living with his mother in a run-down Gotham apartment and checking in occasionally with a social worker. He has a card that he gives to people to explain that his spontaneous and painful bursts of laughter are because of a medical condition. His only joy seems to be watching the talk show host Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro) in the evenings.

“The truth is you see it and it’s heartbreaking. And he’s heartbreaking,” Phillips said. “And you know what happens in the movies when you have a world that lacks empathy and lacks love? You get the villain you deserve.”

It’s a role that has often required actors to go to difficult places, and “Joker” has the added complication of being more realistic than most of the other depictions even though it’s still set in a fictional world. To play Arthur and Joker, Phoenix researched a number of people that he’s reluctant to even name.

“Some of the people I studied, I feel what they crave is attention and notoriety,” he said. “I don’t feel like they deserve any more of that.”

He also underwent a drastic physical transformation, losing 52 pounds on an extremely calorie-restricted diet with the supervision of a doctor. He expected “feelings of dissatisfaction, hunger, a certain kind of vulnerability and a weakness.” Instead, he found the emaciation led to a physical “fluidity” that he didn’t quite anticipate.

The set was also fairly fluid in a way, and Phoenix said he and Phillips were constantly discovering new elements to Joker and Arthur.

“There seemed to be an infinite number of ways to interpret every moment or how he might behave in any moment. And there wasn’t anything that didn’t make sense. So we would do scenes so many different ways and some I would cry and others I would make jokes and others I would be angry and it would be the same scene and they all (expletive) made sense,” he said.

It made the experience constantly “exciting” and “surprising,” but portraying Arthur/Joker also proved to be “messy and uncomfortable” for the 44-year-old actor.

As for whether or not audiences will use the character as an inspiration or excuse to act out, Phoenix thinks that the onus is on the individual.

“I do think that the audience should be challenged and they should be able to know the difference between right and wrong. I don’t think it’s the filmmaker’s responsibility to teach morality,” Phoenix said. “If you don’t know the difference between right and wrong, then there are all sorts of things that you are going to interpret in the way that you want.”

Both he and Phillips make sure to stress that “Joker,” which is rated R, is not a kids’ movie. It also won’t be for everyone.

“I just hope people see it and take it as a movie,” Phillips said. “Do I hope everyone loves it? No. We didn’t make the movie for everyone. Anytime anyone tries to make a movie for everyone it’s usually for nobody…You have a choice. Don’t see it is the other choice. It’s ok.”