Joaquin Phoenix addresses possibility of potential ‘Joker’ sequel

Joaquin Phoenix has addressed the possibility of a sequel to his 2019 film, ‘Joker’.

The actor, who won an Oscar for his depiction of Arthur Fleck (aka Joker) in the Todd Phillips-directed movie, said in a new interview that Fleck is “an interesting guy” while discussing a follow-up.

Phoenix told The Playlist in response to persistent rumours about a sequel: “I dunno.” He added that he is in the dark about another project.

“From when we were shooting, we started to – you know, uhh, this is an interesting guy. There are some things we could do with this guy and could [explore] further. But as to whether we actually will? I don’t know,” he said.

‘Joker’ chronicles a difficult period in the life of a disturbed aspiring comic who develops the Joker alter-ego while pursuing violent crime. The film took more than $1 billion globally and became the highest grossing R-rated film of all time.

Earlier this year The Hollywood Reporter claimed that Phillips had struck a deal to co-write the next ‘Joker’ instalment.

The news appeared in an article about the most powerful lawyers in the film industry, which included an entry for attorney Warren Dern, who counts Phillips among his clients. Dern’s entry stated: “Todd Phillips struck a deal to co-write the next Joker instalment.”

Phoenix previously revealed that he wasn’t enamoured with his role in ‘Joker’ when he first started working on it.

He told Popcorn with Peter Travers: “You know, I wouldn’t have thought about this as my dream role. But now, honestly, I can’t stop thinking about it.

“I talked to Todd a lot about what else we might be able to do, in general, just to work together, but also specifically, if there’s something else we can do with Joker that might be interesting,” he said.

“So, it ended up being a dream role. It’s nothing that I really wanted to do prior to working on this movie.”