It’s only been a full week since Joker: Folie à Deux hit theaters, but the reactions and events couldn’t be more divisive. People who have watched it (or read a summary online) have plenty of thoughts about different parts of the film, especially its ending. Director Todd Phillips and star Joaquin Phoenix have already discussed this (and how they arrived at it), so it’s time now to share the main player secret in the film their thoughts on the matter.
After being completely rejected by Lee (Lady Gaga) and sent back to Arkham Asylum, Arthur (Joaquin Phoenix) is approached by a fellow prisoner playing Connor Storey, who has been secretly watching him throughout the film. The prisoner tells a joke to Arthur, then stabs him to death before drawing the classic Glasgow smile on his face. In this way, he took on the mantle of the Joker for himself.
In his conversation with TMZ, Storey said he wasn’t really surprised that the ending made fans feel a certain way. Like many, he was amazed by the news that this would be a musical, considering the “brutality and filth” of the first part. Clown was. But for him, the polarizing views were inevitable, and may be justified in some aspects. He said, “It’s better for things to be polarizing than to be boring or too clean.” “You can’t make such a big swing without knowing that it gives people the chance not to deviate from your choices.”
While Storey praised Phillips for “having the necessary balls to make such a bold move”, he said he never thought about it. Folie à Deux as a secret origin story. (It seems he didn’t even know what would happen in the film after Arthur’s death.) It’s obvious that he knows the importance of the Joker, but he emphasized not “thinking about what that (ending) could mean or where it belonged.” It could go. It was very clear that this is Joaquin’s film, (and) this is where I belong. (…) It’s part of Arthur’s story more than anything else after that.
Joker: Folie à Deux is now playing in theaters.
(via Variety)
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