Joker,
starring
Joaquin
Phoenix
in
the
lead,
has
been
having
a
phenomenal
run
at
the
box
office.
The
Todd
Phillips
directorial
has
already
grossed
over
$600
million
at
the
worldwide
box
office.
But,
did
you
know
that
the
film
went
through
its
fair
share
of
troubles
before
seeing
the
light
of
the
day?
Read
on.
According
to
Hollywood
Reporter,
the
buzz
is
that
some
of
the
executives
at
production
house
Warner
Bros,
weren't
completed
convinced
with
the
dark
theme
of
the
film
and
allotted
a
smaller
budget,
hoping
it
would
spur
director
Todd
Phillips
to
drop
the
project
altogether.
However,
this
hasn't
been
confirmed
by
the
production
house.
Earlier,
in
an
interview,
Phillips
also
made
a
revelation
about
one
rule
Phoenix
was
particular
on
the
sets.
"Just
make
sure
everybody
is
a
really
good
actor
-
and
no
a**holes," Phoenix
had
told
Phillips.
In
case,
you
had
watched
the
movie,
you
would
have
been
spellbound
by
the
'dance
moves'.
"I
think
what
influenced
me
the
most
was
Ray
Bolger...There
was
a
particular
song
called
The
Old
Soft
Shoe'
that
he
performed
and
I
saw
a
video
of
it
and
there's
this
odd
arrogance
almost
to
his
movements
and,
really,
I
completely
just
stole
it
from
him.
He
does
this
thing
of
turning
his
chin
up.
This
choreographer
Michael
Arnold
showed
me
that
and
tons
of
videos
and
I
zeroed
in
on
that
one.
That
was
Joker,
right?
There's
an
arrogance
to
him,
really.
That
was
probably
the
greatest
influence.
But
also
disco," Phoenix
was
quoted
as
saying.
Phoenix
had
lost
around
23
kg
for
the
movie.
Speaking
about
it,
he
said:
"Once
you
reach
the
target
weight,
everything
changes.
Like
so
much
of
what's
difficult
is
waking
up
every
day
and
being
obsessed
over
like
0.3
pounds.
Right?
And
you
really
develop
like
a
disorder.
I
mean,
it's
wild.
But
I
think
the
interesting
thing
for
me
is
what
I
had
expected
and
anticipated
with
the
weight
loss
was
these
feelings
of
dissatisfaction,
hunger,
a
certain
kind
of
vulnerability
and
a
weakness.
But
what
I
didn't
anticipate
was
this
feeling
of
kind
of
fluidity
that
I
felt
physically.
I
felt
like
I
could
move
my
body
in
ways
that
I
hadn't
been
able
to
before.
And
I
think
that
really
lent
itself
to
some
of
the
physical
movement
that
started
to
emerge
as
an
important
part
of
the
character."