The JOKER Movie Definitely Isn’t Following The Comic Books

In a new interview with Empire Magazine, Joker director Todd Phillips warns fans not to expect anything they've seen before in the comics:

“We didn’t follow anything from the comic books, which people are gonna be mad about. We just wrote our own version of where a guy like Joker might come from. That’s what was interesting to me. We’re not even doing Joker, but the story of becoming Joker. It’s about this man.”

It's here that we might as well own up to the fact that we've read the script for Joker, and can confirm what Phillips is saying here. The film is, as expected, a Taxi Driver/King of Comedy riff, one which will walk viewers through the creation of the Clown Prince of Crime. If shot as written, this one's gonna be grimy, dark and pretty much exactly what you've been imagining since this project was first announced.

Is that a good thing? A bad thing? Does anyone really care that they're ignoring previous mythology here? We'll need to see the film before we formulate any firm opinions on it, but my suspicion is that the latter won't matter much in the long run. Guess we'll find out when Joker hits theaters on October 4th. Stay tuned for further updates as they roll in.