Joker Director Hates That Fans Found Easter Eggs Because He Didn't Put Them There
Comic book adaptations are typically loaded with Easter eggs, but not Joker: the movie's director Todd Phillips hates the very idea and was shocked to learn that fans "found" some in Joker.
2019's Joker quickly became one of the most successful DC-based standalone movies ever — and one of the most beloved, too. Much like every other Joker since The Dark Knight, Joaquin Phoenix had to compete with Heath Ledger's unmatched performance in the minds of the audience, and he earned his spot next to him.
Of course, for a movie's success, it's not enough to just have a great cast. Todd Phillips, the director of Joker, put a lot of thought into the most subtle details that, when combined, turned this villain background story into the masterpiece we all know and appreciate. Phillips attentively created something special and iconic.
But if there was one aspect of comic book adaptations that the director completely ignored on purpose, it was the addition of so-called Easter eggs: hidden or apparent references to various bits and pieces throughout pop culture. For Phillips, Easter eggs would've only taken away from the story by disrupting its emotional flow.
Imagine how shocked the director was when he started learning that the fans began "discovering" multiple Easter eggs throughout his movie! Todd Phillips was almost livid at that as it was his specific intention to avoid any and all references.
"I don't do Easter eggs. Any Easter eggs anybody finds is a mistake. I don't understand. [If you find any obvious Easter eggs, it's probably the] art department sneaking something in that would make me crazy if I knew about it," claimed the director in his interview with Collider.
Then again, you can't really get away with not including a single reference in a live-action comic book adaptation, can you? Despite all the previous claims, even Phillips couldn't resist adding one intentional Easter egg to Joker.
"Little Bruce there when he slides down the pole; was that an Easter egg to the Batman television series? And yes, in fact it was. It was something we spoke about and I thought 'Oh yeah, why not do it.' Without being too cute — we don't like to do a ton of that stuff, but it felt appropriate," shared the director with Cinemablend later.
So yeah, if you saw that Batman-shaped shade behind Arthur Fleck's back in the first scene, it was definitely not an Easter egg — at least, not on the director's part. The pole, however, was; and Joaquin Phoenix swears there's a Wonder Woman reference somewhere in the movie, but we don't trust this absolute troll one bit.
Sources: Collider, Cinemablend