The only upcoming project on Joaquin Phoenix’s schedule is low budget independent drama C’mon C’mon, which looks to be a refreshing change of pace for the introverted actor after he voiced his displeasure at constantly being asked the same questions over and over again during the relentless publicity trail and subsequent awards season campaign for Todd Phillips’ Joker.
Unfortunately, that comes with the territory when you play the title role in a comic book movie that rakes in over a billion dollars at the box office and lands you an Academy Award win at the fourth time of asking. Of course, another requisite part of the job is dealing with sequel speculation, even though Joker could comfortably be left alone as a one and done story.
Warner Bros. didn’t even want to make the twisted R-rated psychological thriller in the first place, actively lowering the budget to try and put Phillips off the idea, while they missed out on a massive share of the profits after co-financing the project, even with production costs of $55 being considered minuscule by the typical standards of the genre.
Obviously, the executives would have no doubt changed their stance when Joker became the highest-grossing R-rated title in history and scooped eleven Academy Award nominations, and ever since there’s been nonstop speculation that at least one sequel is in the works. Now, insider Daniel Richtman is claiming that the leading man has signed on the dotted line, and not just for Joker 2, but multiple DC films.
Of course, this isn’t the second, third, fourth or even fifth time we’ve heard something similar, so you’re best not taking the news of a sequel at face value until either Phillips or Phoenix confirm themselves that another outing for Arthur Fleck’s Clown Prince of Crime is in the works. But it certainly looks like the actor isn’t done with the role just yet and we don’t imagine it’ll be too long before an official announcement is made.
