Joker Director’s Pissed Off About Those Leaked Set Photos

Hype for the Joaquin Phoenix Joker solo movie went stratospheric this week. With the film beginning its location shooting in New York, photographers have swarmed the set hoping for a glimpse of the villain in full clown regalia. And judging from all the shots that’ve turned up from various sources, they’ve been pretty damn successful.

Of course, these peeks at what’s to come are great for excited fans, but less so for the cast and crew. And director Todd Phillips, in particular, is sounding pretty frustrated.

Recently, we got a look at Zazie Beetz’s character in the film, rumored to be a love interest for Phoenix’s Joker, via a snatched paparazzi shot. In response, Phillips released a professional shot of the character on his Instagram. Following this, one fan commented that they feel like they’re seeing too much of the movie already, to which the director replied:

“Here’s the issue. We have paparazzi all over our set, at every turn. And it bums me out that they constantly put out their bad shots. So I figure, may as well put out some good ones.”

It’s a fair point. Despite hoovering them up whenever I get the chance, I sometimes feel a little disappointed if I sense a snatched paparazzi shot might’ve spoiled a neat surprise in an upcoming film. I’m not a diehard avoider of spoilers but, for example, I feel like I already know a bit too much about what’s going to happen in Avengers 4 and I sense that happening with Joker now as well. 

But while we’ve gotten a very nice look at the film’s Cesar Romero-inspired Clown Prince of Crime (hiring the costume designer from Phantom Thread appears to have paid off gangbusters), we still don’t know much about the plot other than some vague beats. Presumably, Phillips is going to be heading back to the studio to finish the shoot once these locations are in the can, where hopefully he can keep some of the more unexpected developments under wraps.

Joker cackles into cinemas on October 4th, 2019, and as soon as something else emerges from the set, we’ll be sure to let you know.