Todd Phillips rules out ‘Joker 3’ but open to Joaquin Phoenix reunion
Ahead of the release of Joker: Folie à Deux, the long-awaited sequel to 2019’s Joker, director Todd Phillips has ruled out the idea of making a third film about the supervillain.
Joker first hit cinemas in 2019, starring Joaquin Phoenix in the title role. The film followed Arthur Fleck’s journey to become the infamous clown-like supervillain, from career failures to talk show appearances. Joker was a huge commercial and critical success, taking in over $1 billion at the box office and earning Phoenix an Academy Award win for ‘Best Actor’.
Five years later, a sequel titled Joker: Folie à Deux is set to his cinemas this autumn. Phoenix returns as the main character, alongside Zazie Beetz, who played his imaginary love interest in the first film. New additions to the cast include pop star Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn, as well as Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener and Steve Coogan.
Despite the success of the first film and ever-increasing excitement for the sequel, Philips has now shut down the idea of making the Joker films into a trilogy. During a recent chat with Variety, he suggested that he has already achieved what he set out to with two films.
“It was fun to play in this sort of sandbox for two movies,” he shared, “but I think we’ve said what we wanted to say in this world.”
While Phillips might not be interested in making another Joker film, he is interested in continuing to collaborate with the star of the movies. The director stated that he would love to work with Phoenix on a comedy, explaining that the actor can be “so loose and funny.”
“And I think people really want comedies right now,” he added, “The trailer for Joker 2 sort of sums things up when it says, ‘What the world needs now is love.’ But I would go farther: We could use a good laugh too.”
Phillips also provided an update on his plans to create a Hulk Hogan biopic for Netflix, a project that had already been subject to delays. Chris Hemsworth was announced to star in a film about the wrestler’s origin story in 2019, while Phillips was set to direct.
However, he has now suggested that the project will not come to fruition, at least not under his direction. “I love what we were trying to do, but that’s not going to come together for me,” he admitted.
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