The director of Joker has addressed whether Joaquin Phoenix‘s version of the supervillain will appear in future Batman films.
Following the film’s screening at Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), Todd Phillips was asked whether Phoenix would face off against Robert Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne.
“No definitely not,” he told Variety, before adding that he feels there may be many more incarnations of Joker to come.
“There will be many more jokers, I’m sure, in the future,” he said, likening the character to Hamlet.
“Oddly, in the states, comic books are our Shakespeare it seems, and you can do many many versions of Hamlet.”
The film received an eight-minute standing ovation following its Venice Film Festival premiere earlier this month, where it also won the prestigious Golden Lion award. Last year’s victor was Roma.
The Independent’s reviewer Geoffrey Macnab described the film as “powerful and original” and said Phoenix plays the character “in a way that makes him seem both sympathetic and very creepy”.
Joker will be released in UK cinemas on 4 October.
