Director David Fincher: “Joker” is a betrayal of the mentally ill. The studios don’t want to do anything that doesn’t bring them $ 1 billion

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Fincher talked about the box office success of “Joker” in an extended attack on the production strategy of major Hollywood studios.

Claiming that the studios “don’t want to do anything that doesn’t bring them $ 1 billion,” he suggested that, from time to time, “challenging” materials may receive support, if there is concrete evidence of commercial potential, according to news.ro .

Without the example of “The Dark Knight”, a version of the superhero story, Fincher suggested that “Joker”, with obvious allusions to Martin Scorsese’s 70s and 80s classics, would have struggled to get started.

I don’t think anyone would have looked at the material and thought, “Yeah, let’s take Travis Bickle (the main character of Taxi Driver,” no.) And Rupert Pupkin (a character in The King. Of Comedy “) and put them together, then we catch him in a mentally ill betrayal and we let him go for a billion dollars ”.

The Joker, who brought Joaquin Phoenix the first Academy Award for his acting career, was criticized – at launch – for “perpetuating harmful stereotypes”, as the central figure, Arthur Fleck, is a mentally ill who becomes violent. after you stop taking the treatment.

Annabel Driscoll and Mina Husain, doctors, wrote in The Guardian last year that this “is not just misinformation, it also amplifies stigma and fear.”

Instead, disability activist Justin Edgar, the director, praised “Joker” as a “classic” of disabled films.