Joker – though controversial – is one of the best movies of 2019. There were a few moments in the film that left the door open should Todd Phillips want to revisit the story, none bigger than Arthur Fleck’s connection to Bruce Wayne.
When Arthur’s mother, Penny, told him that Thomas Wayne was actually his dad it presented the startling revelation that the Joker and Bruce Wayne could be related.
The idea seemed to be debunked later on in the film when Thomas denied the claims, leading Arthur to discover that Penny had been diagnosed with delusional psychosis and had actually adopted him.
However another twist in the tale came via a picture of a younger Penny along with the words ‘love your smile. TW’ written on the back.
Todd Phillips has been discussing the mystery surrounding the complicated relationship.
“I liked leaving the idea of Arthur being Thomas Wayne’s son ambiguous,” he told Empire.
“Part of the fun is that question being out there. What would that change if Joker is somehow a blood relation to Bruce Wayne?
“Part of the movie is a search for identity. Arthur’s idea is to fit in and belong somewhere.
“So this idea of Arthur not knowing who his father is, where he came from, if he was adopted, what the story was, was another element in his search for identity.”
Meanwhile a cinematographer from the movie recently opened up about one of the storylinesother big talking points.
Many have wondered whether or not Sophie and her little girl had been killed following his break-in, but the film’s cinematographer Lawrence Sher has revealed that no harm came to Sophie after she kicked him out.
We wanted to make the interpretation of the real versus what’s not real, a part of the viewer’s experience,” Sher told Slashfilm.
“For instance, his relationship to Sophie is a fantasy to him. Some people have asked me, ‘Was she killed?’ Todd makes it clear she wasn’t killed.
“Arthur is killing people who’ve wronged him in a certain way, and Sophie never wronged him.
“In terms of what we did visually to play with the real and not real, there are callbacks and scenes that mirror each other.
“We leave hints using imagery or way we covered scenes similarly between scene. Outside of that, I like that people can have the conversation and come to their own conclusions.”
Featured Image Credit: Warner Bros.