Todd Phillips Considers "The Joker" (2019) Oscar Worthy, Though Skepticism Remains

Scene from The Joker (2019)

The past few weeks of the summer have produced a lot of reasons to look forward to Oscar season. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood marks a potential return for Tom Hanks, and this weekend's Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood is a Quentin Tarantino movie (so we'll be talking about it for a while). However, there's one outlier that has made the rounds in recent days... and it is not what you'd expect. Even in a post-Black Panther world, it still seems ridiculous to think that any superhero movie could crack the Oscars again. It's why it seems odd that there is one to not forget this Fall, or at least The Hangover director Todd Phillips will have you believe. The Joker is set to premiere at the Venice Film Festival, and there are talks that the Oscars are not too far behind. It seems like a risky gamble, but maybe what this season needs.

If there's been one odd trend in the past decade, it's the shift of comedy filmmakers into serious Oscar contenders and even winners. The most noteworthy was Peter Farrelly, who in the '90s directed gross-out comedies like There's Something About Mary before winning Best Picture with Green Book. Similarly is Adam McKay, who won an Oscar for The Big Short, which was also nominated for Best Picture alongside his Dick Cheney biopic Vice. Phillips is far from the first to want to join the field, even as he's shifted from comedies like Old School to political satires with War Dogs. Considering that these follow a template set by Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street, it makes sense that Phillips' first big piece on the Oscars is a film that feels heavily borrowed from '70s era Scorsese, notably Mean Streets and Taxi Driver.

It already seemed like a staggering project given the presence of Joaquin Phoenix. The actor has celebrated a phenomenal run since 2010 with films that could be seen as more challenging. Last year's You Were Never Really Here was a chaotic action thriller, but far from a conventional sense. He takes risks. So, to have him in the game once again is both exciting and a bit nerve-racking. There's been a discussion that The Joker is not a continuation of the D.C. Extended Universe, of which saw Jared Leto already playing the character in Suicide Squad. It was a clean break that promised to be darker and more demented than anything that has been seen before. One could hope that this isn't Phoenix regressing into paycheck mode, though even that would be fun given that the trailer sees him embody an emotionally unstable protagonist acting out his verbose fantasies.

Phillips is pushing it to premiere at the Venice Film Festival, which sounds big when you take into consideration that A Star is Born celebrated a successful run there just a year ago. Venice isn't just a place for a run of the mill film to premiere. It's where the Oscar discussion begins to take shape, even if some of the films won't make it to the final night. The Joker seems bolder for doing this, and it will help to raise the profile that wasn't already high because of Phoenix's involvement. In interviews, it has been suggested that "This one’s going straight to the Oscars even though it’s gritty, dark, violent. It has amazing ambition and scope." If nothing else, it gives a little bit to be excited about.

But what would it take to see a comic book movie get into the Oscar race again? Black Panther is, to date, the only comic book movie to be nominated for Best Picture and ties with Dick Tracy for most Oscar wins (four). Of course, it should be considered that the film had a cultural resonance by this point last year that The Joker doesn't. In a time where Avengers: Endgame is pushing Robert Downey Jr. for an Oscar nomination, The Joker has yet to pounce on the discussion. Phillips is likely using this as a chance to start that conversation, but it's arguably tough to think of it is as culturally relevant as Black Panther. The Ryan Coogler movie had the added benefit of exploring racial identity in the African-American community and presented Wakanda as this new and exciting place that had never been seen in a billion-dollar grossing film before. It has so much more weight than any superhero film this decade because of that, even if one could argue that films like The Avengers (2012) or Wonder Woman (2017) reflected significant shifts in the zeitgeist.

The one benefit is that the Oscars have also given the character an added boost of credibility. The Joker could easily get by because of Phoenix's pedigree. However, The Joker as a character has already been the only comic book character to win an Oscar. Heath Ledger posthumously won the Best Supporting Actor statue for The Dark Knight - which was a mix of heightened popularity and the last chance to honor an actor gone too soon. One can hope that Phoenix doesn't die between now and October, though beyond that there's nothing that stands out about the film. The Scorsese sheen is nice, but much like the criticism lobbied against American Hustle in 2013, imitation Scorsese is rarely as satisfying as just nominating the real deal. The Joker just looks like a film that Robert de Niro would've done better in the '70s... at least from the trailers.

There's also the factor that Phillips has yet to prove himself critically enough to gain an enthusiastic buzz for The Joker. It's smart to build it from the ground up but consider the career he's coming off of. He's best known for the fraternity comedy Old School and the raunchy Hangover trilogy. There's nothing wrong with these films necessarily, but much like Farrelly and McKay, they create an uphill battle. While War Dogs saw him try to shift towards the more serious subject matter, audiences haven't quite embraced a new style for him. It's not too late, especially since Farrelly went from directing abysmal trash like Movie 43 to Green Book in five years. However to suggest that a man known for embracing debauchery and chauvinism leaves little inspiration at suggesting that The Joker is a wild departure for the best. The trailer does its job of selling an appealing film, but what's to stop him from having The Joker pass out drunk on the top of a casino in downtown Gotham City?

The truth is that it's an exciting film in a year that's been lacking severely for mainstream entertainment. With exception to Shazam!, the first seven months of the year have felt like a pat on the back for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and more reflects how limited this style of cinematic narration can be (hot take: Endgame is not going to age well). Having The Joker as this bizarro alternative is at least exciting and looks to try for dramatic gravitas. However, those wanting to give it the immediate Oscar hype must be warned that this comes at a cost. Let us never forget that Leto's follow-up to an Oscar-win (Best Supporting Actor, Dallas Buyers Club) was Suicide Squad and was sold as this revolutionary experiment where he sent cast members dead rats and used condoms. Whether it's all fiction or not, that arguably sounds more like the story someone like Phillips would make a Joker movie about, though Phoenix seems above that. Still, there's too much riding against The Joker for it to be a breakout hit right now.

There's not much yet taking shape for the Oscar season, which makes the road ahead exciting. However, The Joker so far is a mixed blessing. As someone who adores almost all of Phoenix's movies since 2010, I do believe that he doesn't just do paycheck gigs and that he will do something special. I also don't hate Phillips as a filmmaker all that much. However, this feels more like a publicity stunt than a declarative statement that we're about to see the first Joker nominated for an Oscar since 2009. On one hand, Phoenix has been vocally against the Oscars since his notorious Interview Magazine piece where he suggested that campaigns were like biting a carrot on a stick. He also hasn't been nominated after The Master, for better or worse. What exactly is there to offer then from The Joker that will put it over the edge? 

Maybe it will follow a path too literal to A Star is Born with its Venice premiere. Maybe The Joker will celebrate immediate acclaim but fade into awards obscurity upon release. Even then A Star is Born had more going for it with headlining Oscar-caliber talent and a feel-good remake of Oscars' favorite franchise. The Joker doesn't feel like it will be more than appealing to Scorsese accolades needing to see a guy in clown make-up reenacting scenes that Johnny Boy did better in Mean Streets. There's plenty to look forward to in the buzz following the film, but this move so far remains highly skeptical, even with the promise of Phoenix delivering a commanding performance. It's just hard to think that Phillips will do it the justice that it needs.