Before triumphing with “Joker,” [my review] director Todd Phillips was more known as the helmer behind raunchy but funny (“The Hangover,” “Old School,” “Road Trip,” “Starsky and Hutch”). However, he now claims that he has no interest in returning to the comedy genre due to the current-day far-left censorship of comedy.
Speaking to Vanity Fair, Phillips explained his exit from comedy, and, if you’ve read this site over the last year, he points out the same argument that I have been consistently making: that ‘woke culture’ is ruining the genre’s ability to tickle the funny bone.
“Go try to be funny nowadays with this woke culture,” Phillips said. “There were articles written about why comedies don’t work anymore — I’ll tell you why, because all the fucking funny guys are like, ‘Fuck this shit, because I don’t want to offend you.’”
He continued, “It’s hard to argue with 30 million people on Twitter. You just can’t do it, right? So you just go, ‘I’m out.’ I’m out, and you know what? With all my comedies—I think that what comedies, in general, all have in common—is they’re irreverent. So I go, ‘How do I do something irreverent, but fuck comedy? Oh I know, let’s take the comic book movie universe and turn it on its head with this.’ And so that’s really where that came from.”
Phillips is currently doing press for his mesmerizing landmark “Joker,” a film that has been scrutinized by the left as potentially awakening incels that could shoot up movie theaters nationwide. I have been carefully avoiding this topic because I find most of what the far-left criticizes in the arts these days to be, well, fascist.
Phillips seems to agree. Speaking to The Wrap, he spoke about the concerns from Aurora shooting victims’ families and the US military about his film, claiming that the far-left is censoring, much in the same way that the right used to back in the ‘80s and ‘90s.
“I think it’s because outrage is a commodity, I think it’s something that has been a commodity for a while. What’s outstanding to me in this discourse in this movie is how easily the far left can sound like the far right when it suits their agenda. It’s really been eye-opening for me.”
“Joker” is hitting theaters on October 4.
A24 isn't being subtle. This Friday, "You Can See Everything" will expand to roughly 600 additional theaters, bringing it to 3,243 screens nationwide. That's a studio going after the top spot at the box office.