Director and screenwriter Paul Schrader (known for The Assembly Line, Light Sleeper, Dog Like Dog) said he walked out of the second Joker movie after just 20 minutes.
“I watched for 10 or 15 minutes, left, bought something, came back, watched for another 10 minutes. That was enough,” Schrader told Interview Magazine, calling the sequel “a really bad musical.”
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“I don’t like any of these people,” he added. “Not as actors, not as characters. If these people came to your house, you’d sneak out the back door,” he said.
Schrader, who has worked closely with Martin Scorsese, wrote screenplays for films like Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ, Bringing Out the Dead, and Taxi Driver—the last of which inspired the first Joker film in 2019.
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Filming for Joker: Madness Between Two, the sequel, wrapped in April, and it premiered on October 4, 2024. Joaquin Phoenix, Zazie Beetz, Catherine Keener, and Brendan Gleeson star in the film directed by Todd Phillips, who also helmed the first one.
Variety reports that the sequel is expected to end its run with around $210 million worldwide, compared to the $248.4 million the first film earned in its first three days. The sequel’s budget was $200 million.