“I didn’t want to be too influenced by the comic book, because the whole point of the movie is to be first a movie, and to be different. Different from Batman, different from Spider-Man – this movie has its own identity.” That could be Todd Phillips talking about Joker, his billion-dollar grossing movie that may wind up with an Academy Award nomination, if not nominations. But nope, it’s Pitof, who… Wait. Who the heck is Pitof?
He’s the guy who directed Catwoman, which did not make a billion dollars and wasn’t nominated for an Oscar. But it did win Least “Special” Special Effects at the 2005 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards! Catwoman is among the worst comic book movies ever, and it was a notorious dud at the box office, earning a mere $82 million on a $100 million budget. It’s notorious for another reason, too: Catwoman was the first Batman villain (slash anti-hero love interest) to get a spin-off movie; she was also the only until Joker.
That’s not where the connections between Catwoman and Joker end, though.
Over on Instagram, Phillips shared behind-the-scenes pictures from Joker, including pics of Joaquin Phoenix smoking a cigarette, Robert De Niro doing his best Robert De Niro face, and Arthur Fleck’s medical condition card. “I have LOTS more and will post soon as people seem to be digging them. #Joker is everywhere,” he wrote. Take a look at the eighth image — it shows Arthur’s scribblings in his journal, with the word “step” repeated dozens of times and a picture of a scantily-clad woman riding a cat next to a half-cat, half-woman. Phillips has said that he doesn’t “do” Easter eggs (“Any Easter eggs anybody finds is a mistake”), but it can’t be a coincidence that the not-Halle Berry feline-human is using a ball of string like it’s a bullwhip, Catwoman’s preferred weapon.
Have a look for yourself.
(Via Instagram)
