Joaquin Phoenix Has Underwhelming Update for ‘Joker’ Fans Wanting a Sequel

DC Comics fans who are anxiously awaiting the sequel to Joker might want to temper their expectations. In a new interview with The Playlist to promote his new movie Cmon Cmon, Joaquin Phoenix explained that while he’s interested in playing Arthur Fleck again, there are no current plans for Joker 2. 

“I mean, I dunno,” he admitted. “From when we were shooting, we started to —you know, uhh, this is an interesting guy. There are some things we could do with this guy and could [explore] further. But as to whether we actually will? I don’t know.” There were rumors of a sequel after Joker made over $1 billion at the international box office in 2019, but director Todd Phillips denied it in an interview with Indiewire. 

“I can honestly say to you there was no meeting that ever happened on October 7 where I marched in,” Phillips said at the time. “First of all, if you know me and my career, that’s not my style. I made a huge comedy at Warner Bros., The Hangover, and I didn’t suddenly become a comedy factory producer, like, oh, let’s just churn out movies. Bradley [Cooper] and I have a production company at Warners. I’ve been at Warners for 15, 16 years. We have two things in development at all times, not 40 things like some people. I’m not the kind of guy who goes marching in saying I want these 40 titles. I just don’t have the energy.”

Phoenix recently made headlines when he debuted his half-shaved head while on the red carpet for the New York Film Festival premiere of Cmon Cmon. He completely shaved his entire head for his role in Disappointment Blvd, but so far, it seems to be growing back unevenly. This Is hardly the first time that Phoenix has taken drastic physical steps for a role, having lost 52 pounds for Joker. He told the Associated Press in 2019 that he developed a “disorder” from the major weight loss. “Once you reach the target weight, everything changes,” he said at the time. “Like so much of what’s difficult is waking up every day and being obsessed over like 0.3 pounds. Right? And you really develop like a disorder. I mean, it’s wild.”