US President apparently hosted a screening of the movie over the weekend.
Donald Trump has reportedly watched Joker at the White House, and is apparently a fan of the movie.
According to journalist Shimon Prokupecz, the US President hosted a screening of the Todd Phillips movie over the weekend, which was later confirmed by Yahoo News.
The site reports that a senior White House official said “family, friends, and some staff” were in attendance, and that Trump liked the movie.
Joker has attracted some controversy due to its violence, and star Joaquin Phoenix recently addressed the potential violence implications of the movie.
“It was an awkward position to be in because I thought, ‘Well, I can’t address this because this is the thing that is potentially part of the problem — that’s precisely what you shouldn’t do,” he said.
“It suddenly seemed like I was being evasive and trying to avoid this topic because it made me uncomfortable,” he explained. “But really I was thinking, ‘This is the very thing that would excite this kind of personality.’”
Joaquin Phoenix in ‘Joker’
Director Todd Phillips has since addressed concerns, saying: To me, I thought, isn’t it a good thing to put real-world implications on violence? Isn’t it a good thing to take away the cartoon element of violence that we’ve become so immune to?”
Meanwhile, Phillips recently opened-up where a potential Joker sequel could go, saying: “It couldn’t just be this wild and crazy movie about the ‘Clown Prince of Crime,’” Phillips said. “It would have to have some thematic resonance in a similar way that [‘Joker’] does.
“I think that’s ultimately why the movie connected, it’s what’s going on underneath. So many movies are about the spark, and this is about the powder. If you could capture that again in a real way, that would be interesting.”
Joker recently became the most profitable comic book movie ever as well as highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time.
