In the press, director David Fincher literally blasted Todd Phillips' Joker with Joaquin Phoenix in the lead role. According to the filmmaker of Fight Club and Seven, Todd Phillips' Joker is only a poor reissue of Martin Scorsese's cinema and an impoverished analysis of mental illness. In The Telegraph, Fincher explains: "No one would have imagined that Joker could be a huge success if The Dark Knight had not been the hit it was." Fincher added: "I don't think anyone would have read the script and thought 'ok let's take Travis Bickle (in Taxi Driver) and Rubert Pupin (in La Valse des Pantins also directed by Martin Scorsese with Robert De Niro), let's put them face to face and trap them in a poor betrayed vision of mental illness to raise a billion dollars". The director doesn't stop there. Indeed, in the same interview, Fincher attacks the big Hollywood studios accusing them of not taking any more risks unless they are sure to be able to collect the billion dollars at the box office. Thus, it would explain why he directed his film Mank for Netflix and why he just signed a 4-year exclusive contract with the streaming giant. The latter grants him all the creative freedoms he wants. Also in this same interview with The Telegraph, Fincher returns to his film Fight Club which celebrates the 26th anniversary of its release. The director explains once again how complicated and chaotic the production of the film was: "At the time, the reactions of the producers when leaving the press screenings, it was rather to make us understand that our careers were over. The fact that we managed to make this film in 1999 remains a miracle for me." You are called back (but is it really necessary?) that upon its release, Fight Club had been destroyed by many media outlets in France. So, can we think that Fincher is trying to justify his "failure"? Nothing is certain. One thing is certain. Joaquin Phoenix was awarded an Oscar for his portrayal of the Joker. A great recognition on a global scale! Moreover, we remind you that we will soon have the chance to find the actor in the guise of Emperor Napoleon I. Todd Phillips has still not responded to David Fincher and we do not know if he will but the Oscar won by Joaquin Phoenix shows us that the film Joker can not be considered as a turnip of American cinema. So David, jealous?
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