Joker featurette takes us behind-the-scenes of one of 2019’s biggest movies

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The last laugh?

A Joker featurette that includes previously-unseen insight and interviews with the likes of the Clown Prince of Crime himself, Joaquin Phoenix, and director Todd Phillips, is now available to watch on YouTube.

The most interesting moment, though, perhaps comes at the 16-minute mark. Phoenix and Phillips discuss a scene involving Arthur rushing into the bathroom after using a gun to kill three men on the subway.

As they tell it, Phoenix deviates from the script slightly and as the creative process began to unravel, plans changed. Instead of Arthur hiding the gun in a grate, he chooses to hypnotically dance around the room – and the featurette reveals how they reached that darker, more primal moment.

“Todd was great. He said ‘Let’s just go onto the set, just you and me and let’s talk it through,” Phoenix recalls of the changes in the scene. “It really seemed like it was a moment that had to be about the emergence of Joker.”

Then, Phillips played some of composer Hildur Guðnadóttir’s score and Joaquin Phoenix decided to dance – which was something that ended up being in the finished version. 

If you’ve got a spare 20 minutes today – and, honestly, who hasn’t? – then you could do a lot worse than diving into the secrets of Joker for the first time.

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Bradley Russell
Bradley Russell

I'm the Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, focusing on news, features, and interviews with some of the biggest names in film and TV. On-site, you'll find me marveling at Marvel and providing analysis and room temperature takes on the newest films, Star Wars and, of course, anime. Outside of GR, I love getting lost in a good 100-hour JRPG, Warzone, and kicking back on the (virtual) field with Football Manager. My work has also been featured in OPM, FourFourTwo, and Game Revolution.