Director: Todd Phillips
Notable cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie
Beetz, Francis Conroy, Brett Cullen
In the 1928 film The Man Who Laughs, based on a
Victor Hugo novel, Gwynplaine is a man whose face is disfigured into a
permanent smile, so that he would always laugh at his fool of a father
(executed via iron maiden by a political rival). This is a tragic romance and a
drama, but the horrifying idea and image of a man who smiles no matter what was
a major inspiration to Bob Kane and Bill Finger when they created the character
of The Clown Prince Of Crime, Joker. The Joker has a famously ambiguous
character history. In film and animation, he has always been something of an
actor’s role, since by definition there is no wrong way to play it (Jared
Leto’s take notwithstanding). The reason I mention the classic Paul Leni film
is that in a way, I feel like Joaquin Phoenix’s take on the character is the
first time I’ve ever blatantly felt The Man Who Laugh’s DNA in the
character. This is also, largely, the only reference to the comic or any source
material of The Joker’s though, because in all other ways this
ostensibly plays out like a lost mid-70s Scorsese film, down to using the
classic Warner Media logo.
