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Martin Scorsese Thinks That Joker Is Cinema
Martin Scorsese has suggested that Joker should be considered cinema after all. The Oscar-winning director has almost been in the spotlight as much as Todd Phillips’ wildly successful Joker has been of late, but for entirely different reasons.
For those who missed out on everything that’s been going on with Scorsese over the past month, a lot has happened. Things really kicked off when the acclaimed Taxi Driver and Goodfellas director stated that he didn’t believe that MCU movies and comic book movies in general qualified as cinema. The statements set off a whirlwind of controversy, with several comic book movie directors and actors defending the highly lucrative genre. At the same time, other high-profile filmmakers like Francis Ford Coppola and Ken Loach also came forward to defend Scorsese and offer their own opinions on comic book movies, with Coppola initially being misquoted as saying that the entire genre was despicable. After weeks of back and forth between professionals and fans alike, Scorsese clarified his initial comments by saying that comic book movies are simply a “different cinema form or a new art form entirely”.
With the entire issue now having become somewhat tiresome for many, Scorsese has revealed via IndieWire that he spent four years contemplating the idea of potentially directing Joker and that in his eyes, the film has “a real energy” and that it is “remarkable work”. These statements suggest that Joker fit into Scorsese’s definition of cinema. For different reasons, the 76-year-old filmmaker ultimately decided against directing Joker.
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“I know the film very well. I know [director Todd Phillips] very well. My producer Emma Tillinger Koskoff produced it. I thought about it a lot over the last four years and decided I did not have the time for it. It was personal reasons why I didn’t get involved. But I know the script very well. It has a real energy and Joaquin. You have remarkable work.”
Is Fleck a more cinematic character than Joker? Scorsese may think so, but of course there’s no way to tell for certain. What is for certain is that the filmmaker saw something in Joker that he doesn’t see in other comic book movies. That makes sense to an extent, as Phillips was careful early on to point out that he wasn’t interested in making a comic book movie and the end result proves as much. Will Scorsese ever venture into the world of comic book characters with his cinema? If his past comments are any indication, it’s unlikely, but if the genre continues to evolve in the way that Joker has proven is possible, then it does seem like anything is possible.
