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“Joker: Folie à Deux” may not have many fans, but those who do appreciate its contrarian energy really love saying so. No, we’re not just talking about Quentin Tarantino, but “The People’s Joker” herself, Vera Drew. Speaking in a recent interview with “The Independent,” the indie filmmaker voiced her admiration for co-writer/director Todd Phillips’ efforts and the whole team’s commitment to subverting expectations.
“It’s a middle finger to incels and ‘Joker’ (2019) fans,” said Drew. “There’s a sequence in ‘Joker 2’ where Joaquin Phoenix loses his virginity to Lady Gaga, and he cums in less than four seconds. How could I not love that film? It had a sexy grossness to it that I was just not anticipating. Todd Phillips, please call me.”
This praise carries a huge weight coming from Drew, as “Joker” was the film that kicked off a journey that resulted in her own creation, “The People’s Joker.” At the time, Phillips had shared how “woke culture” had pushed him away from comedy and toward more serious material, a fact Drew’s eventual co-writer Bri LeRose responded to by tweeting, “I will only watch this coward’s Joker movie if Vera Drew re-edits it.” And thus, “The People’s Joker” was born. And though she would spend years obsessing over every kind of Joker there has ever been, she was still willing to take time out for one more with “Joker: Folie à Deux.”
“I had to see it opening night, just because I needed to get over it, to see the movie and stop thinking about these fucking characters,” Drew said. “And it reinvigorated me. I don’t think anything that cost $200m and, you know, stars Lady Gaga, is really punk per se, but it didn’t give you anything you wanted.”
Though Drew may have offered high marks to the critically panned box-office bomb, she had less kind words for the studio behind the film, Warner Bros. Discovery. In 2022, days ahead of her film’s premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, the company sent a communication to Drew emphasizing its objections to her project. Many misconstrued this as an official cease and desist, causing Drew to have to cancel screenings of “The People’s Joker” at TIFF and other festivals.
“It was just like this strongly worded letter,” Drew told The Independent. “Saying that we don’t approve, and don’t think you should be allowed to screen or profit off this film. And we want you to show this letter to anybody who is interested in exhibiting it. Which was devastating. They literally waited until the last minute.”
Despite these tactics, Drew’s film still exists within the parameters of parody law, allowing it eventually to continue its rollout in 2023 at OutFest, followed by a U.S. theatrical release in April 2024. Now the film is even headed to the U.K., which Drew unaffectionately referred to as ‘Terf Island,’ an allusion to the rampant transphobia that still exists there, largely brought on by fellow storytellers like J.K. Rowling. She does hope that will change though, now that they get to experience “The People’s Joker.”
“It feels like trans art is really needed there right now,” said Drew.
English (US) ·