Warner Bros’ upcoming “Joker” is full of surprises. Hell, the fact that WB is even making a solo film about one of its most popular villains that apparently shares very little-to-no DNA with the comic books is a miracle in itself. Add to the fact that the film secured actors like Joaquin Phoenix and Robert De Niro, you’re left with a film that would be super intriguing even if the main character wasn’t a homicidal clown.
And according to director Todd Philips, the fact that De Niro was cast in the film was enough for the filmmaker to fanboy out just a little bit. Phillips talked to Empire Magazine about the fact that De Niro appears in the film and how the actor’s first day on set could have been derailed thanks to a bomb scare.
“Bob really loved the script,” Phillips said. “I met with him and said, ‘I’d be lying to you if I said we weren’t influenced by a lot of your movies.’ I talked with him about ‘Taxi Driver’ and about ‘The King Of Comedy,’ which is one of my favorite movies of all time.”
As much as we’d like to poke fun at the fact that the director sat with De Niro and had to bring up his love of “Taxi Driver” and “The King of Comedy,” we have to admit that we’d likely do the exact same thing. And just like Phillips, we’d probably be pretty worried about the actor’s state of mind when the set was stormed by FBI agents, courtesy of a bomb scare on De Niro’s first day of shooting.
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“We had FBI guys showing up to search the set,” the director said. “And I thought, ‘Oh god, what’s he gonna be like?’ And he comes in like it’s nothing, just ready to rock, knew his shit. He’s amazing.”
We’ll have to wait and see how De Niro handles his first comic book film when “Joker” arrives in theaters on October 4.