Relatives and friends of those killed during the 2012 shooting in Aurora, Colorado have expressed concern over a gritty new take on Joker.
In a letter to the Warner Bros CEO, Ann Sarnoff, the group is not asking for the film’s release to be cancelled but they have said that its “sympathetic” take on the character’s rise from loner to killer gives them pause. Their loved ones were killed during a screening of The Dark Knight Rises.
“We want to be clear that we support your right to free speech and free expression,” the letter reads. “But as anyone who has ever seen a comic book movie can tell you: with great power comes great responsibility. That’s why we’re calling on you to use your massive platform and influence to join us in our fight to build safer communities with fewer guns.”
The letter calls for Warners to be part of the “growing chorus of corporate leaders” who are taking a stand against gun violence by ending political contributions to candidates who vote against gun reform and take money from the NRA as well as actively lobbying for vital change in Congress and helping to fund intervention programs.
In the new film, from the Hangover director Todd Phillips, Joaquin Phoenix takes on the role of Arthur Fleck, a lonely, abused man with mental health issues living in early 80s Gotham. As society continues to reject him, he adopts a new persona which results in violence.
After winning the Golden Lion at the Venice film festival, the highest honor usually reserved for arthouse films not in the English language, Joker has been predicted to make over $80m in its opening weekend, a record for the month of October. While many reviews have been positive, other have been cautious. Vanity Fair’s Richard Lawson wrote that the film could be seen as “irresponsible propaganda for the very men it pathologises” while Time’s Stephanie Zacharek criticised its “aggressive and possibly irresponsible idiocy”.
“My worry is that one person who may be out there – and who knows if it is just one – who is on the edge, who is wanting to be a mass shooter, may be encouraged by this movie. And that terrifies me,” Sandy Phillips said to the Hollywood Reporter. Her daughter Jessica Ghawi, was among the 12 people killed in Aurora.
The cinema where the shooting took place is reportedly not set to show the film but has yet to make a comment. Last week, star Phoenix, who is predicted to receive an Oscar nomination for his performance, briefly walked out of an interview with the Telegraph after he was asked about the film’s potential real world damage. “Why? Why would you …? No, no,” he said before leaving to discuss with a Warners publicist. He later returned claiming he had not thought about that before.
“The movie makes statements about a lack of love, childhood trauma, lack of compassion in the world,” director Phillips said to IGN. “I think people can handle that message.”
Warner Bros has since responded to the letter referencing the company’s “long history of donating to victims of violence, including Aurora” and a recent decision to join other companies to help bring about bi-partisan legislation to help prevent more unlawful killings.
“At the same time, Warner Bros. believes that one of the functions of storytelling is to provoke difficult conversations around complex issues,” the response went on to read. “Make no mistake: neither the fictional character Joker, nor the film, is an endorsement of real-world violence of any kind. It is not the intention of the film, the filmmakers or the studio to hold this character up as a hero.”
