Photos by Art Streiber
Does Todd Phillips know lines from his most famous films?
It all started with Joaquin Phoenix's dream.
Shortly before filming wrapped on “Joker,” Phoenix confessed to Todd Phillips, the filmmaker who had reinvented Batman’s greatest foe as an aspiring stand-up comedian with a Travis Bickle complex, that he wasn’t ready to leave the character behind. Falling asleep one night, Phoenix had a vision of Arthur Fleck, the man behind Joker’s clown makeup, performing onstage, telling jokes and singing.
"Todd was standing in the wings talking to me on a headset," Phoenix recalls. "I woke up excited and called him, hoping he would do a show with me."
