‘Joker’ director Todd Phillips elucidates sequel comments

The Joaquin Phoenix- starring ‘Joker’ is still weeks away, but talks about the likelihood of a sequel have been going for some time now.

Back in August, headlines around the internet suggested ‘Joker’ director Todd Philips was already considering plans for ‘Joker 2’.

Recently, after the screening of ‘Joker’ in Los Angeles, the 48-year-old director-producer took the opportunity to set the record straight.

“It’s so annoying,” Philips told GameSpot when asked about his earlier comments concerning a sequel. “You say one thing and it becomes the story for 24 hours.”

Teasing the ‘Old School’ director, Phoenix who was also near replied: “Why don’t you want to work with me again?”

Replying to the 44-year-old ‘Gladiator’, Phillips continued: "The quote was, 'I will do anything Joaquin wants to do.' And I would. But the movie's not set up to [have] a sequel. We always pitched it as one movie, and that's it."

The director perhaps is best known for ‘The Hangover’ – and its multiple sequels- said he was speaking “jokingly” when he told Total Films that he and Phoenix could come up with “something pretty cool” for a potential Joker 2.

This time, Phillips was clear that he was speaking purely hypothetically.

"We have no plan for a sequel," the director cleared. "We made this movie, I pitched it to Warner Bros. as one movie, it [Joker] exists in its world, that's it. It's not about world-building, it's not about other versions, it's like, here's our version of the origin story, that's it. That's what I meant."

‘Joker’ hits theaters October 4.