Paul Schrader disliked Joker: Folie à Deux so much, he went shopping during the film

Last Updated on October 18, 2024

The second-week drop-off of Joker: Folie à Deux was a massive blow to Warner Bros. As Joker: Folie à Deux is bombing at the box office, Variety reports it could lose the studio at least $150 million to $200 million. However, Warner Bros. isn’t about to admit to anything at this point. “Any estimates suggested by anonymous ‘insiders’ or ‘rival executives’ are grossly wrong and continues a trend where rumor is reported as fact.” It is even recently revealed that the studio is dumping it on digital early – October 29th – in the hopes of recouping some of its $200 million investment.

The first Joker was heavily inspired by works of Scorsese, notably Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy. According to Deadline, Paul Schrader, the writer of the former, recently sat down with Interview Magazine, where he illustrated just how much he disliked the movie. “I don’t like either of those people,” he said. “I don’t like them as actors. I don’t like them as characters. I don’t like the whole thing. I mean, those are people who, if they came to your house, you’d slip out the back door.” Schrader explained,

I saw about 10 or 15 minutes of it. I left, bought something, came back, saw another 10 minutes. That was enough.”

The Oscar-nominated director stated plainly that the film was a “really bad musical.” Schrader was actually pitched an idea to do a Taxi Driver sequel from De Niro and Scorsese had urged him to hear him out. “Now, I don’t want to slag De Niro, but a lot of his decisions sometimes have financial motivations. I’m sure someone had said to him, ‘You know, if you do ‘Taxi Driver 2,’ they can pay.’” Apparently, director Martin Scorsese — of course a close friend and collaborator of De Niro — talked Schrader into sitting down with the actor over the potential for a Taxi Driver sequel. “So we had dinner at Bob’s restaurant and Bob was talking about it. I said, ‘Wow, that’s the worst f*cking idea I’ve ever heard. That character dies at the end of that movie or dies shortly thereafter. He’s gone.’”