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but everyone can agree that, feelings aside, it tells the story of an aspiring stand-up comedian.
It was out of the blue.
I was like, If Im at an open mic, do you want me to bomb?
Morril recalls asking Phillips.
And he said, No, do whatever.
I said, Good, because I dont want to bomb with my own jokes.
Thatd be pretty weird: Heres my jokes not hitting in the biggest movie in the country.
The first five or six takes, I was irritated because there was an extra laughing too loud.
I was thinking,Are they trying to get a bigger part?
Theyre ruining my timing.Then I realized it was the Joker, he recalls.
I didnt think Joaquin Phoenix would be in my shot.
I figured theyd have his stand-in.
They made me a time-period suit.
Hes completely misinterpreting it.
Morril got to watch Phoenix filming that scene and was blown away by how realistic it was.
To their credit, thats what an open mic is.
Youre supposed to experiment and take risks, and thats where youre supposed to fail.
Theres people who do comedy and dont have any self-awareness.
Hes a loner, right?
Usually, when you have friends, they give you hints of whats funny about you.
That felt like a character who didnt have friends guide him and tell him what was good.
It felt like a very lost person.
He did that a few different ways, and each way made me uncomfortable.
It was pretty hard to watch.
Its hard to say, but he is really handsome.
Morrils was much different.
He chatted with me for a while and he was not what I expected, Morril says.
He said, I really like your act because its just funny.
Sometimes stand-up can feel desperate, and I dont get that feeling from you at all.
Maybe he was being nice to me as the Joker.
[An open mic] is supposed to be a place where you risk absolute vulnerability, says Morril.
But you know how that goes its in peoples nature to be happy to see you in pain.
Its such an ugly quality.
The way that scene plays out, its just so uncomfortable.
It was his dream, Gulman says of Jokers fateful appearance on Franklins show.
He was right about telling that guy off for embarrassing him.
It was really cruel.
I felt so bad for him, and then, like all supervillains, he took it too far.
You should never, never murder the host during the show for America to see.
Its just bad form.
You need that kind of delusion of,Im going to be really great at this, he says.
At first, youre horrible and just flailing around.
So, it makes sense that you would have a bit of delusion.
They would just disappear from the scene.
Like, how funny is that?
