Francis Ford Coppola Says JOKER 2 Director Todd Phillips Has "Always Been One Step Ahead Of The Audience"

Megalopolis director Francis Ford Coppola has offered praise to Joker: Folie à Deux and director Todd Phillips as the DC Comics sequel underperforms at the box office...

By MarkCassidy - Oct 06, 2024 10:10 PM EST

Filed Under: Joker

Legendary director Francis Ford Coppola has shared high praise for Joker: Folie à Deux and director Todd Phillips.

The divisive DC Comics sequel opened well behind expectations after - hard as it may be to believe - becoming the first comic book movie in history to receive a D CinemaScore. Despite backlash from a lot of fans, the movie does have its share of defenders, and can now count Coppola among them.

“Ever since the wonderful The Hangover, he’s always been one step ahead of the audience, never doing what they expect. Congratulations to Joker: Folie à Deux,” Coppola wrote on Instagram.

Folie à Deux definitely didn't give audiences what they were expecting... for better or worse. Instead of following the Joker after the events of the first film, the story focuses on Arthur Fleck taking responsibility for the crimes he committed and rejecting his Joker persona. In Arkham, Fleck meets Lee Quinzel (Lady Gaga), and the pair engage in several fantastical musical numbers while Arthur goes in trial for murder.

It was always going to be a risky direction to take this sequel, but the execution seems to have come in for more criticism than the general idea.

Coppola's latest film, Megalopolis, is also struggling at the box office, and earned an only slightly better D+ CinemaScore. The movie has had an even worse time at the box office, debuting to $4 million against a production budget of $120 million before marketing. Coppola raised the funds himself, and also put in quite a bit of his own money prior to Lionsgate coming on board.

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A post shared by Francis Ford Coppola (@francisfordcoppola)

From acclaimed writer/director/producer Todd Phillips comes Joker: Folie À Deux, the much-anticipated follow-up to 2019’s Academy Award-winning Joker, which earned more than $1 billion at the global box office and remains the (second) highest-grossing R-rated film of all time.

The new film stars Joaquin Phoenix once again in his Oscar-winning dual role as Arthur Fleck/Joker, opposite Oscar winner Lady Gaga (A Star Is Born). The film also stars Oscar nominees Brendan Gleeson (The Banshees of Inisherin) and Catherine Keener (Get Out, Capote), alongside Zazie Beetz, reprising her role from Joker.

The movie is rated R for “some strong violence, language throughout, some sexuality, and brief full nudity.”

Do you plan on seeing the Joker sequel in theaters, or have the reviews put you off? Let us know in the comments section down below.

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28 Comments

HermanM - 10/6/2024, 10:28 PM

Of course he likes the movie that sucks

DrReedRichards - 10/6/2024, 10:29 PM

I mean, Philips did just slap said audiences in the face with exactly what he thought of them, sooooo...

...yeah, self-destructive as that may be, at least he's upfront about it.

Stupid, at least from a market/profit point of view, but definitely upfront.

JFerguson - 10/6/2024, 10:31 PM

Cue Todd Phillips return glazing of Megalopolis and how Francis is the original “man at ease” and how much he loves “men at ease” because he can’t get enough of “men at ease”.

kazuma - 10/6/2024, 11:15 PM

@JFerguson - lmao

UncleHarm1 - 10/7/2024, 12:04 AM

@JFerguson -

Man at ease

RolandD - 10/7/2024, 12:14 AM

@UncleHarm1 - 😂😂😂

MCUKnight11 - 10/6/2024, 10:32 PM

It's been funny seeing the fans in shambles after these 2 releases.

CaptainFlapjaks - 10/6/2024, 10:47 PM

@MCUKnight11 - yea i mean, i wasnt that hyped for joker 2. But in terms of megalopolis that is a shame. It definitely had that vibe of "this is either going to be the best movie ever and way ahead of its time like the matrix, or its gonna be a complete dumpster fire". Too bad it was the latter. As much as the movie sucking was, at least coppola took a risk and i gotta respect him for trying. But he may be too much of an egomaniac at this point.

LSHF - 10/6/2024, 10:34 PM

Well, as long as your one step ahead of the audience and it's real "cinema", then losing millions and millions of dollars of other people's money is okay. <---sarcasm

Forthas - 10/6/2024, 10:36 PM

He is trolling audiences that like comic book films. Recently his disdain for VBM has markee a sad chapter in an otherwise great career.

DocSpock - 10/6/2024, 10:37 PM

Ah Coppola. Dementia in old people is a really terrible thing.

MahN166A - 10/6/2024, 10:40 PM

I mean he said it all with the first movie, not only through the movie but in interviews to promote it….

Anyone who built themselves up with the opposing mindset and hailed Arthur but also thought he was going to end up being “THE” Joker, has no one to blame but themselves

1stDalek - 10/6/2024, 10:45 PM

I thought Coppola hated comic-book movies, or is that just for Marvel movies specifically? lol

McMurdo - 10/6/2024, 10:56 PM

Francis Ford COPEpola

Methos5000 - 10/6/2024, 11:13 PM

Riiiiggghhht it's so brilliant it only looks like complete garbage.

AnthonyVonGeek - 10/6/2024, 11:25 PM

He was one step ahead with the first Joker movie then fell 5 steps behind with the sequel 🤷‍♂️

SpiderParker - 10/6/2024, 11:25 PM

I haven't checked this out but something similar has been done before. Gotham made Joker as a symbol and honestly pulled it off.

First you kept guessing who is the Joker and just when you are sure its Jerome, he dies saying that he has become an idea which will inspire someone to fill his shoes which turned out to be Jeremiah.

So, maybe, Arthur Fleck has a twin brother named Charles Avill.

DrReedRichards - 10/6/2024, 11:45 PM

@SpiderParker -

Took me a second read to figure it out. Well played.

skidz - 10/6/2024, 11:28 PM

It's interesting that when fans and general audiences have a largely negative reaction to a CBM (or its sequel), filmmakers who have openly stated their disdain for the industry come out in defense of that movie.

TheJok3r - 10/6/2024, 11:35 PM

@skidz - The critics have also thrown the movie under the bus. It seems like no one likes it.

skidz - 10/6/2024, 11:42 PM

@TheJok3r - I should've clarified. I'm referring to the sequel.

SonOfAGif - 10/7/2024, 12:05 AM

@skidz - It's because these pretentious directors have a good story to tell but no studio would greenlight the project. So what they do is claim to want to write and direct a standalone comic book movie that's different and award season worthy. So they take a character or characters and use the pretentious story they wanted to tell and use the comic book characters to tell the story. This happened with Fan4stic, Batman v. Superman, Justice League, Joker, Maddam Webb, Morbius, and others.

dracula - 10/6/2024, 11:39 PM

I enjoy The Hangover

But Coopla?

Did not expect that

Also first Joker did fine with audiences

BeNice123 - 10/6/2024, 11:54 PM

Definitely trolling comic book fans. He getting a reactions out it and its working. Dont pay him no mind people, megolapolus is sucking and tanking as we speak.

willyburz - 10/6/2024, 11:55 PM

Trash ass movie. Yeeeeesh

TheNewYorker - 10/7/2024, 12:03 AM

Yeah, congratulations on making a shit movie. It was a complete failure, and will be remembered as such.

Huskers - 10/7/2024, 12:11 AM

Remember when Coppola used to be relevant?

MisterDoctor217 - 10/7/2024, 12:14 AM

@Huskers -

I wasn’t even alive back then lol I don’t think any one remembers , only other Hollywood elderly folks lmao

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