Joker 2 finds another fan in Quentin Tarantino: ‘Todd Phillips spent the studio’s money like Joker, said f**k you to Hollywood’

Joker Folie a Deux, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga.

The Academy Award-winning filmmaker then went one step further and likened Phoenix and Gaga’s Arthur Fleck aka Joker and Harleen “Lee” Quinzel aka Harley Quinn, respectively, to the notorious couple Mickey Knox (Woody Harrelson) and Mallory Wilson Knox (Juliette Lewis) in director Oliver Stone’s cult classic movie Natural Born Killers (1994), penned by Tarantino, though he disowned the film after seeing it. “As much as the first one (the 2019 Joker) was indebted to Taxi Driver (1976), this seems pretty f**king indebted to Natural Born Killers. That’s the Natural Born Killers I would have dreamed of seeing. As the guy who created Mickey and Mallory, I loved what they did with it. I loved the direction he took. I mean, the whole movie was the fever dream of Mickey Knox,” he added.

He also praised Phoenix’s performance, calling it “one of the best performances I’ve ever seen in my life.” “The Joker directed the movie. The entire concept, even him spending the studio’s money — he’s spending it like the Joker would spend it, all right? And then his big surprise gift — haha! — the jack-in-the-box, when he offers you his hand for a handshake and you get a buzzer with 10,000 volts shooting you — is the comic book geeks. He’s saying f**k you to all of them. He’s saying f**k you to the movie audience. He’s saying f**k you to Hollywood. He’s saying f**k you to anybody who owns any stock at DC and Warner Brothers. And Todd Phillips is the Joker,” Tarantino remarked, stating that he loved the sequel more than the 2019 film.