When the biggest moment of the biggest movie of 2019 wasn’t working, Editor Jeffrey Ford and his team needed a creative solution.
Warner Bros. latest Joker, takes a conscious step away from the stylized trappings of past Gothams, delivering a raw vision of an urban squalor recalling New York from decades past. The protagonist, played by Joaquin Phoenix is a product of these surroundings. The odyssey that transforms him from Arthur Fleck to a clown-faced menace points to how this film is more of a character study than the traditional comic book blockbuster.
On this project, Director Todd Phillips employed many of his past collaborators, including film editor Jeff Groth, who worked on series such as Community and Entourage and later joined Phillips as the editor for The Hangover Part III and War Dogs. The workflow Groth established on these earlier projects required modification to develop the backstory for the DC villain.
There seems to be a disconnect between what we see as art and what we actually watch. Is it a coincidence that Marvel’s films get billions in revenue, while award-winning indie dramas barely break even? Revenue is no indication of quality, but it does indicate overall appeal. Perhaps a more important question is: Do they need to be mutually exclusive? Ryan Connolly doesn’t think so.