When I was in junior high back in the late ’70s, the English teacher passed out our textbook. I flipped through the book eager to see if the previous user had written something dirty in the margins or left money inside. I was taken back to find the Batman Logo on a page. This wasn’t a bored kid drawing. This was the illustration for the short story “The Joker’s Greatest Triumph” by Donald Barthelme (from 1964). I read the story and was taken back that it wasn’t like Batman comic book or the TV series. There’s Batman talking about smoking Viceroy cigarettes and stashing vodka in the Batmobile. The story showed me that you could do more with a superhero character than mimic their comic book. Naturally my English teacher skipped over this story. But it stuck with me longer than her assigned reading.
Flash forward almost 50 years later, when I read an online article that director Vera Drew has made The People’s Joker which uses the characters from Batman to tell her life story. The movie was scheduled to get debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2022. The screening didn’t go off as planned as Drew was served a legal warning from a certain big media company before the premiere. While the main screening happened with a major emphasis that The People’s Joker was a parody (just like those XXX parodies of Batman that were popular about a decade ago). All the other screenings were canceled, and the movie stayed off the festival circuit for a year. Had it entered the void where Todd Haynes’ Superstar about Karen Carpenter had disappeared? Luckily a few copyright lawyers helped the Joker escape legal limbo. Vera was able to get a theatrical release without Bugs Bunny and his goons kicking in the projector room doors. Now The People’s Joker is coming to your house on Blu-ray.
After seeing Batman Forever, a young boy growing up in Smallville feels like they’ve been born in the wrong body. Sharing this feeling with mom turns out to be a bad move as she rushes the child to see a shrink that turns out to be Dr. Crane (The Scarecrow) at Arkham Asylum. The kids gets prescribed Smylex, a happy drug. Eventually the kid grows up and movies to Gotham City with the dream of working on UCB Live, a comedy show run by Lorne Michaels (played by an animated character). The kid attends a comedy workshop run by UCB member Ra’s al Ghul (Tim and Eric’s Awesome Show, Great Job!‘s David Liebe Hart) which is about being true to yourself. The kid doesn’t get it, but does make a friend in The Penguin (Nathan Faustyn). The duo decides to screw the comedy world run by Lorne and create anti-comedy scene at a warehouse. It is around this time that the kid embraces what they’ve been holding back and turns into the Joker while using a variation of the scene from Batman Returns where the Catwoman emerged. One of the comics at the anti-comedy club is Mr. J (Kane Distiler as a version of the Joker from Suicide Squad). They duo get tangled up. She learns the evil truth about Bruce Wayne/Batman since Mr. J had a different identity. Joker’s identity also changes a touch when they become Joker the Harlequin mixing the two characters. When Lorne wants the Joker the Harlequin to be a part of his new comedy show, there’s major issues.
The People’s Joker uses the elements of Batman and superhero films to deal with the moments in Vera’s life. This isn’t mere fan fiction as if they’re auditioning to take over the series. This is better than Todd Phillips’ The Joker since there’s more happening here than attempting to make a “What if Martin Scorsese made a Batman movie?” Todd Phillips made sure he didn’t mess to hard with the Intellectual Property when Warners trusted him. The former cinema bad boy didn’t really say much in his film that wasn’t already in The King of Comedy. The People’s Joker goes deeper. This is an autobiography told through comic culture without having to water it down to avoid direct referencing. Having to worry about 80-year-old superheroes is always strange since we’re super saturated by superhero product. Think of how much superhero stuff the major studios want you to buy. They want you to buy the Halloween costume and the officially licensed toys. Can you walk five feet in a Target without a bumping your cart into a display of the characters. If you want to do a film about your relationship with the characters, the studios can shut you down. Thankfully because of parody and fair use, Vera made the movie without the folks in marketing having an issue with the character doing something that might cut into sales of action figures in Belgium.
What also astound me about The People’s Jokers is how visually exciting the film is. All the live action was shot in front of a blue screen so the backgrounds are either models, paintings, photographs or CGI. There are animated moments in the film such as when Joker and Mr. J get into bed the first time. This isn’t just having the cast show up in trick or treat outfits on a barebones set in Glendale. The mixing of media is reminiscent of Pee-Wee’s Playhouse. Vera lifts moments from various Batman movies and animated shows, but traces over to make them part of the Gotham City of this movie. Mostly important is the performance by Vera Drew. Drew is both outrageous and someone who you care about. You don’t want to see Joker the Harliquinn getting busted by Batman at the end. In the genre of people playing themselves in their biopic, Vera is at the top. The People’s Joker shows that there can be a bit of depth in a superhero (or supervillain movie) if you can break free from marketing.
The Video is 2.35:1 anamorphic. The color is extremely vivid so you can enjoy the bright great of the Joker’s hair. The Audio is DTS-HD MA 5.1. The mix is good. The movie is subtitled in English and Spanish.
Commentary Track with Director Vera Drew has the director list all the roles performed to get the crowd funded movie over the finish line. Drew’s mom has seen the movie, but won’t describe the reaction. There is talk about how complicated the opening was that it wasn’t truly finished until the theatrical run. He tinkered with the film after the festival run to make sure all elements could be covered by Fair Use.
Commentary Track with Director Vera Drew and Actor Nathan Faustyn (The Penguin). The two are dealing with a slight echo in their headphones. They’ve been working together for a while. Nathan says his friends saw it in Detroit and were offended by the jokes about SNL since they still think the show is funny.
Commentary Track with Assorted Cast & Crew includes 20 people that worked on the green screen shoot and the indie people who sent Vera elements. There were over 100 people who contributed elements.
A Discussion with Director Vera Drew and ‘Corpses, Fools, and Monsters’ authors Willow Catelyn Maclay and Caden Mark Gardner (46:57) has them talking on a teleconference call. Vera talks about how the experience came from 2020 and watching The Joker movie. He swears seeing Nicole Kidman in Batman Forever really did give him an awakening in the theater.
Queebso TV includes Suicide Cop Pilot (29:59) and Serve The Date (5:30). The explain how the short film includes the character ended up in The People’s Joker. They screened the film once to friends who questioned why they made it. But now you can watch it. Serve The Date are the creators of the segments snuck into the feature film. The three played the 14 contestants.
Behind-the-Scenes Gallery (4:45) shows how the actors worked on the blue screen. They probably made the entire film in the space used by Todd Phillip’s trailer on Joker.
Anatomy of a Scene (10:43) has them break out the musical moment from the end of the film and the Tunnel of Love scene. Drew gives credit to the artists that helped make the scene work. Drew worked as an editor on IFC’s Comedy Bang! Bang! and met many of the digital artists through that time.
24-page Comic Book explains how the film came about and the controversy.
Original Theatrical Trailer (1:34) shows goes beyond anything you’ve seen in a Batman or Joker movie. There’s also the trailer for She Is Conann which makes a perfect double feature.
Altered Innocence presents The People’s Jokers. Directed Vera Drew. Screenplay by Vera Drew & Bri LeRose. Starring Vera Drew, Lynn Downey, Christian Calloway, Griffin Kramer, Kane Distler, Nathan Faustyn, Phil Braun, David Liebe Hart, Scott Aukerman, Tim Heidecker, Maria Bamford, Robert Wuhl & Bob Odenkirk. Running Time: 93 minutes. Rating: Not Rated. Release Date: August 13, 2024.
