Paul Schrader, acclaimed writer of Taxi Driver and a filmmaker himself, was not a big fan of Joker: Folie à Deux to say the least. The Todd Philips musical drama opened to negative reviews and emerged as the biggest box office disappointment of the year. In a new chat with Interview magazine, Paul has now shared his thoughts on the Joaquin Phoenix-starrer, revealing that he could not stand the film after about 20 minutes and decided to leave the theater to buy something instead. (Also read: Terrifier 3 beats Joker 2 at box office as Joaquin Phoenix film sees huge drop)

What Paul said about Joker Folie à Deux

During the chat, when Paul was asked about the sequel to the 2019 blockbuster, he said, “I saw about 10 or 15 minutes of it. I left, bought something, came back, saw another 10 minutes. That was enough.”

He then went on to call the film as “a really bad musical” and added, “I don’t like either of those people. I don’t like them as actors. I don’t like them as characters. I don’t like the whole thing. I mean, those are people who, if they came to your house, you’d slip out the back door.”

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Joker: Folie a Deux, one of the most anticipated films of the year, turned out to be a huge disappointment at the US Box Office and worldwide. The film starring Joaquin Phoenix as Joker and Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn, and directed by Todd Phillips was released in theatres on October 4. It had collected $37.8 million during its opening weekend, but saw a huge drop by the second weekend. Moreover, it earned a horrific D rating from the CinemaScore and suffered from bad word of mouth.

Paul Schrader’s new movie Oh Canada, premiered at the New York Film Festival. Based on the 2021 novel Foregone by Russell Banks, it stars Richard Gere, Uma Thurman and Jacob Elordi.