Adopting the iconography of DC comics, Vera Drew’s subversive and kitschy “The People’s Joker” often feels like a revelation. Transfiguring a genre that, recently, has been oversaturated with rote storytelling and narratives, Drew’s film is something remarkable in the age of constant IP. It’s personal and more than a bit bewildering. It’s also incredibly rough, fusing together various aesthetics to create a collage-like approach to a trans-coming-of-age story.
Continue reading ‘The People’s Joker’ Is A Kitschy, Subversive & Queer Coming Of Age Story [Review] at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘The People’s Joker’ Is A Kitschy, Subversive & Queer Coming Of Age Story [Review] at The Playlist.
- 5/5/2024
- by Christian Gallichio
- The Playlist
Inside Out, Toronto’s LGBTQ+ film festival, has revealed the full program lineup for its 34th edition, including its opening night selection, My Old Ass, from Canadian director Megan Park.
My Old Ass, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival where is was acquired by Amazon MGM, follows an 18 year-old Elliott (Maisy Stella) who meets her 39-year-old self (Aubrey Plaza) who warns her about falling in love.
Karen Knox’s sophomore feature We Forgot To Break Up, adapted from the novel Heidegger Stairwell by Canadian author Kayt Burgess, will close the fest. Elsewhere in the lineup is Susie Yankou’s Sisters, which is this year’s 2024 Re:Focus Gala selection and Anthony Schatteman’s debut feature Young Hearts acting as the The Centerpiece Gala film.
“We are thrilled to welcome audiences back for the 34th annual Inside Out 2Slgbtq+ Film Festival,” says Elie Chivi, Co-Head and Executive Director. “As the film festival landscape continues to evolve,...
My Old Ass, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival where is was acquired by Amazon MGM, follows an 18 year-old Elliott (Maisy Stella) who meets her 39-year-old self (Aubrey Plaza) who warns her about falling in love.
Karen Knox’s sophomore feature We Forgot To Break Up, adapted from the novel Heidegger Stairwell by Canadian author Kayt Burgess, will close the fest. Elsewhere in the lineup is Susie Yankou’s Sisters, which is this year’s 2024 Re:Focus Gala selection and Anthony Schatteman’s debut feature Young Hearts acting as the The Centerpiece Gala film.
“We are thrilled to welcome audiences back for the 34th annual Inside Out 2Slgbtq+ Film Festival,” says Elie Chivi, Co-Head and Executive Director. “As the film festival landscape continues to evolve,...
- 5/3/2024
- by Mia Galuppo
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
From venue changes and the pandemic to political backlash and the threat of litigation, Salem Horror Fest founder and director Kay Lynch has never been one to back down. The festival’s seventh annual event, which kicked off last night at Salem’s Peabody Essex Museum, was further proof of her resilience.
After its original headliner, Hocus Pocus star Kathy Najimy, canceled with less than 48 hours notice, the festival’s entire opening night ceremony was restructured. On lieu of the original $50 ticket charge, the program was made free (with the option to make a donation), costing the festival an untold amount of money.
But the show must go on — and it did so in spectacular fashion with horror icon Linnea Quigley sitting down for a live interview, while the Hocus Pocus screening was replaced by The People’s Joker, previously scheduled to be the festival’s closing film.
Kay Lynch
Following...
After its original headliner, Hocus Pocus star Kathy Najimy, canceled with less than 48 hours notice, the festival’s entire opening night ceremony was restructured. On lieu of the original $50 ticket charge, the program was made free (with the option to make a donation), costing the festival an untold amount of money.
But the show must go on — and it did so in spectacular fashion with horror icon Linnea Quigley sitting down for a live interview, while the Hocus Pocus screening was replaced by The People’s Joker, previously scheduled to be the festival’s closing film.
Kay Lynch
Following...
- 4/26/2024
- by Alex DiVincenzo
- bloody-disgusting.com
Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review for the newly released “Indigo Girls: It’s Only Life After All,” the rise and evolution of the singer/songwriter duo Amy Ray and Emily Saliers, also know as The Indigo Girls. In select theaters and through digital download since April 10th.
Rating: 5.0/5.0
Vera Drew (she/her) wrote, directed and stars as a transgender male-to-female eventually named Joker the Harlequin. She moves from Smallville to Gotham City to find her identity and get away from her oppressive mother (Lynn Downey), and wants to establish a comedy career. With another oddball nicknamed The Penguin (Nathan Faustyn), they open a comedy club, with a goal to get a shot on Gotham’s most popular comedy show Ucb Live, produced by Lorne Michaels (voice of Maria Bramford). With the rogues gallery of lowlife villains in Gotham, plus the overhang of The Batman, they is no...
Rating: 5.0/5.0
Vera Drew (she/her) wrote, directed and stars as a transgender male-to-female eventually named Joker the Harlequin. She moves from Smallville to Gotham City to find her identity and get away from her oppressive mother (Lynn Downey), and wants to establish a comedy career. With another oddball nicknamed The Penguin (Nathan Faustyn), they open a comedy club, with a goal to get a shot on Gotham’s most popular comedy show Ucb Live, produced by Lorne Michaels (voice of Maria Bramford). With the rogues gallery of lowlife villains in Gotham, plus the overhang of The Batman, they is no...
- 4/26/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Vera Drew’s debut feature The People’s Joker evades all easy descriptions. It’s a trans coming-of-age film constructed with deep knowledge and affection for DC comics (and their many film adaptations) that also takes aim at the male-dominated comedy community and the mechanisms that determine stardom. Combining comedy, action, drama and an impressive number of different animation styles, The People’s Joker is a self-conscious, intentional cult film, crafted with genuine love for everything in the margins. And it tells a story everyone can relate to, about a kid growing up and trying to find happiness and success in a dark, troubled world. And in this world, Batman is the villain. He rules Gotham with an army of drones, while using his power and influence to control every aspect of media and culture — even comedy.
But not for long. Joker (Drew) arrives in Gotham with one purpose: to become a...
But not for long. Joker (Drew) arrives in Gotham with one purpose: to become a...
- 4/16/2024
- by Jourdain Searles
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The People's Joker.In The People’s Joker (2022), Vera Drew makes her feverish entrance into the cluttered morass of the DC Comics cinematic multiverse by bursting through a trapdoor. Having garnered recognition as an Emmy-nominated television editor for outré comedians such as Tim Heidecker, Eric André, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Tim Robinson, Drew serves as director, co-writer, editor, lead actress, and cosmic prankster for her cinematic debut. The anarchic DIY spectacle, recently released theatrically after two years in intellectual-property limbo, mines the contradictory supervillain mythologies of the Joker to narrate Drew’s journey of self-discovery as a trans woman in the fractious world of alternative comedy. After Warner Bros. sent a cryptic letter of disapproval regarding the film’s flagrant recontextualization of the Batman franchise a day before its debut at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival, it was pulled from the program. Drew and her battalion of masked vigilantes have commandeered...
- 4/16/2024
- MUBI
Sometimes, a Bat Signal is a searchlight that sends a signal of hope capable of piercing even Gotham City’s darkest night. Sometimes, it’s a YouTube video on a channel devoted to getting sponsorship from Hot Topic, asking any artists if they’re down to collaborate. Vera Drew opted for the latter.
Her film, “The People’s Joker,” is not only one of the most impressive and subversive stretches of fair use law ever put to film, taking the characters and mythology of the Batman universe (as well as Lorne Michaels) to tell a trans coming-of-age story that DC Comics would never touch on its own. It is also an impressive, successful example of how crowdsourcing can elevate a project and bring out the radical queer politics at its heart.
Drew had initially thought about working on a project that repurposed and rearranged footage from Todd Philip’s “Joker,” but...
Her film, “The People’s Joker,” is not only one of the most impressive and subversive stretches of fair use law ever put to film, taking the characters and mythology of the Batman universe (as well as Lorne Michaels) to tell a trans coming-of-age story that DC Comics would never touch on its own. It is also an impressive, successful example of how crowdsourcing can elevate a project and bring out the radical queer politics at its heart.
Drew had initially thought about working on a project that repurposed and rearranged footage from Todd Philip’s “Joker,” but...
- 4/11/2024
- by Sarah Shachat
- Indiewire
We were supposed to get our first trans Joker 35 years ago.
In 1989, DC Comics published Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, a narrative exploration of Batman’s psychological problems, as well as those of his foes. Its scribe was an up-and-coming Scot by the name of Grant Morrison. And Morrison — who would later come out as “nonbinary, crossdressing, genderqueer” — wanted to show the Clown Prince of Crime in women’s clothing.
“The Joker was to have been dressed in the conical bra worn by Madonna for her ‘Open Your Heart’ video,...
In 1989, DC Comics published Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, a narrative exploration of Batman’s psychological problems, as well as those of his foes. Its scribe was an up-and-coming Scot by the name of Grant Morrison. And Morrison — who would later come out as “nonbinary, crossdressing, genderqueer” — wanted to show the Clown Prince of Crime in women’s clothing.
“The Joker was to have been dressed in the conical bra worn by Madonna for her ‘Open Your Heart’ video,...
- 4/8/2024
- by Abraham Josephine Riesman
- Rollingstone.com
Exhibitor convention CinemaCon starts tomorrow in Las Vegas, and it would be great to kick off with happy box office news. That’s not the case with surprisingly weak results for two fresh titles, “Monkey Man” (Universal) and “The First Omen” (Disney). They brought the weekend total lower than expected and suggested an already-weak April could slide toward a worst-case scenario.
“Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” (Warner Bros.) repeated as #1 in its second week, more than tripling the take for #2, Dev Patel’s “Monkey Man.” The franchise’s 60 percent drop isn’t bad, given an opening weekend that included Good Friday and the Easter holidays. It’s grossed $135 million U.S./Canada in 10 days.
After March revitalized the concept of franchises and sequels as an essential part of the distribution ecosystem, the hope was April would demonstrate continued audience interest in lower-budgeted original titles — as evidenced earlier this year...
“Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” (Warner Bros.) repeated as #1 in its second week, more than tripling the take for #2, Dev Patel’s “Monkey Man.” The franchise’s 60 percent drop isn’t bad, given an opening weekend that included Good Friday and the Easter holidays. It’s grossed $135 million U.S./Canada in 10 days.
After March revitalized the concept of franchises and sequels as an essential part of the distribution ecosystem, the hope was April would demonstrate continued audience interest in lower-budgeted original titles — as evidenced earlier this year...
- 4/7/2024
- by Tom Brueggemann
- Indiewire
“The People’s Joker,” a scandalous IP-on-acid coming-out comic-book psychodrama, is a movie that has all the earmarks of an underground/ midnight/guerrilla-cinema sensation. Vera Drew, who directed and co-wrote it, plays the title character, a mentally fractured aspiring stand-up comedian who bills herself as Joker the Harlequin. She wears a green wig parted down the middle, white makeup with big jagged dark blotches around the eyes, a razory red lipstick grin, along with a purple jacket and fishnets that make her, in every way possible, a transgressive presence. Onstage, when she puts an inhaler up to her mouth and draws in a breath of Smylex, the feel-happy drug prescribed to her as a child, she’ll let out a cackle of laughter so derisive it sounds like she’s going to fracture her own rib. She’s the maniacal Joker of DC legend, as well as an outlaw parody of...
- 4/6/2024
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
While doing press for “Joker,” Todd Phillips talked about why he stopped making comedy movies like “The Hangover” trilogy. The director told Vanity Fair, “Go try to be funny nowadays with this woke culture,” said Phillips “There were articles written about why comedies don’t work anymore — I’ll tell you why, because all the fucking funny guys are like, ‘Fuck this shit, because I don’t want to offend you.’”
The quote, which got a great deal of play in the media and social media, ticked off a number of people, including comedy writer and director Bri LeRose, who tweeted, “I will only watch this coward’s joker movie if Vera Drew re-edits it.”
“Bri then Venmo’d me 12 dollars,” said Drew, when she was a guest on an upcoming episode of the Toolkit podcast discussing the origin of her new film “The People’s Joker.” “I’m not saying...
The quote, which got a great deal of play in the media and social media, ticked off a number of people, including comedy writer and director Bri LeRose, who tweeted, “I will only watch this coward’s joker movie if Vera Drew re-edits it.”
“Bri then Venmo’d me 12 dollars,” said Drew, when she was a guest on an upcoming episode of the Toolkit podcast discussing the origin of her new film “The People’s Joker.” “I’m not saying...
- 4/5/2024
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
After a year-and-a-half of copyright drama, The People’s Joker is finally here. The daring mixture of both tones and form will be sure to impress anyone, even those without a lick of investment in the DC subject matter it is both lampooning and serenading. I was lucky enough to have an extensive chat with writer-director-star Vera Drew about the film’s conception, ideas, and the general state of comic-book cinema.
The Film Stage: The film is dedicated to two people. One is Joel Schumacher. The other is your mother. In terms of dedicating the film to your mother, did you see the film almost like an act of forgiveness towards a parent?
Vera Drew: I don’t know if it’s necessarily an act of forgiveness, as much as it’s kind of an attempt to acknowledge the pain there while also healing. It really came from a place of...
The Film Stage: The film is dedicated to two people. One is Joel Schumacher. The other is your mother. In terms of dedicating the film to your mother, did you see the film almost like an act of forgiveness towards a parent?
Vera Drew: I don’t know if it’s necessarily an act of forgiveness, as much as it’s kind of an attempt to acknowledge the pain there while also healing. It really came from a place of...
- 4/4/2024
- by Ethan Vestby
- The Film Stage
If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Rolling Stone may receive an affiliate commission.
What can you say about a month of entertainment that opens with a TV series about a charming sociopath and closes with a movie about tennis players in love? It’s tempting to say there’s something for everyone to watch but, more accurately, April offers a lot of choices for those with specific tastes. From the theater to streaming services like Prime Video and Max, the best...
What can you say about a month of entertainment that opens with a TV series about a charming sociopath and closes with a movie about tennis players in love? It’s tempting to say there’s something for everyone to watch but, more accurately, April offers a lot of choices for those with specific tastes. From the theater to streaming services like Prime Video and Max, the best...
- 4/3/2024
- by Keith Phipps
- Rollingstone.com
It makes perfect sense that writer/director/effects artist/star Vera Drew doesn't want to rewatch The People’s Joker anymore. Drew has spent more than three years with the film now, since its beginning as a re-edit of the 2019 film Joker, through the legal battle that saw the film pulled from TIFF more than a year ago and premiering in the U.S. at Outfest in July 2023. But more than the exhaustingly long road to getting the film in front of audiences, she cited that it’s hard to watch because it’s so personal when introducing the film at a Chicago International Film Festival Screening in fall 2023. It doesn’t take long to understand why Drew would want to give herself some space from the film. More than a...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 4/3/2024
- Screen Anarchy
Center: Vera Drew (Brian de Rivera Simon/Getty Images)Graphic: Jimmy Hasse
Wait ’til they get a load of her.
Vera Drew, the co-writer, director, and star of the Joker parody The People’s Joker, has ridden the Batwing to national prominence as only the creator of such an absurd work could.
Wait ’til they get a load of her.
Vera Drew, the co-writer, director, and star of the Joker parody The People’s Joker, has ridden the Batwing to national prominence as only the creator of such an absurd work could.
- 4/3/2024
- by Matt Schimkowitz
- avclub.com
Vera Drew in The People’s JokerImage: Altered Innocence
In an entertainment landscape dominated by intellectual property franchising made at increasingly higher budgets, it can sometimes feel like fresh storytelling ideas are considered too risky to be properly told, that only those films with majority mass-market appeal ever have a shot of finding their audience.
In an entertainment landscape dominated by intellectual property franchising made at increasingly higher budgets, it can sometimes feel like fresh storytelling ideas are considered too risky to be properly told, that only those films with majority mass-market appeal ever have a shot of finding their audience.
- 4/2/2024
- by Leigh Monson
- avclub.com
“The People’s Joker” isn’t going to end the 2010s superhero boom all by itself. Other factors are contributing to the decline: “Madame Web” flopped. “The Marvels” and “Aquaman and the Last Kingdom” barely made a ripple. And the simple fact that stars like Dakota Johnson and Kristen Stewart feel free to shit on the superhero-industrial complex — in Johnson’s case, from the inside — without fearing for their careers is a sign that Marvel and DC don’t have the stranglehold on the film industry they did only a few years ago. But Vera Drew’s “queer coming-of-age fair use superhero world parody” might just be the killing blow.
Disney and Warner Bros. have built multi-billion-dollar empires on encouraging viewers to make fandom an intrinsic part of their identity. Some are straightforward peans to fandom as community, or even as family — found or otherwise. But after the commercial and critical...
Disney and Warner Bros. have built multi-billion-dollar empires on encouraging viewers to make fandom an intrinsic part of their identity. Some are straightforward peans to fandom as community, or even as family — found or otherwise. But after the commercial and critical...
- 4/2/2024
- by Katie Rife
- Indiewire
If you're just waking up to the saga of "The People's Joker," it starts out the way most comic book characters do — with a tragic origin story. After working as an editor for shows like "On Camera," "Comedy Bang! Bang!," and earning a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for "Who is America?," Vera Drew successfully crowdfunded her fair use feature directorial debut, in which she utilizes the iconography of arguably one the most recognizable DC Comics world — Batman and the Joker — to tell a queer, autobiographical coming-of-age Joker origin story that doubles as a massive middle finger to Lorne Michaels and the conventional, corporate comedy landscape. "The People's Joker" enjoyed a single screening at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival before it was pulled due to "rights issues."
Fortunately, Drew refused to go down without a fight, and after proving the film is protected under parody law, the Lgbtqia+-focused distribution company...
Fortunately, Drew refused to go down without a fight, and after proving the film is protected under parody law, the Lgbtqia+-focused distribution company...
- 4/1/2024
- by BJ Colangelo
- Slash Film
Like so many of the comic-book supervillains that populate it, writer-director Vera Drew’s The People’s Joker arrives with an origin story. An “autobiographical transgender coming-of-age story,” the film stars Drew herself as Joker the Harlequin, an aspiring trans comedian who moves to a dystopic Gotham City and finds herself navigating both her own transition and the world of illicit underground comedy. The characters and settings are largely parodies drawn from DC Comics, but Warner Bros. wasn’t in on the joke, and after the film’s premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival back in 2022, the studio sent Drew a letter threatening legal action, and all future screenings were canceled.
After a long period of further delays and secret screenings of the film as Drew sought to make sure that she was fully protected from legal action under fair use has allowed for a fully legal release—complete...
After a long period of further delays and secret screenings of the film as Drew sought to make sure that she was fully protected from legal action under fair use has allowed for a fully legal release—complete...
- 4/1/2024
- by Brad Hanford
- Slant Magazine
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. To keep up with our latest features, sign up for the Weekly Edit newsletter and follow us @mubinotebook.Newsa Different Man.IATSE, Teamsters, and the Hollywood Basic Crafts unions began bargaining jointly with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers after a thousands-strong rally in Los Angeles. In Variety, IATSE president Matthew Loeb discusses the union’s priorities and the threat of another strike after the current contract expires on July 31.In an open letter, Carlo Chatrian, the outgoing artistic director of the Berlinale, and Mark Peranson, the festival’s head of programming, respond to the backlash that followed the closing ceremony, at which a number of award recipients called for a ceasefire in Gaza: “This year’s festival was a place for dialogue and exchange for ten days; yet once the films stopped rolling, another form of communication...
- 3/6/2024
- MUBI
Vera Drew is cementing her status as “The People’s Joker.”
The former “I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson” editor directed, co-wrote, edited, and stars in the superhero-parody film that made waves at TIFF 2022 (where IndieWire saw it) before being acquired by Los Angeles-based distributor Altered Innocence in December 2023. Now, thanks in part to social media hashtag-campaign #FreethePeoplesJoker, “The People’s Joker” is indeed free for a North-American theatrical release.
Drew portrays the title character in the queer coming-of-age origin story that reimagines “Batman” villain The Joker as a trans comedian. Joker the Harlequin (Drew) grapples with her gender identity while unsuccessfully attempting to join the ranks of Gotham City’s Ucb (United Clown Bureau) Live, the one government-sanctioned late-night sketch show that is the only platform for rising comedians since Gotham City otherwise outlawed comedy. (Get it? Ucb like Upright Citizens Brigade?)
After being rejected from Ucb Live, Joker...
The former “I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson” editor directed, co-wrote, edited, and stars in the superhero-parody film that made waves at TIFF 2022 (where IndieWire saw it) before being acquired by Los Angeles-based distributor Altered Innocence in December 2023. Now, thanks in part to social media hashtag-campaign #FreethePeoplesJoker, “The People’s Joker” is indeed free for a North-American theatrical release.
Drew portrays the title character in the queer coming-of-age origin story that reimagines “Batman” villain The Joker as a trans comedian. Joker the Harlequin (Drew) grapples with her gender identity while unsuccessfully attempting to join the ranks of Gotham City’s Ucb (United Clown Bureau) Live, the one government-sanctioned late-night sketch show that is the only platform for rising comedians since Gotham City otherwise outlawed comedy. (Get it? Ucb like Upright Citizens Brigade?)
After being rejected from Ucb Live, Joker...
- 3/5/2024
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
For a little while it seemed The People’s Joker might be lost to time, a new generation’s Day the Clown Cried or, if you like, Promises Written in Water. Despite an initial screening in TIFF’s Midnight Madness program, director Vera Drew pulled her film from subsequent showings over rights issues. Yet it came to light this December that The People’s Joker would open spring 2024 via Altered Innocence, and ahead of its April 5 debut at the IFC Center (with nationwide bookings to follow), there’s a trailer for the feature a PR email informs us “is in no way created by, endorsed by, or affiliated with DC Comics or any of its related companies.”
What’s seen hews closer to Repo Chick than The Dark Knight, recalling also Tim and Eric––a fitting comparison given Drew’s involvement with many of their projects, to say nothing of Tim Heidecker...
What’s seen hews closer to Repo Chick than The Dark Knight, recalling also Tim and Eric––a fitting comparison given Drew’s involvement with many of their projects, to say nothing of Tim Heidecker...
- 3/5/2024
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
"Now you must journey inside yourself..." It's here! Finally! Altered Innocence has revealed the official trailer for a controversial, revolutionary, one-of-a-kind film called The People's Joker. This premiered at the 2022 Toronto Film Festival a few years ago and after earning tons of buzz at the fest, Warner Bros and DC tried to shut it down and stop anyone from watching it (due to copyright claims). But they beat the system! Now it's finally getting a proper theatrical release this April. An aspiring clown grappling with her gender identity combats a fascistic caped crusader. The People's Joker is a trans twist on DC's characters, starring Vera Drew as a new clown of mayhem called Joker the Harlequin. Vats of feminizing chemicals, sexy cartoon interludes, scarecrow psychiatrists, CGI Lorne Michaels, and psychedelic gender dysphoria all play supporting roles. Made by Vera Drew and using her own life experiences as a basis for the film,...
- 3/5/2024
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Famously pulled from the Toronto International Film Festival, Vera Drew’s one-of-a-kind satire The People’s Joker is finally getting set to be officially unleashed this year.
Altered Innocence will release The People’s Joker in select theaters on April 5, 2024, with THR reporting today that the film will be playing at Alamo Drafthouse locations nationwide.
You can find full theatrical listings over on the Altered Innocence website.
The team previews, “This revolutionary DIY parody film and hilarious reimagining of the classic autobiographical coming-of-age story follows an unconfident, closeted trans girl as she moves to Gotham City to make it big as a comedian by joining the cast of Ucb Live – a government-sanctioned late night sketch show in a world where comedy has been outlawed.
“As mainstream success eludes our heroine, leading her to unite with a ragtag team of rejects, misfits, and a certain love interest named Mister J, “Joker the...
Altered Innocence will release The People’s Joker in select theaters on April 5, 2024, with THR reporting today that the film will be playing at Alamo Drafthouse locations nationwide.
You can find full theatrical listings over on the Altered Innocence website.
The team previews, “This revolutionary DIY parody film and hilarious reimagining of the classic autobiographical coming-of-age story follows an unconfident, closeted trans girl as she moves to Gotham City to make it big as a comedian by joining the cast of Ucb Live – a government-sanctioned late night sketch show in a world where comedy has been outlawed.
“As mainstream success eludes our heroine, leading her to unite with a ragtag team of rejects, misfits, and a certain love interest named Mister J, “Joker the...
- 3/5/2024
- by John Squires
- bloody-disgusting.com
Typically, saying you're more excited about something other than the new Lady Gaga project is fair grounds for having your queer card taken away, but an exception can be made in the case of "The People's Joker." Indeed, as intrigued as I am to watch Gaga's Harley Quinn sing and dance her way through a toxic romance with Joaquin Phoenix's Clown Prince of Crime in Todd Phillips' "Joker: Folie à Deux" (a sentence I couldn't have imagined writing after watching Phillips' original Scorsesean DC drama for the first time back in 2019), it's Vera Drew's trans-coming-of-age DC Comics superhero parody that has my current attention.
Drew, similar to her fellow trans comedienne Harper Steele (the subject of Will Ferrell's acclaimed upcoming Netflix documentary "Will & Harper"), has quietly worked on some of the more memorable and daring comedic offerings of the past decade. In addition to editing Scott Aukerman...
Drew, similar to her fellow trans comedienne Harper Steele (the subject of Will Ferrell's acclaimed upcoming Netflix documentary "Will & Harper"), has quietly worked on some of the more memorable and daring comedic offerings of the past decade. In addition to editing Scott Aukerman...
- 3/5/2024
- by Sandy Schaefer
- Slash Film
After seeing her DC-inspired debut feature The People’s Joker pulled from TIFF 2022 over what the fest described as “right’s issues,” Vera Drew has secured a North American release for the film via L.A.-based indie distributor Altered Innocence.
A mixed-media dark comedy drawing inspiration from Drew’s personal life, the film is set to open at IFC Center in New York City on April 5th, 2024, with additional markets and engagements to be announced at a later date.
Co-written by Drew and Bri LeRose, the film reimagining the origin story of iconic Batman villain The Joker sees Drew’s painfully unfunny aspiring clown grapple with her gender identity while unsuccessfully attempting to join the ranks of Gotham City’s sole comedy program, in a world where comedy has been outlawed. Uniting with a ragtag team of rejects and misfits, Joker the Harlequin forms an illegal anti-comedy troupe that...
A mixed-media dark comedy drawing inspiration from Drew’s personal life, the film is set to open at IFC Center in New York City on April 5th, 2024, with additional markets and engagements to be announced at a later date.
Co-written by Drew and Bri LeRose, the film reimagining the origin story of iconic Batman villain The Joker sees Drew’s painfully unfunny aspiring clown grapple with her gender identity while unsuccessfully attempting to join the ranks of Gotham City’s sole comedy program, in a world where comedy has been outlawed. Uniting with a ragtag team of rejects and misfits, Joker the Harlequin forms an illegal anti-comedy troupe that...
- 12/21/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Vera Drew's queer coming-of-age superhero world parody, The People's Joker, has found a North American home. Altered Innocence have acquired the North American rights and are already planning a theatrical launch at the IFC Center in New York on April 5th. Mark your calendars and go see the movie our own Kylo wrote these words for in his review, "There’s nothing like The People’s Joker, and there probably never will be, which just makes it all the more necessary...". Los Angeles-based distributor Altered Innocence announces today the acquisition of North American distribution rights for Vera Drew’s genre-defying breakout feature debut The People’S Joker. Drew directed, edited, co-wrote, and stars in the queer coming-of-age superhero world parody that boldly reimagines the Joker’s origin, with...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 12/20/2023
- Screen Anarchy
Altered Innocence to release queer coming-of-age story in New York on April 5.
Vera Drew’s The People’s Joker, the unauthorised queer superhero parody set in the DC Universe which was pulled from TIFF 2022 Midnight section over copyright issues, has landed a US distributor.
Los Angeles-based Altered Innocence has acquired North American rights and will release on April 5 at IFC Center in New York with additional markets and engagements to be announced.
The film premiered and screened once at TIFF 2022 before it was pulled from the festival. Warner Bros has never commented publicly on the matter.
Drew stars in the...
Vera Drew’s The People’s Joker, the unauthorised queer superhero parody set in the DC Universe which was pulled from TIFF 2022 Midnight section over copyright issues, has landed a US distributor.
Los Angeles-based Altered Innocence has acquired North American rights and will release on April 5 at IFC Center in New York with additional markets and engagements to be announced.
The film premiered and screened once at TIFF 2022 before it was pulled from the festival. Warner Bros has never commented publicly on the matter.
Drew stars in the...
- 12/20/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Directed by Vera Drew, The People’s Joker opens with a disclaimer noting that it’s an unauthorized parody, but nevertheless it was famously pulled from the Toronto International Film Festival last year due to copyright issues. Naturally, that controversy shot the movie to the top of must-see lists, and Variety reports that you’ll finally be able to see it next year.
Altered Innocence will release The People’s Joker in theaters on April 5, 2024.
Variety details, “The People’s Joker stars Drew as a painfully unfunny aspiring clown called Joker the Harlequin. Her character grapples with her gender identity while unsuccessfully attempting to join the ranks of Gotham City’s sole comedy program in a world where comedy has been outlawed.
“Uniting with a ragtag team of rejects and misfits, Joker forms an illegal anti-comedy troupe that puts her on a collision course with the devious caped crusader controlling the city.”
“Vera...
Altered Innocence will release The People’s Joker in theaters on April 5, 2024.
Variety details, “The People’s Joker stars Drew as a painfully unfunny aspiring clown called Joker the Harlequin. Her character grapples with her gender identity while unsuccessfully attempting to join the ranks of Gotham City’s sole comedy program in a world where comedy has been outlawed.
“Uniting with a ragtag team of rejects and misfits, Joker forms an illegal anti-comedy troupe that puts her on a collision course with the devious caped crusader controlling the city.”
“Vera...
- 12/20/2023
- by John Squires
- bloody-disgusting.com
The People’s Joker will be laughing its way to the big screen, with indie distributor Altered Innocence picking up the feature’s North American rights.
To start, the Los Angeles-based Altered Innocence will put The People’s Joker in New York’s IFC Center April 5, with more markets to come at a later date. Its initial engagement at IFC is one week, with the possibility of extending. Though it’s a small distribution plan for now, it’s noteworthy as for a time it was unclear if the project would land a home.
Filmmaker Vera Drew directed, co-wrote, edited and stars in the DC parody feature as Joker the Harlequin, an aspiring clown coming to terms with her gender identity as a trans woman. Though it borrows from the fantastical world of DC Comics, the coming-of-age story also draws from Drew’s life.
The absurdist movie made headlines a year ago,...
To start, the Los Angeles-based Altered Innocence will put The People’s Joker in New York’s IFC Center April 5, with more markets to come at a later date. Its initial engagement at IFC is one week, with the possibility of extending. Though it’s a small distribution plan for now, it’s noteworthy as for a time it was unclear if the project would land a home.
Filmmaker Vera Drew directed, co-wrote, edited and stars in the DC parody feature as Joker the Harlequin, an aspiring clown coming to terms with her gender identity as a trans woman. Though it borrows from the fantastical world of DC Comics, the coming-of-age story also draws from Drew’s life.
The absurdist movie made headlines a year ago,...
- 12/20/2023
- by Aaron Couch
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Finally, the people have spoken: “The People’s Joker” is getting a North American theatrical release.
The buzzy film, which had its world premiere at TIFF 2022 in the Midnight section before being dropped by the program, will now be available to the public two years later. The film was acquired by Los Angeles-based distributor Altered Innocence and will open April 5 at the IFC Center in New York City, with more markets to be later announced.
“The People’s Joker” is set in the Batman universe and reimagines the Joker as a trans origin story, with co-writer/director Vera Drew playing the title character. Billed as a “queer coming-of-age superhero parody film,” the feature is not licensed by DC Studios or Warner Bros. Discovery.
Drew withdrew “The People’s Joker” from 2022 TIFF due to rights issues, as announced at the time. The controversy led to the hashtag campaign #FreethePeoplesJoker, with the film debuting in the U.
The buzzy film, which had its world premiere at TIFF 2022 in the Midnight section before being dropped by the program, will now be available to the public two years later. The film was acquired by Los Angeles-based distributor Altered Innocence and will open April 5 at the IFC Center in New York City, with more markets to be later announced.
“The People’s Joker” is set in the Batman universe and reimagines the Joker as a trans origin story, with co-writer/director Vera Drew playing the title character. Billed as a “queer coming-of-age superhero parody film,” the feature is not licensed by DC Studios or Warner Bros. Discovery.
Drew withdrew “The People’s Joker” from 2022 TIFF due to rights issues, as announced at the time. The controversy led to the hashtag campaign #FreethePeoplesJoker, with the film debuting in the U.
- 12/20/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Nightmares Film Festival, FilmFreeway’s #1-ranked genre fest, today revealed its 2023 program of #BetterHorror. In its eighth year, the fest is building even more community beyond the screen with the addition of live experiences to its heralded #BetterHorror film and screenplay slate. This year’s festival takes place October 26 – October 29, 2023.
The four-day Nightmare program once again delivers a must-see lineup collected from new and beloved genre voices around the world, with highlights including the boundary-smashing queer coming-of-age midnighter The People’s Joker, notoriously pulled from TIFF; the world premiere of Zac Locke’s (#Float) psychological Christmas horror Santa Isn’t Real; the U.S. premiere of Stewart Sparke’s (Book of Monsters) classic-creature horror comedy How to Kill Monsters; horror comedy anthology Cryptids, featuring The Last Drive-In’s Joe Bob Briggs; and nightmare fuel Abruptio, a descent into madness created entirely with lifelike puppets.
In all, the Nff will present 17 feature films and more than 150 horror,...
The four-day Nightmare program once again delivers a must-see lineup collected from new and beloved genre voices around the world, with highlights including the boundary-smashing queer coming-of-age midnighter The People’s Joker, notoriously pulled from TIFF; the world premiere of Zac Locke’s (#Float) psychological Christmas horror Santa Isn’t Real; the U.S. premiere of Stewart Sparke’s (Book of Monsters) classic-creature horror comedy How to Kill Monsters; horror comedy anthology Cryptids, featuring The Last Drive-In’s Joe Bob Briggs; and nightmare fuel Abruptio, a descent into madness created entirely with lifelike puppets.
In all, the Nff will present 17 feature films and more than 150 horror,...
- 9/21/2023
- by John Squires
- bloody-disgusting.com
It's the most fantastic time of the year once again, when the fans of the creepy, the weird, the fun, and the bizarre gather in Austin Texas to celebrate a whole week of the best genre cinema has to offer during another iteration of Fantastic Fest.
The ongoing double strike of SAG-AFTRA and the WGA, and the studios' stupid refusal to negotiate already, put all the fall film festivals in doubt. Still, the lineup for this year's Fantastic Fest seems to maintain the expected balance of big genre premieres, international titles, small indies, and all-around weird stuff.
Possibly the biggest announcement is the triumphant return of Mike Flanagan to Austin with the first two episodes of his last Netflix show, "The Fall of the House of Usher," which boasts the most impressive cast for a Flanagan joint yet. The last time the filmmaker was at the festival was with...
The ongoing double strike of SAG-AFTRA and the WGA, and the studios' stupid refusal to negotiate already, put all the fall film festivals in doubt. Still, the lineup for this year's Fantastic Fest seems to maintain the expected balance of big genre premieres, international titles, small indies, and all-around weird stuff.
Possibly the biggest announcement is the triumphant return of Mike Flanagan to Austin with the first two episodes of his last Netflix show, "The Fall of the House of Usher," which boasts the most impressive cast for a Flanagan joint yet. The last time the filmmaker was at the festival was with...
- 8/15/2023
- by Rafael Motamayor
- Slash Film
The Grand Jury winners of the 41st Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ+ Film Festival, presented by Genesis Motor and Warner Bros. Discovery, have been announced, with “Something You Said Last Night” and “Anhell69” winning the top awards for North American Narrative Feature and Documentary Feature. Select award winners will be available on the Outfest Los Angeles’ virtual platform through Sunday, after which Audience Award winners will be announced.
The Paul D. Lerner and Stephen Reis Grand Jury Award for Outstanding Documentary Feature, now in Year 2 thanks to a generous donation from Lerner and Reis to the Outfest Empathy Fund, will see the awarded filmmaker, “Anhell69,” director Theo Montoya, receive a $5,000 prize.
The festival opened with Aitch Alberto’s “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe” and closed with Sav Rodger’s “Chasing Chasing Amy.” For the first time in Outfest’s LGBTQ+ Summer Film Festival history, both the opening...
The Paul D. Lerner and Stephen Reis Grand Jury Award for Outstanding Documentary Feature, now in Year 2 thanks to a generous donation from Lerner and Reis to the Outfest Empathy Fund, will see the awarded filmmaker, “Anhell69,” director Theo Montoya, receive a $5,000 prize.
The festival opened with Aitch Alberto’s “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe” and closed with Sav Rodger’s “Chasing Chasing Amy.” For the first time in Outfest’s LGBTQ+ Summer Film Festival history, both the opening...
- 7/24/2023
- by Scott Mendelson
- The Wrap
Updated from July 24 story with Audience Award winners: Outfest announced the winners of audience awards, as voted on by attendees of the Lgbtqia+ festival in Los Angeles. Big Boys, directed by Corey Sherman, won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature. 1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture, directed by Sharon Marie Roggio, won the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature, and the Audience Award for Best Episodic Series went to Day Jobs, directed by Stevie Wain and Auri Jackson.
Earlier: Outfest announced its grand jury prize winners today, after the Lgbtqia+ film festival in Los Angeles wrapped its 41st edition.
Anhell69, directed by Theo Montoya, won the Paul D. Lerner and Stephen Reis Grand Jury Award for Documentary Feature, which comes with a $5,000 cash prize. The film set in Medellín, Colombia takes a hybrid doc-fictional approach to explore the country’s history of violence and the bleak prospects for many young people in Colombia.
Earlier: Outfest announced its grand jury prize winners today, after the Lgbtqia+ film festival in Los Angeles wrapped its 41st edition.
Anhell69, directed by Theo Montoya, won the Paul D. Lerner and Stephen Reis Grand Jury Award for Documentary Feature, which comes with a $5,000 cash prize. The film set in Medellín, Colombia takes a hybrid doc-fictional approach to explore the country’s history of violence and the bleak prospects for many young people in Colombia.
- 7/24/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will be launching 10 new scientific and technical investigations in 2023. The investigations will be completed by an Academy committee ahead of the upcoming Scientific and Technical Awards on Feb. 23, 2024.
Investigations currently underway cover the following areas: onboard remote driving apparatus; reusable cable-cutting devices for motion picture squibs; post-process depth of field software; mathematically lossless encoding of motion picture camera raw files; motor-stabilized motion picture camera support systems for hand/body-supported operation; interactive renderers that provide a representative approximation of final offline renders during post-production; volumetric surface reconstruction; pattern-based 3D clothing creation software; layerable hierarchical 3D scene description frameworks; and digital image processing film restoration software utilized for theatrical re-release and archival preservation.
Individuals and companies with devices or claims of innovation that fall under the umbrella of any of these categories are welcomed by the Academy to submit their achievements for review. The...
Investigations currently underway cover the following areas: onboard remote driving apparatus; reusable cable-cutting devices for motion picture squibs; post-process depth of field software; mathematically lossless encoding of motion picture camera raw files; motor-stabilized motion picture camera support systems for hand/body-supported operation; interactive renderers that provide a representative approximation of final offline renders during post-production; volumetric surface reconstruction; pattern-based 3D clothing creation software; layerable hierarchical 3D scene description frameworks; and digital image processing film restoration software utilized for theatrical re-release and archival preservation.
Individuals and companies with devices or claims of innovation that fall under the umbrella of any of these categories are welcomed by the Academy to submit their achievements for review. The...
- 7/13/2023
- by Jazz Tangcay, Charna Flam, Sophia Scorziello and McKinley Franklin
- Variety Film + TV
The internet has gone Gaga for Harley Quinn in “Joker: Folie à Deux.”
As a last-minute Valentine’s Day gift, writer-director Todd Phillips released the first image of Stefani Germanotta, better known as Lady Gaga, in character as Harleen Quinzel, better known as Harley Quinn. The great DC character will likely play a psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum, where she falls in love with “Mr. J.”, Joaquin Phoenix returning to his Oscar-winning role as Arthur Fleck (better known as Joker).
Gaga’s Harley, based on this image, doesn’t have any of the white makeup or domino mask, but has her hair pulled back in a forceful manner and has Quite an extreme puss on her face. She’s staring right into Fleck’s eyes who, in harsh lighting, kinda looks like Robin Williams a little, doesn’t he?
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Todd Phillips (@toddphillips...
As a last-minute Valentine’s Day gift, writer-director Todd Phillips released the first image of Stefani Germanotta, better known as Lady Gaga, in character as Harleen Quinzel, better known as Harley Quinn. The great DC character will likely play a psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum, where she falls in love with “Mr. J.”, Joaquin Phoenix returning to his Oscar-winning role as Arthur Fleck (better known as Joker).
Gaga’s Harley, based on this image, doesn’t have any of the white makeup or domino mask, but has her hair pulled back in a forceful manner and has Quite an extreme puss on her face. She’s staring right into Fleck’s eyes who, in harsh lighting, kinda looks like Robin Williams a little, doesn’t he?
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Todd Phillips (@toddphillips...
- 2/15/2023
- by Jordan Hoffman
- Gold Derby
TÁR (Todd Field).VENICEAwardsTop 10: Leonardo Goi1. Trenque Lauquen (Laura Citarella)2. No Bears (Jafar Panahi)3. The Eternal Daughter (Joanna Hogg)4. Saint Omer (Alice Diop)5. The Kiev Trial (Sergei Loznitsa)6. Master Gardener (Paul Schrader)7. Blonde (Andrew Dominik)8. A Couple (Frederick Wiseman)9. Athena (Romain Gavras)10. TÁR (Todd Field)Coverageby Leonardo GoiDispatch 1: White Noise (Noah Baumbach), Bardo (or a False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths) (Alejandro González Iñárritu), TÁR (Todd Field)Dispatch 2: A Couple (Frederick Wiseman), Athena (Romain Gavras), Argentina, 1985 (Santiago Mitre)Dispatch 3: Master Gardener (Paul Schrader), The Whale (Darren Aronofsky), The Eternal Daughter (Joanna Hogg)Dispatch 4: The Kiev Trial (Sergei Loznitsa), Saint Omer (Alice Diop), Blonde (Andrew Dominik)Dispatch 5: No Bears (Jafar Panahi), Trenque Lauquen (Laura Citarella)TORONTOTop 10: Daniel Kasman (Unranked)All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (Laura Poitras)Eventide (Sharon Lockhart)The Fabelmans (Steven Spielberg)F1ghting Looks Different 2 Me Now (Fox Maxy)How...
- 9/30/2022
- MUBI
Walk Up.“Surprising”: that’s how a character in Hong Sang-soo’s Walk Up describes the decision to hold a film festival in 2022. Filmmaker Byung-soo (Hae-hyo Kwan) has just been invited to attend a complete retrospective of his work overseas, but he and his partner are discussing what this would actually entail: the couple would need to pay her way since the cinematheque can only cover one plane ticket, and Byung-soo would need to quarantine upon returning home to South Korea. The trip would be expensive, “complicated.” They hash it out over greens in a sparsely decorated apartment, boxed into a deeply unglamorous, black-and-white medium shot. Initially, Walk Up left a very light impression on me, but it was on my mind more than most films as I departed TIFF. Byung-soo is a proxy for Hong, and the plainness of his—and Walk Up’s—fatigue with filmmaking is wryly bourgeois,...
- 9/21/2022
- MUBI
TIFF has never been as much of a marketplace as Sundance or Cannes — though distributors have been known to swoop in and pick up a “Still Alice” or “I, Tonya” for a last-minute Oscar run — but even by the festival’s usual standards, things were all quiet on the Western front this year.
In large part, that’s because most of the splashier titles arrived in Toronto with distribution already in place, which made it extremely difficult for acquisition titles to enjoy any time in the spotlight; even the buzziest of them all, Vera Drew’s beloved “The People’s Joker,” didn’t really make waves until the filmmaker pulled it from the fest in response to petty and wrong-headed legal pressure from Warner Bros.
While Daniel Goldhaber’s nail-biting eco-thriller “How to Blow Up a Pipeline” found a high-profile forever home with Neon, that deal was something of an anomaly...
In large part, that’s because most of the splashier titles arrived in Toronto with distribution already in place, which made it extremely difficult for acquisition titles to enjoy any time in the spotlight; even the buzziest of them all, Vera Drew’s beloved “The People’s Joker,” didn’t really make waves until the filmmaker pulled it from the fest in response to petty and wrong-headed legal pressure from Warner Bros.
While Daniel Goldhaber’s nail-biting eco-thriller “How to Blow Up a Pipeline” found a high-profile forever home with Neon, that deal was something of an anomaly...
- 9/20/2022
- by David Ehrlich and Robert Daniels
- Indiewire
Iconic director Steven Spielberg has given cinema a wide variety of stories ranging from his famous fantastical sci-fi adventures to intimate character dramas and historical period pieces. The maestro’s latest outing is the semi-autobiographical The Fabelmans. After having a world premiere at TIFF (read our review), the movie just picked up the prestigious People’s Choice Audience Award, widely considered the fest’s top honor.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, this is Spielberg’s first film to debut at the festival, and it was a special film in which to do so, as the filmmaker explains.
Spielberg had this to say following his win,
This is the most personal film I’ve ever made, and the warm reception from everyone in Toronto made my first visit to TIFF so intimate and personal for me and my entire Fabelman family.”
Two films would tie for first runner-up for the award.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, this is Spielberg’s first film to debut at the festival, and it was a special film in which to do so, as the filmmaker explains.
Spielberg had this to say following his win,
This is the most personal film I’ve ever made, and the warm reception from everyone in Toronto made my first visit to TIFF so intimate and personal for me and my entire Fabelman family.”
Two films would tie for first runner-up for the award.
- 9/19/2022
- by EJ Tangonan
- JoBlo.com
The buzzy parody film The People’s Joker, which reimagines the story of the classic Batman villain through the lens of its director and star’s transition, was pulled from future screenings at TIFF after its September 14 premiere. According to a Twitter post by Vera Drew the film’s star, they received an “angry letter” from rights holders about the film.
Apparently the communication didn’t amount to a formal cease-and-desist, as some outlets reported in the days after this situation. Drew said she had reached an agreement with TIFF to still premiere the film “while scaling back our later screenings to mitigate potential blowback.
She also noted that through making the film, she has gone through “great lengths with legal counsel to have it full under parody/fair use,” as she was probably aware that a fight from DC would be coming if the film gained attention.
A Statement From...
Apparently the communication didn’t amount to a formal cease-and-desist, as some outlets reported in the days after this situation. Drew said she had reached an agreement with TIFF to still premiere the film “while scaling back our later screenings to mitigate potential blowback.
She also noted that through making the film, she has gone through “great lengths with legal counsel to have it full under parody/fair use,” as she was probably aware that a fight from DC would be coming if the film gained attention.
A Statement From...
- 9/18/2022
- by Jacob Linden
- Uinterview
Twenty-six years after making “I Shot Andy Warhol,” filmmaker Mary Harron returns to the late ’60s/early ’70s New York art world with “Dalíland,” this time with greater mastery and style. Ben Kingsley stars as Salvador Dalí, the eccentric Spanish surrealist artist who paraded around sporting a handlebar mustache and dressed like a 16th-century conquistador in the glam-rock era.
Harron dabbles in her own take on surrealism by converging Dalí’s romantic headspace and the ever-present decadent party scene. Her invocation of surrealism isn’t at all in Dalí’s style, which would be one way to approach the subject. But this definitely feels like her most layered and fully realized vision.
Like “I Shot Andy Warhol,” “Dalíland,” which premiered as the closing-night attraction at the Toronto International Film Festival, centers not on the artist himself but rather on someone peripheral in his circle. The film opens in 1985, as James...
Harron dabbles in her own take on surrealism by converging Dalí’s romantic headspace and the ever-present decadent party scene. Her invocation of surrealism isn’t at all in Dalí’s style, which would be one way to approach the subject. But this definitely feels like her most layered and fully realized vision.
Like “I Shot Andy Warhol,” “Dalíland,” which premiered as the closing-night attraction at the Toronto International Film Festival, centers not on the artist himself but rather on someone peripheral in his circle. The film opens in 1985, as James...
- 9/18/2022
- by Martin Tsai
- The Wrap
Editor’s Note: This review was originally published during the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. Altered Innocence will release “The People’s Joker” in theaters on April 5, 2024.
Though it was pulled from subsequent screenings, the buzzy Midnight Madness premiere of “The People’s Joker” at the Toronto International Film Festival will not be its last. Coming out as a bold filmmaker with a fearless voice, prolific alt comedy editor Vera Drew’s mixed media dystopia is a Fiercely original and deeply personal, it’s too damn good not to be seen.
Though the film is steeped in the iconography of DC Comics characters like Batman, Penguin, and Joker, “The People’s Joker” takes more shots at “Saturday Night Live” and Lorne Michaels than it does at the Batverse. The film’s pointed jabs at commercial comedy as a propaganda machine for the billionaire class has far more bite, and any attempt by a corporate...
Though it was pulled from subsequent screenings, the buzzy Midnight Madness premiere of “The People’s Joker” at the Toronto International Film Festival will not be its last. Coming out as a bold filmmaker with a fearless voice, prolific alt comedy editor Vera Drew’s mixed media dystopia is a Fiercely original and deeply personal, it’s too damn good not to be seen.
Though the film is steeped in the iconography of DC Comics characters like Batman, Penguin, and Joker, “The People’s Joker” takes more shots at “Saturday Night Live” and Lorne Michaels than it does at the Batverse. The film’s pointed jabs at commercial comedy as a propaganda machine for the billionaire class has far more bite, and any attempt by a corporate...
- 9/17/2022
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
Should you have wondered whether the Toronto International Film Festival was indeed “back” in full force — in its 47th edition, and its second since Virtual TIFF Year Zero — you simply had to look outside. Folks milled in front the Bell Lightbox when they weren’t packed into screenings, chatting away in small groups, comparing notes and looking for recommendations and comparing lookie-loo celebrity stories. Lines once again snaked around the Scotiabank multiplex. On King Street, home to the neighboring Princess of Wales and the Royal Alexandra theaters — the latter only...
- 9/17/2022
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
In the DC Extended Universe, it’s not the villains who have identity issues, but the heroes. Bruce Wayne watched his parents get murdered, adopted a teenage sidekick and now spends his nights cosplaying as the creature everyone associates with vampires. Kal-El also saw his parents die and goes through life trying to pass as the earthling Clark Kent, wearing spandex under his work clothes, just in case. These are not the traits of well-adjusted normies, and as such, there’s enormous subversive appeal in seeing trans artist Vera Drew turn such iconic characters inside-out in the illicitly made marvel that is “The People’s Joker.”
Coming from a place of deep fan love and equally profound institutional mistrust, Drew’s anarchic feature-length parody impishly treads the line of fair use, so much so that the helmer pulled the film from the Toronto Film Festival after its raucous Midnight Madness premiere,...
Coming from a place of deep fan love and equally profound institutional mistrust, Drew’s anarchic feature-length parody impishly treads the line of fair use, so much so that the helmer pulled the film from the Toronto Film Festival after its raucous Midnight Madness premiere,...
- 9/16/2022
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
One of the most buzzed-about films out of the Toronto International Film Festival is a movie that was barely screened there at all, and now “The People’s Joker” filmmaker Vera Drew is speaking out about what happens next.
As Drew explained in a social media post Thursday, on the eve of the film’s premiere, “a media conglomerate that shall remain nameless sent me an angry letter (misreported as a “cease and desist”) pressuring to not screen.”
“The People’s Joker” is a mixed media film set in Gotham City that re-imagines Batman villain, the Joker, as a trans person in a city where comedy has been criminalized. As an independent film, it was made by Drew without permission from Warner Bros. Discovery, but the filmmaker maintains it’s protected by fair use and copyright law.
“Any other film festival would have pulled us immediately,” Drew’s statement continues, “But after being fully transparent with TIFF,...
As Drew explained in a social media post Thursday, on the eve of the film’s premiere, “a media conglomerate that shall remain nameless sent me an angry letter (misreported as a “cease and desist”) pressuring to not screen.”
“The People’s Joker” is a mixed media film set in Gotham City that re-imagines Batman villain, the Joker, as a trans person in a city where comedy has been criminalized. As an independent film, it was made by Drew without permission from Warner Bros. Discovery, but the filmmaker maintains it’s protected by fair use and copyright law.
“Any other film festival would have pulled us immediately,” Drew’s statement continues, “But after being fully transparent with TIFF,...
- 9/16/2022
- by Adam Chitwood
- The Wrap
For co-writer and director Matt Smukler, “Wildflower” started life as a far cry from the narrative feature film that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival this year.
“Really, this was inspired by my niece,” Smukler told TheWrap’s Executive Editor, Awards, Steve Pond, during a visit to TheWrap and Shutterstock’s Interview and Portrait Studio at TIFF. “I went out to Las Vegas to shoot a little, tiny, short companion piece for her to get into college. She had no idea how exceptional she was. She actually thought she was very ordinary and didn’t know what to write on a college essay. … And I very quickly realized how exceptional she really is, and how incredible the whole family is.”
Smukler resurfaced the idea while working with co-writer Jana Savage on a different project. The two came to the realization that the best way to serve this coming-of-age story...
“Really, this was inspired by my niece,” Smukler told TheWrap’s Executive Editor, Awards, Steve Pond, during a visit to TheWrap and Shutterstock’s Interview and Portrait Studio at TIFF. “I went out to Las Vegas to shoot a little, tiny, short companion piece for her to get into college. She had no idea how exceptional she was. She actually thought she was very ordinary and didn’t know what to write on a college essay. … And I very quickly realized how exceptional she really is, and how incredible the whole family is.”
Smukler resurfaced the idea while working with co-writer Jana Savage on a different project. The two came to the realization that the best way to serve this coming-of-age story...
- 9/16/2022
- by Libby Hill
- The Wrap
Monday morning, film executives at the Toronto Film Festival woke up to a record-breaking deal for Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers,” which Focus Features acquired for 30 million, a seemingly healthy sign for the market and the indie-film world.
There was just one problem: “The Holdovers” wasn’t a splashy premiere at the Princess of Wales or Royal Alexandra that had buyers huddling in the lobby but a private screening at the Scotiabank multiplex shown to just a handful of individuals representing all the major studios and streamers on Sunday.
And so far, it’s the only sale on that scale since the festival began last Thursday.
Also Read:
Inside Focus’ 30 Million Deal for Alexander Payne’s ‘The Holdovers’
In fact, outside of Neon’s acquisition of the heist thriller “How to Blow Up a Pipeline” on Tuesday in a competitive situation, TIFF has had no major sales through its first week.
There was just one problem: “The Holdovers” wasn’t a splashy premiere at the Princess of Wales or Royal Alexandra that had buyers huddling in the lobby but a private screening at the Scotiabank multiplex shown to just a handful of individuals representing all the major studios and streamers on Sunday.
And so far, it’s the only sale on that scale since the festival began last Thursday.
Also Read:
Inside Focus’ 30 Million Deal for Alexander Payne’s ‘The Holdovers’
In fact, outside of Neon’s acquisition of the heist thriller “How to Blow Up a Pipeline” on Tuesday in a competitive situation, TIFF has had no major sales through its first week.
- 9/16/2022
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Over a career that has taken her from child actor to the director’s chair, Canadian filmmaker Sarah Polley has spent enough time on set to have a feel for the standard rhythms of a shoot.
But there was something different about the female-led production of “Women Talking,” Polley said, of the first feature she has directed in more than a decade.
Tasks that would typically take 45 minutes would be done in seven, with crew members holding competitions to see who could help set up a shot the fastest, she recalled.
From the stars to the grips, everyone on the call sheet seemed to be galvanized by a sense of collective mission that went beyond adding another credit to their resume, Polley said.
Read more: ‘The People’s Joker,’ reimagining of Gotham City, pulled from TIFF over rights issues
“We felt like we were part of a movement, not a movie,...
But there was something different about the female-led production of “Women Talking,” Polley said, of the first feature she has directed in more than a decade.
Tasks that would typically take 45 minutes would be done in seven, with crew members holding competitions to see who could help set up a shot the fastest, she recalled.
From the stars to the grips, everyone on the call sheet seemed to be galvanized by a sense of collective mission that went beyond adding another credit to their resume, Polley said.
Read more: ‘The People’s Joker,’ reimagining of Gotham City, pulled from TIFF over rights issues
“We felt like we were part of a movement, not a movie,...
- 9/15/2022
- by Shakiel Mahjouri
- ET Canada
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