Quentin Tarantino enjoyed Joker: Folie à Deux, and he doesn’t care what you think about it.
The iconic filmmaker, 61, made headlines in October for praising the Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga-led sequel to 2019’s Joker on an episode of The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast.
Despite the film’s negative reception and underperformance at the box office, Tarantino gave the flick his stamp of approval.
"I really, really liked it, really. A lot. Like, tremendously, and I went to see it expecting to be impressed by the filmmaking,” Tarantino said, per Variety. "But I thought it was going to be an arms-length, intellectual exercise that ultimately I wouldn’t think worked like a movie, but that I would appreciate it for what it is."
On Tuesday’s episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, the Oscar winner criticized some of the toxic backlash he received for saying he liked the film.
“I go on a show and I say that I like Joker 2 … Now there’s 150 articles that come out on it,” Tarantino said at the two-hour and 41-minute mark in the video below. “One person listens to the thing and writes an article about it, and there’s 150 ripoff articles on that. And then you read the comments: ‘Quentin is a fucking asshole. That movie fucking sucks. He’s a fucking asshole for saying that.’
“Why am I a fucking asshole? I liked the fucking movie!” he continued. “That makes me a fucking asshole? You either like the movie or you don’t. I’m not plugging the movie. I’m not doing anything. I’m just saying I like it. Who gives a fuck what I like? What do you care what the fuck I like?”
“Someone will say like, ‘Well, I think he’s fucking missing out.’ Well I am sure there is a lot of shit I could say you’re missing out on and I don’t care if you miss out on,” Tarantino added.
Joker: Folie à Deux was plagued with negative reviews and made $206 million worldwide at the box office compared to the $1 billion gross for the original 2019 Joker film.