Todd Phillips cut a Joker bathtub scene that was too "insane" for an R-rating

By Sam Barsanti | November 12, 2019 | 9:15pm

Aux Features Film

Todd Phillips cut a Joker bathtub scene that was too "insane" for an R-rating

Photo: Niko Tavernise

We’ve all seen the dance of freedom, the death bells, and the rising of the Joker, but apparently there was a scene in Todd Phillips’ violent clown movie that even he thought was too “insane.” Speaking at a Q&A for the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (via Insider), Phillips mentioned some scenes that he had to cut out of Joker, including one “amazing” one involving a bathtub that he thought was too much for the R-rating that he wanted for Joker. “It’s not because it was pornographic,” Phillips explained (thank god), “it was just insane.”

So, that raises an interesting question: What could possibly be so “insane” (we’re putting it in quotes because non-PC language like that has no place in today’s woke culture) that it would put an R-rating in jeopardy without involving Joaquin Phoenix’s naked Joker butt? Our only guess is that it would’ve revealed some horrifying truth about humanity, the sort that anyone who witnessed it would not be able to come back from. If any of us witnessed the Joker doing something truly deranged in a bathtub, the basic structure of the society we take for granted would completely crumble, exposing us to the real freedom that comes from embracing our collective dark side, our clown side. For who is the real clown anyway? The man with the painted face speaking truth to power in the guise of “jokes,” or the mindless drones who can only respond to actual metaphysical awareness with laughter, derision, and bat costumes? Is life itself the real “insane” bathtub scene? Are we the bathtub?

Ahem. Anyway, this might be the only information we ever really get about this bathtub scene, since Phillips told Collider that he has no intention of putting any deleted scenes like that on the eventual DVD release. On a related note, please sign our online petition to Release The Bathtub Cut.

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