Paul Schrader Slams ‘Joker 2’: ‘I Left, Bought Something, Came Back, Saw Another 10 Minutes. That Was Enough’

Paul Schrader didn’t mince words about his negative reaction to “Joker: Folie à Deux.”

Speaking to Interview Magazine,” the “Taxi Driver” screenwriter revealed that he didn’t even make it to the end of the “Joker” sequel before he bowed out entirely.

“I saw about 10 or 15 minutes of it,” Schrader said. “I left, bought something, came back, saw another 10 minutes. That was enough.”

When asked what he didn’t like about the musical aspect of the film, Schrader was equally as blunt – Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga.

“I don’t like either of those people,” he said. “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.”

The follow-up question was whether Schrader would consider directing a Marvel film of his own. Schrader shot down the question before the interviewer had a chance to ask the whole thing.

“No, no,” he said quickly. “The closest I got to it, and I realized it really wasn’t for me, was when I tried to do the prequel to “The Exorcist” with Stellan Skarsgård. That was supposed to be a big-budget commercial film and it didn’t set easy with me. I had problems with the producers, problems with everything. More and more, I realized it was a bad fit.”

Schrader isn’t the only person to dislike the “Joker” sequel. The film had a historic 81% drop from it’s debut weekend – a first for a film with a $30 million-plus opening. In contrast, the original was the first R-rated film to cross the billion dollar mark at the box office.

Despite the box office implosion, many critics like TheWrap’s William Bibbiani thought the film took Arthur Fleck’s story in a daring direction.

““Folie à Deux” is the most interesting film about Arthur Fleck,” Bibbiani wrote. “It’s genuinely a little daring, genuinely a little challenging, and genuinely a little genuine. And that’s no joke.”