‘Joker’ Movie Being Investigated Due To Mistreatment Of Extras: Locked In For Hours, Denied Bathroom Breaks
There has been a lot of talk about the upcoming Joker movie that will star Joaquin Phoenix as the clown prince of crime, but nothing quite like this.
While many fans have wondered about the unique look of Phoenix and his portrayal of the Joker, the film has now seen production brought to a halt. Numerous complaints have been brought against the production team as extras have said that they were locked in for hours — and even denied bathroom breaks.
According to TMZ, a scene was being filmed in a subway station, and numerous photos have been released online from said scene in recent weeks. The filming was conducted in a subway station in Brooklyn, and it appeared to have been mass chaos from set photos and videos.
Extras told TMZ that during filming in the subway station, they were actually locked in one of the subway cars and advised that they couldn’t leave. Some of the extras said that they were locked in there for more than three hours — but that isn’t the end of the story.
Some of the actors said that they were even denied bathroom breaks after working on Joker production for two hours. Even though they banged on windows and doors, no one would let them out. This apparently resulted in them urinating onto subway tracks through small spaces in the cars.
A scene from the #Joker movie was filmed over the weekend where the title character casually strolled through the NYC subway while police flew by: https://t.co/4demNqe3Mo
— JustJared.com (@JustJared) October 8, 2018
The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) has received a complaint about the “break time violation” that took place on the set of the new Joker movie. A representative from the SAG has been sent to the set of the film to do an investigation and to get the situation resolved.
It is being reported that due to this situation, the SAG is planning on staying on the set of the movie and monitoring the shoot throughout. Warner Bros. has also been made aware of what took place with the extras on the set of the movie, and they are also investigating the matter.
There were lots of actors with clown masks on the set of the #Joker movie with Joaquin Phoenix this weekend! Check out the newest set pics: https://t.co/2VfAtG8Puy
— JustJared.com (@JustJared) October 7, 2018
The film starring Joaquin Phoenix is to be an origin story, and there isn’t much else known about the rather mysterious project. One of the things that is known is that Phoenix begins the proceedings as the sad and down-on-his-luck Arthur Fleck — the man who goes on to become the evil villain known as the Joker.
Joker is set to hit theaters on October 4, 2019, and this situation likely won’t end up delaying production — or causing the opening date to be pushed back. Still, it is a very serious situation in which extras truly believe that they were mistreated and have filed complaints to make sure that it doesn’t happen again. With a SAG representative on the set, extras won’t be locked in and denied bathroom breaks again, but the damage has already been done.
