People Think There's A Reference In Joker To Heath Ledger's Character In The Dark Knight

*JOKER SPOILERS LIE AHEAD. WELL, SORT OF*

If you haven't been to see Joker yet, my only advice to you would be to cancel your plans for the night and get to the nearest cinema.

For many beloved fans, no one could match Heath Ledger's Joker in The Dark Knight and that may still be the case. But people are now under the impression that Joker makes sure to pay respect to an iconic moment in the 2008 classic.

If you have seen the performance by Joaquin Phoenix, you'll remember that after his arrest (for things we're not going to mention) Arthur Fleck leans his head against the window of the police car peering through at the chaos unfolding in Gotham.

The short scene is a reversal, or so people believe, of The Dark Knight's scene where Heath Ledger's Joker escapes custody in a police car as he leans out of the window with his head tilted up at the sky.

Someone has suggested that the scene doesn't actually pay homage to the previous film but instead compares Arthur Fleck when he wasn't noticed by anyone to his character when he is the centre of attention in Gotham.

Others think it's actually a reference to both The Dark Knight and the comparison drawn from Arthur Fleck's character throughout the film.

Taking to Twitter, one person said they didn't think it was a reference to anything because 'Joker in its own right is a masterpiece'.

Whatever the reference is (or isn't) fans loved Joaquin Phoenix in this film, prompting speculation that he might well be a contender to take the Best Actor award at the 2020 Oscars.

This might not be the last we've seen of Joaquin in character, when he spoke to Popcorn with Peter Travers, he said: "I wouldn't have thought of this as my dream role. But now, honestly, I can't stop thinking about it.

"I talked to [director] Todd [Phillips] a lot about what else we might be able to do, in general, just working together, but also specifically, if there's something else we can do with Joker that might be interesting. So, it ended up being a dream role. It's nothing that I really wanted to do prior to working on this movie."

Topics: Entertainment, TV and Film, Joker

Rebecca Shepherd

I'm Becky - a journalist at LADbible. I graduated with a First Class BA in Journalism before going on to cover criminal court cases, medical tribunals and breaking news for the national media - which inevitably and eventually became as glum as it sounds. Can often be found rocking a bag for life - which I made a 'thing' way before Rihanna. You can contact me at [email protected]

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