DC's latest outing Joker has been a resounding success, with fans and critics praising the film and its lead actor Joaquin Phoenix for his standout performance as the Clown Prince of Crime.
Although some of the early viewers reportedly walked out of the cinema because they thought it was 'too dark', director Todd Phillips has revealed the movie could have been even darker if he had left in a particularly intense scene.
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Speaking at the SBIFF Cinema Society at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Phillips said: "So the other thing that's great about Joaquin is that he's always up to try things. So, we would finish our days early sometimes and we started doing this thing, Joaquin and I, we called it... a study of insomnia.
"It was our own fun little thing like we have an hour left in the day, let's light this kitchen, Joaquin let's do something over by the sink or the fridge, and let's just set up two cameras.
"Larry [Sher] would operate one, Jeff [Groth] would operate the other, and we would do these things - the fridge was one of those.
"It wasn't in the script it was something that Joaquin just kind of did and there was a few others, there's only one other that's in the movie and it's when he's laughing after he goes to Zazie's [Beetz] apartment and he comes back down the hall and he's laughing alone in that living room, that was another one."
The filmmaker went on to discuss a scene that made it to the cutting room floor, as it was too much to include in an R-rated film.
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"There were two or three others we shot, one that is amazing in a bathtub, but I don't think we can actually include it in an R-rated movie and it's not because it was pornographic, it was just insane."
Frustratingly, Phillips didn't elaborate on what the clip entailed, leaving fans wondering what he could have meant.
In the trailer for the film we saw a snapshot of Phoenix's Arthur Fleck washing his mother's hair in the bathtub. The clip never made it into the film - could the cut scene be an extension of this sequence?
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You can expect the fangirls and fanboys to come up with plenty of theories about what the scene involved - should keep them busy until the next Joker mystery comes to light.
You never know, the scene might even make it to the sequel (if a sequel ever gets the greenlight).
Although the team behind the film were initially dubious about turning Joker into a franchise, Phoenix did express interest in returning for a second outing.
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In a recent sit down with The Envelope (via LA Times), Phoenix said that while he 'wouldn't just do a sequel just because the first movie is successful,' there is still more of the character's arc to explore.
He said: "Long before the release or before we had any idea if it would be successful, we talked about sequels.
"In the second or third week of shooting, I was like: 'Todd, can you start working on a sequel? There's way too much to explore.' It was kind of in jest - but not really."
Featured Image Credit: Warner BrosTopics: Joaquin Phoenix, Joker