Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix star in 'Joker: Folie À Deux'
What does the success of the film 'Joker' say about our culture?
Are we witnessing the rise of the 'demonic anti-hero?'
Comedian and actor Tim Dillon didn't have to see much in his limited time on the set of Joker: Folie À Deux, to know the movie starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga wouldn't resonate with the public.
Dillon, who played an Arkham Asylum guard in the flick, slammed his own movie during a candid conversation with Joe Rogan on his podcast. "I was in ‘Joker 2,’ which just came out. It's the worst film that has ever been made," the New York native admitted.
"I heard it was so bad," Rogan quipped.
'JOKER: FOLIE À DEUX,' STARRING LADY GAGA, RECEIVES R RATING FOR 'BRIEF FULL NUDITY'
Joaquin Phoenix returned for "Joker: Folie À Deux," with Lady Gaga, who played his romantic interest. (Warner Bros. Entertainment)
"It's actually not ‘so bad,’ it's the worst film ever made," Dillon reiterated. The original "Joker" film, released in 2019, raked in more than $1 billion at the box office, making it the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time. The highly anticipated sequel was released in early October, but grossed an underwhelming $200 million.
"I think what happened, after the first ‘Joker,’ there was a lot of like talk like, ‘Oh, this was loved by incels. This was loved by the wrong kinds of people and this sent the wrong kind of [message]. Male rage! Nihilism!’ You know, all these thinkpieces. And then I think, ‘What if we went the other way,’ and now they have Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga tap dancing, to a point where it’s insane."
Joaquin Phoenix is pictured filming 'Joker: Folie À Deux' in New York City. (Jason Howard/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)
The 2019 feature, directed by Todd Phillips, was criticized ahead of and after its release due to the romanticization of evil and the celebration of a mass-murderer in Phoenix's character.
Rogan asked what would motivate Phillips, who also directed "Folie À Deux," to make such a terrible picture.
"Because it's hubris, number one. The idea that… people love it so much, they're gonna accept it in any version," Dillon theorized. "It has no plot," he added of the film, revealing that he and his fellow actors on set knew the movie would flop.
Director Todd Phillips and stars Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix attend the ‘Joker À Deux’ premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre on September 30. (Jesse Grant/Variety via Getty Images)
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"We would sit there - me and these other guys, we're all dressed in these f---ing security outfits ‘cause we’re working at the Arkham Asylum, and I would turn to one of them, and we'd hear this crap, and I'd go, ‘What the f--- is this?’ And they'd go, ‘This is gonna bomb, man.’"
Dillon doubled-down on his disgust of the film, saying "it's not even hate-watchable, that's how terrible it is."
Tim Dillon ripped the sequel, saying it had "no plot" and was the "worst film ever made." (Michael S. Schwartz/Getty Images)
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The actor, 39, says he could sense in the movie theater that the audience wasn't getting it. "You're sitting there and there's these people, you know, in the theater, and they're all confused, and I'm watching their reactions, and they're all like staring and everything." Admitting the film starts out with promise, Dillon says its downfall is the movie's transition into a musical.
"I think they thought that this would be received differently," Dillon said of the visionaries. "I think they're maybe in a little bit of a bubble."
Lady Gaga films in New York City in character as Lee Quinzel back in March 2023. (KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images)
"All they had to do was blow some s--- up, have ‘em escape from prison, have ’em do something. Get a couple scenes in the courthouse, or something. …The first one was really great," he said. "And if you were a fan of the first one, the second one was like, kind of, I think, insane."
"It would be like if ‘Godfather 2’ was about like, the Corleone family going legit… and apologizing for the mafia," he joked. "They were like, ‘Hey, I’m sorry we did all this s---. We now have a bakery.'"
A representative for Phillips and Warner Bros. did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
Caroline Thayer is an entertainment writer. Follow Caroline Thayer on Twitter at @carolinejthayer and LinkedIn. Story tips can be sent to
