Joker director Todd Phillips has been making it clear he’s not a big fan of Easter eggs, though he still couldn’t help but sneak a reference to the original Batman TV series into the hit film. His preference to go without Easter eggs is evident from previous comments from Phillips, who has suggested that any nods to Batman and other DC characters were either coincidental or snuck in by the art department. “I don’t do Easter eggs,” the filmmaker bluntly said back in October.
Now, Phillips has revealed that he had in fact worked in a hidden reference to another Batman iteration, though it’s certainly subtle. In the film, Dante Pereira-Olsen plays a young Bruce Wayne, and there’s a moment where the future Dark Knight can be seen sliding down a pole in his jungle gym. Some old-school Batman fans noticed and thought it might be a nod to the way Adam West and Burt Ward would slide down to the Batcave using their own Batpoles in the original Batman series from the 1960s. As it turns out, that fan speculation was right.
As featured in the special features on the Joker Blu-ray, Phillips had this to say about the reference.
“I get asked a lot if that’s an Easter egg, and I just don’t like that term Easter egg, but little Bruce there when he slides down the pole, was that an Easter egg to the Batman television series and yes in fact it was. It was something we spoke about and thought ‘oh yeah, why not do it.’ Without being too cute we don’t like to do a ton of that stuff, but it felt appropriate.”
Joker will be available on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD as of Tuesday, Jan. 7. You can watch Joaquin Phoenix accepting his Best Actor Golden Globe for Joker in the video below.
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