After the comedy movie The People’s Joker got pulled from the Toronto International Film Festival after a single screening, we knew it wouldn’t be the last time we heard from it. The story, which re-imagines the Batman villain as a trans person, was removed from the event’s programming after an alleged cease & desist court order from Warner Bros., which owns the DC character catalog. Last night, director and star Vera Drew took to Twitter to shed some light on the subject.
Earlier this week, the filmmaker posted a vague tweet that indicated she could not openly talk about the situation. This would suggest that the court order prevented her from doing so, but now Drew states that she did not receive a cease & desist at all, but rather “an angry letter” from a media conglomerate that “shall remain nameless.” The director had already told Collider in an exclusive interview that the movie was completely legal because it falls under fair use – The People’s Joker can be considered a parody not only because it’s a comedy, but also because it significantly changes the title character’s personality to the point that no one watching would associate it with an official DC or Warner Bros. production. Drew also revealed that the TIFF committee was fully supportive of the decision to have at least one screening of the movie. As she puts it:
“The eve of our premiere… a media conglomerate that shall remain nameless sent me an angry letter (misreported as a ‘cease and desist’) pressuring to not screen. Any other film festival would have pulled us immediately, but after being fully transparent with TIFF, we agreed to premiere as planned while scaling back our later screenings to mitigate potential blowback. It was disappointing (especially since I went to great lengths with legal counsel to have it fall under parody/fair use) but I made this choice to protect our film’s future and to protect our new friends at TIFF who have been some of TPJ’s biggest advocates. ‘The People’s Joker’ will screen again very soon at several other festivals worldwide. We are humbly seeking a distribution partner who believes in what we are doing, will protect us, and will eventually help us make this film accessible to trans people and their families everywhere. FREE THE PEOPLE’S JOKER”
As her message suggests, director Vera Drew is confident that The People’s Joker’s premiere screening won’t be its last one. Unfortunately for TIFF attendees, however, it seems like they won’t have a chance to check out this story before the festival ends. At this point, the people who were present for The People’s Joker premiere can call themselves lucky for having witnessed what is certain to be one of 2022’s most talked-about films.
Drew – who directs, writes, produces, and stars in the movie – has made a point of stressing the fact that The People’s Joker isn’t an official DC title, even though it features many Batman characters. The movie’s poster stated that it was an “illegal” production, but Drew revealed this was just a PR move “to get people’s butts in seats”. Ever since the movie's inception, Drew made a recruitment video to say she was going to make a Joker parody. The question is, whichever this “media conglomerate” is, they don’t seem to think that the movie qualifies as a parody, nor should it be distributed in the commercial circuit. Stick with Collider to know how this story develops.
You can check out director Vera Drew’s tweet and message below: