Sophie pauses, doesn't know what to say. She lights up a
cigarette.
SOPHIE
(trying to be nice)
Of course. Yeah. You couldn't hear
anything?
JOKER
All I heard was my heart pounding.
SOPHIE
It was good. I really needed to get
out of my apartment so, thanks.
(beat)
What happened to the rest of your
friends?
JOKER
What friends?
SOPHIE
Didn't you say some of your friends
were coming?
JOKER
(he forgot; recovers)
Yeah, I decided not to invite them.
As a performer sometimes you want
to see how a "real" crowd reacts.
People who don't already love me,
or, or have a notion of who I am,
you know?
SOPHIE
(nodding)
Yeah. I get that.
Joker smiles at the connection. They walk past a newsstand--
a wall of Chinese language newspapers mixed with local papers *
and tabloids, screaming headlines about the three Wall Street *
Guys gunned down on the train.
Joker stops and stares at the headlines--
45.
CLOSE ON HEADLINES, "Subway Vigilante"... "Yuppie Slaughter"
"Killer Clown On The Loose?"...
SOPHIE (OS)
(re: the headlines)
You believe that shit?
JOKER
Yeah,-- I don't know how something
like that happens.
SOPHIE
Please. I'll bet you five bucks
those rich assholes deserved it.
He turns to her.
JOKER
You think?
SOPHIE
Look at their faces. Those smug
smiles. I've seen that look. Fuck
them.
Sophie flicks her cigarette away and starts walking.
SOPHIE
The guy who did it is a hero. Three
less pricks in Gotham City. Woo-
hoo! Only a million more to go.
Joker watches her walk for a beat.
JOKER
(calls out to her)
Hey. You want to get some coffee?
Sophie turns around and smiles. She looks great, even in
front of the mounds of garbage bags that line the sidewalk.
AN AMBULANCE SCREAMS BY, SIRENS BLARING as Sophie says
something that Joker doesn't hear. She keeps walking.
Joker chases after her and trips over a TIN GARBAGE CAN LID--
CLANG. CLANG. He falls down flat on his face.
Sophie turns and bursts out laughing. She can't help but
laugh. It's the first time she's laughed all night.
46.
48
INT. SZECHUAN ACE RESTAURANT, TABLE - NIGHT
48
*
Table covered with plates of half-eaten Chinese food.
*
Joker and Sophie sitting across from each other, middle of
*
conversation. Crowded room, brightly lit, looks more like a
*
casino. Almost everybody eating there is Chinese. It's loud.
*
SOPHIE
--I'm telling you, it's across the
board. Wall Street, the banks,
politicians. They've been making a
killing for years. Fuck them.
Joker takes a moment to think about what she said.
JOKER
I don't know.
SOPHIE
What don't you know?
JOKER
Not all of them are awful. Take
someone like Thomas Wayne for
example. He's a hero.
SOPHIE
Oh c'mon, he's the worst!
Joker is taken aback--
JOKER
Sophie, he's the only one who can
save this city.
SOPHIE
You can't be serious!? He's a
complete narcissist. Brags about
his money. Meanwhile, the rest of
us can barely make rent. Or feed
our kids.
Joker nods. Thinking about it.
Then--
JOKER
What happened?
SOPHIE
With what?
47.
JOKER
With your job. At the bank?
SOPHIE
(suddenly uncomfortable)
Oh. Yeah, I was, um,--
JOKER
*
We don't have to talk about it.
*
Beat.
*
SOPHIE
*
Have you ever been fired before?
*
Joker thinks it over for a moment.
*
JOKER
*
Every time.
*
SOPHIE
*
And have you ever wanted to torch
*
the place?
*
JOKER
*
(thinks it over again)
*
Every time.
*
Sophie smiles.
*
SOPHIE
*
Right. And this was like the first
*
good job I had in like, years. Not
*
waitressing or anything like that.
*
It was 9-5. I had benefits. You
*
know what that means when you have
*
a kid?
*
Joker just looks at her, he doesn't really know what that
*
means. He just smiles.
*
SOPHIE
*
But from the very first day, the
*
manager guy starts smiling at me,
*
whispering in my ear, touching me,
*
trying to get me to sleep with him--
*
JOKER
*
(interrupting)
*
Did you do it? Did you go to bed
*
with him?
*
48.
SOPHIE
*
Fuck no. The guy's a fucking pig.
*
So finally I complained to his
*
boss, and they fired me... And now,
*
now I don't know what to do with
*
myself.
*
JOKER
*
Right. Wait, what do you mean?
*
SOPHIE
*
I finally felt good. Like I had a
*
future. A purpose. And now I don't
*
even know how I'm gonna pay my
*
rent.
*
AND JOKER STARTS LAUGHING. He puts a hand over his mouth
trying to cover it, but he can't stop cracking up--
It's unsettling and disturbing for Sophie. People eating,
*
waiters in red vests, busboys, all look over and stare at
*
him. A few laugh. Joker turns away embarrassed, he looks out
*
the plate-glass window, face turning red from laughing so
hard--
AS HE LOOKS OUT, HE SEES A GROUP OF ROWDY KIDS walking down
the street. One of them glances back before he turns the
corner-- HE'S WEARING A CLOWN MASK THA
T LOOKS JUST JOKER'S
CLOWN FACE. And then he's gone. The group disappears around
the corner--
Joker can't believe his eyes, still laughing-- He turns to
Sophie who didn't see them. Just sits there awkwardly waiting
for it to stop.
Finally, it subsides--
JOKER
(catching his breath)
I'm sorry. I have this thing--
SOPHIE
*
I know.
*
Awkward beat.
*
SOPHIE
*
How did you get it?
JOKER
I don't know. I read you can get it
from a brain injury or, or a lesion
in there. My mom said I was born
this way. Born laughing.
49.
SOPHIE
Is that why she calls you Happy?
JOKER
Kind of. That actually started when
I was a kid. The other kids made
fun of me, called me Happy-- but
not in a good way. I got so sick of
it, one day when I was about ten,
I, I,--
He smiles.
SOPHIE
What?
JOKER
I took a razor and cut this smile
onto my face.
(she's taken aback as he
points to the scars)
Sort of like "You want happy? Here,
how's this for happy?"
He looks down, still smiling. She just watches him for a
beat.
SOPHIE
You okay?
JOKER
I've been thinking about this night
my whole life.
They just sit there for a beat. Quiet.
49
INT. MOM'S APARTMENT, LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
49
Joker opening the door to his mother's apartment, holding a
*
doggie bag in his hand, sees the flickering blue light of the *
TV on in the living room, hears the end of "LIVE WITH MURRAY
FRANKLIN!" He locks the locks, drawing the security chain high on the door.
TURNS TO CATCH A GLIMPSE OF HIS MOTHER PASSED OUT in the
living room, the cat jumping up next to her on the chair.
Joker watches for a beat as Murray does his signature sign
off, the one he's been doing for years--
50.
MURRAY FRANKLIN (ON TV)
(looking into camera)
Good night! And always remember,--
That's life.
JOKER
(quietly)
"That's life."
He hears Don Ellis and his Jazz Orchestra playing the show's
closing song-- the instrumental version of Frank Sinatra's
"That's Life".
As the music continues, Joker puts his face up against his
mom's nose, to see if she's breathing or if she's dead.
He feels her breath against his cheek.
Now he picks his mother up in his arms and carries her into
her bedroom to the music, almost as if he's dancing with her
as he leaves the room...
We stay behind.
"That's Life" still playing from TV.
He comes back into the living room and turns off the TV.
Takes off his jacket and throws it on the couch. Notices
something sticking out of his jacket pocket. He pulls it out.
It's the envelope he was supposed to deliver to Thomas Wayne.
He stares at it for a beat. And then--
Quietly rips it open, starts to read the letter:
CLOSE ON WORDS, "Dearest Thomas, I don't know where else to turn..."
"Need your help..."
"You have a son. We have a son. His name is Arthur."
Stops reading, stays on--
"You have a son."
JOKER STARING DOWN AT THE LETTER, reading those words over
and over again -- "You have a son."
CUT TO:
51.
50
INT. MOM'S BEDROOM, APARTMENT - EARLY MORNING
50
JOKER'S SITTING IN A CHAIR in his mother's room watching her
sleep. He has clearly been up all night. Still wearing the
same clothes.
He's holding her letter in his hand as the sun is just
starting to rise outside the windows, light just beginning to
crack the gloom.
THE ORANGE CAT SITS AT HIS FEET staring up at him, won't take
her eyes off of him.
Joker impatiently sits there for another moment waiting for
his mother to wake up, then suddenly--
SHRIEKS OUT AT THE TOP OF HIS LUNGS like a teapot, kicking
his back on the chair like an excited toddler--
His mother wakes with a start, looking around half asleep and
confused--
Joker turns and sees the cat run out of the room--
MOM
--what, what time is it?
He doesn't answer.
MOM
What happened? Did you hurt
yourself again?
Joker holds her letter up in his hand.
JOKER
What is this? How come you never
told me?
MOM
Is, is that my letter? Is that my
letter, Happy?
JOKER
How could you not tell me, Ma?
MOM
You told me you dropped it off.
You have no right opening my mail.
Who do you think you are?
JOKER
(raising his voice;
excited)
(MORE)
52.
JOKER (CONT’D)
Apparently I'm Thomas Wayne's son!
How could you keep that from me?
His mother slowly getting up out of bed.
MOM
Stop yelling at me, you're gonna
kill me, give me a heart attack!
She goes into the bathroom.
JOKER
(shouts after her)
I'm not yelling! I'm just, excited.
How can any of this be real!? How
can Thomas Wayne be my father?
MOM (OS)
(shouts back from behind
the door)
I'm not talking to you until you
calm down.
Joker sits for a minute then gets up and goes to her bathroom
door. Talks to his mother from the behind the closed door.
JOKER
(lowers his voice; trying
to sound calm)
Okay. How's this, Mom? Better? Will
you please talk to me?
Joker leans in closer to the door. Leaning against it with
just his head--
JOKER
Please.
MOM (OS)
He is an extraordinary man, Arthur.
We had a connection. I was so
beautiful then. We were in love.
Joker just leans there, listening. He closes his eyes, it's
all too much.
MOM (OS)
His wife could see it. She was
jealous from the moment I started
working there. She fired me before
I even knew I was pregnant with
you.
(hear her crying now)
(MORE)
53.
MOM (OS) (CONT'D)
And, I never told him or anybody
because, well, you can imagine what
people would say about Thomas and
me, and, and what they would say
about you.
JOKER
(eyes still closed, head
leaning against the door)
What would they say, Ma?
MOM (OS)
That I was a whore, and Thomas
Wayne was a fornicator, and that
you're a little, unwanted bastard.
AND THE BATHROOM DOOR SUDDENLY SWINGS OPEN, and Joker falls
face first into the bathroom--
Just missing his mother, crashing down onto the floor--
CUT TO:
51
EXT. BOARDWALK, AMUSEMENT MILE - MORNING
51
Joker heads down the boardwalk toward Ha-Ha's, a bounce in
his step.
Looming behind him like the skeletons of monsters, a
sprawling rickety-looking wooden roller coaster and the
gigantic steel Wonder Wheel in the amusement park by the
ocean. Sound of waves crashing, seagulls squawking.
52
INT. HA-HA'S TALENT BOOKING, LOCKER ROOM - MORNING
52
Joker walks into the locker room, sees Randall half-dressed
for work, red nose, big pants, big shoes, no wig yet, sitting
with Gary, TWO OTHER CLOWNS AND A MAGICIAN around the small
table, shooting the shit, drinking coffee.
They nod hello at Joker or give him a perfunctory wave, most
of his co-workers think he's a freak.
GARY
Hey Art, I heard what happened--
I'm sorry man.
RANDALL
Yeah, Hoyt did you wrong, buddy.
Doesn't seem fair.
54.
Joker looks hard at Randall for a moment, just slowly nods,
and continues on to his locker.
He starts to clean it out, stuffing all of his clown gear
into an old brown paper shopping bag. Hears them talking
about him behind his back, about why he got fired, laughing
at him--
HA-HA CLOWN #1 (OS)
Did you really bring a gun to the
kid's hospital, Artie? What the
fuck would you do that for?
Joker doesn't answer them, just continues emptying his
locker, a bag of balloons, a magic wand, some trick flowers--
HA-HA CLOWN #2
No, I heard he pulled it out and
waved it around like a cowboy.
His co-workers crack up. Joker answers the guy without
looking back--
JOKER
It was a prop gun. And I didn't
pull it out, it fell out.
MAGICIAN
So is that part of your new act? If
your singing doesn't do the trick,
you just gonna shoot yourself?
*
More laughter.
HA-HA CLOWN #2
I thought Jingles was a lover not a
fighter.
Joker turns and looks at all of them, nods at Randall--
JOKER
Why don't you ask Randall about it?
It was his idea.
GARY
(to Randall)
Since when do you use a prop gun?
RANDALL
What? I don't. Stop talking outta
your ass, Art!
(to the guys)
(MORE)
55.
RANDALL (CONT’D)
I think all his stupid laughing
musta scrambled his brain or
*
something.
The guys laugh and keep jawing. Joker doesn't say anything.
Just finishes packing his bag and closes his locker door--
The Joker (2019) Script Page 5