Joker: Warner Bros. Studio responds to letter from families of gun violence victims

Families of victims of 2012’s Aurora theatre shooting recently wrote a letter to the Warner Bros. for their upcoming film ‘Joker’ starring Joaquin Phoenix in the villainous role, asking for help to combat gun violence. 

Not shying away from confronting the issue, the makers have responded to the letter. They said that gun violence is “a critical issue” in the letter and said that the company "has a long history of donating to victims of violence, including Aurora, and in recent weeks, our parent company joined other business leaders to call on policymakers to enact bipartisan legislation to address this epidemic."

The statement further read, "At the same time, Warner Bros. believes that one of the functions of storytelling is to provoke difficult conversations around complex issues," the statement continued.

"Make no mistake: neither the fictional character Joker nor the film, is an endorsement of real-world violence of any kind. It is not the intention of the film, the filmmakers or the studio to hold this character up as a hero."

The families had written a letter addressed to Warner Bros. CEO Ann Sarnoff, asking the studio to "use your massive platform and influence to join us in our fight to build safer communities with fewer guns.”

Directed by Todd Philips, ‘Joker’ releases on October 4 in the US while in India it will come out on October 2. Watch the trailer here.