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Fresh Air Weekend: 'Joker' Director Todd Phillips; 'American Oligarchs'

Joaquin Phoenix is Arthur Fleck, a party clown and aspiring stand-up comic who struggles with mental illness and turns violent in <em>Joker</em>.
Niko Tavernise
/
Warner Bros. Entertainment
Joaquin Phoenix is Arthur Fleck, a party clown and aspiring stand-up comic who struggles with mental illness and turns violent in Joker.

Fresh Air Weekend highlights some of the best interviews and reviews from past weeks, and new program elements specially paced for weekends. Our weekend show emphasizes interviews with writers, filmmakers, actors and musicians, and often includes excerpts from live in-studio concerts. This week:

'The System's Broken' And 'Joker' Director Aimed To Explore That On Screen: Todd Phillips explores mental health and the lack of social services in his Batman villain origin story (of sorts). "The system's broken, and why not use a film to make a comment on that?" he says.

'American Oligarchs' Reveals How Trump, Kushner Families Learned To Work The System: Author Andrea Bernstein says Donald Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, have benefited from family connections — and the influence of money in politics.

TV Adaption Of 'The Outsider' Takes Stephen King's Scary Story Seriously: A 10-part series based on King's 2018 novel centers on the murder of a young boy — then spirals out to draw a connection between our inner demons and the ones roaming out in the world.

You can listen to the original interviews and review here:

'The System's Broken' And 'Joker' Director Aimed To Explore That On Screen

'American Oligarchs' Reveals How Trump, Kushner Families Learned To Work The System

TV Adaption Of 'The Outsider' Takes Stephen King's Scary Story Seriously

Copyright 2021 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air.

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