Joker might be a comic book movie, but director Todd Phillips believes it was a "bold swing" for Warner Bros to take.
Speaking to Digital Spy and other international press, Phillips recalled how the studio was a "little reticent" of the movie because of how its DC movies were "moving in a lighter and funnier direction".
But it was his long-running relationship with Warner Bros, where he's made the likes of The Hangover and Due Date, that helped Joker get the go-ahead.
"Thankfully, I've made a bunch of movies there. And also, quite frankly, the idea that we'd be keeping the budget pretty low in comparison to superhero movies was a big winner for them," he continued.
"It's still a lot of money, but for them it's somehow like an independent film. It's a DC independent film, right? I think it always helps in the business if you can keep the costs down.
"We did it with the first Hangover movie. If you keep the costs down, you can basically do what you want, which is really liberating."
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When asked about how Joker would affect other DC movies and Marvel offerings, Phillips wasn't sure it'd have any particular impact.
"I don't know about competition with Marvel. I've not been in the comic book world. But when we originally kind of conceived of this idea, it was very much about taking a different approach to this genre," he explained.
"But I don't know what sort of an effect it will have with other filmmakers. Comic book movies have been doing really well and they don't necessarily need a change. But again, we just thought it could be an exciting approach to this genre."
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He concluded: "All I know is that it was a hard movie for us to get made. It was a hard movie to convince DC and the studio to do, but we just kept pushing because we felt like it could be really special.
"In fairness, ultimately the studio took a really bold swing with the movie and they let us do exactly what we wanted. We're very grateful for that."
Phillips has also been talking about how Joker isn't as violent as you think it is, as well as revealing that there is "no plan" for a sequel.
Joker is released on October 4.
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