Todd Phillips (born 20 December 1970) is an American filmmaker best known for directing a run of major studio comedies before pivoting to darker, more dramatic work. He began his career in documentary filmmaking, including the feature Hated: GG Allin and the Murder Junkies (1993), and moved into mainstream success as a director and producer with hits such as Road Trip (2000) and Old School (2003). Phillips became one of the defining comedy directors of the 2000s and early 2010s through the hugely successful The Hangover trilogy, along with films like Due Date and War Dogs, often combining broad humour with sharp character dynamics and a slightly abrasive edge.
In 2019 he made a significant shift in tone with Joker, a psychological character study set within the DC universe. The film became a major cultural talking point, earned multiple Academy Award nominations, and cemented Phillips as a director capable of handling prestige-scale drama as well as comedy. He followed it with the sequel Joker: Folie ร Deux (2024), continuing his collaboration with Joaquin Phoenix and further expanding the stylistic ambitions of the series. Alongside directing, Phillips has also been a producer on a range of projects, and his career is defined by a willingness to move between crowd-pleasing entertainment and riskier, more provocative material.
Joker
The story in Joker is set in the fictional Gotham City. Filming was mainly in New York City, with additional work in New Jersey and studio filming in Brooklyn.
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