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The Weinstein Company

Joaquin Phoenix Is Officially Starring In A Joker Origin Film


As the DC Extended Universe is seemingly in limbo, Warner Bros. is moving forward with the long-rumored Joker origin movie starring three-time Academy Award nominee Joaquin Phoenix. Yesterday, Warner Bros. Pictures announced that Phoenix will star in “an origin story of one of DC’s most notorious Super-Villains, the Joker.”

 

Under the direction of Todd Phillips, the film centers around the iconic arch nemesis and is an original, standalone story not seen before on the big screen. Phillips’ exploration of a man disregarded by society is not only a gritty character study, but also a broader cautionary tale.

 

Phillips will direct from a screenplay he co-wrote with writer Scott Silver (“The Fighter”). The film will be produced by Emma Tillinger Koskoff and executive produced by Richard Baratta. The film begins production later this year.

 

The Hollywood Reporter was the first to report the news of the film officially being a go. THR reports the budget for the film is expected to be around $55 million, which is considerably less than most superhero movies. But the Joker origin film is “meant to be darker and more experimental in tone and content… which is described as being akin to a crime drama.”

 

Also, the film is going to be set in the 1980s, which feels like the perfect time period for an origin story of this nature; additionally, the past time period will help separate the film from the other DC movies in the DCEU (though the Wonder Woman films, which are set in the past, could potentially confuse some people).

 

Phoenix joins Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger, and Jared Leto in a select group of actors that have played the iconic Batman villain in a live-action movie. The legendary Nicholson was outstanding in the role in 1989’s Batman. And the late, great Heath Ledger was unforgettable in one of the finest acting performances of all-time for 2008’s The Dark Knight. Meanwhile, Leto’s role was scaled back during production of 2016’s Suicide Squad, but he might get a standalone Joker film of his own in the DCEU.

 

Phoenix has quite the mantle to assume, but he’s one of the best actors of the generation and should be up to the task. The originality and crime-drama qualities expected in this Joker film make it a movie to look forward to.

 

Late 2019 is being speculated as a possible release date for the film, but a 2020 summer release might be more likely.

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