Production is currently underway on director Todd Phillips's film JOKER, which will dig into the origin of the infamous Batman villain. Existing entirely separate from the DC Extended Universe films, which featured Jared Leto as a unique version of Joker in SUICIDE SQUAD, this one stars Joaquin Phoenix, and images have arrived online to give us our first look at Phoenix in character. He's not wearing Joker makeup in these images, but there is a clown involved.
Phillips took to Instagram to share the first publicity shot of Phoenix, giving the picture the simple caption "Arthur". That's this fellow's real name before he becomes the Clown Prince of Crime.
Coinciding with that official shot, a batch of spy pics from the set also dropped online, as you can expect when filming is taking place in the middle of a major city – in this case, New York City. In these images (and a video), Phoenix is seen having some sort of confrontation with a clown that ends with him plucking the guy's red nose off and tossing it aside.
It will probably be a while before we get a really good sample of Phoenix's performance, but he definitely has an off-balance creep vibe in these spy images.
Written by Phillips and Scott Silver, JOKER is described as "a dark character study" in the vein of TAXI DRIVER and THE KING OF COMEDY. It also draws some inspiration from the Alan Moore comic book The Killing Joke.
In Alan Moore’s version of the Joker’s origins, the villain was an unnamed failed comedian who struggles to make ends meet for his pregnant wife. When his wife is killed in a freak accident and a robbery he is forced to take part in disfigures his face, the comedian snaps, becoming the infamous Joker.
Phoenix's co-stars include DEADPOOL 2's Zazie Beetz as a single mother who catches Arthur's attention, Robert De Niro as a talk show host, Frances Conroy as Arthur's mother Penny, and Marc Maron as an agent. The character of Thomas Wayne, father of future Batman Bruce Wayne, is also said to appear in the film, but he will not be played by the previously announced Alec Baldwin, who dropped out due to scheduling issues.
JOKER is set to reach theatres on October 4, 2019.