Although Todd Phillips' JOKER takes place long before Bruce Wayne takes on the mantle of Batman, that doesn't mean that young Wayne won't have a part to play in the film, and where there's Bruce, you can usually find trusty butler Alfred Pennyworth close behind.
ComicBook.com has reported that Dante Pereira-Olson (YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE) has joined JOKER as Bruce Wayne and that Douglas Hodge (RED SPARROW) will be playing Alfred Pennyworth. Brett Cullen (THE DARK KNIGHT RISES) will be playing Bruce Wayne's father, Thomas. With so many members of the Wayne clan putting appearances in the film, it's likely that they will somehow be involved, although inadvertently, in Arthur Fleck's (Joaquin Phoenix) transformation into the Joker. In addition to Phoenix, JOKER will also star Robert De Niro as a talk show host who is somehow instrumental in the Joker’s origin, Marc Maron as an agent on De Niro’s talk show who plays a part in booking Phoenix’s character, Frances Conroy as the Joker's mother, and Zazie Beetz as a single mother who catches the interest of the man who will become the Clown Prince of Crime. Bill Camp, Shea Whigham, and Glenn Fleshler also have roles in the film. Phoenix has previously said that the project feels "unique" to other comic-book movies. "It is its own world in some ways, and maybe, mostly, it scares the f**king shit out of me or something," Phoenix said. "It might as well be the thing that scares you the most."
JOKER is set for an October 4, 2019.