Joker/Harley Quinn writers say movie is a mix between Bad Santa & This is Us

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

If you’ve been reading about the Joker in the news lately it’s likely been about the movie starring Joaquin Phoenix, images of which have shown him caked in clown makeup. But Jared Leto is still the Joker in the main universe of movies, and there are still plans to have him star in a movie alongside Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn. In fact, writers/directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa have already written the script, and they say it’s a mixture of the movie BAD SANTA and the NBC hit THIS IS US.

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The duo was speaking with Metro recently about the project, with Ficarra talking about how much fun they had writing the script, mixing together the relationship elements of US with the focus on deranged characters, much like SANTA.

 “It is great. The whole thing starts with Harley kidnapping Dr. Phil. Played by Dr. Phil hopefully. Because her and the Joker are having problems with their relationship We had so much fun, I don’t know if we have had more fun writing a script in our career.”

“It was sort of like, we wrote ‘Bad Santa’ a couple of years ago, and it was that sensibility mixed with our ‘This Is Us’ sensibility. We kind of meshed them together. We were doing a relationship movie but with the sensibility of a 'Bad Santa,' f***ed up, mentally deranged people. It was a lot of fun.”

The DC movie slate has been shifted around a lot in the last year, and no one really knows what’s up after WONDER WOMAN 1984 next year. There’s a BIRDS OF PREY movie on the docket, as well as SUICIDE SQUAD 2, and both would feature Robbie as Quinn. But even though the script is in, Ficarra and Requa aren’t sure when they will actually get to make their movie.

“I don’t know where it is on the queue of DC movies,” Requa said.

Ficarra added, saying, “We handed the script in and everybody loved it. But I don’t know when they are going to do it.”

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Out of all the actors in SUICIDE SQUAD, Leto and Robbie certainly turned in the most entertaining performances, even if the bar for Leto’s Joker was too high to leap. The idea these two filmmakers have cooked up sounds super fun, even if the studio seems to be putting a lot of faith on these two characters. But, considering this idea is fully formed, I hope DC and Warner Bros. get their business together and let them make the thing. I really want to see Joker torture Dr. Phil.