Samuel Okoruwa
The Joker holds the reputation for being Batman’s arch rival and the only bad guy obsessed with getting Batman to laugh. But in all seriousness, Joker is one of the most iconic villains of all time for his penchant to wreak havoc wherever he goes without any tangible reason.
Over the years, there have been several portrayals of Joker on television. Following Jack Nicholson’s performance of the crime villain in Tim Burton’s Batman over 30 years ago, the iconic Heath Ledger had his own turn as Joker in The Dark Night and Jared Leto took up the role in the most recent Suicide Squad. And now, Three-time Academy Award nominee Joaquin Phoenix is next in line to play the clown prince of crime in the live-action movie called Joker.
Since the trailer of the upcoming Joker movie first made its appearance in August, fans have been anticipating its release in cinemas which is scheduled for October 4, 2019. Here is everything we know about the upcoming Joker movie.
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The Trailers
Joker director Todd Phillips first offered a sneak peek of the movie when he released a poster back in 2018. The poster has a magnificent image of Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker dressed in costume and makeup. Next, the first trailer for the movie was released in April 2019 which offered a more precise* glimpse about what to expect from the movie.
It is interesting to note that this version of the villain will deviate a lot from the Joker DC Comics fans are used to. The final trailer for Joker arrived on August 28 and like the first, it didn’t reveal too about the movie buts still succeeded in captivating fans nontheless. See the poster and both trailers below:
Poster
First Trailer
Second Trailer
The Cast
Joaquin Phoenix’s role as Arthur Fleck/The Joker will be his first appearance in a superhero movie. He opened up to Collider on his role as The Joker in July 2018. In his words, “It feels unique, it is its own world in some ways, and maybe, mostly, it scares the [crap] out of me or something. It might as well be the thing that scares you the most.”
Other members of the cast include Zazie Beetz who plays Arthur/Joker’s love interest and a single mum, Frances Conroy who stars as Arthur’s mother Penny, and Robert De Niro who will take up the role of talk show host Murray Franklin. De Niro’s character reportedly will play a huge role in the transformation of Arthur into the villainous clown prince of crime.
It was originally reported that three-time Primetime Emmy Award winner Alec Baldwin will be cast as Batman’s father, Bruce Wayne. However, Alec Baldwin revealed he won’t be playing this role due to scheduling conflicts. It has been announced that Brett Cullen wIll play Thomas Wayne instead of Baldwin.
The Plot
The film explores the origin of the the Joker and how he became the supervillain we now know him to be. Set in Gotham in 1981, it follows the story of struggling stand-up comedian Arthur Fleck (Phoenix) who is plagued by mental illness and struggles to be accepted in society until he reaches a breaking point and turns to a life of crime.
It is worth noting that this will be the first live-action film depicting the origin story of the Joker. According to director Todd Phillips, it will deviate from what fans are accustomed to seeing in the comics and instead tell an original story for the titular villain.
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