TheJokermovieis moving fast. Last week the standalone DC film gota title and October 2019 release dateafter finally landing a greenlight from Warner Bros., then casting kicked up withAtlantabreakoutZazie Beetsentering talksto star alongsideJoaquin Phoenixas the titular Clown Prince. Now casting is continuing, with none other thanRobert De Niro. Yes indeed,THRreports that theKing of Comedystar himself is in talks to joinJoker, which would mark his first ever comic book project. He would be playing a talk show host who proves instrumental to the Joker’s origin. This casting possibility was previously floated by Collider’s ownJeff Sneidera week ago.
The project is unconnected to the existing DCEU, as directorTodd Phillips(War Dogs) dreamt up a mid-budget, gritty, 80s-set take on the DC villain that won’t be tied down to franchise responsibilities or wide-audience appeal. Instead,Jokeris envisioned as a drama more in the vein of 70s films likeTaxi Driver, withMartin Scorsese’sThe King of Comedymentioned as a potential touchstone.
Phoenix plays The Joker in the film, but even then we don’t exactly know what that means. Are we seeing a straight origin story? Is the script by Phillips andScott Silveripulling from any specific comics, or is it simply taking the mere idea nugget of The Joker and expanding upon that in a unique way?
We’ll likely find out soon enough as filming onJokeris expected to get underway in September in New York. De Niro has been on a string of disappointing turns in films likeDirty GrandpaandThe Comedianas of late, but he most recently wrapped a reunion withMartin Scorsesefor the Netflix gangster epicThe Irishman, which is expected to be released in 2019.
