Alec Baldwin says he has dropped out of Joker, the film project about the DC villain starring Joaquin Phoenix.
“I’m no longer doing that movie,” Baldwin told USA Today.
On Monday, news broke that the actor was in talks to play Thomas Wayne in Todd Phillips’ Joker stand-alone movie.
In comic book lore, Thomas Wayne is a physician, philanthropist and father to Bruce Wayne (the future Batman). Sources on Monday told The Hollywood Reporter that in a departure from the comics, the Joker script called for Thomas Wayne to be a cheesy and tanned businessman who is more in the mold of a 1980s Donald Trump.
Baldwin is citing “scheduling issues” as his reason for dropping out. But he also addressed the new take on Wayne.
The actor, who recently earned a second Emmy nomination for playing Trump on Saturday Night Live, tweeted Wednesday that he had not “been hired to play a role in Todd Phillips’ JOKER as some Donald Trump manque. That is not happening.”
Phoenix is playing the Joker, while other stars include Robert De Niro, Deadpool 2 breakout Zazie Beetz and GLOW actor Marc Maron. The film is set to begin shooting in two weeks.
Warner Bros. has slated Joker to open Oct. 4, 2019.
