Director Todd Phillips on Sunday shared the first look of star Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker in the stand-alone film about the iconic Batman supervillain.
The photo, shared by Phillips on Instagram, features Phoenix in a green jacket and shirt with a scruffy hairdo and the hint of a smirk on his face. Absent are the character’s iconic clown makeup and green locks.
“Arthur,” Phillips captioned the picture, seemingly confirming rumors that the character’s real name will be Arthur Fleck.
The stand-alone film will follow the origin of Batman’s most notorious foe as he transforms from a struggling stand-up comedian to a full-blown criminal force of nature. The movie is described as an “exploration of a man disregarded by society [that] is not only a gritty character study, but also a broader cautionary tale.” Phillips co-wrote the script with The Fighter and The Finest Hours scribe Scott Silver.
Robert De Niro, Frances Conroy, Marc Maron and Atlanta and Deadpool 2 breakout Zazie Beetz also star in the upcoming Warner Bros. film, which is set for release in October 2019. Alec Baldwin was briefly attached to star as Bruce Wayne’s father in the pic, but subsequently dropped out, saying he was “no longer doing that movie” and tweeting that he had not “been hired to play a role in Todd Phillips’ JOKER as some Donald Trump manque. That is not happening.”
See the Phoenix photo, below.
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