Joaquin Phoenix is speaking out more extensively than ever before about his specific vision for his Joker origins movie, which Warner Bros. officially greenlit this week.
Collider landed the first candid comments from Phoenix on the film, a topic he’s avoided talking about for the past few months ever since he was first linked to the project. Phoenix told Collider that three or for years ago, he’d asked his manager, “Why don’t they want to take one of these characters and just make a lower budget film about it, a movie but a character study, and why not take one of the villains?” At the time, he considered the Joker an untouchable property, as it’d already been explored so thoroughly. When his manager suggested setting up a general meeting at Warner Bros., the actor balked and forgot about it, until word of this movie came up.
“It feels unique, it is its own world in some ways, and maybe, mostly, it scares the fucking shit out of me or something. It might as well be the thing that scares you the most,” Phoenix said of the project.
Todd Phillips is directing the Joker film, which will have a budget of around $55 million and 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 Scott Silver. Unlike most comic book based properties, the film is going into production without a release date, though it could be ready as soon as late 2019.
Read more from Phoenix at Collider.
