It is… different, we’ll give it that.
A few days ago, we reported on the first official image of three-time Oscar nominee Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck, aka the man who would be Joker.
Now, the movie’s director has tweeted out the first footage of Phoenix in full Joker make-up and… well… you should see for yourself.
Director Todd Phillips is mostly known for his comedies (The Hangover Trilogy, Old School, Starsky & Hutch), so he seems like an odd choice to bring us such a potentially dark tale, unless he’s going the De Niro-in-King Of Comedy route, telling us the story of a man pushed well beyond his own threshold for sanity.
Phillips is also co-writing the movie, with the guy who previously gave us the likes of 8 Mile, The Fighter, and The Finest Hours.
Which would go some way to explain why De Niro is also in the cast list for this movie, as well as Zazie Beetz (who stole the show in Deadpool 2), comedian Marc Maron (Glow), and Frances Conroy (Six Feet Under), who is rumoured to be playing Phoenix’s mother.
Alec Baldwin had previously been cast as Thomas (father of Bruce) Wayne, who was said to be lined up to be portrayed in a very Donald Trump-esque way, but he eventually dropped out, and has been replaced by Brett Cullen (Narcos).
So, yeah, a total mixed bag, and almost impossible to predict what to expect.
Joker is due for release in cinemas on 4 October 2019.
Behold.
Repost from #toddphillips1:
Camera test (w/ sound). Joker. pic.twitter.com/R9W2QqKwNS— Warner Bros. Pictures (@wbpictures) September 21, 2018