Warner Bros. and DC are definitely keeping things interesting with their comic book movies. Soon after introducing a new Joker in Suicide Squad, a different incarnation of the iconic villain appears in the standalone Joker. This time the character takes center stage for something more akin to a Martin Scorsese crime drama than traditional superhero fare and stars Joaquin Phoenix as the eponymous "clown prince of Gotham City."
With tickets now officially on sale for Joker at Fandango, here’s everything you need to know about Joker before you go:
How is Joker connected to the DC Extended Universe?
The simple answer: it’s not. Joker is a solo entity with no link to other existing movies and no plan for sequels. The one-and-done movie is essentially a crime thriller that just so happens to focus on an iconic villain from DC Comics. There are other familiar characters, including the father of Bruce Wayne (a.k.a. Batman), but canonically it doesn’t fit with any other depictions of the same superhero and villain figures on screen, big or small.
Despite rumors, Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker will not later encounter Robert Pattinson’s Batman, who will be introduced in 2021. And Jared Leto’s Joker from Suicide Squad is expected to continue in the role for other installments of the DCEU, though that’s not certain. The fact that Joker is set in the late 1970s or early 1980s should make it clear that the movie is part of another timeline and chronology outside of the main DC movie franchise.
Does the movie depict the Joker’s original origin story?
There have been various origin stories for the Joker character since his debut in DC Comics in 1940. He was first given a backstory in the early 1950s, when it was revealed that he had been a masked criminal who fell into a vat of chemicals that bleached his skin, colored his hair green, and gave him a permanent smile. That origin was seen in 1989’s Batman and Suicide Squad. For Joker, he’s getting a more realistic story.
“We wanted to look at everything through as real and authentic a lens as possible,” director Todd Phillips told the L.A. Times. “I don’t believe that in the real world if you fell into a vat of acid you would turn white and have a smile and your hair would be green. So you start backwards-engineering these things and it becomes really interesting. ‘How about if he’s a clown at one of these places where you rent out entertainment?’”
Is Joker based on any specific comic books?
One of the foundations for Joker seems to be the 1988 graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke, but it’s not officially an adaptation. The main connection is that Phoenix’s character, Arthur Fleck, is similarly a failed comedian. This same standalone comic book inspired depictions of the Joker in 1989’s Batman and 2008’s The Dark Knight and it was adapted into a 2016 animated feature of the same name with Mark Hamill voicing the character.
But The Killing Joke also has the vat of toxic chemical part of the Joker’s origin, so of course, that was ignored. The filmmakers instead played loose with what’s most common on the page. “We didn't take anything from one particular comic,” Joker director Todd Phillips said of the movie’s relationship to the source material behind the character. “We kind of picked and chose what we liked from the 80-year canon of Joker."
How does this Joker differ from those we’ve seen before?
Similar to the past three live-action movie portrayals of the Joker, this movie stars an Oscar-caliber actor in the role of the villain. And just like Jack Nicholson in Batman and Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, Joaquin Phoenix in Joker is also receiving awards buzz (Nicholson received a Golden Globe nomination; Ledger won an Oscar posthumously for his performance). And yet none of the depictions are alike, in their appearance or characterization.
Joker is concentrated on the titular villain and his origins, so Phoenix’s version of the Joker is given a lot more character study. Audiences witness the transformation from troubled nobody to notorious criminal. He’s shown to have a mental illness and is given a literal joker profession by being a clown who also moonlights as a wannabe stand-up comic. He’s modeled after antiheroes of Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy.
For the role, Phoenix lost 52 pounds in order to appear impoverished. He also developed a unique laugh for his Joker, telling Italian newspaper La Repubblica, “I watched videos of people suffering from pathological laughter, a neurological disorder that makes individuals laugh uncontrollably.” And he read up on killers, including political assassins, to consider the motivations of a psychotic criminal such as his character.
What is the tone of Joker?
The goal of the movie has always been for a “super dark” and gritty crime drama evoking the ‘70s and ‘80s work of Martin Scorsese and Sidney Lumet. Also aiming for a shocking “hard-R” rating, Joker is reportedly very violent and disturbing for a comic book movie, as well, laying on the tension, a bit of terror, and some dread as Arthur builds toward the Joker persona. But the movie also involves some comedy plus empathic drama.
Who is the director of Joker?
Todd Phillips, best known for directing The Hangover and its two sequels, is at the helm. He is primarily associated with comedies, having broken out with the college movies Road Trip and Old School. He did start out in documentary (Hated: G.G. Allin & the Murder Junkies) and has period piece experience through his Starsky & Hutch movie, but outside of producing A Star is Born, this is pretty much his first venture into dramatic filmmaking.
Phillips, who earned an Oscar nod for his work on the script for Borat, also co-wrote the screenplay for Joker with Oscar nominee Scott Silver (The Fighter). And he’s also one of the producers, alongside Academy Award nominees Bradley Cooper (A Star is Born) and Emma Tillinger Koskoff (The Wolf of Wall Street). Yeah, that’s a lot of Oscar-caliber talent, because this project isn't clowning around, as it were.
Is it true that Martin Scorsese is an executive producer?
Early into the development of Joker, there were reports that Martin Scorsese would serve as a producer on the movie or at least oversee the project as an executive producer. This was related to the clear intentions by the filmmakers to base the movie blatantly on Scorsese’s ‘70s and ‘80s crime dramas, including Taxi Driver and especially The King of Comedy. Ultimately, though, Scorsese is not credited with any role in its production.
But he is linked to Joker through Koskoff, who has collaborated with Scorsese on a number of movies, starting off as an associate producer on The Departed and continuing through this fall’s The Irishman. And Richard Baratta, who worked with Scorsese on The Irishman and The Wolf of Wall Street, is an executive producer on Joker. There’s also co-producer and First AD David Webb, who had the same jobs on Scorsese’s Silence and The Irishman.
Does Robert De Niro reference his Scorsese movies?
While Phoenix’s character is inspired by Robert De Niro’s antihero protagonists in Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy, the movie also cast the iconic actor in a supporting role that relates to the latter 1983 black comedy. In The King of Comedy, De Niro plays a wannabe stand-up comedian obsessed with a talk show host portrayed by Jerry Lewis. This time, in Joker, his first comic book movie, De Niro has the talk show host role.
Who else is in the movie?
Zazie Beetz, following her breakout role in Deadpool 2, plays "a single mother who catches the interest of the man who will become the 'clown prince of crime.’" Another mother character, the Joker's own, is played by Frances Conroy (Scorsese’s The Aviator). Others in the cast include Marc Maron (GLOW), Brian Tyree Henry (Child’s Play), Shea Whigham (Kong: Skull Island), and Brett Cullen (The Dark Knight Rises) as Thomas Wayne.
When does Joker open?
October 4, 2019. That's an intriguing choice of release date, by the way. While this won't be DC's first fall release (Justice League came out in November 2017), Joker will be their first October opening for a superhero movie. Tickets are on sale now here at Fandango.
Watch the final trailer below:
Finally, here's some exclusive art (click for full size):
