Warner Bros and DC Films have announced that they are currently developing a stand alone film based on the origin of one of comic’s most iconic villains: The Joker.
Multiple sources including Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline Hollywood, are reporting that The Hangover director Todd Phillips and screenwriter Scott Silver are attached to the project. As of now, Martin Scorsese is in talks to be possibly brought aboard as a producer on the project but as of now, no final word has come out as of the publishing of this article.
One of the biggest reveals to come out of this announcement is that the creative team is looking to find a different actor to play Joker since Jared Leto is currently playing the Crown Prince of Crime in the DCEU. The team will probably need to find someone younger if they are focusing on an origin version of Joker. As of now we know that Jared Leto will be featured as Joker in the next Suicide Squad movie as well as the stand alone Harley Film currently in development but there is no indication that he will be tapped to play the role in the origin film.
Todd Phillips and Scott Silver are attached to work together to co-write the script with sources stating that Phillips is also being strongly considered for the director’s chair. As previously mentioned, Phillips has worked on The Hangover and the more recent War Dogs with Silver’s most notable script being the one for Eminem’s biopic 8 Mile.
It is also being reported that the project will indeed be stand alone and set apart from the main DCEU under a yet to be revealed banner for the film company. This development will afford creators the opportunity to carve their own path and really create something memorable without having to worry about fitting into the greater DC cinematic universe and the tremendous logistical challenge that would create to combine all these films.
With that in mind, it is rumored that the story may take place in the 1980’s and with Gotham being so closely resembling New York City, it only makes sense to have Scorsese attached in some major capacity. A 1980’s crime film set in Gotham can be reminiscent of his early films like Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, and Raging Bull.
The big question: Who should play the young version of Joker in this film? Let us know in the comment section below.
Image courtesy of batman-news.com
