Director Todd Phillips recently stated that Joaquin Phoenix is his number one choice to play The Joker for the upcoming stand alone origin movie. Warner Bros had no comment regarding Phillips comments or conversations between the studio and Phoenix at this time.
Variety is reporting that Phillips had been talking with Phoenix about playing the Joker since before the new year had even begun. According to Variety’s sources, Phillips went on to say that Phoenix was just waiting for confirmation from the studio but nothing has been officially announced as of yet.
Phillips is attached to the movie as director and will co-write the film alongside Scott Silver, which will take place in the 1980’s and feature a more gritty tone than most standard superhero films. The Joker origin movie will be released under a yet announced banner of films for Warner Bros that will not affect the continuity of the other DC movies.
Since the Phillips movie will not affect the other DCEU movies, Jared Leto will continue to play the Joker in those movies (e.g. Suicide Squad 2) but will have no relationship with the origin movie. Originally, it was rumored that Leonardo DiCaprio would play the Joker in this origin film, but that rumor quickly dissipated.
Phoenix was also originally considered for the role of Lex Luthor in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice but the role ultimately went to Jesse Eisenberg.
Image courtesy of EW.com
