Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker will be character study of mentally ill person

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

With a budget of $55 million, co-writer/director Todd Phillips' upcoming JOKER origin movie starring Joaquin Phoenix is said to be more along the lines of a crime thriller than the average comic book movie, and a "dark character study" in the vein of TAXI DRIVER and THE KING OF COMEDY. And today we have more confirmation on this via co-star/comedian Marc Maron who recently spoke about working on the movie and said:

The approach that Todd Phillips has taken is more of an origin story and a character study of a mentally ill person that becomes The Joker. It’s more of an intimate and gritty movie with a very specific scope. It’s going to be really interesting to see how it comes out.

Maron continued:

I think it’s a very interesting approach to this world. I’ve been somewhat judgemental when it comes to comic book movies and I’ve got a little pushback in the press for being a hypocrite. Whatever I think, if you get a call and someone says, ‘Hey do you wanna do a scene with Robert De Niro and Joaquin Phoenix?’ your principals fall to the wayside. If it’s relative to what I think of Marvel movies then it’s like, ‘Yeah, of course, I’m gonna do that’. Oddly, it’s not that kind of movie.

He added:

I finished that a while ago. I did a week in New York and did a scene with Robert De Niro and Joaquin Phoenix. I couldn’t believe it was happening, but once I got there I was like ‘Here we go. Let’s do the job’.

Written by Phillips and Scott Silver, JOKER draws some inspiration from the Alan Moore comic book The Killing Joke.

In Alan Moore’s version of the Joker’s origins, the villain was an unnamed failed comedian who struggles to make ends meet for his pregnant wife. When his wife is killed in a freak accident and a robbery he is forced to take part in disfigures his face, the comedian snaps, becoming the infamous Joker.

Phoenix's co-stars in the film include Robert De Niro as a talk show host; Frances Conroy as Penny, the mother of Arthur Fleck, the man who becomes the Joker; Marc Maron as an agent; Brett Cullen as wealthy mayoral candidate Thomas Wayne, father of future Batman Bruce Wayne; and Zazie Beetz as a single mother who catches Arthur's attention. JOKER is set to bring a new classic (no pressure) to your local movie theater on October 4, 2019.