Its Official: Joaquin Phoenix’s ‘Joker’ Is Happening

By Creative Media Times

Photo by Georges Biard

Joaquin Phoenix will be playing the iconic character for Warner Bros. origin film, Variety is reporting.

The “Walk the Line” actor finalized the deal recently with shooting set in September of this year. Todd Phillips of “The Hangover” films is said to be directing and co-writing the script.

Phoenix has been nominated for an Academy Award three times, twice as lead actor for The Master (2012) and Walk The Line (2005), and once as supporting actor for his role as Commodus in 2000’s best picture winning film Gladiator.

Some might wonder about Jared Leto, who recently played the role in 2016’s DC Comics antihero ensemble film Suicide Squad. Well, that is apparently also moving forward. A month ago, Variety also reported that his own stand-alone film based on his version of the character from Suicide Squad is in development.

How the two films will co-exist in some form remains to be seen, though Phoenix’s Joker film, said to be a more “gritty crime drama,” could potentially kick-start a new cinematic universe that is different from its current DC Extended Universe.

Warner Bros. has a slate of upcoming films based on the DC Comics including James Wan-directed Aquaman later this year.

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