Skip to main content

Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker movie: Here’s everything we know so far

Joker director confirms R rating after releasing a new, creepy photo

JOKER - Teaser Trailer - In Theaters October 4

The Joker is more than just Batman’s most infamous enemy. He’s also one of comics’ most iconic villains, with a long history of memorable portrayals on both the big screen and television. More than 30 years after Jack Nicholson portrayed the Clown Prince of Crime in Tim Burton’s Batman and a decade after Heath Ledger’s award-winning turn as the maniacal villain in The Dark Knight, Joaquin Phoenix will star in Joker, a solo feature intended to provide the character with a new cinematic origin story.

Three-time Academy Award nominee Phoenix is set to star in Joker as the titular villain, with The Hangover director Todd Phillips behind the camera. Scheduled to hit theaters October 4, 2019, the film also boasts a high-profile cast that includes an Academy Award winner and a story that’s expected to diverge significantly from DC Comics lore.

Here’s everything we know about the Joker movie so far.

  • Title: Joker
  • Release date: October 4, 2019
  • Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Robert DeNiro, Zazie Beetz, Marc Maron
  • Director: Todd Phillips

The rating

In June, Joker director Todd Phillips confirmed what anyone following development on the film had assumed: The movie will be rated “R” when it hits theaters.

The confirmation came via Phillips’ response to a comment on a photo he posted to Instagram.

View this post on Instagram

Finishing touches.

A post shared by Todd Phillips (@toddphillips1) on

“It will be Rated R,” wrote Phillips. “I’ve been asked this a lot. Just assumed people knew. Sorry.”

The first trailer

The first trailer for Joker was released in April, offering a preview of the tone of the film and the spin on the character that Phillips and Phoenix are intending to take.

One thing seems certain: This won’t be the Clown Prince of Crime that DC Comics readers are accustomed to.

The poster

A day before Joker‘s first teaser trailer was released, Phillips shared a poster that depicts Phoenix’s supervillain in all of his glory. The one-sheet shows Phoenix in full makeup gazing toward the sky and offers our first look at Joker‘s official log and its tagline, “Put on a happy face.”

View this post on Instagram

Teaser trailer tomorrow. #JokerMovie

A post shared by Todd Phillips (@toddphillips1) on

Filming

As first reported by DeadlineJoker began shooting in September 2018. The first unofficial photo from the set of the film found its way online shortly thereafter, and it featured Joaquin Phoenix interacting with … wait for it … a clown.

It looks like Joaquin Phoenix has started filming as the Joker for the standalone #Joker movie! https://t.co/0uwG4l34o0

— JustJared.com (@JustJared) September 16, 2018

Several Hollywood heavyweights are among the project’s production crew, including cinematographer — and former Phillips collaborator — Lawrence Sher (War Dogs), designer Mark Friedberg (Selma), and casting director Shayna Markowitz (Ocean’s 8).

Filming ended in early December 2018, capping off a quick and intense shoot. In an interview with MTV News, actress Zazie Beetz revealed Phillips re-wrote the Joker script while the movie was filming. In addition, Joaquin Phoenix lost so much weight for the production that re-shoots were more or less impossible, meaning that the crew had to get everything right the first time, while SAG-AFTRA representatives had to visit the set after extras complained about being locked in subway cars for extended periods of time, violating guild rules.

The cast

Although the story will focus on the origin of Joker, Bruce Wayne and the Wayne family’s famous butler, Alfred Pennyworth, will also play roles in the film. Douglas Hodge (Penny Dreadful) and young actor Dante Pereira-Olson (You Were Never Really Here) will reportedly play Alfred and a young Bruce Wayne in the film, according to ComicBookMovie.com.

Following in the footsteps of Nicholson, Ledger, and most recently Jared Leto, Her and Walk the Line star Joaquin Phoenix will play the title character in Joker, which will explore the time before he became one of DC Comics’ most terrifying villains.

joaquin phoenix
[Image courtesy of Everett Collection/Shutterstock]

“It feels unique, it is its own world in some ways, and maybe, mostly, it scares the [crap] out of me or something,” Phoenix told Collider in July 2018. “It might as well be the thing that scares you the most.”

Joining Phoenix in the cast is two-time Academy Award winner Robert DeNiro, who is expected to play a talk show host who plays a key role in sending Phoenix’s character down the dark path to becoming Joker.

More Superhero Movie News

One actor who won’t be appearing in the film will be Academy Award nominee and three-time Primetime Emmy Award winner Alec Baldwin, who was initially reported to be playing Thomas Wayne, the father of the man who will become Batman, Bruce Wayne. However, just two days after being announced in the role, Baldwin told USA Today, “I’m no longer doing that movie,” citing “scheduling” issues.

Ghost Rider and Person of Interest actor Brett Cullen later joined the film in the role vacated by Baldwin. In a departure from DC Comics lore, the character of Thomas Wayne was rumored to be “a cheesy and tanned businessman … more in the mold of a 1980s Donald Trump” instead of a wealthy doctor and philanthropist.

In July, Atlanta and Deadpool 2 actress Zazie Beetz joined the film in another vaguely described role. Beetz will reportedly play “a single mother who catches the interest of the man who will become the Clown Prince of Crime.” In September, Phillips posted a photo of Beetz from the set of the film.

A flurry of casting reports in late July also added American Horror Story actress Frances Conroy and GLOW actor and comedian Marc Maron to the project. Conroy is expected to play the mother of Phoenix’s character, while Maron is rumored to be playing a booking agent for a talk show hosted by DeNiro’s character.

First look

There’s no certainty as to how Phoenix will look in full Joker makeup, but Phillips has teased audiences with one possible variation on the Clown Prince of Crime that puts the emphasis on “clown” in that title. The director posted a photo in late September featuring Phoenix in full clown makeup and costume from the set of the film.

View this post on Instagram

Work.

A post shared by Todd Phillips (@toddphillips1) on

We got our first peek at Phillips’ vision for The Joker on September 21, with the director posting a brief video on Instagram with Phoenix in traditional, clown-style makeup as the character — a significant departure from the look of past iterations of the character.

View this post on Instagram

Camera test (w/ sound). Joker.

A post shared by Todd Phillips (@toddphillips1) on

Just a short time after cameras began rolling on Joker, Phillips posted the first official photo of Phoenix in character for the film.

View this post on Instagram

Arthur.

A post shared by Todd Phillips (@toddphillips1) on

The story

Warner Bros. Pictures revealed a brief but official synopsis for Joker while announcing the start of filming on the movie in September 2018. The description of the film reads as follows: “Phillips’ exploration of Arthur Fleck (Phoenix), a man disregarded by society, is not only a gritty character study, but also a broader cautionary tale.”

The film will be set in Batman’s home city of Gotham in the 1980s, and based on a script penned by Phillips and Scott Silver (8 Mile). Early rumors indicated that Phoenix would play a stand-up comedian who turns to a life of crime — and one would assume, criminal insanity — when he reaches a breaking point in his life and career. DeNiro and Maron’s characters are expected to play a major role in that evolution from struggling comedian to Clown Prince of Crime.

DC Comics

Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s 1988 graphic novel The Killing Joke is rumored to be one of the primary inspirations for the film’s story. The comic, which is widely considered one of the greatest Joker stories ever told, established an origin for the character as a failed comedian who loses his wife and has his face disfigured during a botched robbery he undertakes in order to make ends meet.

The other Jokers

Although the Joker movie will tell an origin story of sorts for Batman’s notorious nemesis, the film won’t have any connection to the most recent version of the character to appear on the big screen.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Warner Bros. Pictures has indicated that Joker will exist in its own universe, separate from that of Jared Leto’s portrayal of the character in Suicide Squad. When Joker first entered production, Leto was still expected to return as Batman’s archenemy for a Harley Quinn team-up and the Suicide Squad sequel, but more recent reports indicate that those plans have been shelved and that Leto’s time behind the clown makeup might already be over.

Additionally, the Batman prequel series Gotham will debut its own take on the Clown Prince of Crime in its two-part series finale, which beings on April 18.

"J" Teaser | Season 5 Ep. 12 | GOTHAM

Updated on June 17, 2019: Confirmed the film’s R rating and added a new image.

Editors' Recommendations

Rick Marshall
A veteran journalist with more than two decades of experience covering local and national news, arts and entertainment, and…
Top Gun: Maverick: Everything we know about the movie so far
Maverick doing a thumbs up in Top Gun.

Top Gun: Maverick (2020) – New Trailer - Paramount Pictures

Get ready to feel the need for speed all over again. After years of rumors, Top Gun: Maverick is officially flying into theaters more than three decades since the 1986 film premiered. Original star Tom Cruise is returning for the sequel, and he won't be the only familiar face in the film.

Read more
A Quiet Place Part II: Everything we know about the movie so far
A Quiet Place

A Quiet Place Part II - Official Trailer - Paramount Pictures

The 2018 film A Quiet Place was one of the year's surprise hits, offering audiences a tense thriller featuring a young family trying to survive in a world where terrifying creatures hunt anyone who makes a sound. A Quiet Place Part II brings back director and screenwriter John Krasinski behind the camera and picks up where the first film left off.

Read more
Everything coming to Apple TV+ that we know about so far
How to download movies and TV shows from Apple TV+ for offline viewing

The streaming video environment is more crowded than ever these days. Not to be left out, Apple launched Apple TV+ on November 1 and has been slowly adding original content. They've since signed overall deals with the likes of Alfonso Cuaron, Kerry Ehrin, Jon M. Chu, Justin Lin, Jason Katims, Lee Eisenberg, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Meryl Streep, and studios A24, Imagine Documentaries, and Oprah. Clearly, they mean business.

With so many options out there, cord cutters have a lot to consider when it comes to deciding which streaming service to invest in. Of course, one of the biggest factors will be just how compelling each service's movies and television shows are. In order to help you make an informed decision, here's all the original content already on Apple TV+, what we know is coming, as well as everything that's been rumored so far.
Signup for Apple TV+

Read more