According to a blurb in the "Washington Post" the other day, there may be two Joker films in development - one with Phoenix, one with Leto...
Tellyawhat, there's SO many fantastic Joker tales in the vault that would make great movies. His origin isn't one of them. Never ceases to amaze me how DC continuously manages to screw the pooch when it comes to their movies. Imagine owning the rights to some of the most well known, iconic characters on the planet and not knowing how to capitalize on them!
I strong agree about The Joker's origin. One of the factors that makes The Joker work is that no one, one even him, knows his origin. Once you give him an actual firm origin it will make him less of character. One story I'd like to see, although it wouldn't be possible on the big screen (the casting alone would likely prohibit it), is The Last Laugh. Short version: The Joker finds out he is dying, As his dying gesture he injects dozens of super villains with a variation of Joker Venom, turning them into jokerized versions of themselves. The heroes now have to face their enemies except now they are as insane as The Joker is.
I love the use of the Guess Who track here! I was a little baffled when I heard that they were doing this additional version with Phoenix, but after the over-the-top, scenery chewing from Jared Leto, I'm actually intrigued at the prospect of a more naturalistic take on this character. Phoenix is a strong actor who typically gravitates towards projects that he really believes in.
I’m cautiously optimistic about this. It bodes well for the movie that it’s not connected to the DCEU, because that suggests that it might not be under as much pressure to make a CGI-driven action blockbuster. A story like this could really benefit from a more grounded, gritty take. The involvement of Robert DeNiro - and at one point Martin Scorsese - suggests that the film will take inspirations from the likes of The King of Comedy and Taxi Driver. The plot similarities, as well as what appears to be an inversion if DeNiro’s role in the former makes this seem even more likely. Yes, part of what made previous depictions of the Joker (Heath Ledger, for example) so great was his anonymity and the fact that he just came out of nowhere, but these sorts of characters are constantly being reinvented, and I for one would much rather see something different than see them try to hit the same notes as previous depictions. Also, this isn’t the first time the Joker has been given an origin story, so it’s not like this is total blasphemy against the inherent qualities of the character. At this point, this movie is in its own continuity, so it’s not going to ruin any established franchises/continuities/cinematic universes.
I’m still cautiously excited after seeing the trailer. I have hope that it will be an interesting and unique movie, but I can still easily see it being a complete Taxi Driver/King of Comedy ripoff or a soulless corporate imitation of contemporary indie neo-noir films like Nightcrawler. I also wasn’t wowed by Joaquin Phoenix’s overacting, though it’s obviously way too early to judge and that could easily just be the marketing team picking out what they consider to be the juicy bits.
Yep. I came to post the new trailer, but I see you already did. I can't wait to see this. Phoenix looks like his take on the Joker will definitely be unique and quite good. Curious to see how he stacks up to Nicholson and Ledger (I already know, based on the trailer, his Joker is better than Leto's.)
the story I read in the Batman comic many decades ago was that the Joker had pulled a caper, and he had planned his getaway with the loot by using a SCUBA rig to swim through the toxic chemical vat- but it backfired on him, turned his skin, lips, and hair all of those funny colors. Not the material for a complete movie, more like for one scene.
Not established ones -- but setting the course for the new Batman series? I wouldn't doubt it. It would be extremely odd to introduce a brand new Joker and then do nothing with him again...especially when there's a brand new Batman coming right around the corner. Plus, this Joker movie is set in the 80s. The next Batman is rumored to be set in the 90s. I can't imagine that's a coincidence. At this point I wouldn't expect them to make a big deal out of it, especially not when they are playing down the "connectivity" of all of these films (which is fine with me, I'd rather see standalone cinematic works than new episodes of a big-screen TV show, which is what the Marvel-produced films often feel like in their "sameness"). Still, you have to figure they knew what they were doing when they announced this movie and dumped Leto so quickly -- clearly it was part of a larger plan to wipe the slate clean without outright admitting that the Snyder-verse was finished.
Please... William Defoe .. or somebody that looks like him.. For me I 'am happy with The Killing Joke Dc Animated movie..
I'm so bored of comic book universe films, there is one released every 2 weeks... BUT This looks really quite good, different and interesting... BUT From the director of Starsky & Hutch and The Hangovers. Completely unsure about that. I hope there is a decent film in this, not just a decent trailer
Looks like a good Joaquin Phoenix movie, but seems to be a Joker in name only. My all-time biggest problem with the idea of the Joker is this; how exactly is this dufus a problem for Batman? Let alone his #1 arch nemesis! Even as a kid, I never bought it. Pretty much feel/felt the same way about Lex Luthor, how does Supes lose to that clown!? Joaquin Phoenix is more threatening to Batman than this Joker!
The Joker's varying origin story, how will this movie handle his beginnings? How 'Joker' Trailer Stacks Up to the Comics The many histories of the Batman villain, explained. As the teaser trailer for Joker makes clear, the origin story of Joaquin Phoenix's Joker is a tragedy of a man undone by the world around him — but how does Todd Phillips’ movie compare with earlier attempts to explain DC's man who laughs? Although the Joker debuted in 1940’s Batman No. 1, his origin story remained under wraps for more than a decade, only coming to light in 1951’s Detective Comics No. 168, in the story “The Man Behind the Red Hood!” In that story, written by Joker creator Bill Finger, the Joker clearly lays out how he came to be: He was, he explains, “a lab worker, until I decided to steal $1,000,000 and retire!” You know, that old chestnut. The robbery, which he carried out under the guise of super villain the Red Hood, was successful; he stole the money from a playing card company and swam to freedom through what is casually described as “the pool of chemical wastes.” It wasn’t the best plan. “The chemical vapor — it turned my hair green, my lips rouge-red, my skin chalk-white! I look like an evil clown! What a joke on me!” he exclaims, upon seeing his reflection for the first time. In narration, he continues, “I realized my new face could terrify people! And because the playing card company made my new face, I named myself after the card with the face of a clown — the Joker!” To some extent, this version of events has remained comic book canon ever since, although details get blurry with successive reboots of the Batman mythology. 1988’s Batman: The Killing Joke suggests that the Joker was actually a former lab assistant who had quit to go into comedy before being convinced to turn to crime out of desperation; after seeing what the chemicals had done to him, he suffered a psychotic break, rather than imagining a new criminal identity for himself. By 2013’s Batman No. 24, the lab assistant angle has been dropped altogether; he’s simply Red Hood One, a criminal mastermind who chooses to fall into the chemicals to escape capture by Batman on the latter’s first outing as a crimefighter. Although the immediate aftermath of the event isn’t shown, subsequent Joker appearances make it very clear that he’s insane, rather than simply pretending. Outside of comic books, the origin of the Joker has been shown on a number of occasions; in Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman, Jack Napier was a mobster who fell into the chemicals after a confrontation with Batman. (He was also the man who killed Bruce Wayne’s parents, because that seemed entirely plausible.) The 1990s animated series mixed the original comic book version and Tim Burton version so that the Joker was a career criminal who fell into the chemicals after a confrontation at the Ace Chemical Plant, before declaring himself reborn as the Joker. Fox’s Gotham has devoted hours to Jerome and Jeremiah Valeska, the carnival twins who may or may not end up as the Clown Prince of Crime in some manner or another. Perhaps most famously, Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight has a Joker who actively lies about his origin, giving multiple contradictory versions to different people. That in itself is a comic book callback; in The Killing Joke, the Joker explains during a monologue, “Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another… If I’m going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!” That, then, may be the best way to consider Joker and how it relates to the Joker as audiences are familiar with the character. Is it the villain as people know him? Almost certainly not, and that’s more than okay. As long as he ends up with green hair, a creepy red smile and the desire to screw with Batman at any and all opportunity, everything else is up for grabs. Sometimes, the final destination is more important than the journey, after all. Joker will be released Oct. 4.
