Sheesh. It’s like DC is the gift that keeps on giving. Not only does it feel like there’s a new DCEU film announcement every other week, but now the latest report is that there will be a standalone Joker movie, produced by Martin Scorsese and written by Todd Phillips, no less. This Clown Prince of Crime solo outing won’t involve Jared Leto, however, as it’ll explore the origins of a much younger Mr. J in a gritty, crime drama. But this doesn’t mean that Leto’s hung up the purple coat, as he’s purportedly still signed on for Gotham City Sirens and Suicide Squad 2. Wait, what?
Did Barry just go back in time and screw everything up again? Seriously, this sounds almost too outrageous to be true, as if someone from Reddit pulled the troll of the month on all of us. But make no mistake about it, a Joker origins film is indeed happening and though we don’t have any idea yet of who the studio may be looking at to play the iconic role, a number of wish lists have started to surface.
Not only that, but a few actors are beginning to throw their hat into the ring as well and the latest to do so is none other than The Walking Dead star Steven Ogg, who plays Simon on AMC’s hit series. Speaking with Cinema Blend, here’s what he had to say:
It’d be fun. I mean, it seems to screw everyone up, whoever does it. They end up going a bit crazy, except if you look at Nicholson’s Joker. But what I was reading, and I’d love to do it, is the younger, like ‘how The Joker became The Joker’ is what they’re working on. So I’d assume it would be a younger person. But that type of character, there certainly would be a lot of interesting things to explore with him. I would love to do my own different take on it, on him. So yeah, if you’re offering it to me, I’ll take it.
While we can’t see Warner Bros. heading in this direction, Ogg certainly wouldn’t be a bad choice. He’s shown that he has a more menacing side with his role on The Walking Dead, and his voice work in Grand Theft Auto is more than enough proof that he can be quite unhinged and creepy when he wants to be. All perfect qualities for the Clown Prince of Crime, right?
That being said, his age (43), and the fact that he’s also not too big of a name may work against him. Then again, we really have no idea what type of actor the studio’s aiming for here, but we imagine it’ll definitely be someone a bit younger if this is set to be an origins story.
Who knows though? We’d certainly be alright with Ogg getting involved in the project, but it’s likely going to be some time before we hear any substantial updates on it. While we wait to learn more, tell us, who do you want to see play the new Joker? Let us know in the usual place!
