While the Clown Prince of Crime seems to be pretty popular among the people of Gotham City in the upcoming Joker movie, Arthur Fleck doesn’t look like such a local celebrity when he isn’t in the familiar persona.
We’ve already seen clips of Joaquin Phoenix failing to get the attention of pedestrians as he seemingly advertises a local sale, and now he have footage of the star stalking Sophie Dumond, played by Zazie Beetz of Deadpool 2 fame. Though Martin Scorsese may no longer be attached as producer for the project, you can still sense the influence of such dark character studies as The King of Comedy and Taxi Driver in this moment of creepy fixation.
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While we’ve also seen set pics in which Phoenix and Beetz actually sit down and talk, it’s still unclear what role Sophie will play in Arthur’s transformation into the famed Batman villain, though some fans are predicting tragedy for the single mother.
In particular, we’ve yet to find out how she responds to Arthur’s anarchic clown persona, though much of the general public seem to admire him as a rebel and a mischief-maker. Leaked images have shown the Joker followed by admiring crowds holding up signs with politically charged slogans like “Clown4Mayor” and “Kill the Rich,” while material from one set piece seems to suggest that Arthur will use his influence to cause commotion on the Gotham subway. With that in mind, it might only help the character’s reputation that he eventually gets arrested, though by that point, it’s likely that Arthur has developed into a very different person from the one we saw Sophie grab a coffee with.
We’ll find out how the various dramas of Arthur’s life all fit together when Joker hits theaters on October 4th, 2019.
