Ahead of San Diego Comic-Con later this month, Warner Bros. has gone ahead and made things official in regards to the Joker origins movie which we’ve been hearing about for a while now. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the studio’s issued the green light and Joaquin Phoenix has finalized his deal to star in the pic as the Clown Prince of Crime, putting an end to months and months of speculation.
Described as an “exploration of a man disregarded by society [that] is not only a gritty character study, but also a broader cautionary tale,” the project will be set outside the continuity of the DCEU and will begin shooting this September in New York with Todd Phillips behind the camera. Don’t expect it to be a big blockbuster on the scale of something like Justice League, though, as THR notes that the budget is only $55 million.
Not only that, but the Joker origins film will also be “darker and more experimental in tone and content,” with insiders calling it more of a crime drama than a comic book movie. That certainly lines up with everything we’ve heard about it so far and it should be interesting to see how much of a departure it truly is from what we usually get in the genre.
As for specifics on the plot, those remain under lock and key, but we’ve been told in the past that the pic will explore what turned the Clown Prince of Crime into Gotham’s greatest criminal. It appears to be taking a certain amount of inspiration from The Killing Joke, too, as the villain will start out as a failed comedian, similar to the Joker’s backstory in the acclaimed graphic novel. Also like the comic book, it looks to be set in the 1980s and will portray the character as a tragic figure, “tormented over the permanent smile put on his face.”
Right now, the Joker movie has no concrete release date, but late 2019/early 2020 seems like a solid bet if everything’s kept on track. We’d expect some concrete info to arrive later this month at San Diego Comic-Con as well, which takes place from July 19th-22nd, but until then, feel free to share your thoughts on the project in the comments section down below.