With principal photography now officially scheduled to kick-off on September 22nd later this year, the Joker origin film – starring Joaquin Phoenix as the titular jester – is starting to take shape.
After Frances McDormand passed on the part of his mother, the Clown Prince of Crime subsequently shifted focus onto acquiring another Academy Award winner in the form of Robert De Niro – in a currently undisclosed role, mind you – and earlier this week, we learned the Todd Phillips-helmed film could be headed toward an R-rating.
Now, although she’s rumored to have been in discussion with DC and WB since the middle of July, we may just have an inkling of who Deadpool 2 and Atlanta star Zazie Beetz will be playing in Joker: Sophie Dumond who, according to That Hashtag Show, is described as follows in her official character breakdown.
“Supporting female (27-34) to play African American or to play Latina. Not beautiful, has a hardness to her, a single mother living on the Lower East Side, doing the best she can, trying to make ends meet; worn out by the grind of the city. She understands how the system is stacked against her and the people in her community, how unjust it all is for them. She’s just trying to catch a break.”
Set to take place in Gotham City during the 1980s, Joker has been compared to a “hard-boiled crime drama” and is rumored to feature the Clown Prince of Crime as a failed comedian. Apart from that, however, everything not disclosed to the public predictably can be found under lock and key. In the meantime, though, be sure to check out this awesome fan-made trailer which, one cannot deny, has made excellent use of existing footage, and truly captures the essence of what we hope the origin movie will be.
Greenlit precisely one month ago, Joker – slated to wrap production sometime between December and February – should have no trouble hitting the targeted release window, and given the trio of Academy Award calibre talent already on board in the form of producer Martin Scorsese, star Joaquin Phoenix and writer Scott Silver, we fully expect WB and DC have hit the nail on the head with this one. Or at least, we hope they have.