Actor Shea Whigham Shares Details on His JOKER Character and Praises Joaquin Phoenix's Performance

Judging from everything that we’ve seen and heard about director Todd Phillips’ Joker, it is going to be a very different kind of comic book movie. That’s one of the reasons why I’m so excited about it. This movie is going against the grain just like Logan and Deadpool did and Phillips has surrounded him self with a talented group of people that I think will end up delivering the fans something unique and special.

Regardless of all of the compelling set photos and videos that we’ve seen, there’s still so much that we don’t know about the film. But, thanks to actor Shea Whigham, we have some new details to share with you in regards to the character that he plays in the movie. He also praised Joaquin Phoenix's performance in the movie.

While speaking with Collider, Whigham reveals that his character is a Gotham City Police officer and shares teases some other details saying:

“I’ll say this, Bill Camp, from The Night Of, is one of our great actors. He’s finally getting his due. He and I play two cops from Gotham P.D., in 1981 when the city was tough. We’re investigating something that’s just happened, at the start of the piece. We’re trying to get to the bottom of it, and it leads to where it leads to. You know, it’s rare that I’ve been on a set where it feels like it crackles. It’s pretty amazing…I want to have an experience. I don’t call it a job. I don’t say that I have a job. I have a gig, or a piece, or a film, or a show, but it’s never a job… We’re having an experience on Joker.”

I imagine the the “something” they are investigating has to do with Joker. Whigham goes on to praise for Phoenix’s take on the Clown Prince of Crime:

“We’re in the middle of it, right now. It’s intense. For me, it’s as good as it gets. I’m flowing back and forth between television and film, and it’s not lost on me, to work with Joaquin [Phoenix] and to see what he’s doing. And Todd Phillips has put this amazing script together It’s the origin story. People haven’t seen how the Joker becomes the Joker, and oh, my God, man, it’s incredible. It really is.”

Well, I can’t wait to see some actually completed footage from the film! Phoenix is one of the best actors working in Hollywood right now, and the fact that they managed to get him to play this character is pretty incredible.

Joker opens in theaters on October 4, 2019.