JOKER Was Specifically Written for Joaquin Phoenix
A scene from Joker. Credit Niko Tavernise/Warner Bros.
A couple years ago a rumor surfaced that Warner Bros. was looking at casting Leonardo DiCaprio as Joker in the upcoming Todd Phillips directed film. Well, it turns out that there was no truth to that rumor. DiCaprio was never in the running to play Joker.
During an interview with New York Times, Phillips was asked about this, and he said, “We wrote the movie for Joaquin.” So, there was never any other actor in the running for the role, Joker was always going to be a Joaquin Phoenix movie.
It wasn’t an easy sell for the actor because as the director put it, “He was not keen on jumping into costume in any comic-book movie. It’s not necessarily in his five-year plan — although I don’t think he has one.” But, Phillips eventually sold the actor on the role. It’s a good thing too, because it looks like Phoenix is going to deliver an incredible performance! The wanted to do something bold, and it looks like that’s exactly what they did.
The movie has been showered with positive reviews, and it even got a 8-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival, where the movie took home the top prize. There’s also a lot of buzz surrounding Phoenix’s performance and there’s no doubt he’ll end up being showered with award nominations.
Joker centers around the iconic arch-nemesis and is an original, standalone story not seen before on the big screen. The exploration of Arthur Fleck, a man disregarded by society, is not only a gritty character study, but also a broader cautionary tale.
The film also stars Robert De Niro, Frances Conroy, Brett Cullen, and Marc Maron. Joker will be released in theaters on October 4th, 2019.