The JOKER Origin Movie Is Officially A Go At Warner Bros.
The Joker origin movie is officially a go at Warner Bros. Joaquin Phoenix finally signs on to star as Batman’s iconic arch-nemesis in DC’s villain origin story, with shooting to commence this September in New York.
The story will delve into what it took for the Joker to become a mastermind criminal. Sources say the story will take place in the ’80s and have more of the look of a gritty crime drama than comic-book movie.
Phoenix said of the project, “It feels unique, it is its own world in some ways, and maybe, mostly, it scares the fucking shit out of me or something. It might as well be the thing that scares you the most”.
Warner Bros. has yet to announce the release date for the film, which goes against the grain of most comic book movies that have flags planted years in advance. But the Joker stand-alone pic is meant to be different from other comic book superhero movies.
The project’s budget is modestly in the $55 million range, significantly lower than the tentpoles that dominate the form.
And the stand-alone is meant to be darker and more experimental in tone and content (at least as experimental as a studio can be with established brands such as DC), which is described as being akin to a crime drama.
As we reported last month, this particular movie will be taking place outside of the continuity of the current DCEU movies. It will exist in its own universe and Warner Bros. is set to launch an alternate production banner for this Joker origin movie and future projects like it.
The title of that banner could be either “DC Dark” or “DC Black”.
Todd Phillips (The Hangover franchise) is on board to co-write and direct while Scott Silver will join Phillips as a co-writer on the film. Emma Tillinger Koskoff (The Wolf Of Wall Street) is producer on the Joker origin stand-alone, while Richard Baratta (Doctor Strange) is an executive producer.
