It was only a couple months ago that Warner Bros officially greenlit that Joaquin Phoenix solo Joker movie but the studio must have some strong faith in the upcoming Todd Phillips-directed DC origin film because it is on the production fast track.
Filming for the movie has just kicked off and Phillips decided to get the hype train going by dropping a cheeky sneak peek of Phoenix as the titular character pre scars and make-up.
Folks, meet Arthur.
Right off the bat – pun intended – it is clear that Phillips’ Joker film will be something different because Phoenix looks appropriately seedy in a definitively non-Joker way.
He kind of looks like a weird amalgam of various characters, like Jack Nicholson’s Jack Torance from The Shining…
Javier Bardem’s creepy Anton Chigurh from No Country For Old Men…
And that weird mature-age student that you see at every uni. You know, the one who sits by themselves in the corner and tries to enthusiastically answer every question the lecturer asks.
To be honest, Phoenix’s take on the Joker is literally just “Joaquin Phoenix but with long hair” but it just works for me for some reason.
#JoaquinPhoenix spotted on the set of the upcoming #TheJoker movie https://t.co/f0RnZo3Lfi pic.twitter.com/WeoeRVJ4Xn
— ET Canada (@ETCanada) September 16, 2018
Phoenix’s Joker look makes sense if a report from That Hashtag Show is to be believed. According to them, Arthur starts off as a regular bloke who returns to Gotham in order to take care of his mother, stuff happens and then he becomes the Joker.
It’s still early days into the filming of the Joker movie so we won’t be finding out how Phoenix’s Arthur ultimately goes from your friend’s drug-dealer older brother who still lives in their parent’s basement to the man who will ultimately become Batman’s biggest nemesis.
The first set photos for Joaquin Phoenix’s ‘JOKER’ have been officially released. (Source: @JustJared) pic.twitter.com/lhnZgfMbrA
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) September 16, 2018
Jokes aside, I have faith the movie will be at least pretty decent. Phoenix is a phenomenal actor, Phillips is a capable director (who takes on some questionable projects admittedly), and having a new character go through a very bad day that pushes him towards Joker-land is interesting.
But seeing as how Arthur’s mother is in there, all I ask is that there’s no repeat of that dumb “Martha” moment from Batman v Superman.
Ugh.