Todd Phillips Scares up a new Image of Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker
While we’ve still got more than four months until writer/director Todd Phillips’ Joker hits the big screen, it’s fairly incredible how little we actually know about the film. The first stand-alone film for one of the most iconic villains in comic book (or comic book movie) history, Joker gets extra intrigue points for having Joaquin Phoenix in the title role. We’ve parsed the trailer for every conceivable Easter Egg, Now Phillips has given us a two-for-one on the new information front with a fresh Instagram post; he’s provided a new photo and the film’s rating.
First, let’s have a look at Phoenix playing Arthur Fleck. Fleck is a troubled comedian (and apparently very obedient son) who will ultimately become the Clown Prince of Chaos.
Then a fan asked a simple question in the comments and received a simple answer from Phillips. Now we know what we long suspected—Joker will be R-rated.
So it’s official, it seems. Phillips R-rated Joker will join recent superhero flicks with the same distinction. James Mangold’s excellent, brutal Logan gave Wolverine’s swansong the R-rated treatment and was summarily praised as the best stand-alone Wolverine film by a mile. Famously, at this point, Deadpool burst onto the scene back in February of 2016 with an R-rating. Deadpool was a juggernaut success and spawned a very successful sequel to boot.
Joker is going to be a gritty origin story. The movie will reveal the portrait of a man who comes unglued, and then becomes Gotham’s most notorious criminal and villain. Phoenix’s co-star Marc Maron said as much to NME: “The approach that Todd Phillips has taken is more of an origin story and a character study of a mentally ill person that becomes The Joker,” Maron explained. “It’s more of an intimate and gritty movie with a very specific scope. It’s going to be really interesting to see how it comes out.”
We won’t have to wait that long to find out how this all plays out. Joker hits theaters on October 4, 2019. Joining Phoenix and Maron are Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy, Brian Tyree Henry, and Bill Camp.
Featured image: ‘Joker’ theatrical poster. Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures
