Get ready to see Joaquin Phoenix in full Joker makeup!
Director Todd Phillips has released the first look of the actor as the Joker. Phillips took to Instagram Friday and shared a camera test from the set.
The short teaser starts off with Phoenix standing absolutely expressionless before cracking that eerie Prince of Crime smile. Then the video cut to the actor in full makeup. This first look follows the director’s reveal of “Arthur” without makeup.
This look is definitely the more traditional among the three who played Batman’s nemesis in the last two years. Phoenix portrayal of the Joker follows Heath Ledger, who passed away in 2008, and Jared Leto.
The standalone movie is a disconnect from DC’s cinematic universe, which means Batman will definitely not make an appearance. Phoenix revealed in a recent interview that he has wanted to do this movie for years.
“Three or four years ago, I called my agent and said ‘Why don’t they want to take one of these characters and just make a lower budget film about it, a movie but a character study, and why not take one of the villains? And I thought, ‘You can’t do the Joker, because, you know, it’s just you can’t do that character, it’s just been done.’ So I was trying to think of other characters, and he said ‘I’ll set up a general meeting with Warner Bros.’ And I said ‘I’m not gonna go, I can’t go to a general meeting.’ So I completely forgot about it, and so then I heard about this idea, I was like, ‘Oh that’s so exciting, that’s the kind of experience I wanted to have, with a movie based on a comic character.’ I felt like you could get something on screen.”
Also starring in the film are Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Bill Camp, Frances Conroy, Brett Cullen, Glenn Fleshler, Douglas Hodge, Marc Maron, Josh Pais, and Shea Whigham.
