chainsaw_metal1

Member: Rank 8
I do like Koenig's take on him. Just slightly less than Ledger's version. But for me, I love Hamill's rendition. It feels like The Joker taken off the page and placed on the screen.
 

Carol

Member: Rank 5
It's clearly time for bed - I just misread the thread title as the best Joke of all time and was prepared to suggest it has to be the one about Superman and Wonderwoman...the one that Gregory's sister warns him not to tell his date in "Gregory's Girl". Took me ages to find someone who actually knew it and was prepared to share.
No I'm not telling it here - you're probably too young, gentle reader.
 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
Warners Planning The Joker Origin Movie


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Warner Bros. Pictures and DC are reportedly in the early stages of planning a new spinoff film exploring the origin of signature Batman villain The Joker.

The intention reportedly is to make an origin story that isn’t part of any other iteration. The project is the first film under a new banner that has yet to be named that allows Warners to create unique storylines with different actors playing iconic DC characters.

In this case, the plan is reportedly to make a gritty and grounded hard-boiled crime film set in early 1980s Gotham City and so it won’t feel like a DC film. While Jared Leto is expected to play the character in both “Suicide Squad 2” and “Gotham City Sirens,” a different and likely younger actor is being sought for this.

“The Hangover” director Todd Phillips and “8 Mile” scribe Scott Silver will co-write the project which Phillips will direct and Martin Scorsese (yes, THE Martin Scorsese) will produce. Nothing yet is set in terms of scheduling on the project.



 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
The Dark Knight Director, Christopher Nolan, had this to say of the Joker once.....


“He has no development, he doesn’t learn anything through the film; he’s an absolute. He cuts through the film sort of like the shark in Jaws, so he’s a catalyst for action.”

If you look at Hannibal Lecter or someone like that, the more you explain where he came from, the less interesting he is, I think. In that first Michael Mann film, where he’s just sitting in that jail cell, pontificating about serial killers, he’s absolutely terrifying and then each of the films that have had him in as a character have progressively revealed more and more about who he was and have made him more of an ordinary person, and he gets less and less interesting.

I think that an origin story for the Joker would have the same diminishing effect. I don't think we should ever know - or need to know - with any absolute certainty, where he came from, or why he is the way he is.

He just is.
 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
“The Joker” Origin Follows A Bullied Kid


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A week on from the announcement that Warner Bros. Pictures will be pursuing a non-DCEU origin movie about Batman’s arch-nemesis The Joker, the first rumors about the film’s content have emerged.

As we know it will be set in early 1980s Gotham City and will adopt a gritty and hard-boiled crime film tone. Now, MMA fighter-turned-actor Brendan Schaub, who shares an agent with the film’s director Todd Phillips, popped up on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast (via Batman News) and discussed what he’s heard:

“My boy Todd Feldman put this together with Todd Phillips. It’s dark. It’s like a dark Joker. As a kid, he had a permanent smile and everyone made fun of him. It’s like on the streets of Brooklyn. It’s super dark and real.”

The film is expected to serve as the launch title of a new brand of DC standalone/anthology films which will be auteur-driven and can explore unusual story angles.
 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
DiCaprio Wanted For Joker Origin Film?


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Warner Bros. Pictures is reportedly pursuing Oscar winner Leonardo DiCaprio to play the part of The Joker in the upcoming standalone film about the origins of the Batman villain says Heat Vision.

Todd Phillips (“The Hangover”) will direct the film which DiCaprio’s longtime collaborator Martin Scorsese will produce, with Scorsese’s involvement hoping to be a draw for the 42-year-old actor to take on the role.

Sources for the trade say there has been no formal offer to DiCaprio yet, nor has Scorsese’s deal to produce closed as yet. Even so, it offers an idea of the level of prestige Warners is going for with the project.

The story, the first film under a new banner of movies separate from the DCEU continuity, is said to be a gritty hard-boiled crime film set in an early 1980s Gotham City and meant to evoke the grounded feel of Scorsese’s films like “Taxi Driver”.

Phillips is currently co-writing the script with Scott Silver. No production dates have yet been set.
 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
Leto On His Confusion Over The Joker Film


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It’s not just us who are confused about which upcoming DC films will Jared Leto play The Joker in, the actor himself has revealed even he isn’t quite sure.

Leto and fellow 30 Seconds to Mars bandmate Tomo Milicevic spoke to ODE this week during the launch of “Destiny 2” and were asked which of the movies in the works he’ll be in. He says:

“I’m a little confused too, but yeah, there are a couple of things happening in the DC world and I loved the Joker, he’s a great character, a really fun character to play. It’s a big universe and when you play the Joker, there’s no ownership there. You have the honor of holding the baton for a little while and then passing it off. But there are other films in development and I’m excited to see what comes from them.”

Amongst the potential projects he’ll likely be in are Gavin O’Connor’s “Suicide Squad 2,” David Ayer’s “Gotham City Sirens” and the proposed “Joker and Harley Quinn” film. The one he’s confirmed not to be in is Todd Phillips’ The Joker origin film.



 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
Joker’s Origin Film Akin To Aronofsky’s Batman?


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Darren Aronofsky’s “mother!” is now out in cinemas and is dividing audiences with its take no prisoners approach to tearing down the deification of auteurs and the industry that supports it.

The filmmaker is nothing if not ambitious and unafraid, which is why people remain curious about his take on Frank Miller’s seminal graphic novel “Batman: Year One” that was in the works at one point before Christopher Nolan took over the franchise.

Aronofsky previously said he’d cast Clint Eastwood as the Dark Knight and would shoot in Tokyo doubling for Gotham City, with a tone more akin to “Death Wish” or “The French Connection” – ie. dirt, blood and no gadgets.

With R-rated superhero films now proving successful both critically and commercially with the likes of “Logan” and “Deadpool,” Warners has announced plans for a standalone Joker origin story spinoff – one in which he’s a gritty crime boss in a Scorsese-esque Gotham underworld.

Aronofsky, out doing “mother!” promotions, says that this Joker concept film sounds pretty close to what he had intended for Batman. He tells First Showing:

“I think we were basically – whatever it is – 15 years too early. Because I hear the way they’re talking about the Joker movie and that’s exactly – that was my pitch. I was like: we’re going to shoot in East Detroit and East New York. We’re not building Gotham.

The Batmobile – I wanted to be a Lincoln Continental with two bus engines in it….two bus engines, all duct taped together. It was the duct tape MacGyver Batman. And some of my ideas got out there through other films.

Like the ring with “BW”, Bruce Wayne’s ring making the scar was our idea and I think that was in Zack’s or something. Which is fine, you write these ideas and they get out. We were all about reinventing it and trying to make it more Taxi Driver visceral. That was the whole pitch. But the toy people were like, ‘oh it can’t be a Lincoln Continental, you have to make a Batmobile.’

And I think with Chris [Nolan’s] work, which was great, it was just – he hit it [out of the park]. He was able to get the darkness in, and the psychology of the character, yet he was still able to give the gizmo thing, which I wasn’t ever really interested in.

So, I think that’s the back story. I think we were ahead of our time. And I was always like; why can’t we make a more lower-budget rated-R [movie], just like in comics you have different brands but and now they’re finally doing that. They’re doing the spinoffs, which is great.

This is an exciting time because they’ll be able to take more risks and we won’t be seeing the same superhero movie over and over again. You’ll get things like Deadpool, which was a relief as compared to seeing the same film over and over again.”

The next Batman big screen outing will be with Ben Affleck in the character in “Justice League” on November 17th. After that will be Matt Reeves’ take on the character in the standalone “The Batman”.

Reeves is taking over the script writing duties on that film from Ben Affleck and Geoff Johns whose earlier drafts have been ditched. It was recently revealed that David Fincher’s iconic thriller “The Game” served as a big influence on the Johns/Affleck script.

Reeves has said his version will be a “noir driven, detective version of Batman”.
 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
Joaquin Phoenix Could Be The Next ‘The Joker’


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Joaquin Phoenix has reportedly agreed to play The Joker in the origin movie about the Batman villain that Todd Phillips (“The Hangover”) will direct and Martin Scorsese will produce reports Variety.

However, negotiations with Warner Bros. Pictures and DC Films have yet to begin, despite Phillips saying Phoenix is the top choice and indicating he’ll do it – therefore the deal isn’t closed and Phoenix isn’t a lock yet. Phoenix previously dabbled with and then turned down the roles of The Hulk, Doctor Strange and Lex Luthor. Leonardo DiCaprio was previously considered for the part.

The project is being dubbed a gritty hard-boiled crime film set in an early 1980s Gotham City and will be separate from the other DCEU films. Todd Phillips is currently co-writing the script with Scott Silver and will co-produce with Martin Scorsese.
 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
“Killing Joke” Key To Joker Origin Film


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A new report from The Wrap indicates the upcoming untitled Joker origin movie, from “The Hangover” director Todd Phillips and executive producer Martin Scorsese, is using Alan Moore’s iconic 1988 one-shot graphic novel “The Killing Joke” for source material.

The site says the film will portray Batman’s arch-nemesis as a failed 1980s comedian who develops the Joker persona after bombing with audiences. Scott Silver (“8 Mile”) is currently doing re-writes on the project, which is also expected to include nods to Scorsese’s “The King of Comedy”.

In the comic, the unnamed comedian turns to a life of crime to help make ends meet. On one tragic day, his wife and child die in a household accident and during a heist gone wrong, he falls into a vat of chemicals and transforms into the Joker.

At last report, Joaquin Phoenix is ‘close to a deal’ to play the Joker in the movie. However, a week ago Phoenix sort of shot down those reports saying he had no idea that the film even existed. He also recently spoke about his near casting as Doctor Strange, telling Little White Lies:

“I think they make some great, fun movies. There’s nothing wrong… I’m not a fucking, like, cinephile. I’m not a snob and I’m totally fine with… I enjoy those movies sometimes, and I think they keep the fucking industry going in some ways, so I don’t have a problem with it at all. I think that everybody was, is… I’m trying to figure out how to say this most diplomatically, okay… I think everybody was really happy with how things turned out. All parties were satisfied.”

The new Joker film will be a standalone feature and not part of the DCEU. No production schedule or release date has yet been targeted.
 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
“Joker,” “Flash” & More DC Film News


For now there’s only three DC films on the schedule – “Aquaman” for Dec 2018, “Shazam” for early 2019, and “Wonder Woman 1984” which just began filming this week. Matt Reeves’ “The Batman” is also in development with the first draft of the script is now with the studio.

Also in development is the Joaquin Phoenix-led The Joker film which is expected to launch a new sub-label under the DC Films division, possibly labelled DC Black, and is said to be sporting a 1980s gangster tone and an economical $55 million budget.

Then there’s “The Flash” movie starring Ezra Miller which will now be a much lighter and more fun affair. John Francis Daly and Jonathan Goldstein helm the film which will begin production in early 2019 and will likely be the next DCEU film to go into production.
 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
Warners’ “The Joker” Film To Shoot In September?


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Warner Bros. Pictures is determined to get its standalone film about The Joker filming before year’s end with a new report at Omega Underground suggesting it already has a date.

The site says the film, to be directed by Todd Phillips and produced by Martin Scorsese, is expected to start production in September on a much smaller budget than other recent DCEU films.

Rumored to be set in the 1980s, Joaquin Phoenix will play the Clown Prince of Crime in Gotham City in this new and standalone take on the iconic villain from the “Batman” franchise.
 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
Phoenix Not Worried About “Joker” Role


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Joaquin Phoenix isn’t worried about appeasing or disappointing Batman fans with his upcoming Joker origin film it would seem.

Phoenix takes on the role of the iconic DC Comics villain in a $55 million standalone crime drama from “The Hangover” director Todd Phillips, one that isn’t trying to be an all appealing comic book movie but rather a dark exploration of the Clown Prince of Crime’s origins.

Whilst out doing promotion for the western drama “The Sister Brothers” ahead of its festival debut, he tells Indiewire he doesn’t feel much in the way of pressure:

“I could care less. I don’t really think that much about what people think. Who cares, who cares? My approach to every movie is the same. What I’m interested in is the filmmaker and the idea of the character.”

He admits he’s already begun preparation for the role, and the current press he’s doing at the moment is interfering with his prep: “It is ideal to be able to focus on one thing and not do press while you’re prepping for something else, which is not working out.”

Scott Silver (“The Fighter”) has penned the film which also stars the likes of Robert De Niro, Frances Conroy and comedian Marc Maron. Shooting begins next month ahead of an October 4th 2019 release.
 
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