"The Joker" in development with Todd Phillips and Martin Scorsese attached?

[hellblazer103]

"You're not the Baatmen, get out! I need Baatmen, where is he?!"

"I'm Batman "

"YOU'RE Batman ! .... "

(stares off and has a Vietnam flashback )

 

[Rorschach2012]

Jonah Hill is a connection between Todd Phillips and Scorsese. He also just did a film with Phoenix. Don't be surprised when he's courted for Penguin in this. I think we're going to see other Gotham crime bosses.

 

[I Am The Knight]

Surely you jest?

 

[Travesty]

I know a lot of people used to make that Penguin connection because of his body type, but Jonah Hill lost a ton of weight.

 

[Pennywise]

Jonah Hill is a connection between Todd Phillips and Scorsese. He also just did a film with Phoenix. Don't be surprised when he's courted for Penguin in this. I think we're going to see other Gotham crime bosses.

That would be interesting. Maybe even Falcone, or Maroni.

 

[Rorschach2012]

Surely you jest?

Not at all. He'd nail it.

 

[RomanticPenguin]

http://www.isjonahhillfat.com/

 

[Greens]

War Dogs Jonah, sure, but I wouldn't want him to gain all that weight back again

 

[Pennywise]

Recent reports have pegged Joaquin Phoenix to play the Joker in a new DC film directed by Todd Phillips and produced by Martin Scorsese that would sort of track the origins of the character and not be connected to the current DC cinematic universe. However, while Variety reported the actor was in negotiations for the part, Phoenix has remained cagey on whether or not he’s doing the movie. In a lengthy conversation in support of his new movie You Were Never Really Here, Fandango asked Phoenix point blank whether he was going to play the Joker, and, well, he’s still not talking.

“I don’t know… it could be an interesting character, I don’t know,” Phoenix said with a bit of a mischievous grin on his face. He didn’t deny the news like he has previously, but he also didn’t confirm either way whether he’d be playing DC’s Clown Prince.

If he did take on the role, it’d be one of the more high-profile films Joaquin Phoenix has ever done. And it’s not the first comic book movie to come calling either, with Phoenix’s name thrown around for everything from Marvel’s Doctor Strange to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.



So does he have a comic book itch that needs scratching and he’s just waiting for the right project? According to Phoenix, he’s certainly up for a big, splashy superhero movie, but only if the conditions are exactly right.

“I see it as any other movie,” he said. “I wouldn’t say… “I won’t do Westerns.” It depends on what it is. I don’t really care about the genre, I care about the character and the filmmaker. If you have the ability to transcend the genre, then that’s what you want to do. So I wouldn’t say, hands down, no – I wouldn’t do that kind of movie. There are things where I’ve flirted with the possibility where there was the potential for this to be… something that’s actually interesting to me. But then for whatever reason they never got to that place where everyone else feels the same way. And that’s key. Everyone has to want to explore the same thing or else it just doesn’t f**king work. I’m not opposed to it. I don’t make decisions on budget or things like that – it’s really the filmmaker and the character.”

When we told Phoenix that he’d make a really good Joker and that he should do it, he sat back, smiled, rubbed his hands together and gave a look as if to say, well, we’ll see. Based on his overall response, though, it seems like this is only happening if everyone is on the same page with regards to how he’s going to portray the character -- and like he said, he’s most interested if it means he has the chance to transcend the genre. With a character like the Joker, that’s certainly possible, but will it all come together in the way the actor would like it to? Clearly that’s still to be determined.

https://www.fandango.com/movie-news...playing-the-joker-could-be-interesting-753114

 

[Rorschach2012]

That's pretty much a confirmation that he's considering it then.

They've gotta do this one. It opens up so many possibilities for other out of continuity stories

 

[Elayis]

It's nice to hear that this isn't just a pipe dream, but that doesn't necessarily mean he'll end up doing it. I think I remember him discussing possibly doing Doctor Strange before he eventually turned it down (or was that after?).

 

[David H.]

Joaquin was Marvel’s #2 pick for Strange, yeah. At one point it seemed Cumberbatch wouldn’t be available so they contacted him but it was really Sherlock’s role from day one.

 

[Rorschach2012]

Joaquin was Marvel’s #2 pick for Strange, yeah. At one point it seemed Cumberbatch wouldn’t be available so they contacted him but it was really Sherlock’s role from day one.

I'm glad. Cumby was better suited for that role from the beginning

 

[David H.]

He was almost Ed Norton’s replacement in The Avengers.

 

[Elayis]

I'm glad. Cumby was better suited for that role from the beginning

I like him in the role but his American accents a little wonky.

 

[Scarlet Spider]

It's nice to hear that this isn't just a pipe dream, but that doesn't necessarily mean he'll end up doing it. I think I remember him discussing possibly doing Doctor Strange before he eventually turned it down (or was that after?).

He was almost Ed Norton’s replacement in The Avengers.

He was also in "talks" to play Lex Luthor:

http://variety.com/2013/film/news/warners-joaquin-phoenix-batman-superman-1200969925/

 

[David H.]

I always thought I'd make a great Joker... It would be the perfect one for me to go even more off the rails than I've ever done before and, y'know, it'd be fun.

http://www.joblo.com/movie-news/exc...reau-which-supervillain-he-d-like-to-play-303

 

[Kane52630]

Let's do it.

 

[Pennywise]

Phoenix being coy yet again:

Collider: Franchise movies are bigger than ever. I would imagine that you have probably been offered many types of franchises and/or superhero roles. Does that interest you at all?

JOAQUIN PHOENIX: I guess it depends. It depends on the character, and the filmmaker, and what they’re after. I wouldn’t refuse anything just based on the genre. I think about superhero movies the way that I imagine Westerns were. There were just these comics that were like Westerns, and then they started making movies. At some point, someone came along and was like, “Wait a minute, we can actually really explore something here, about humanity and the character.” I think that there’s that potential with any movie. I have had meetings, and I’ve gotten close to a couple of things, because I’ve thought, “There’s something in that character that might be interesting,” but ultimately it didn’t work out.

There was a lot of talk about you doing Doctor Strange. There’s been talk about you and Joker. The advantage of the superhero movie is these are some of the few films that have such a large canvas to work with, in terms of the budget and the way you can build a world. They’re very, very popular, and some of them are awesome.

PHOENIX: I mean who cares about popular? Sometimes having a limited budget might be really good. Something about having to work really hard, and adapt to your budget, that maybe creates something interesting, right?

Totally.

PHOENIX: I think that’s probably … Isn’t that kind of what’ll happen? Sometimes a movie will work, and then they’ll do a sequel and they’ll have a bigger budget, and everyone kind of relaxes a little bit, and then it just gets progressively worse and worse?

Sometimes. But I look at the Marvel movies, and I think that what Kevin Feige has done over there has been very impressive, in terms of building this huge universe.

PHOENIX: Amazing.

There has been a lot of talk about you possibly being in a one-off superhero movie with Todd Phillips, playing an iconic role. I guess I just sort of want to know is there any smoke to that fire, or is that fire completely off base?

PHOENIX: What does that mean?

There’s a lot of talk about Todd Phillips making an 80s movie about the origins of the Joker, you know the Batman villain. I’m just curious if there’s any smoke to that fire, or if you really don’t know anything about it?

PHOENIX: I don’t know really. I don’t know.

Sure. Do you know who Todd Phillips is?

PHOENIX: He did …

The Hangover movies.

PHOENIX: Yeah. I’ve met him, I like him.

He’s a talented filmmaker and a good guy.

PHOENIX: For sure.

I’ll put it like this, is that a role that you’re even remotely interested in pursuing? A lot of people sort of look at Heath Ledger and what he did with that character with Christopher Nolan in The Dark Knight, and sort of say, “That is the pinnacle,” do you know what I mean? That performance, he gave his heart and soul to that performance. Some people might be, I don’t want to say the word intimidated, but you can kind of always be compared and contrasted to that iconic performance.

PHOENIX: Yeah. I don’t know about that movie or character specifically, but I was thinking about it’s interesting with comics. We were talking, there’s different writers and artists that come on.

It’s different than this character from literature being uniquely that. There are different interpretations. It’s so interesting; I was just thinking about it today, it seems so unique in some ways to comic books. I think there’s probably room for that. Maybe it’s like doing a play, like you always hear about people doing something, “You should have seen this actor in this performance,” but then other actors do it and it’s a different kind of film. I think that genre, comic books, kind of lends itself to having different people play the same character and interpret it in a different way. It’s kind of built into the source material in some ways. I think it’s cool when people do that.

I completely agree with you. I think that when you read a Batman story by one writer and a Batman story by another writer, he’s still Batman, but it’s totally different dialogue, and totally different …

PHOENIX: Tone and feel.

Totally. It’s also who’s drawing it and who’s inking it, and all of that stuff, and what’s the story that they’re telling. I guess what I’m saying is, I won’t make you talk about it anymore, but I am curious if you’re going to do it.

PHOENIX: I have no idea what we’re talking about.

Sure.

PHOENIX: It’s interesting though, to talk about.

Just to let you know, a story broke, just to make it as clear as I can, that you were the guy that they were talking to about playing the Joker in a Todd Phillips Joker movie, where he’s like a standup comedian in the 80s, and somehow …

PHOENIX: That sounds pretty good.

It’s how he became the Joker, but it’s like a solo movie. It’s not connected to the others, going to what you said about how it could be a different writer, a different director, a different take on that character. It also fits into what you were saying about not doing something that’s going to be sequels, and spinoffs, and everything else.

PHOENIX: That sounds pretty funny.

I’ve got to be honest with you, and I speak for fandom, the people online that talk about movies and whatever, there aren’t too many actors who are announced for a major role and fandom in unison says, “**** yes.” That happened when you were mentioned. People were very, very excited about that, to see your take and your performance. I’m letting you know that there are a lot of people interested in it.

PHOENIX: Wow. Sounds pretty cool.

Look for more with Joaquin Phoenix very soon.

http://collider.com/joaquin-phoenix-joker-movie-marvel-comic-book-movies/#poster

 

[Astro13Zombie]

Sounds pretty good

Sounds pretty funny

Sounds pretty cool

 

[Pennywise]

Sounds pretty good

Sounds pretty funny

Sounds pretty cool

 

[Pennywise]

Another interview where he briefly talks about Joker.

"The Joker? Who's that? Oh, the Batman Joker," the Oscar-nominated actor says with a raspy chuckle over the line from New York.
It's a glimpse of the playful side of someone who's been labelled enigmatic, private and reclusive.
"I have no idea," he adds. "Here's my thing: I never know what I'm doing until I'm actually doing it, until I'm actually shooting. So there are several things that I think are interesting and I don't know what I'm going to do."

https://www.ctvnews.ca/entertainmen...reer-and-you-were-never-really-here-1.3878887

Love how he acts like he doesn't know who The Joker is!

 

[Wheels]

What's a Joker? A movie? Is that those stories with moving pictures that I`ve heard tell of?

 

[Greens]

Damn, Frosty from Collider really pushed it with the Joker questions.

 

[I Am The Knight]

It reads really awkward. I know it's Joaquin Phoenix...