Director Todd Philips has shared the new image of Joaquin Phoenix as the Clown Prince of Crime, ‘Joker,’ the highly anticipated DC movie. The black and white photograph shows Joaquin Phoenix sitting in front of a mirror applying the characteristic white face paint of Joker. “Finishing touches,” Phillips wrote under the photo which was shared on his official Instagram handle. Apart from sharing the image, the director also confirmed the R-rating potential of ‘Joker.’ In response to a follower’s question, Phillips wrote “It will be Rated R. I’ve been asked this a lot. Just assumed people knew. Sorry,” reports The Wrap.
‘Joker’ is reportedly set in 1981 while featuring the clown as a failed, broken stand-up comedian Arthur Fleck. A recently released trailer revealed his descend into madness and brutal violence as an aftermath of the experiences. He unleashes his wrath on Gotham City inhabitants before being promoted as Batman’s arch-rival. The movie is touted as an origin story of Joker which chronicles his step-by-step transformation from a comedian with stolen dreams to the psychic super villain.
“I wouldn’t quite classify this as like any genre,” Phoenix told Collider last year. “I wouldn’t say it’s a superhero movie, or a studio movie or a … It feels unique, and I think more then anything, and probably the most important thing, is Todd seems very passionate about it and very giving, and so that’s exciting. I think, underneath the excitement of these films, and the size of them, there are these incredible characters that are dealing with real life struggles. And sometimes that is uncovered and exposed, and sometimes it isn’t, and so I always felt, like, there were characters in comics that were really interesting and deserve the opportunity to be kind of studied. And so I think that’s what Todd sees appealing about this idea.”
‘Joker’ also stars Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy, Marc Maron, Bill Camp, Glenn Fleshler, Shea Whigham, and Brett Cullen. Phillips co-wrote the script for the movie with Scott Silver. The movie, which is expected to be a gritty crime noir like the movies of the ’80s, hits theaters on October 10, 2017.
The DC universe is all set to unleash their superheroes and villains one by one after ‘Joker.’ The highly-anticipated ‘Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)’ comes to theaters on February 7, 2020. ‘Wonder Woman 1984‘ is lined up for a June 5, 2020 release. ‘The Batman‘ will hit the screens on June 25, 2021, followed by ‘The Suicide Squad‘ on August 6, 2021. ‘Aquaman 2‘ is set for December 16, 2022 release.
Check out Todd Phillips’ Instagram post below.
Cover Image Courtesy: Warner Bros.
