In a bit of news that seems to be coming out of nowhere, it’s now being reported that Oscar-winner Joaquin Phoenix is in talks to play the crowned prince of crime, The Joker, in a new Warner Bros film that is being co-written and directed by Todd Phillips (Hangover). The movie is set as a standalone film, based around the villain and it will be part of a new banner of DC/ Warner Bros films that takes place outside of the continuity of the DCEU. So, if you loved Jared Leto in Suicide Squad, you can rest assured that Phoenix isn’t being called in as a replacement.
There’s a good chance that this is the latest evolution of the rumored Joker film that Martin Scorsese and
Leonardo DiCaprio were supposedly going to pair on. In that film, we were told to expect a film in the same vein as Taxi Driver, that would show “what it took for the Joker to become a mastermind criminal.” With Scorsese no longer being mentioned as part of the project (though that doesn’t mean he’s not involved), we currently don’t know if the film will still follow that path, or head off in a new direction.