Age of The Nerd
Well, well. It seems that after much speculation that the rumored standalone joker film starring Joaquin Phoenix has been given the green light! Even though there has been no official announcement for the film, THR is reporting that the standalone film is now officially happening. The film was first rumored back in August of last year, but since then we haven’t heard much but rumblings. Although Warner Brothers was initially eyeing Leonardo DiCaprio for the lead role, Phoenix entered talks in february of this year. Now, it seems that Phoenix’s deal has been finalized with ‘War Dogs‘ director Todd Phillips taking the helm, along with co-writing the picture.
The untitled Joker movie been described as “an exploration of a man disregarded by society [that] is not only a gritty character study, but also a broader cautionary tale.” Indeed it seems that the film will be more of a self-contained story that will be more concerned with dissecting the character rather than making more connections to the current DCEU slate of films. In other words, it’s a one-off. The film is rumored to have a production budget of $55 million (a far cry some most superhero movies) with hopes of beginning shooting later this year. It’s not known if this film will carry an R-rating, but the film is said to be a darker, more risky take on the character, suggesting that this may be the case.
The final revelation here is that Martin Scorsesse is no longer attached to produce the project. Although the legendary director & producer seemed instrumental in attracting interest in the project, that’s no longer the case. Even more interesting is that Frequent Scorsesse collaborator Emma Tillinger Koskoff (‘The Wold of Wall Street’) is producing this film with Richard Baratta serving as an executive producer. While Joaquin Phoenix was originally tight-lipped about his involvement with the project, an unusually unreserved Phoenix recent open up about his involvement in a recent interview with Collider. Here’s what Phoenix had to say about joining the project:
[quote]“I take a lot of time and consideration when making decisions and what I’m gonna work on always. So, in some ways, the process, which is obviously reading a script and meeting a filmmaker and then continuing to have meetings and discussions with Todd [Phillips]. I think he’s very impressive and he seems to have a very interesting understanding of this world and what he’s trying to say. And so there is something very appealing about that and working with him on this particular project. It feels unique, it is its own world in some ways, and maybe, mostly, it scares the fucking shit out of me or something. It might as well be the thing that scares you the most.”[/quote]Indeed, it seems that Pheonix was hesitant to take on the role, but once he realized that the film would not be connected to the current slate of DCEU films it’s easy to see how a character actor like Phoenix would latch on to more of a character study.
[quote]“I wouldn’t quite classify this as like any genre. 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.’[/quote]This Joker standalone movie has yet to shake out a release date, but it’s possible that the film could see a possible 2019 release. Make sure to check back as more develops on the film in the future.
