It was just yesterday that we passed along the first poster for The Hangover and Due Date co-writer-director Todd Phillips' gritty Joker origin film starring Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck aka The Clown Prince of Crime. That poster came to us from Phillips himself over on Instagram, and in his post, he promised us that the powers that be behind the scenes at Warner Bros. and DC would be dropping the teaser trailer on all of our heads today. And low and behold the director is a man of his word as today we have, you guessed it, the teaser trailer for Joker!
This teaser obviously gives us our first look at Phillips' new "dark and gritty" character study of the man who would be Joker. Set in Gotham City way back in 1981, Phillips' version of Batman's ultimate super-villain starts out as the rather simple tale of a failed stand-up comedian (played by Joaquin Phoenix) who turns to a life of crime and creating chaos after his society has disregarded him. By "his society", I figure they mean other comedians. I picture it as kind of like if Gob from Arrested Development became a super-villain named The Magician after being outed by that Magical Alliance (The Alliance of Magicians, Michael).
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Anyhow, Todd Phillips has lined up one killer supporting cast for Phoenix to play off of (and probably kill) including the likes of Zazie Beetz (Deadpool 2, The Twilight Zone), Robert De Niro (Once Upon a Time in America, The King of Comedy), and Shea Whigham (Sicario: Day of the Soldado, Bad Times at the El Royale). But that's not all, Phillips has also snagged Frances Conroy (How I Met Your Mother, American Horror Story), Glenn Fleshler (Boardwalk Empire, The Twilight Zone), and Bryan Callen (Romantic Encounters with Melinda Hill, The 41-Year-Old Virgin Who Knocked Up Sarah Marshall and Felt Superbad About It). On top of that, Brett Cullen (Ghost Rider, The Dark Knight Rises) will be in the film as well along with Marc Maron (Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, Almost Famous), Douglas Hodge (Red Sparrow, Black Mirror), and Josh Pais (Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, I Saw the Light). Bill Camp (The Night Of, Midnight Special) rounds out the cast along with Dante Pereira-Olson (You Were Never Really Here, Mozart in the Jungle) as young Bruce Wayne.
Todd Phillips (Starsky & Hutch, Hated: GG Allin & the Murder Junkies) directs this Joker origin story from a screenplay he co-wrote along with Scott Silver (The Finest Hours, The Mod Squad) based on the character created by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson. Phillips will also be producing the film along with Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook, A Star Is Born), and Emma Tillinger Koskoff (Shutter Island, The Irishman). Lawrence Sher (Godzilla: King of the Monsters, The Dukes of Hazzard) is the film's cinematographer, Hildur Guðnadóttir (Mary Magdalene, Sicario: Day of the Soldado) is handling the movie's music, and Jeff Groth (The Wedding Ringer, Office Christmas Party) serves as its editor.
The production companies behind the $55 million flick include Sikelia Productions, Joint Effort Productions, Bron Creative, Village Roadshow Pictures, and DC Films. Warner Bros. Pictures will distribute Todd Phillips' Joker starring Joaquin Phoenix into a theater near you on October 4, 2019. This teaser trailer comes to us from Warner Bros. official YouTube channel.
