Joaquin Phoenix’s debut turn as the Joker has received an official release date and title, after Warner Bros confirmed the project.
The origins movie, directed by The Hangover’s Todd Phillips, will hit cinemas on October 4 2019.
As for the title, they’re planning on keeping it simple and to the point – opting for the very direct Joker.
With a budget of $55, it’s expected that the DC movie will eschew big actions sequences in favour of concentrating how the Joker eventually came to be Batman’s ultimate foe.
According to Warner Bros, the film is an “exploration of a man disregarded by society [that] is not only a gritty character study, but also a broader cautionary tale.”
The film has been co-written by Phillips and 8 Mile scribe Scott Silver.
It was recently revealed that the idea of a lower-budget character driven superhero movie came directly from Phoenix – and he envisaged it years ago.
“Three or four years ago, I called my agent and said ‘Why don’t they want to take one of these characters and just make a lower budget film about it, a movie but a character study, and why not take one of the villains?’ And I thought, ‘You can’t do the Joker, because, you know, it’s just you can’t do that character, it’s just been done,’” he told Collider.
Describing his work with Todd Phillips, Phoenix said: “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.”