The forthcoming Joker movie, starring Joaquin Phoenix as the iconic villain, has added two cast members – Alfred and young Bruce Wayne.
The origins movie is directed by The Hangover’s Todd Phillips and is expected to hit cinemas on October 4, 2019. The script has been co-written by Phillips and Scott Silver – who was behind the Eminem-starring movie 8 Mile. Robert De Niro and Frances Conroy have already been announced as cast members for the project.
In the movie’s latest update, The Night Manager‘s Douglas Hodge will play Alfred while Dante Pereira-Olson will play Bruce Wayne as a child. Pereira-Olson has worked with Phoenix before, starring alongside him in 2017’s You Were Never Really Here.
Back in August, it was announced that Marc Maron had also signed onto the film. He’ll play an agent who books Phoenix’s character on Robert De Niro’s talk show. It’s this booking that eventually causes him to go mad and become the Joker.
The film’s budget is a modest $55million so it’s expected that the DC movie will leave out the big actions sequences in favour of concentrating how the Joker eventually came to be Batman’s ultimate foe.
Last month, the studio shared the creepy first camera test of Joaquin Phoenix in the film. The camera test saw Phoenix’s face plastered with projections of The Joker, before he’s revealed in full make-up.
Phillips also shared the first official look at Phoenix’s character, captioning it ‘Arthur’, which seemingly confirms widespread rumours that the character’s real name is Arthur Fleck.
Responding to critics of his casting as the villain, Phoenix said: “I don’t really think that much about what people think. Who cares, who cares?”
His detractors have repeatedly questioned whether he was suitable for the role, while others wondered how his role would work when a standalone Joker film with Jared Leto is also believed to be in the works.