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‘Joker’ Standalone Movie Casting Descriptions Hint at Film’s Supporting Cast

That Hashtag Show, who make a habit of breaking news based on casting descriptions and sides from […]

That Hashtag Show, who make a habit of breaking news based on casting descriptions and sides from upcoming projects, have what appears to be a look inside the world of Todd Phillips’s Joker.

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The film, which will star Joaquin Phoenix as the Clown Prince of Crime, appears to be establishing its own world and continuity independent of what has come in comics and movies before, and seems to be taking a look at Gotham’s poor, grimy side rather than the more high-end organized crime and heist tales usually told in the city.

Without giving away much in the way of a story, the descriptions give a sense for the world and have opened up a lot of questions that THS speculate about in their piece.

First of comes Penny, who sounds quite a bit like she might be a character out of Watchmen, and who most likely will be The Joker’s mom. That is likely backed up by a claim that they are casting a younger version of the character, presumably for flashbacks.

Supporting Female (60-74) Caucasian. Lower class, very attractive in her younger days, still feels that way about herself. But recently her health has started failing, and she’s nearly bedridden in her Lower East Side apartment which she shares with her grown son who just moved back home. She’s obsessed with her former employer and can’t believe that this is what her life has come to, that she has ended up here, like this…

Another woman, this one younger and possibly a love interest for The Joker (which…would that make it the wife from The Killing Joke? Or maybe a proto-Harley Quinn?):

Supporting female (27-34) to play African American or to play Latina. Not beautiful, has a hardness to her, a single mother living on the Lower East Side, doing the best she can, trying to make ends meet; worn out by the grind of the city. She understands how the system is stacked against her and the people in her community, how unjust it all is for them. She’s just trying to catch a break…

There is a duo named Randall and Gary, who will apparently be a team of some kind. There is also another, older man named Murray Franklin, who has no description but which THS claims could be a part for Robert DeNiro.

Randall – Supporting Male (40-59) Caucasian. Thinks he’s the wisest and most knowledgeable person in any room he’s in, tries to present himself as a mentor to everybody, but is really just looking out for himself, burly.

Gary – Supporting Male (30-49) any ethnicity to play a dwarf; Randall’s best friend, he’s good-natured and a buddy to his colleagues at work, one of the only decent people in the whole movie.

There is another stand-alone guy — this one a hotel manager — who appears to be a low-class but kind of imposing figure named Hoyt Vaughn:

Supporting Male (50-69) any ethnicity the old-school manager of hotel staff. He’s seen it all, and finds it difficult to give a shit about much of anything anymore.

…And of course there are cops. Because it’s Gotham City, so what would the movie be without the corrupt and violent police officers?

Detective Garrity – Supporting Male (50-59) any ethnicity. Police Detective in a city on the brink; a by-the-book cop, worn down by all his years on the force. He doesn’t care about or take into consideration any of the societal or political ramifications of his cases.

Detective Burke – Supporting Male (30-39) any ethnicity. A Police Detective and Garrity’s partner; he’s an asshole, who gets off by being in a position of authority. Being a cop is how he defines himself.

This standlone project is just one of the Joker-related movies that DC currently has in production. Earlier this month, it was announced that Warner Bros. is developing a solo movie surrounding Jared Leto’s Joker, who played a somewhat-controversial role in 2016’s Suicide Squad.