Marc Maron's Role In 'Joker' Movie Reportedly Revealed

Podcasting great Marc Maron, fresh off a role in the Netflix hit GLOW, will reportedly play a role in Joker, and thanks to That Hashtag Show, we might know what the role is.

According to the site, which frequently has the inside track on casting calls and other casting-related news, Maron will play the producer of a talk show, the host of which will be Robert De Niro's character.

DeNiro is part of the cast likely due to the involvement of his frequent collaborator Martin Scorcese, who will produce the film for Warner Bros. and was the first name publicly attached to this version of Joker.

Given that this film has been rumored to have some political undertones, and that Frank Miller's seminal miniseries The Dark Knight Returns is a frequent source of inspiration for live-action adaptations of Batman stories and characters, it might be reasonable to wonder whether the film's "talk show" elements might be influenced by the "talking heads" TV segments that weaved in and out of the narrative of that story.

In the animated version of The Dark Knight Returns, one talk show host was played by real-life late-night legend Conan O'Brien. While the name "David Endochrine" seems unlikely to recur in a movie that seems to be taking itself pretty seriously, anything is possible.

The film will be stand-alone and set outside of the existing continuity of DC films, so star Joaquin Phoenix is not expected to replace Jared Leto as The Joker in the mainstream DC movie universe. Of course, with this coming up as a prequel, Ben Affleck likely leaving the role of Batman, and Matt Reeves's The Batman also reportedly inspired by Year One-style origin stories, it would not be difficult to imagine whatever Batman debuts in that movie eventually meeting up with Phoenix's Joker rather than Leto's.

Joker, which is being directed by Todd Phillips, will also star Robert De Niro, Marc Maron, and Zazie Beetz, will be released in October of 2019. The film is currently looking to fill a hole left by Alec Baldwin, who they hoped would play Thomas Wayne in the movie, but who backed out shortly after the news became public.