Joaquin Phoenix's Joker Takes Over Empire Magazine Cover

Empire magazine's new cover has hit social media, bringing with it a new and haunting look at [...]

By Russ Burlingame

Empire magazine's new cover has hit social media, bringing with it a new and haunting look at Joaquin Phoenix in the role of Arthur Fleck, his title character from director Todd Phillips's upcoming psychological drama Joker. The film will be set in the days leading up to the Clown Prince of Crime becoming the villain we all know, and will seemingly center on the pressures that caused Fleck to crack and become a criminal mastermind. Along with Phoenix, the film stars Zazie Beetz, Robert De Niro, Marc Maron, Frances Conroy, and Brett Cullen. The film is due in theaters this October.

Per the official synopsis, Joker centers around the iconic arch-nemesis and is an original, standalone story not seen before on the big screen. The exploration of Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix), a man disregarded by society, is not only a gritty character study, but also a broader cautionary tale. You can see the image from Empire below.

The whole "broader cautionary tale" part is what has been emerging as the core of the thematic subtext to this Joker movie. Set videos and photos from the months of shooting in NYC this fall have revealed that Joker will be aligning its tale of the creation of Batman's nemesis to the socio-economic-political realities of Trump-era America. Essentially, Joaquin Phoenix's Arthur Fleck becomes a entertainer who is disenfranchised by society and suffers some personal loss, thereby twisting him into an anarchic figure, who uses his flamboyant clown persona to stir the socio-economic unrest bubbling under Gotham's surface into a full-on revolt. Set videos of a subway sequence show Fleck in full Joker makeup leading a mob commuters in clown masks in riot against Gotham's wealthy elite.

Fleck's list of targets seems to include Thomas Wayne's political ambitions, with clown protesters flashing signs like "Kill the Rich" and"Blame Wayne", and Thomas Wayne's bid for Mayor already having been confirmed as part of the film's plotline. At this time, it's unclear if Joker director Todd Phillips is actually taking a political slant in this film - the evidence piling up instead points to Joker being a warning about the kind of everyday citizen that can be twisted into a monster by a toxic socio-political-economic climate, and the general disregard and/or disrespect of his fellow citizens and neighbors. Done well, it's a powerful and timely story that could be built on the back of one of the most charismatic villains in comic book history - but it's definitely a thin tightrope to walk, in these divisive times.

Joker hits theaters on October 4th.

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