Joker Director Shares New Behind-the-Scenes Image of Joaquin Phoenix

The latest look at DC’s Joker movie has officially arrived, and it just might make diehard fans put on a happy face. On Sunday, director Todd Phillips took to Instagram to share a new behind-the-scenes photo, which showcases star Joaquin Phoenix painting his face white in front of multiple mirrors. You can check it out below.

Outside of the film’s well-received first trailer and poster, these behind-the-scenes photos from Phillips have been a lot of the official looks we’ve gotten of the film. And while we’ve already seen quite a lot of Phoenix’s Joker makeup, there’s something particularly poignant about seeing it in progress like this.

Phoenix will star as Arthur Fleck, a failed stand-up comedian whose descent into madness turns him into the villain.

“I wouldn’t quite classify this as like any genre,” Phoenix said in an interview last year. “I wouldn’t say it’s a superhero movie, or a studio movie or a … It feels unique, and I think more then anything, and probably the most important thing, is Todd seems very passionate about it and very giving, and so that’s exciting. I think, underneath the excitement of these films, and the size of them, there are these incredible characters that are dealing with real life struggles. And sometimes that is uncovered and exposed, and sometimes it isn’t, and so I always felt, like, there were characters in comics that were really interesting and deserve the opportunity to be kind of studied. And so I think that’s what Todd sees appealing about this idea.”

“I take a lot of time and consideration when making decisions and what I’m gonna work on, always.” Phoenix added. “So, in some ways, the process, which is obviously reading a script and meeting a filmmaker and then continuing to have meetings and discussions with Todd [Phillips]. I think he’s very impressive and 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 f-cking sh-t out of me or something. It might as well be the thing that scares you the most.”

Joining Phoenix in the film are Zazie Beetz, Robert De Niro, Frances Conroy, Marc Maron, and Brian Tyree Henry.

“I think it’s going to be very different because it really goes into just the origin story. Villains are never born that way, they’re made,” Henry recently explained. “There’s something that happens in their lives that they give up their faith in humanity; they see the flaws of humanity and mankind and feel like they must correct it. And what happens with Joker is you start to see how he really was a happy person. He really was trying to find this…hope in humanity until it broke him down and he just had to give up and reshape it.”

What do you think of the latest look at Joker? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Upcoming DC movies include Joker on October 10th, Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) on February 7, 2020, Wonder Woman 1984 on June 5, 2020, The Batman on June 25, 2021, The Suicide Squad on August 6, 2021, and Aquaman 2 on December 16, 2022.