‘Joker’ Origin Movie Rumored to Be Targeting R-Rating

Warner Bros.’ Joker movie is set to push boundaries in some pretty interesting ways, and it sounds like that could be taken to new heights.

A new report from Geeks Worldwide suggests that the upcoming DC Comics-inspired film is “possibly targeting” an R-rating, which would be necessary for the film’s use of female nudity in smaller roles. While it’s unclear exactly what the context of that nudity would be, the report hypothesized that it has to do with strippers — something that is supported by comments from recently-added cast member Bryan Callen.

“I’m doing the Joker.” Callen explained on a recent episode of his podcast. “I was offered a part. That’ll be fun, but i think it’s only a couple days. Play an aging dancer, stripper. I don’t want to go into the details. I can’t go into the details, but just know it’s gonna be good. And I hope my psoriasis is flaring cause that’ll be very funny. I’ll be in a Speed-O, I can’t wait. I have some ideas for it.”

Considering the fact that Joker is set to be a gritty, Taxi Driver-esque character study — and it is existing untethered to the main DC Extended Universe continuity — this hypothetical R-rating certainly makes sense. Even with an R-rating being necessary because of the nudity – something that the MPAA is generally pretty adamant about – the classification could allow the film to get into some weirder, darker thematic territory than audiences would normally expect. Seeing as fans spent a brief amount of time wanting that same rating for Suicide Squad, and the whole nature of the Batman v. Superman extended cut, it certainly would be interesting to see Joker get into theaters with that classification.

Joker is being directed by Todd Phillips and executive produced by Martin Scorsese. The film is set to star Joaquin Phoenix in its titular role, with Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy, and Marc Maron also in the cast. The film is expected to begin production in September.

“I wouldn’t quite classify this as like any genre,” Phoenix said in a recent interview. “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.”

Are you on board with Joker possibly being rated R? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Joker will be released on October 22, 2019.