‘Joker’ Movie Reportedly Confirms Zazie Beetz

There has been a ton of speculation surrounding Joker, the new movie exploring the legendary Batman villain’s origin. While we know Joaquin Phoenix will take on the role as directed by Todd Phillips, little else has been confirmed.

But now it seems that Deadpool 2 star Zazie Beetz has been confirmed for the film, jumping from Marvel’s X-Men universe to dabble in the world of DC Comics in a role that was speculated by That Hashtag Show.

Now the outlet reports that she is indeed in the new movie, and that she’ll be playing the role of Sophie Dumond, who is being touted as a love interest for the once and future Joker.

Here’s what they previously revealed about the casting breakdown for Beetz’ character:

“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.”

The movie is set to begin filming in September, with comedian Marc Maron also confirmed for the film.

Robert De Niro has also been in discussions to join the film as a sort of talk show host or news commentator, though his involvement has yet to be confirmed.

Though news of a Joker origin movie might seem like it’s coming out of left field, especially given the characters’ ambiguous roots in the comic books as well as the fact that Jared Leto most recently played the role in Suicide Squad as part of DC’s ongoing universe of movies, it’s not that surprising to the star.

Phoenix recently spoke about his desire to take on this role years ago, and why he’s comfortable doing it today.

“I take a lot of time and consideration when making decisions and what I’m gonna work on always,” Phoenix told Collider. “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—ing s— out of me or something. It might as well be the thing that scares you the most.”

Joker is rumored to premiere in October 2019.