'Suicide Squad' Director Thinks Joaquin Phoenix Will Crush It as Joker

Last week, fans got their first look at Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker in Todd Phillips' upcoming [...]

By Nicole Drum

Last week, fans got their first look at Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker in Todd Phillips' upcoming origin movie and it's a strikingly different look than the last time we saw the Joker in Suicide Squad. Now, director David Ayer is weighing in with praise for both Phoenix and Phillips.

In a Tweet shared late Sunday, Ayer replied to a fan who asked what his first impression of both Phoenix's look as the Joker as well as the film itself and the Suicide Squad director's response left no room for doubt. Check it out below.

"Todd and Joaquin are going to crush it," Ayer wrote.

Back in 2016, Ayer's Suicide Squad gave DC fans Jared Leto as the Joker and presented a very different take than what we've seen thus far of Phoenix's version. In Suicide Squad, Leto's version sported quite a few tattoo's, including the often criticized "damaged" tattoo on his forehead. At the time, Ayer defended the choice, telling Yahoo Movies that each tattoo told a story and had their own Easter eggs.

"And eventually people will deceiver them and understand what's going on, but obviously they're contentious, any time you do something new it's contentious," Ayer said. "There's very specific stories and Easter eggs in those tattoos. And even his teeth, there's an entire story behind that which is absolutely canon. It's putting his history on his body. This joker is a little more working class, who I believe could live in our world."

However, Ayer has since decided that the "damaged" tattoo might have been too much. He also tweeted on Sunday that it was "one step too far."

When it comes to Phoenix's Joker, however, he doesn't appear to have any tattoos though he is definitely interested in digging in to that same, real-life element that Ayer was going for in Suicide Squad. Phoenix recently explained to Collider that beneath even a character like the Joker there is a character dealing with "real life struggles".

"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," Phoenix said. "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 as appealing about this idea."

What do you think about Ayer's endorsement of the upcoming Joker origin movie? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

The Joker is scheduled to premiere in theaters on October 4, 2019.

0comments
Start the Conversation

of