With filming underway on The Joker, fans are starting to get glimpses of Joaquin Phoenix‘s take on the classic Batman villain from DC Comics. And it turns out, it appears to be very much inspired by the original Batman ’66 TV series as well as the iconic portrayal in The Dark Knight.
Videos by ComicBook.com
A new set video from TMZ shows a bit of the action from the new film, taking place on a subway in New York City. There are quite a few interesting bits from this video, including the fact that Phoenix is wearing a very similar costume to Cesar Romero from the old TV series. The purple, orange, and green are all in a similar pattern as the classic series, and it appears that Arthur Fleck is in full on Joker mode.
But one of the other interesting aspects of this clip is that it appears to be channeling Heath Ledger’s take on the Joker from Christopher Nolan’s classic Batman movie The Dark Knight, sans the scars.
The swagger Phoenix has as he stumbles off the train, not even caring enough to survey the chaos he’s just ignited, is straight out of the playbook from that particular portrayal.
Every onscreen iteration of the Joker has been drastically different thus far, but perhaps we are looking at a possible prequel to what many people consider the best interpretation? After all, Phoenix is very much a character actor with enough clout in Hollywood to only take on the roles he wants to. Why else would he take on a “superhero” movie like The Joker?
“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 previously told Collider. “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.”
This new video also confirms that Joker has yet to take a dip in a vat of patented ACE chemicals, as he’s wearing the clown paint we saw in the screen test. But even then, Phoenix is donning the green hair that’s become a part of the character’s trademark look.
It remains to be seen just how this movie will play out, but it seems like the “One Bad Day” element from The Killing Joke could play a key role in pushing Arthur Fleck over the role, and possibly teeing off standoff with Gotham’s Caped Crusader.
The Joker is scheduled to premiere in theaters on October 4, 2019.
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Image Credit: Rocksteady
