The world had its first look at Todd Phillips’ new Joker film less than a year ago and fans were immediately bewildered, terrified and intrigued by it. There wasn’t much to nibble on back then, but that all changed today as the first official teaser trailer for Joker was released to the masses.
Film co-star Marc Maron described the film as “the character study of a mentally ill person” and by all accounts, this looks to be very accurate. Joker stars Joaquin Phoenix playing struggling comedian Arthur Fleck, who seemingly goes through a slow descent into madness. After experiencing some life-changing events, Fleck begins to become unhinged and turns into a life of violent crime within Gotham City. In some respects, this looks like a resurgence for the role after the divisive portrayal of The Joker from Jared Leto in 2016’s Suicide Squad.
While many are still deliberating about Leto’s version of the Joker, Phoenix seems to be making all of the right moves to do the character his due diligence. Also, playing characters that are deranged is nothing out of the ordinary for Joaquin Phoenix when you consider Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2012 classic The Master or the recently released You Were Never Really Here. All throughout the trailer, we are treated to a delightfully disturbing performance from Phoenix, who appears to embody the role on camera with relative ease. The trailer also boasted some very impressive visuals, production design, camera work and appearances from Zazie Beats, Robert De Niro, Brian Tyree Henry.
Joker is not an “official” part of Warner Bros. DC Cinematic Universe. (We don’t even see DC’s logo until the very final frame of the trailer) but will instead act as a standalone film.
It is set to be released in theaters October 4th. Watch the trailer below.
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