Warner Bros. has released the new and final trailer for the highly anticipated upcoming DC Comics adaptation Joker. I'll be perfectly honest, up until this point, I really didn't see the need for a Joker origin story, a standalone movie for the iconic supervillain, or an excuse to send the fanboys into a frenzy for all the wrong reasons by delivering an apologetic for the glorified fictional psychopath/sociopath. This trailer may have just made me a believer.
The strength of this movie and how it's received will likely fall on Joaquin Phoenix's performance above all else. He plays a man plagued with negative thoughts, someone who sees himself as the victim; it remains to be seen whether he's right in this regard or not. It's not just the institutions that fail him early on in this piece--his employer, his case-worker/therapist, the local law enforcement who seem absent or, at best, woefully inept--but his personal failings that slowly corrupt him as well. That's something everyone can relate to; it's how you respond to that internal conflict that determines whether you see yourself become a hero or a villain. In Joker, it's the latter, and I'm starting to get excited to see how that plays out.
Todd Phillips' drama also stars Zazie Beets, Marc Maron, Shea Whigham, Frances Conroy, Bill Camp, Brian Tyree Henry and Glenn Fleshler. It will premiere at this Saturday's Venice Film Festival, followed by a screening at Toronto International Film Festival and New York Film Festival before it arrives in U.S. theaters on October 4th.
Check out the new trailer here:
Director Todd Phillips “Joker” centers around the iconic arch nemesis and is an original, standalone fictional story not seen before on the big screen. Phillips’ exploration of Arthur Fleck, who is indelibly portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix, is of a man struggling to find his way in Gotham’s fractured society. A clown-for-hire by day, he aspires to be a stand-up comic at night…but finds the joke always seems to be on him. Caught in a cyclical existence between apathy and cruelty, Arthur makes one bad decision that brings about a chain reaction of escalating events in this gritty character study.
Three-time Oscar nominee Phoenix (“The Master,” “Walk the Line,” “Gladiator”) stars in the titular role alongside Oscar winner Robert De Niro (“Raging Bull,” “The Godfather: Part II”) as Franklin. The film also stars Zazie Beetz (“Deadpool 2”), Frances Conroy (TV’s “American Horror Story,” Hulu’s “Castle Rock”), Marc Maron (TV’s “Maron,” “GLOW”), Bill Camp (“Red Sparrow,” “Molly’s Game”), Glenn Fleshler (TV’s “Billions,” “Barry”), Shea Whigham (“First Man,” “Kong: Skull Island”), Brett Cullen (“42,” Netflix’s “Narcos”), Douglas Hodge (“Red Sparrow,” TV’s “Penny Dreadful”) and Josh Pais (upcoming “Motherless Brooklyn,” “Going in Style”).
Oscar nominee Phillips (“Borat,” “The Hangover” trilogy) directs from a screenplay he co-wrote with Oscar-nominated writer Scott Silver (“The Fighter”), based on characters from DC. The film is produced by Phillips and Oscar nominee Bradley Cooper (“A Star Is Born,” “American Sniper”) under their Joint Effort banner, and Oscar nominee Emma Tillinger Koskoff (“The Wolf of Wall Street”). It is executive produced by Michael E. Uslan, Walter Hamada, Aaron L. Gilbert, Joseph Garner, Richard Baratta, and Bruce Berman.
Behind the scenes, Phillips is joined by director of photography Lawrence Sher (“Godzilla: King of the Monsters,” “The Hangover” trilogy), production designer Mark Friedberg (“Selma,” “The Amazing Spider-Man 2”), editor Jeff Groth (“War Dogs,” “The Hangover Part III”), and Oscar-winning costume designer Mark Bridges (“Phantom Thread,” “The Artist”). The music is by Hildur Guðnadóttir (“Sicario: Day of the Soldado”).
Warner Bros. Pictures Presents, in Association with Village Roadshow Pictures, in Association with BRON Creative, a Joint Effort Production, a Film by Todd Phillips, “Joker.” It will be in theaters nationwide October 4, 2019 and will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures.
