Just last week, our first look at Joaquin Phoenix as “Arthur” in Warner Bros.’ standalone Joker movie arrived. And now we have our first look at the character in Joker makeup via Warner Bros's official Twitter—at least we think this is the final makeup. The Hangover and War Dogs filmmaker Todd Philips hatched the idea to create a standalone Joker movie set in 1970s New York City, chronicling the origin story of the iconic Batman villain with a unique, somewhat original story. He co-wrote and directs the film, which is currently in production, and while we still don’t know exactly what that story entails,  reports have swirled that Phillips’ film is inspired by Martin Scorsese’s film The King of Comedy. Indeed Robert De Niro has a role in the film and the story reportedly involves a comedy club of some sort.

This screen test video shows off the “Joker makeup”, but it’s really more like just straight-up clown makeup. Some of the first set photos saw Phoenix’s character messing around with actor Glenn Fleshler, who was wearing more traditional clown makeup. That’s kind of what we see here. Does Joker involve literal clowns?

All bets are off with this film as it does not have any continuity with the existing DC films like Suicide Squad or Batman v Superman, so Phillips is really pretty free to put his own stamp on the character. Which means we may never see the more "messy" versions of Joker makeup we’ve seen from Heath Ledger, Jack Nicholson, and Jared Leto. And honestly that’s fine. I’d much rather Phillips make something wildly ambitious than a film that just feels like it’s treading familiar territory.

Anyway, take a look at the video and Joker makeup below. Let us know what you think in the comments. The film also stars Zazie Beets, Marc Maron, Bill Camp, Shea Whigham, Douglas Hodge, Josh Pais, and Brett Cullen. Joker opens in theaters on October 4, 2019.

https://twitter.com/wbpictures/status/1043184618160021505?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Here’s the official synopsis for Joker:

“Joker” centers around the iconic arch nemesis and is an original, standalone story not seen before on the big screen. Phillips’ exploration of Arthur Fleck (Phoenix), a man disregarded by society, is not only a gritty character study, but also a broader cautionary tale.

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Image via Warner Bros.
joaquin-phoenix-joker-makeup-image
Image via Warner Bros.
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Photo by Nikos Tavernise/Warner Bros. Pictures