Leonardo DiCaprio might be an Academy Award-winning actor like Joaquin Phoenix, but according to Joker director Todd Phillips, the Revenant star was never really considered for the Joker role.
Speaking in an interview with the New York Times to help promote his upcoming DC movie, Phillips opened up about many things about Joker. During the discussion, the filmmaker was asked to address the rumors going around that DiCaprio would star in the film, and Phillips made it sound like he had always intended to cast Phoenix as Gotham's Clown Prince of Crime from the very start.
"We wrote the movie for Joaquin," the filmmaker told the publication.
When word of a standalone Joker character study first broke out in 2017, rumors started spreading that Warner Brother's first choice for the lead role was DiCaprio. Back then, reports said that DiCaprio's frequent collaborator, Martin Scorses, would produce the film. Many industry insiders believed that Scorses would be able to convince DiCaprio to take on the role. In the end, Joker never really went with Scorsese and DiCaprio.
While some fans would find a Joker by DiCaprio interesting, we're glad that Phoenix is playing the Joker. We haven't seen the film yet, but based on all the reviews and the trailers for the film, Phoenix gave a phenomenal performance. There's been a whole lot of buzz surrounding Joker. Not only is the film enjoying overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics, but it also won the top prize at this year's Venice International Film Festival. If that isn't a sign of a film worth watching, we don't know what is.
Joker premieres October 4, 2019.
Read: Joker: Joaquin Phoenix Thanks Late Brother River for His Career
Explore new topics and discover content that's right for you!
DC