Warner Bros. have released the first trailer for the Joker movie, directed by Todd Phillips (The Hangover) and starring Joaquin Phoenix:
Phillips and Phoenix’s take on the Clown Prince of Crime is set in 1981, and portrays the character as Arthur Fleck, a timid and soft-hearted comedian working odd jobs – including dressing as a clown – to care for his ailing mother (played by Frances Conroy). However, Arthur’s kindly nature begins to crumble along with the increasingly crime-ridden Gotham, where civilians are prone to attacking him in public – something not helped by his freakish laugh.
Largely set to Jimmy Durante’s rendition of “Smile”, the trailer offers glimpses of Zazie Beetz as Sophie Dumond, a single mother and Arthur’s love interest; Robert DeNiro as a talk show host; and Brian Tyree Henry as a nurse at Arkham State Hospital (not Asylum). Most strikingly, we see a red-nosed Arthur at the gates of Wayne Manor, encouraging a young Bruce Wayne (Dante Pereira-Olson) to smile.
We also see Arthur falling out of a theater screening Chaplin’s Modern Times (where “Smile” originated from), going on the run after his inevitable turn to violence, and the face of the Joker becoming a widely-adopted symbol of anarchy years before Batman inspired Gotham’s citizens to rise up.
Joker will be released in theaters October 4th.
