Following reports that Deadpool 2‘s Zazie Beetz was being lined up to star in Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker movie, two more names are being courted for Todd Phillips’ standalone.
THR reports that none other than Robert De Niro is in talks to play “a talk show host who is somehow instrumental in the Joker’s origin.” It would be the first comic book movie for the Hollywood legend, although he’s dipped his toe into genre waters fairly regularly over the years (we remembered that he was in Machete while writing the previous sentence).
Shortly after that announcement, The Wrap reported that the brilliant Frances Conroy (American Horror Story, Six Feet Under) is in talks to play the Joker’s mother.
Phillips wrote the script with Scott Silver, and production is set to begin in September in New York on the modestly budgeted film that’s being marketed as a crime thriller and dark character study more than a superhero movie. Movies like Taxi Driver and The King Of Comedy have been cited as touchstones, so De Niro should feel right at home.
Joker is released on 4 October 2019. Keep up with the latest genre news with the new issue of SciFiNow.
