The Joker Origin Movie: Martin Scorsese to produce, Todd Phillips direct

Martin Scorsese in The Pulitzer at 100.

Martin Scorsese has come on board to produce an origin film of The Joker for Warner Bros. Pictures and DC Entertainment with The Hangover’s Todd Phillips on board to direct.  Phillips will co-write the screenplay with Scott Silver (8 Mile, The Fighter).

Is Phillips really the best person to direct this film?  For all the talk about Rotten Tomatoes making or breaking a movie, there’s only two films marked as Certified Fresh for Phillips: Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006) and The Hangover (2009).  I’m not even sure that Silver’s inclusion in writing the film is enough to raise my already-low expectations.

Warner Bros. is expected to produce the film under an entirely new banner so as to be able to expand DC properties while getting new actors playing notable characters.  This comes at a time when nobody knows if Justice League will follow in Wonder Woman‘s success.

The Joker has previously been portrayed on screen by Cesar Romero, Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger, and Jared Leto.  Mark Hamill voiced The Joker for Batman: The Animated Series and various animated spin-offs.  Leto is not expected to reprise the character for the film.  Instead, reports suggest that the studio will likely go younger.  In that case, why not cast Cameron Monaghan?  After all, he played Jerome Valeska in Gotham on Fox.

Deadline first reported the news and says that the “intention is to make a gritty and grounded hard-boiled crime film set in early-’80s Gotham City that isn’t meant to feel like a DC movie as much as one of Scorsese’s films from that era, like Taxi Driver, Raging Bull or The King Of Comedy.”

Umm.  Wait.  A DC movie that doesn’t feel like a DC movie?  Why didn’t you say so?!? (/sarcasm)

Maybe having Martin Scorsese on board can help to right DC in the best direction but get Todd Phillips as far away from this.  Phillips isn’t the answer and anyone who watched The Hangover Part 2 and The Hangover 3 can tell you this.  It may look like it’s a good film on paper but who is to say what will actually happen when filming begins.

Danielle Solzman

Danielle Solzman is native of Louisville, KY, and holds a BA in Public Relations from Northern Kentucky University and a MA in Media Communications from Webster University. She roots for her beloved Kentucky Wildcats, St. Louis Cardinals, Indianapolis Colts, and Boston Celtics. Living less than a mile away from Wrigley Field in Chicago, she is an active reader (sports/entertainment/history/biographies/select fiction) and involved with the Chicago improv scene. She also sees many movies and reviews them. She has previously written for Redbird Rants, Wildcat Blue Nation, and Hidden Remote/Flicksided. From April 2016 through May 2017, her film reviews can be found on Creators.

One thought on “The Joker Origin Movie: Martin Scorsese to produce, Todd Phillips direct

  1. Wow, either Joker Origin movie will be a classic or a disaster. Plus they are trying to reel in Leonardo DiCaprio and nobody knows how that will turn out. Let’s see how the Joker Origin movie turns out.

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