Put on a happy face. Latest stills from the Todd Philips-directed film offer a new look at Phoenix’s transformation into clown prince of crime. The critically acclaimed comic book crime drama, which has already won the 2019 Venice Golden Lion, opens in Irish cinemas on October 4.
Director Todd Phillips’ JOKER centres around the iconic arch nemesis and is an original, standalone fictional story not seen before on the big screen. Phillips’ exploration of Arthur Fleck, who is indelibly portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix, is of a man struggling to find his way in Gotham’s fractured society. A clown-for-hire by day, he aspires to be a stand-up comic at night…but finds the joke always seems to be on him. Caught in a cyclical existence between apathy and cruelty, Arthur makes one bad decision that brings about a chain reaction of escalating events in this gritty character study.
Arthur, who devotes himself to caring for his fragile mother, seeks out every father figure he has never had, from wealthy businessman Thomas Wayne to TV host Murray Franklin. Caught in a cyclical existence teetering on the precipice of reality and madness, one bad decision brings about a chain reaction of escalating, ultimately deadly, events.
JOKER is released in Irish cinemas on October 4, 2019.