Joaquin Phoenix Dodges Joker Rumors But Praises “Unique” Nature of Comic Book Characters

It’s hard to tell if Joaquin Phoenix is simply playing coy in a recent interview with Collider or if the rumors of his involvement in a planned ’80s-era Joker movie set outside of the current continuity of the DC movieverse are just rumors after all. He recently said that he would never rule out a superhero or other genre of movie if the project was right, which seemed to indicate he was contemplating playing the “Clown Prince of Crime” in director Todd Phillips’ (The Hangover movies) adaptation, but then he said, “I don’t know really,” when asked about being pursued for the role.

When pressured to at least acknowledge the rumors about any talks he might have had about the film, Phoenix pretended as if he was hearing the news for the first time, saying that the idea sounded “pretty good,” “pretty funny,” and “pretty cool,” but adding nothing more. Phoenix was more open when asked about comic books and comic book movies, in general, and seems to have given the subject matter some thought, comparing the different interpretations of heroes and villains to the way actors give unique portrayals of characters on stage:

It’s different than this character from literature being uniquely that. There are different interpretations. It’s so interesting; I was just thinking about it today, it seems so unique in some ways to comic books. I think there’s probably room for that. Maybe it’s like doing a play, like you always hear about people doing something, ‘You should have seen this actor in this performance,’ but then other actors do it and it’s a different kind of film. I think that genre, comic books, kind of lends itself to having different people play the same character and interpret it in a different way. It’s kind of built into the source material in some ways. I think it’s cool when people do that.

Warner Bros. also has another other joker movie in development featuring the Suicide Squad version of the character played by Jared Leto, with Margot Robbie reprising the role of Harley Quinn in what has been described as “an insane and twisted love story. When Harry Met Sally on benzedrine.” This version will be written and directed by Crazy, Stupid, Love duo Glenn Ficarra and John Requa and already has a sequel in the works. Robbie also has a Harley Quinn-led team-up movie featuring Catwoman and Poison Ivy and a solo Harley Quinn movie in development.

None of the movies have release dates as of yet.