Atlanta Star Zazie Beetz In Talks To Join Joaquin Phoenix In Joker Movie

DC Comics’ new Joker film may have found its leading lady.

Atlanta star and Deadpool 2 actress Zazie Beetz is in talks to act opposite Joaquin Phoenix in the movie about the infamous supervillain, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The Hangover director Todd Phillips is set to helm the Joker film, and Phoenix will star as the lunatic clown himself.

There’s not a whole lot of details out yet about the Joker script, but THR points out that, if cast, Beetz would play a single mother and love interest to Phoenix’s Joker. Warner Bros. is eyeing an Oct. 4, 2019 release date for Joker, which, at $55 million, boasts a modest budget for a superhero flick. The film is being described as more of a dramatic character study of Batman’s arch-nemesis than a crime thriller, with Warner Bros. calling it an “exploration of a man disregarded by society [that] is not only a gritty character study, but also a broader cautionary tale.”

Joker is due to start filming in September in New York. Phoenix was confirmed as the Joker back in February.

Beetz is most well-known for her role as Van in Donald Glover’s Atlanta, and she graced the silver screen this summer as the scene-stealing Domino in Ryan Reynolds’ profanity-infused action comedy Deadpool 2.