Martin Scorsese, Todd Phillips Are Developing a Joker Origin Movie

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Martin Scorsese, Todd Phillips Are Developing a Joker Origin Movie

Warner Bros. and DC are planning yet another Batman spinoff film. In what initially looks like a Mad Lib, the studio has enlisted legendary director Martin Scorsese to produce an origin movie about the Joker, from a script co-written by Todd Phillips, director of The Hangover and War Dogs, and screenwriter Scott Silver (8 Mile, The Fighter). Again, we must stress that this isn’t a Mad Lib.

Not too much is known about this project in its earliest stages, but Deadline has reported some intriguing details. First off, this film will not be in the same DC Extended Universe as films like Justice League, Wonder Woman and (the seemingly eventual) The Batman. Instead, this Joker movie will be the first of many under a currently unnamed “new banner” of DC movies.

This series will focus on “unique storylines” that are otherwise separate from the other DC films, presumably giving the filmmakers more creative liberties. As such, this Joker film will not star Jared Leto, who portrayed Batman’s nemesis in Suicide Squad, and is set to return in future DCEU installments.

Deadline also adds that the vision for this origin story has it set in 1980s Gotham City, as a “hard-boiled crime film” not unlike Scorsese’s work from that time period. In other words, expect the film to feel more gritty like Taxi Driver and less colorful like Suicide Squad.

Meanwhile, Warner Bros. and DC are still developing a Nightwing movie with Chris McKay, and a Batgirl movie with Joss Whedon. The next DCEU film is Justice League, releasing Nov. 17.

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