Warner Bros. Courting Leonardo DiCaprio For Joker Origin Movie

Warner Bros. surprised many with the revelations that the studio was developing not one, but two separate Joker film projects. And now according to THR, WB and DC Entertainment are already pursuing A-list lead actors for the standalone origin story, produced by Martin Scorsese. Leonardo DiCaprio is on top of the studio’s wish list, as they hope that Scorsese will leverage his long working relationship with the Oscar-winning actor.

All of these plans are at their earliest stages; according to THR, no deal has been made for DiCaprio as of yet, and Scorsese’s deal to produce isn’t even finalized at this point. To land DiCaprio without Scorsese would be a Hail Mary—DiCaprio usually works with the likes of a Spielberg, Eastwood, Tarantino or Nolan, not the director of The Hangover. Still, this tidbit about the studio’s intentions does display their desire to double down on this Joker story.

The news of the Scorsese/Todd Phillips project was a surprise to all, including Suicide Squad Joker Jared Leto. While Leto and Margot Robbie are set for their own Joker movie, the Oscar winner was blindsided by the news, expressing concern and “displeasure” to his agents about the idea of multiple cinematic Jokers.

But Warner Bros. intends for the Scorsese project to be darker, grittier and more “serious” than the more rock-operatic Suicide Squad rendition. The studio appears to want to have a line of comic book movies that distance themselves from the comic-bookiness of the source material. With all of this simply being early talks, the project comes across as a pipe dream at the moment. But we’ll soon see if there ultimately is room for two different Jokers to share the big screen.