Zazie Beetz, who co-starred in Deadpool 2 as the scene-stealing Domino, is in talks to join Joaquin Phoenix in Joker, the stand-alone origin project from Warner Bros. and The Hangover helmer Todd Phillips, reports THR.
Phoenix is portraying the DC Comics villain in a film that is more moderately budgeted and darker than the studio’s other DC-based movies, known as the DC Cinematic Universe. The project is also described as more of a dark character study than a crime thriller, with Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy as the tonal watchwords.
While details of the Phillips- and Scott Silver-penned script are being kept under wraps, if a deal is made, the site says Beetz would play a single mother who catches the interest of the man who will become the “clown prince of crime.”
Joker is due to begin shooting in September in New York. The studio has set an Oct. 4, 2019, release date.