Leaked 'Joker' Scene Sees Joaquin Phoenix Smoking Cigarette In Aftermath Of Mayhem

Good news, Batman fans - more footage has been leaked from the set of Todd Phillips' forthcoming Joker movie, starring Joaquin Phoenix.

It shows several takes of The Joker walking through a Brooklyn subway station - as a group of police officers race towards him, he calmly lights up a cigarette and walks through the middle of them.

What are you doing, officers? He's the one you're after, the one dressed like a clown.

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There was a time when it seemed almost impossible to think of anyone playing comic book villain The Joker, ever again.

Heath Ledger's menacing turn as the baddie, in The Dark Knight, left audiences reeling in their seat. And after he received a posthumous Oscar for his performance, it seemed as though the benchmark had been set too high.

But earlier this year it was announced that filming had begun on a new take on the deranged killer, from Superbad director Philips, which will star Phoenix as the DC baddie, real name Arthur Fleck.

The film is expected to tell the origin story of how Arthur went on to become the maniacal clown - and really, who better to pick to portray supervillainy's ultimate outsider than Hollywood's own outsider?

Fans went into meltdown earlier this year when the first photograph of Phoenix as Arthur was shared on Instagram by Phillips.

Not one to give everything away at first, Phoenix wasn't wearing the iconic clown make up.

Todd, you tease.

But they do say all good things come to those who wait and that they did for DC fans, because since then dozens of clips of Phoenix dressed up as the Joker, complete with painted face, green hair, and oversized red suit, sending social media into meltdown.

PA

Apart from drip feeding pictures to his Instagram followers, Philips remains tight-lipped on the whole thing, which has left people speculating.

According to reports in the Hollywood Reporter, Arthur starts out in the film as a struggling stand-up comedian before evolving into a criminal mastermind, and the film leads the audience on an "exploration of a man disregarded by society [that] is not only a gritty character study, but also a broader cautionary tale."

What we do know however, is that the film promises a heavyweight cast of acting royalty, with Robert De Niro, Marc Maron, and Deadpool 2's Zazie Beetz all reportedly signed up.

The film is due to be released in late 2019.

Let's just hope it's better than Jared Leto's Joker in Suicide Squad. Nobody needs that again.

Topics: Film, TV and Film, News, Joker

Dominic Smithers

Dominic graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in French and History. Like you, Dom has often questioned how much use a second language has been. Well, after stints working at the Manchester Evening News, the Accrington Observer and the Macclesfield Express, along with never setting foot in France, he realised the answer is surprisingly little. But I guess, c'est la vie. Contact us at [email protected]

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