A major update concerning the Joker and Harley Quinn movie has arrived, courtesy of its directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa.
Almost 13 months ago, we came across a report suggesting that Warner Bros. was developing a team-up movie featuring Jared Leto's Joker and Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn. To write and direct the movie, the studio had brought in Ficarra and Requa, who previously helmed movies like Crazy, Stupid, Love and Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.
This was one of the many projects involving both or either of the two DC Comics villains that were in the works. So, we couldn't be sure if it will ever see the light of day. While it's still unclear whether the Suicide Squad spinoff will be eventually made, good news is that it has made some progress in the recent past.
Speaking to Metro, the directors confirm that they have already turned in the script to Warner Bros. They also reveal some interesting details about the story, including the fact that it involves psychologist and television personality Phil McGraw, aka Dr. Phil. Here's what Ficarra says:
It is great. The whole thing starts with Harley kidnapping Dr Phil. Played by Dr Phil hopefully. Because her and the Joker are having problems with their relationship.
He goes on to claim that they had more fun writing the script of the Joker and Harley Quinn movie than that of almost any other project in their career. While the original report about the project being in development described it as When Harry Met Sally on benzedrine, Glenn Ficarra is calling it a mesh of two of their own projects – Bad Santa and NBC's This Is Us. According to the co-director:
It was sort of like, we wrote "˜Bad Santa' a couple of years ago, and it was that sensibility mixed with our "˜This Is Us' sensibility. We kind of meshed them together. We were doing a relationship movie but with the sensibility of a ‘Bad Santa,’ f***ed up, mentally deranged people. It was a lot of fun.
The script may be done, but it seems unlikely that the cameras will start rolling anytime soon. John Requa suggests that they don't know where the Joker and Harley Quinn movie is on the queue of upcoming DC Films projects. Ficarra further explains:
We handed the script in and everybody loved it. But I don't know when they are going to do it. Because I know that they want to do "˜Birds Of Prey' and they want to do Todd's "˜Joker' film first. Maybe if "˜Birds Of Prey' goes well ours will be next.
Of course, we have known for a while that Todd Phillips' Joaquin Phoenix-starrer Joker and Robbie's Harley Quinn-centric Birds of Prey are the two top priorities for Warner Bros. at the moment. The former has already kicked off filming this month and the latter is currently looking to round up its cast roster for a early-2019 start of production. And there's Suicide Squad 2 that also has a finished script. It remains to be seen when the Ficarra and Requa movie's production gets underway.
