Joaquin Phoenix might not be the only actor to make his superhero movie genre debut in Todd Phillips’ origin movie about The Joker. There may be a role there for Robert De Niro, as well.
With production expected to begin this September, Phillips is already looking for actors to fill the movie’s various roles. That Hashtag Show recently shared some details about as many as eight supporting characters, including one 65 to 75-year-old Caucasian male named Murray Franklin.
THS predicted that Murray will be a strong supporting character. They added that they’re hearing through the grapevine that Phillips wants De Niro for the role. This may be more than just wishful thinking on the director's part because of the two-time Academy Award-winning actor’s long-running connection with Martin Scorsese, who’s producing The Joker’s origin movie.
THS also shared the following character descriptions:
Penny: Supporting Female (60-74) Caucasian. Lower class, very attractive in her younger days, still feels that way about herself. But recently, her health has started failing, and she's nearly bedridden in her Lower East Side apartment, which she shares with her grown son who just moved back home. She's obsessed with her former employer and can't believe that this is what her life has come to, that she has ended up here, like this.
Sophie Dumond: Supporting female (27-34) to play African American or Latina. Not beautiful, has a hardness to her, a single mother living on the Lower East Side, doing the best she can, trying to make ends meet; worn out by the grind of the city. She understands how the system is stacked against her and the people in her community, how unjust it all is for them. She's just trying to catch a break.
Randall: Supporting Male (40-59) Caucasian. Thinks he's the wisest and most knowledgeable person in any room he's in, tries to present himself as a mentor to everybody, but is really just looking out for himself, burly.
Gary: Supporting Male (30-49), any ethnicity, to play a dwarf. Randall's best friend, he's good-natured and a buddy to his colleagues at work. One of the only decent people in the whole movie.
Hoyt Vaughn: Supporting Male (50-69), any ethnicity. The old-school manager of the hotel staff. He's seen it all, and finds it difficult to give a shit about much of anything anymore
Detective Garrity: Supporting Male (50-59), any ethnicity. Police Detective in a city on the brink; a by-the-book cop, worn down by all his years on the force. He doesn't care about or take into consideration any of the societal or political ramifications of his cases.
Detective Burke: Supporting Male (30-39), any ethnicity. A Police Detective and Garrity's partner. He's an asshole who gets off on being in a position of authority. Being a cop is how he defines himself.
Based on these descriptions, Penny might be The Joker’s mom, and Sophie Dumond might be his potential love interest. Garrity and Burke could be detectives working the supervillain's case. Randall and Gary appear to be some sort of team, as well, but it's difficult to predict how they’d come into play. Phillips may also add a small role for a child actress to play Sophie’s 4-year-old daughter Gigi.
Check out the THS video report below!
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