It never rains in Hollywood, it bloody pours. And following on from yesterday’s extremely weird and unexpected announcement that Martin Scorsese would be producing a film based on the iconic Joker character that absolutely would not be featuring Jared Leto and Margot Robbie, today we’ve learned that ahh yep, it looks like Leto & Robbie are returning to their respective roles after all.
While the Scorsese-backed film, which is set to be directed by Todd Phillips, is reportedly more of a Joker origins story set in a Scorsese-style gritty, hard-boiled mid-80s Gotham, yet another standalone Joker film is set to give Leto and Robbie the chance to flex their Suicide Squad muscles once again.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, a standalone Joker & Harley Quinn film is being fasttracked by Warner Bros., with a tentative production schedule planned for after Suicide Squad 2.
The studio is reportedly close to sealing a deal with Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, who would write and direct the film. The duo currently serve as directors and executive producers of This Is Us, and previously wrote and directed the 2011 film Crazy Stupid Love.
This version of the Joker/Harley Quinn story is reportedly a “criminal love story” with Leto and Robbie at the film’s centre.
While this film would fit into the already-established DC cinematic universe, Warner is beginning to develop an additional line of DC-related films that would sit outside the DCCU, explaining the announcement of the Scorsese-backed Joker film yesterday.
Warner is in the process of pumping out a raft of DC Cinematic Universe films in the wake of the success of Wonder Woman, and while the studio still maintains character-deals with the Justice League/Suicide Squad casts.
No timeline for the Joker/Harley film’s release has been set.
