Originally published June 19, 2018. Updated November 21, 2019.
With the Todd Phillips-helmed Joker origin movie reportedly eyeing a September production start date, today has brought us a new casting rumour from That Hashtag Show, which claims that executive producer Martin Scorsese’s frequent collaborator Robert De Niro is wanted for a role.
The site has posted a selection of casting breakdowns for supporting characters to join Joaquin Phoenix’s Clown Prince of Crime in the 80s-set crime drama, with De Niro said to be in contention for the role of ‘Murray Franklin’, which may or may not be a code name for an established DC character.
Meanwhile, the site also offered up the following info for other players in the story:
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 to play 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 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 by being in a position of authority. Being a cop is how he defines himself.
So far, all we really know about The Joker movie is that it is “a gritty and grounded hard-boiled crime film set in early-’80s Gotham City”, and reportedly has a much lower budget than the DCEU movies, somewhere in the region of around $55 million. However, if the September start date is accurate, expect some official casting news very soon.
