Joaquin Phoenix's standalone Joker origin movie gets a release date

There's been a lot of rumors swirling around various standalone Joker movies over the past couple months. And sorry, Jared Leto, but yours isn't the one far enough into development to have a solid release date.

Oscar-nominated actor Joaquin Phoenix will play the legendary supervillain in the upcoming Warner Bros Joker origin story set in the '80s, to be released on Oct. 4, 2019 according to a studio announcement. Filming is supposed to begin this fall.

Not much is known about the untitled film, but The Hangover director Todd Phillips will helm the movie and also co-write the script with Scott Silver (The Fighter).

It will continue the DC Cinematic Universe's focus on gritty stories and investment into great supervillains -- which is a stark contrast to Marvel's hyper-focus on great heroes at the cost of disposable villains. Another difference is that the Joker movie is more of a low-budget character study rather than a blockbuster extravaganza, financing reportedly in the $55 million range.

Previously, Phoenix had expressed both his deep anxiety and commitment to getting the iconic role right. He told Collider back in July that:

“I take a lot of time and consideration when making decisions and what I’m gonna work on always. So, in some ways, the process, which is obviously reading a script and meeting a filmmaker and then continuing to have meetings and discussions with Todd [Phillips]. I think he’s very impressive and he seems to have a very interesting understanding of this world and what he’s trying to say. And so there is something very appealing about that and working with him on this particular project. It feels unique, it is its own world in some ways, and maybe, mostly, it scares the fucking shit out of me or something. It might as well be the thing that scares you the most.”

Phoenix apparently became very interested in taking on the role years ago. And, by all accounts, he's got the acting chops and the right look to breath new life into the Joker after Leto's portrayal became a laughing stock.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

In that same interview, Phoenix described the movie as one that would stand out in the oversaturated sea of mega superhero expanded universe movies:

"I wouldn’t say it’s a superhero movie, or a studio movie or a … It feels unique, and I think more then anything, and probably the most important thing, is Todd seems very passionate about it and very giving, and so that’s exciting. I think, underneath the excitement of these films, and the size of them, there are these incredible characters that are dealing with real life struggles. And sometimes that is uncovered and exposed, and sometimes it isn’t, and so I always felt, like, there were characters in comics that were really interesting and deserve the opportunity to be kind of studied. And so I think that’s what Todd sees appealing about this idea."

While everything about the Joker movie remains too early in development to confirm for sure, that description does make it sound like a welcome departure from the standard comic book movie approach.

After all, the very human struggle at the core of Heath Ledger's performance as Joker in The Dark Knight was -- in a lot of ways -- what solidified the genre as being able to aspire to higher artistic value.

Maybe if this origin story meets its potential, we'll finally get an answer to the question, "Why so serious?"