It’s good to be bad! Warner Brothers just announced a stand-alone ‘Joker’ movie to be produced by the legendary Martin Scorsese that would feature a recast Joker (not Jared Leto) and wouldn’t connect to the DC Extended Universe. But with this announcement came the assurance that Leto would return in ‘Suicide Squad 2’ and ‘Gotham City Sirens’ both of which will also star Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn and be directed by ‘Suicide Squad”s David Ayer. Now, WB has announced a THIRD film to feature Leto and Robbie as the super punk rock Bonnie and Clyde, and this film will be all theirs.
This project is currently going by the name ‘Harley Quinn Vs. The Joker’, and Glenn Ficarra and John Requa are on hand to pen the script and direct. The duo is currently executive producing and directing NBC’s dramatic hit ‘This Is Us’. Before that, they wrote and directed the 2011 the box office hit ‘Crazy, Stupid, Love’ starring Ryan Gosling, Steve Carell, Emma Stone and Julianne Moore and 2009’s ‘I Love You Phillip Morris’ starring Jim Carey and Ewan McGregor.
Ficarra and Requa previously worked with Robbie on 2015’s ‘Focus’ (co-starring her ‘SS’ cast mate Will Smith) and 2016’s ‘Whiskey Foxtrot Tango’.
Both ‘Harley/Joker’ and ‘Suicide Squad 2’ are being fast tracked, with plans to get ‘SS2’ in theaters first to be followed by ‘Harley/Joker’. Neither, movie has a release date, nor does ‘Gotham City Sirens’ which would showcase Harley as well as Poison Ivy and Catwoman (if it follows the comics directly).
Because ‘Harley/Joker’ was just announced, WB hasn’t offered any information about the film, so it could be a prequel (even though Harley’s origin was largely depicted in ‘SS’) or a follow-up to the events of ‘SS2’. Insiders describe the project as a “criminal love story” and “an insane and twisted love story. When Harry Met Sally on Benzedrine.”
Most agree that Robbie’s Harley Quinn stole the show in the first ‘SS’, but most of Leto’s performance as the Joker was cut out of ‘SS,’ so this new film could make that up to him by giving him a central role.
So there are now three movies coming up featuring Leto’s Joker and Robbie’s Harley Quinn, plus an unrelated ‘Joker’ origin film. That’s more than most of the heroes that are or will be part of the DCEU.
The idea of focusing a comic book movie on the villains’ perspective is unique and could be pretty cool if it’s done well. The only concern is, whether or not this is too much. Is Warner Brothers simply milking these characters because of name recognition? After all, The Joker is probably the most well-known super villain in the world and Harley has evolved into a licensing bonanza unto herself.
Are you a huge Joker or Harley fan? Are you excited that they will be appearing in so many movies? Or is this potentially overkill?
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
