On the latest episode of Marc Maron’s WTF podcast, he addressed listeners regarding his joining the cast of Todd Phillips’ ‘Joker’ origin movie, specifically the fact that Maron had recently gone on rants against superhero movies when speaking to such actors as Josh Brolin and Paul Rudd, which have gotten some negative reactions from fans on the internet.

On his podcast he announced:

“Alright, well yes, it is true.  It is true people. It is true ladies and gentlemen, I have been added to the cast of the new Joker movie being directed by Todd Phillips, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Robert De Niro. Two of the greatest actors that have ever graced the screen. And I know some of you given my recent discussions about the slow corruption of our culture and arts by the consolidation of desire around the limited options of big budget blockbuster movies in the form of superhero movies are probably kind of thinking ‘well look at this. Big talker! Look at this guy! He’s a hypocrite, he’s a this or that.’

 

“I’ll be honest with ya.  My agents trying to get me an audition for this film proceeded my rants. I do not think that my opinions have changed at all. I have in my life as I’ve mentioned before read plenty of comic books, but the bottom line is this. I never thought that my life would take me to where I am now.”

Obviously, ‘Joker’ isn’t the average superhero movie.  It is described as having a gritty ’70s vibe comparable to ‘Taxi Driver’ or ‘Raging Bull’.  It will also have a relatively small budget of $50M and not to disparage any other comic book movie actors, but the inclusion of Robert De Niro and Joaquin Phoenix indicates that this movie has a different objective than most.  In other words, it’s probably not going to be a “popcorn movie.”  For Maron, the prospect of working with De Niro meant he would jump at the chance, regardless of the project, especially as he observes that the types of gritty movies he grew up watching don’t really get made anymore.

As he stated:

“Certainly one of my childhood dreams, and I don’t want or like to use the word Bucket List but it was something I thought about in college and something I thought about as a fan of films was, ‘God if I was ever an actor it would be amazing to be in a scene with Robert De Niro. Wouldn’t it be amazing to act with Robert De Niro?'”

 

“How long have I been thinking about that? Most of my life! So, given that the time that we live in does not put a lot of resources into films like ‘Deer Hunter’, or even I would say, ‘Raging Bull’, or certainly not ‘Taxi Driver’, but probably not even ‘Goodfellas’ really at this juncture in history, so given that this is the timing that this is where it’s at, once given the opportunity that it was going to happen, that I got this gig and I’m gonna do a couple of scenes maybe with Robert De Niro and Joaquin Phoenix, the next in the line of succession in great actors, f*** yes I’m going to do that. Of course, I’m going to do that.”

Of course, you can listen to the entire podcast at the top of the page.

‘Joker’ also stars Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy, and Josh Pais.  It is expected to begin production in September and will be released on October 4, 2019.