A Tale of Two Film Jokers: DiCaprio and Leto

Recently, news broke that Warner Brothers was looking to produce a stand-alone Joker film starring an A-List actor. Now it seems that Leonardo DiCaprio may be the next Joker.

The idea of two Jokers in films has already garnered a notable response. Recent news indicates Leto’s Joker will return for “Suicide Squad” sequel and a Joker and Harley Quinn spinoff. With news that Warner Brothers plans on creating a new label for stand-alone DC films, starting with a Joker film, the internet rumor-mill is burning up. The casting of DiCaprio as that film’s lead only furthers speculation.

With the notion of bringing DiCaprio onto the Joker origin film, a trio of consultants for Heat Vision: Aaron Couch, Graeme McMillan and Ryan Parker shared their thoughts on the situation.

• Parker felt that it would be better to cast an unknown and that Leto’s Joker is a role where Parker was unable to see anyone but Leto. He admitted Heath Ledger’s Joker was a brilliant thing that will never be seen again and that Jack Nicholson’s was the first real attempt at a “serious” cinematic Joker.Regarding DiCaprio’s casting, Parker commented that the actor has been around for a while and his filmography is laden with angry or mentally-disturbed characters, such as Calvin Candie and Jordan Belfort. Parker felt idea of two films is already a mess and DiCaprio’s presence only magnifies that tumult.
• Couch admired Nicholson’s Joker and went on to comment on the spectacular nature of the non-Nolan DC films, appreciating the conversations that even bombs like “Batman v. Superman” and “Suicide Squad” have generated. Couch is in full support of casting an actor with the gravitas of DiCaprio as the Joker. Indeed, he relishes the idea of Warner Brothers bringing in as many A-listers for a new DC film label; offering DC an edge over Marvel through stand-alone films.
• McMillan felt that Nicholson’s Joker was just playing himself with heavy make-up. He sees DiCaprio’s casting as a desperation move with producers playing upon his ego. McMillan went on to remark that Nolan’s films came across as self-important art films with a superheroic varnish and that DiCaprio would only exacerbate that perception about the genre. McMillan closed his thoughts by admiring the idea of non-canon DC films, just wishing it were about someone than the Joker-he feels a Joker origin film would just tread old ground.