By Last week I saw The Sister’s Brothers, a dramatic western starring John C. Reilly, Jake Gyllenhaal and Joaquin Phoenix. I think about 4 people saw it on release, but the movie was rad and everyone had great performances. One very noticeable part is how incredibly mean Phoenix’s character could be while maintaining sympathy. It’s a good reminder that Phoenix is extremely capable in many different roles, so that, in addition to Todd Phillips’ so far intriguing take had me more excited for the Joker origin movie than before. Now they added a kid Bruce Wayne and I’m salty.
Dante Pereira-Olson, a kickass name and apparently solid child actor who’s worked with Phoenix before, will portray young Bruce Wayne. If you recall, the Joker movie will take place in the 80s, before Bruce Wayne’s parents had to screw everything up and get shot, meaning Bruce will be a child which is something we don’t see too often unless that child is being scared by bats. Thomas Wayne and butler Alfred Pennyworth have already been confirmed and we can assume Martha will be there too, so the gang’s all here!
I can’t say I’m not disappointed. I know I know, adding the Waynes gives the more mainstream audiences names to identify with to better follow the story, but this runs the risk of the movie examining part of the origin story for Bruce Wayne, which we definitely don’t need. There’s been 14,000 Batman origin stories, 3 of which I’ve written myself (not really), 14,001 since I started this sentence. We have no idea how big or small a role Bruce or any of the non-Joker characters will have, but my cautious optimism about the film has reverted to just cautious again. Good job as always DC. Joker is set to release October 4, 2019.
‘Joker’: Dante Pereira-Olson Cast as Young Bruce Wayne [ComicBook.com]