Smile though your heart is aching.
Following on from Joker movie poster shows Joaquin Phoenix as Clown Prince of Crime yesterday, The Joker movie has dropped its first trailer featuring Oscar-nominee Joaquin Phoenix as the Clown Prince of Crime in a tale of how failing comedian Arthur Fleck would become the arch nemesis of Batman.
With scenes showing Fleck attempting to get through a vicious life in Gotham City, we see him struggle as a comedian, care for his ailing mother Penny ( Frances Conroy ), and cross paths with single mother Sophie (Zazie Beetz).
We also got a flash of Oscar-winner Robert De Niro as a talk show host, as mass hysteria hits the city as Fleck undergoes a psychotic change into the iconic villain.
The trailer features the soothing tones of Nat King Cole's Smile as the chaotic scenes play out with a tragic flare.
Joker movie UK release date, Joaquin Phoenix, cast, trailer, plot
There are also some appearances from a young Bruce Wayne and his father, Thomas Wayne (Brett Cullen), who is seen making a speech on television about the dramas in the city.
Is the Joker having some playful fun with Bruce through the gates of Wayne Manor?
A standalone film with no connection to previous DC Comics films and the wider DC Expanded Universe movies, Joker is a period film set in 1981 and the visuals portray a hypnotic and gritty take on the character from director Todd Phillips.
Rest assured, this will be no ordinary comic book film.
Joker movie poster shows Joaquin Phoenix as Clown Prince of Crime
There are also some clear homages to The King of Comedy by director Martin Scorsese and which also starred Robert De Niro as a failed comedian who goes off the deep end and kidnaps a talk-show host - sound familiar?
We are also getting Taxi Driver viibes.
"I used to think that my life was a tragedy, but now I realise it's a comedy"
The DCEU continues this month with Shazam! and then next year with Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of one Harley Quinn) and Wonder Woman 1984.
Jared Leto portrayed the role of The Joker in the DCEU in Suicide Squad but it is unknown if he will reprise the role.
Joker is released in UK cinemas on October 4, 2019.
