The first screen test for Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker have surfaced aaaand... I'm not impressed. Here's hoping they come up with something different before filming begins on what seems to be Director Todd Phillips's version of The Killing Joke. And by different, I mean the same.
Can we PLEASE just get a Joker that actually looks like it comes out of the pages of the Batman comics? For once, can't we just go with what works? Quit trying to be inventive and just embrace the tried and true original Joker as we knew him before the New 52 tried to re-invent everything.
I've got a great idea. How about a Joker that actually fell into a vat of chemicals and had his skin paled? Remember that old tale? I know it's not cutting edge and all angsty like kids today want. It does make for a heck of a backstory and seems to have worked for the past 70 years or so, however.
Here's my unwanted advice to everyone making DC films. DC just sent me their new Essential Graphic Novels promotional book. Open the book up to a random page with your eyes closed and then point at the page. Open your eyes and make whatever book you chose into a movie. Don't try to rewrite it or make it hipper or more relevant. Just make it exactly the way it is in the book. It's considered a classic or essential part of comic book history for a reason.
Let's talk about the makeup job we see in the screen test now. Here's my take on the whole thing. It looks like a group of five year olds at a birthday party made Phoenix sit down in a chair as they surrounded him. Then, they took out a makeup kit and painted him up to look like Heath Ledger's Joker. But they didn't want him to be so scary. My point? It looks pretty uninspired.