The Joker Origin Story Movie: Martin Scorsese Producing, Todd Phillips to Direct

Warner Brothers and DC Film have added major talent to their comic book roster by bringing Martin Scorsese and Todd Phillips on board for a Joker origin-story film, Deadline reports. Phillips is set to direct, produce, and pen the script with “8 Mile” writer Scott Silver, with Scorsese also set to produce.

The film will be the first under a new WB banner that allows DC characters and stories be taken out of canon and reinterpreted with new actors. A new actor will play the main role — not Jared Leto, who currently plays the Joker in the “Suicide Squad” universe. According to the Deadline report, this early story of the iconic Batman foe will be more grounded in reality and will evoke late-’70s / early-’80s Scorsese films like “Taxi Driver” and “Raging Bull.”

Phillips’ most recent directorial effort was 2016’s “War Dogs,” while Silver was most recently one of the writers on 2016’s “The Finest Hours.” The pair is currently writing the script, but no dates are in the DC schedule.

Watch Leto’s take on The Joker by revisiting the trailer for 2016’s “Suicide Squad”: