Joker Trailer Footage Description: First Look Revealed at CinemaCon
Update: The Joker trailer has now arrived. Watch it below!
Warner Bros. screened the first footage from Joker at CinemaCon on Tuesday, presenting the press and attendees with an early look at the new trailer before it drops Wednesday. And the trailer isn’t what you might expect from a comic book movie trailer. In fact, Joker doesn’t seem like a comic book movie at all despite being set in Gotham City and including Bruce Wayne.
Watch the trailer above.
The Joker trailer is character-driven, at times morose and then operatic. Joker, judging from the teaser trailer, is definitely about a “laughing on the inside” type of clown.
The Joker is directed by The Hangover’s Todd Phillips and stars Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck, a downtrodden outsider and struggling comedian who becomes the Clown Prince of Crime. The movie is set in the 1980s, with New York City locations doubling as Gotham City.
The cast also includes Robert De Niro as talk show host; Zazie Beetz as Sophie Dumond, a single mom and love interest for Arthur; Frances Conroy as Arthur’s mother Penny; Dante Pereira-Olson as young Bruce Wayne; Brett Cullen as Thomas Wayne; and Douglas Hodge as Arthur Pennyworth.
The presentation began with a brief intro from Phillips, who recalled telling the Warner Bros. marketing team when asked what genre Joker was that it’s a tragedy. And as the trailer that followed made clear, the movie definitely is a sad story when seen from the point-of-view of sad sack Arthur Fleck.
Here’s a breakdown of what the trailer showed:
- The trailer starts with a shot of Manhattan doubling as Gotham City.
- Arthur talking to his therapist.
- A shot of him flashing the first of several creepy smiles in the trailer.
- We see him walking and then, at home, we see him bathing his mother in a tub.
- He says his mother tells him to put on a happy face.
- His job is to dress as a clown and spin a sign on a street corner.
- Some thugs take his sign, robbing and beating him.
- We hear Arthur say: “Is it me or are things getting crazier out there?”
- Shots of Arthur on a date with Sophie.
- We see him crossing the street to Arkham Hospital.
- There’s a quick shot of an orderly looking up. The actor playing that role? Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’s Brian Tyree Henry.
- Arthur in an elevator unnerved by a patient thrashing in a stretcher.
- Arthur looking at the reflection of his face in clown makeup.
- Arthur running through a tunnel.
- We finally see him in full Joker makeup.
- Thomas Wayne is giving a speech about how Gotham has lost its way, about how wrong it is for people to hide behind masks.
- Shots of angry onlookers and crowd control police clashing, urban chaos.
- And it looks like Arthur actually meets young Bruce Wayne. There’s a shot of Arthur reaching through the bars of a gate (possibly at Wayne Manor) and pulling the boy’s lips up to make a smiley face.
- A quick shot of Robert De Niro as a talk show host on a very Johnny Carson-like set.
- Arthur’s dialogue: “I used to think my life was a tragedy. But now I believe it’s a comedy.”
- We see Joker dancing down a long set of stairs.
- The last shot is Joker, in full makeup but not smiling, getting into an elevator.
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\r\n
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\r\nWhile there was no social media at the time, disgruntled fanboys focused the bulk of their displeasure about the movie towards Keaton\u0027s casting and less on the Shining actor\u0027s look, although Nicholson\u0027s weight was criticized.”,”height”:763,”width”:554,”url”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2018\/09\/21\/jack-nicholson-joker-1537557404521.jpg”,”styleUrl”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2018\/09\/21\/jack-nicholson-joker-1537557404521_{size}.jpg”,”credit”:””,”objectRelationName”:””,”objectRelationUrl”:””,”albumName”:”Joker First Look Photos”,”relativePosition”:”02″,”albumTotalCount”:”08″},{“caption”:”THE DARK KNIGHT (2008): There was a set photo of Christopher Nolan directing Heath Ledger that came out not long before the official first look at the late actor in makeup. Ledger is obscured behind opaque glass, but spy pics from the set initially revealed Ledger without much makeup on while shooting the opening bank heist sequence. Of course, the Internet was proven wrong and Ledger\u0027s Joker was indeed wearing makeup underneath his clown mask — he just wasn\u0027t wearing it when those spy pics were snapped.”,”height”:720,”width”:1280,”url”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2018\/09\/21\/joker-nolan-tdk1-1537557436104.jpg”,”styleUrl”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2018\/09\/21\/joker-nolan-tdk1-1537557436104_{size}.jpg”,”credit”:””,”objectRelationName”:””,”objectRelationUrl”:””,”albumName”:”Joker First Look Photos”,”relativePosition”:”03″,”albumTotalCount”:”08″},{“caption”:”THE DARK KNIGHT (2008): The first official photo of Heath Ledger\u0027s Joker from The Dark Knight was \u0022unlocked\u0022 as part of an online publicity stunt in 2007, where fans had to visit a viral marketing site for the reveal. The fan response to Ledger\u0027s smeared makeup and scarring, as well as his lack of a killer grin, was, like his casting, not universally well received. Many a tune was changed once people finally saw the movie.”,”height”:750,”width”:1200,”url”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2018\/09\/21\/heath-ledger-joker1-1537557404512.jpg”,”styleUrl”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2018\/09\/21\/heath-ledger-joker1-1537557404512_{size}.jpg”,”credit”:””,”objectRelationName”:””,”objectRelationUrl”:””,”albumName”:”Joker First Look Photos”,”relativePosition”:”04″,”albumTotalCount”:”08″},{“caption”:”SUICIDE SQUAD (2016): Joker actor Jared Leto himself had been teasing his transformation on his social media, documenting the cutting of his long mane of brown hair and his bushy beard and the subsequent dyeing of his hair to a neon green — and each small hint set the Internet ablaze. And then people finally saw what he looked like.\r\n
\r\n
\r\nThe film\u0027s director, David Ayer, revealed the first official photo of Jared Leto as the Joker via Twitter in 2015, and the reaction was immediate and unrelenting. The tattoos (which a large and very vocal contingent of fans were convinced weren\u0027t really going to be in the movie but, yes, actually were), the metal teeth, the jewelry, the bare-chested look, even the shade of Leto\u0027s white skin was scrutinized. The \u0022damaged\u0022 tattoo on his forehead and the acknowledgment of his character\u0027s own iconography (e.g., the \u0022hahaha\u0022 tattoo) were (and remain) particularly criticized.”,”height”:1425,”width”:979,”url”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2018\/09\/21\/jared-leto-joker-1stlook-1537557404524.jpg”,”styleUrl”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2018\/09\/21\/jared-leto-joker-1stlook-1537557404524_{size}.jpg”,”credit”:””,”objectRelationName”:””,”objectRelationUrl”:””,”albumName”:”Joker First Look Photos”,”relativePosition”:”05″,”albumTotalCount”:”08″},{“caption”:”JOKER (2018): Not unlike The Dark Knight, spy photos from the set offered the first unofficial look at actor Joaquin Phoenix in the role. A few days later the film\u0027s director, Todd Phillips, revealed this official photo of Phoenix as the drab and depressed-looking Arthur Fleck, a man cast off by society who will become the Clown Prince of Crime.”,”height”:2702,”width”:2667,”url”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2018\/09\/21\/joker-arthur-1537557453319.jpg”,”styleUrl”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2018\/09\/21\/joker-arthur-1537557453319_{size}.jpg”,”credit”:””,”objectRelationName”:””,”objectRelationUrl”:””,”albumName”:”Joker First Look Photos”,”relativePosition”:”06″,”albumTotalCount”:”08″},{“caption”:”JOKER (2018): Several days after that first look at Arthur Fleck, director Todd Phillips once again used his social media account to reveal Joaquin Phoenix in the standalone movie, but this time in full clown makeup. This Joker\u0027s clown makeup design is different from Ledger\u0027s incarnation, although the smared lipstick, long, straggly hair and rumpled clothing certainly bear a resemblance.”,”height”:1188,”width”:1186,”url”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2018\/09\/21\/joker-makeup-joaquin-phoenix1-1537557528360.jpg”,”styleUrl”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2018\/09\/21\/joker-makeup-joaquin-phoenix1-1537557528360_{size}.jpg”,”credit”:””,”objectRelationName”:””,”objectRelationUrl”:””,”albumName”:”Joker First Look Photos”,”relativePosition”:”07″,”albumTotalCount”:”08″},{“caption”:”GOTHAM (2O19): Now for the small screen. After seasons of teasing the Clown Prince of Crime\u0027s arrival, FOX finally revealed a new promo and image for Gotham\u0027s final two episodes that both feature Cameron Monaghan in full Joker make-up and attire.”,”height”:720,”width”:1280,”url”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2019\/04\/02\/joker-cm-gotham-1554238274254.jpg”,”styleUrl”:”https:\/\/assets1.ignimgs.com\/2019\/04\/02\/joker-cm-gotham-1554238274254_{size}.jpg”,”credit”:””,”objectRelationName”:””,”objectRelationUrl”:””,”albumName”:”Joker First Look Photos”,”relativePosition”:”08″,”albumTotalCount”:”08″}]’
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Look for the first trailer to drop online Wednesday. Joker hits theaters in October.