JOKER: Shea Whigham Reveals His Role, And Sheds Light On The Film’s Setting

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It’s a bit hard to believe that Todd Phillips’ Joker has already been filming for over a month now. Less than a year ago, Joker felt like it was one of those movies that would be reported and talked about in interviews for awhile and then never actually move forward into something concrete. Now the film is well into its production and is set for a theatrical release in roughly eleven months’ time. With that progress comes the occasional whiff of new information about the film.

In an interview with Collider, actor Shea Whigham said of the film, “We’re in the middle of it, right now. It’s intense. For me, it’s as good as it gets. I’m flowing back and forth between television and film, and it’s not lost on me, to work with Joaquin [Phoenix] and to see what he’s doing. And Todd Phillips has put this amazing script together. It’s the origin story. People haven’t seen how the Joker becomes the Joker, and oh, my God, man, it’s incredible. It really is.”

Surprisingly Whigham went a bit further and also revealed a little bit about his character and what role they play in the story of Joker. He added, “I’ll say this, Bill Camp, from The Night Of, is one of our great actors. He’s finally getting his due. He and I play two cops from Gotham P.D., in 1981 when the city was tough. We’re investigating something that’s just happened, at the start of the piece. We’re trying to get to the bottom of it, and it leads to where it leads to. You know, it’s rare that I’ve been on a set where it feels like it crackles. It’s pretty amazing… I want to have an experience. I don’t call it a job. I don’t say that I have a job. I have a gig, or a piece, or a film, or a show, but it’s never a job… We’re having an experience on Joker.”

We’ve known for awhile now that Joker would be set somewhere in the 1980s as a period piece film, so it’s nice to see Whigham list the year 1981 as when the film is set in specifically. I can’t help but wonder what exactly Whigham’s cop character will be investigating. Is it the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne? Could it be the Clown Prince of Crime’s debut performance?

What do you think? Are you excited to see Joker next year? Be sure to leave your thoughts below!

SOURCE: Collider