The role of The Dark Knight's greatest villain (and one of the greatest characters in fiction) is one that's very prestigious. Only a handful of actors have tackled the character on screen and some of those portrayals have even been regarded as the best performances of all time. With that said, Warner Bros. is eyeing one of the biggest stars in Hollywood to don the clown makeup in a Joker origin story separate from the DCEU.
The Hollywood Reporter is claiming that Warner Bros. is looking to court the Academy Award winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio into becoming the Joker. No offer has been made yet but the studio is looking to use producer and long time DiCaprio collaborator Martin Scorsese to lure DiCaprio into the project despite Scorsesee not even being officially signed on yet.
DiCaprio has teamed up with Scorsese on a handful of critically acclaimed films such as The Wolf of Wall Street, The Departed, and The Aviator. If DiCaprio sees that Scorsese sees potential in this film, it could intrigue him and lead him into discussions with the studio. Of course, DiCaprio isn't exactly known for joining franchises. He typically chooses really original movies and has turned down roles like playing a young Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars, Peter Parker in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man, and Robin in Batman Forever.
Allegedly, Jared Leto is displeased with the idea of anyone else playing the Joker at the same time as him. The announcement of the movie caught Leto off guard and has made it clear to his agents that he's incredibly annoyed by it.
Additionally, THR doubled down on their claims that Ben Affleck will not star in Matt Reeves' Batman flick. THR tends to be a very reliable source and although Affleck and WB are denying it, it wouldn't come as much of a surprise if Affleck did drop out after the release of Justice League.
Only time will tell if Leonardo DiCaprio joins the project but it would certainly help WB generate interest and hype for the movie as DiCaprio has a pretty good track record. It also helps that the movie has an incredibly talented team working on the movie in director Todd Phillips and the aforementioned veteran director Martin Scorsese.
DC's next film is Justice League and it's set to release on November 17th, 2017.
