We all know by now (or should) that Joaquin Phoenix is going to be playing the Joker in Todd Philips standalone take on the classic villain.

The last time Phoenix was on screen he was playing a bulky hit man in Lynne Ramsay’s You Were Never Really Here.  The bulked-up hitman look doesn’t seem to suit playing the normally not physically-imposing Clown Prince of crime.

However, a recent photo capturing Phoenix and shared by Just Jared shows the actor has really shed the weight and is starting to look a lot more like Joker (sans the makeup of course), Check out the Twitter post below.

Joaquin Phoenix is about to begin production on his Joker origin movie and he's noticeably thinner – see the new pics https://t.co/cIOM4jqpUw

— JustJared.com (@JustJared) August 30, 2018

Phoenix is certainly being joined by a stellar cast including Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, and Marc Maron. I was disappointed to find out that Alec Baldwin had pulled out of the movie, but hopefully they can find someone else to play the part of Thomas Wayne.

RELATED: Joker: Alec Baldwin Drops Out Of Thomas Wayne Role

The burning question I have is, what if Phoenix is amazing as the Joker? Do we then want to see them make this standalone movie a part of the DCEU? I was not a fan of Jared Leto in the role, but I think that was more a bad movie and a bad design of the character, less Leto’s skill as an actor.

Maybe I’m the only one, but if this works, I’d like to see the Phoenix version be revealed as the real Joker and Leto’s version as Jason Todd or something similar. Let’s just reiterate the ‘if this works’ part.

So I am keen to see what Phoenix can do in the role, even if I am not convinced it’s a great idea to make a standalone Joker movie at all?

What do you think of the Joker movie and Phoenix as the Joker? Share your thoughts in the usual place below.

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SOURCE: Just Jared (via Twitter)

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