May 192016
 

DC’s Rebirth is on the way, and it’s not just the logo that’s getting a makeover. Plenty of characters will be getting a costume refresh in DC’s roster shake-up as well. It seems like the clown prince of crime might be one of them, judging by this gorgeous variant cover by Rafael Albuquerque.

Albuquerque posted the Fried Pie Comics variant cover for Batman #1, due out July 15th to Instagram today—and while he doesn’t explicitly confirm that this is the Rebirth Joker, a presumption can be made, considering it’s gracing the cover of one of the event’s biggest new series.

RebirthJKRpic

While it might not be the Joker’s new design, it would not be surprising if it was, when you consider the more-than-passing resemblance to Jared Leto’s Joker (just, you know, minus the crazy tattoos).

The suit is obviously a callback to the Joker’s threads in The Dark Knight Returns—although we have seen set pictures revealing that Leto’s Joker wears a similar getup at some point in Suicide Squad—but the haircut and general frame of this Joker definitely seem to be evoking the new cinematic take. It wouldn’t be the first time DC’s done this either, with Harley Quinn getting a Suicide Squad makeover in the comics recently [that definitely resembled her Suicide Squad movie counterpart].

(Original article by James Whitbrook at GIZMODO.COM HERE)

May 192016
 

SuicideSquadJKRandHQfeaturepic3On May 19, IGN reported that in in an interview, Jared Leto revealed that playing the Joker for Suicide Squad had been the most fun he had in film.  Here is an excerpt of the report by NICOLE CARPENTER:

Suicide Squad actor Jared Leto had a “blast” playing the Joker, despite having to shave his eyebrows off for the second film in a row.

Getting the call to play the Joker was “terrifying and exciting” for Leto. “It was a real honor to get asked to play the part,” he added. “These characters are so special to people and I have a lot of respect to that.”

During an appearance on The Ellen Degeneres Show, the actor told Degeneres filming Suicide Squad was “the most fun [he’s] ever had on a film.” And it sure sounds like he did; back in April, it was reported Leto sent a bunch of disturbing gifts to his co-stars.

Leto also became “part detective, part writer,” and met with actual killers and psychopaths when preparing for the role.

He’s not the only one who did weird things to get into character. Enchantress actress Cara Delevingne said she got naked in the woods and walked around howling.

Following is Leto’s interview with Ellen Degeneres :


(Original article HERE)

Apr 242016
 

Robin:  “HOLY PASTRY CHEF, BATMAN…. is that–”

Joker: Yes, Boy Blunder…. be amazed by this delicious pastry masterpiece created by the geniuses at Laura Miller’s SWEET AS SUGAR.  The artists took my handsome portrait, inspired by the SIDESHOW 1:1 SCALE BUST and gave it a sweet twist.  The cake won a GOLD AWARD at the Birmingham Cake International exhibition in November 2014 ( and well deserved it was).

Batman:  “This cannot be true…”

Joker:  “Oh BAT-DODO…DON’T HATE!  The masses love me…what can I say. I can’t stop admiring myself in that cake..”

JokerCakeSweetasSugar

Apr 232016
 

SixFlagsTHEJOKER4DcoasterVALLEJO (KCBS) – The biggest roller coaster to open in Northern California in more than a decade is getting ready to open at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo.

Roller coaster enthusiasts gathered Friday for a hard hat tour of “The Joker,” named after the villain in Batman.

Amusement park blogger Kris Rowberry told KCBS he’s ridden on 250 roller coasters around the world. He was in awe of the latest creation at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom.

“This ride is just about as insane as its namesake, the Joker. This is probably the most anticipated ride in 20 years in Northern California, and with good reason,” Rowberry said.

Six Flags spokesperson Nancy Chan said there’s 3,200 feet of twisting and turning track that is supposed to contain 15 extreme airtime moments. Perhaps the biggest attraction?

 “Goes right into a couple of elements, one of which is a brand new element called a step-up under slip, which is an inverted roll. It literally takes people horizontally, and then upside down. So there are three inversions on this coaster, so this is crazy,” Chan said.

Chan expects the ride to open to the public later this spring.

NBC reported:

The biggest question is when the ride will open. Six Flags is staying mum on an exact date, but estimates that fans will finally get a taste of “The Joker” by the end of May.

Here is a sneak Peak:

(Original article at CBS SF Bay Area HERE)

Apr 232016
 

SuicideSquadJKRandHQfeaturepic2COMINGSOON.COM, Silas Lesnick released an interested bit of an interview with Jared Leto and Margot Robbie talking about what it was playing the Joker and Harley Quinn.  Here is an excerpt of that article:

“I don’t think I’m allowed to talk about that so much,” Leto smiles, “But we walked in a completely new direction. I think we knew that we had to do that. It was important to do that. When the Joker has been done and done so well, it gives you a bit of an indication of where you shouldn’t go. There’s a bit of a map there. That’s the good part about it.”

As a fan of the character himself, Leto is thrilled at the chance to offer a brand-new take on a role that has become something much bigger than the sum of its parts. 

“It’s quite an honor,” Leto continues. “Joker has been written about in pop culture for 75 years. I’m just the latest in the long list of people who have redefined and reinvented this character. The actors, the voice actors, the television series, the writers, the artists and the fans. People have taken the Joker and reinvented and redefined for 75 years. It is really special to be asked to do that.”

Starring opposite Leto is Margot Robbie in the first ever big-screen depiction of psychiatrist turned psychopath, Harley Quinn. While the Suicide Squad Joker may be aiming for a brand-new take, Robbie suggests that what we’ll be seeing from her character is classic Harley.

“I did a lot of research on mental illness and codependency,” she says. “I was trying to access a way in to understanding why she’s so in love with the Joker. I kind of decided that she’s codependent on him. Now that I’ve done the research, I realize that that’s more of an addiction than an illness… You see many sides of her. Sometimes she’s really funny. Sometimes she’s really mean. She just enjoys everything she does. Whether she’s doing something good or bad, she’ll have an equal amount of enjoyment out of it. She’s not always the most likable character.”

(For complete article, please visit COMINGSOON.COM HERE)

Apr 162016
 

joker-is-front-center-in-new-suicide-squad-trailer-820751B. Alan Orange met with actor Jared Leto go get an interesting interview about the research he underwent when developing the personality of the Joker for the upcoming film SUICIDE SQUAD.  The article was published in the MOVIEWEB site and you can read it HERE.

Let me bring up some interesting excerpts:

Jared Leto’s acting methods on the set of Suicide Squad have become legend. We know that he stayed in character for most of the shoot. And that he sent his cast mates some very disgusting gifts, which included used condoms, dead animals, and sticky porno magazines. What we haven’t heard about yet is the extensive research he did before climbing into the pale white skin of this madman. And this consisted of meeting with real-life murderers, psychos and psychotherapists.

About crafting a new Joker, director David Ayer had this to say.

“The Joker has a lot of different looks, sort of built from the looks throughout the history of DC Comics but with a new sort of flair and flavor on him so he does feel like a modern-day gangster, because… he’s always been a gangster.”

 …

Until now, Jared Leto hasn’t publicly spoken out too much on his role. He wants to leave an air of mystery lingering around the performance. About making the character new for audiences again, he says this.

“We knew we had to strike new ground. There had been such great work that we knew we had to go in a different direction. So you had a kind of direction from the very beginning, knowing that you can’t go that way, so you have to head this way. That was really helpful. But the Joker is fantastic because there are no rules. The Joker operates from instinct. David and I had conversations and I think he trusted that I was going to go out and experiment and explore and come back with something for him to continue the collaboration with. And it was nice to have that trust from him. He really let me lose and encouraged me. That was a priceless thing when you’re working with a director to have that faith and trust.”

Jared Leto goes onto describe the kinds of research that went into finding who this version of the Joker is. This is no longer a comic book character in the hands of this Oscar winning actor. No, he insists that this is one of the most realistic versions of the villain ever seen in any medium.

“He became a real person. I don’t know if person is the right word. I think the Joker lives in between reality and another plane. Kind of a shaman in a way. It’s a very intoxicating role to take on. You have permission to break rules and to challenge yourself and anyone around you in a really unique way. I first started at the beginning, educating myself, researching, reading as much as I could, going back to the source material. And then at a certain point, I knew I had to stop doing that. Because the Joker has been redefined, reinvented many times before. I think the fun thing about it is when people have done it in the past, there is some spirit of the Joker essence that they keep, but they either build upon something or tear something down and start again at the beginning.

For me, I knew once I had gone through the process of educating myself, I had to throw everything away and start from the beginning and really build this from the ground up. It was a transformative process. There was a physical transformation. There was a physical conditioning. There are a lot of things [I did].

It’s probably better to not get into it but to the Joker, violence is a symphony. This is someone who gets an extreme reward from the act of violence and manipulation. Those are the songs he sings and he is very in tune with what makes people tick (love this quote). I did meet with people that were experts, doctors, psychiatrists that dealt with psychopaths and people who had committed horrendous crimes, and then I spent some time with those people themselves, people who have been institutionalized for great periods of time. I guess when you take on a role, any role, you become part detective, part writer, and for me that’s my favorite time of the entire process, the discovering, the uncovering, and the building of a character. Yeah, it’s really fun.”

Jared Leto goes onto talk about the character as though he is a person removed from the actor himself. He insists that he wasn’t present for the shoot. But that, depending on who you ask, The Joker did have a great sense of humor. The actor then went onto talk about the video he made, which was shown to the rest of the cast right before a big dead hog was dropped in the middle of the table at the script reading.

“I think in the beginning it was important to set up and define our relationship, so to speak. [laughs] There were a lot of things. It was fun. You’ve got to remember doing these things isn’t just about the result, it’s the process. It’s working with Mr. Frost, who is the Joker’s henchman. It’s making the choice and the decision of how am I going to introduce the Joker to the very first people who will meet him. So it becomes an exercise as much for me as it is for anyone else. And it’s as much about the process as it is about the results. How do you go about these sorts of things? How do you work with the people around you? It was a lot of fun. The attention to detail and the process that we went through helped to bring a life to the character for me. Those actions and those gestures-the joker loves a grand gesture. Those were really important. And they were fun. The Joker is someone who doesn’t take things too seriously.”

and from the site COSMIC BOOKNEWS (please read more HERE)…

…  As far as the look of the Joker, it was a collaborative process. There were things I brought to the table and things David brought to the table and it was a mashup of both of our sick and twisted minds. There were specific things that he liked and wanted and I was there to help bring them to life in the best way I could.

I think the most important thing I brought was probably not to do with the outside but with the internal. But you know David was specific with tattoos. They were his idea but there was a lot to play with. Who knows what will end up in the final film?

Apr 162016
 

killingjoke

Entertainment Weekly has reported on their site that the Animation studio has rated their Direct to Video animated film THE KILLING JOKE  R…which sets a precedent for the DC Animated Universe.

Batman: The Killing Joke isn’t kidding around. Warner Bros’. direct-to-video animated film based on the notorious Alan Moore comic has been rated R, the studio’s home entertainment division tells EW exclusively.

The Killing Joke marks the first film in the DC Universe Original Movie franchise to receive an R rating, and the second Batman movie to do so. (The extended home-video version of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was the first.)

And for me this is encouraging.  Means that DC is sticking to the original spirit of the novel written by Alan Moore and not “watering” the material for a younger audience.  This was not a graphic novel for children when it was first published, and it is DEFINITELY NOT A FILM FOR CHILDREN even now.  I can’t wait to see the movie.

(For the complete ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY article, please go HERE)

Apr 032016
 

killingjoke_ani_byphaMy favorite Joker story of all time, and I can’t just way to see it…so to tease the fans DC Has released a preview of the animated film…full 10 minutes of insights of what promises to be one of the best Batman animated films in a long time.   Please sit back and enjoy this nice preview with me…

 

I can’t wait for this film to come out….