Warner Bros banned the transgender Joker parody film, The People’s Joker, when it was first screened at the Toronto Film Festival back in 2022, but now an official trailer has been released. Directed by Vera Drew, a US release has been scheduled for April 5, with no official release date for the UK. Drew plays the role of Harlequin/Vera, a trans woman who attempts to make it as a stand-up comedian. Other cast members include Scott Aukerman, Tim Heidecker, Maria Bamford, and Bob Odenkirk.
A “media conglomerate” (which Dew did not disclose) filed a cease-and-desist order against the film hours after its Toronto premiere, causing all screenings to be shut down and leaving the future of the movie uncertain. A copyright exemption is being argued for under the notion of fair use for being a parody. The film is a “revolutionary DIY parody” and an “hilarious reimagining of the classic autobiographical coming-of-age story”.
The movie follows an unconfident, closeted trans girl who moves to Gotham City to make it big as a comedian by joining the cast of UCB Live, a government-sanctioned late-night sketch show in a world where comedy has been outlawed. As mainstream success eludes the heroine, she unites with a ragtag team of rejects, misfits, and a certain love interest named Mister J, ‘Joker the Harlequin’ is born again as a confident (and psychotic) joker on a collision course with the city’s fascist caped crusader.
Although The People’s Joker trailers seem very different from The Joker, the villain within the Batman series, the film actually parodies the character who has been depicted in films such as 2008’s The Dark Knight and 2016’s Suicide Squad. According to the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, The People’s Joker received a unanimous positive rating of 100 per cent “Fresh”, with critics possessing the movie.
In unrelated news, Joker: Folie à Deux director Todd Phillips recently shared new images from the forthcoming sequel to 2019’s Joker
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