First pictures emerge of a gaunt looking Joaquin Phoenix as he takes on new Joker role

Cape Town – Filming for the upcoming standalone Joker movie starring Joaquin Phoenix has begun.

On Saturday director Todd Phillips’ shared a first look image of Phoenix on Instagram and captioned it Arthur.

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Arthur.

A post shared by Todd Phillips (@toddphillips1) on Sep 16, 2018 at 12:12pm PDT

According to the Hollywood Reporter the untitled film will be the origin story of Batman’s notorious enemy as he transforms from a struggling stand-up comedian to a criminal.

On Sunday Phoenix was pictured filming scenes in Manhattan's Harlem neighbourhood.

The film is set in 1980’s gritty New York City. In the pictures Phoenix can be seen smoking, showing off that trademark Joker grin and interacting with a clown.

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(Photos: BrosNYC/Backgrid)