Frances Conroy is in talks to play the Joker’s mother, Penny, in Warner Bros.’ “Joker,” an individual with knowledge of the project exclusively told TheWrap.
Joaquin Phoenix is set to play the titular character, while “Deadpool 2” star Zazie Beetz is in talks to join the cast as a single mother who catches the attention of the Joker prior to his transformation into the nihilistic Gotham City villain. In Alan Moore’s version of the Joker’s origins, the villain was an unnamed failed comedian who struggles to make ends meet for his pregnant wife. When his wife is killed in a freak accident and a robbery he is forced to take part in disfigures his face, the comedian snaps, becoming the infamous Joker.