Brett Cullen Joins Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker Movie

The cast of Warner Bros.’s announced origin movie for The Joker starring Joaquin Phoenix keeps growing week by week. Last month, comedian and GLOW star Marc Maron and the one and only Robert De Niro were added with rumors about who they might play and how big their parts would be. A popular theory is they will be part of a talk show where Joker will perform under his dual identity, revealed to be named Arthur Fleck this time around.

Another name tied to the project before suddenly bowing out was Alec Baldwin, who was cast as Thomas Wayne, father of the future Dark Knight. Baldwin’s departure left a huge vacancy but that vacancy is now filled by character actor Brett Cullen.

Cullen, not new to the world of crime fighters or the stock dad role, might be best known to fans as Johnny Blaze’s papa Barton in Nic Cage’s first foray as Ghost Rider. He also appeared in Dark Knight Rises in a small role as a Congressman. Those credits alone make him more than ready to take on the part of the figure whose death leads to Bruce’s evolution into the Batman.

Other credits include the cable series Queen of the South starring Alice Braga and the Lifetime soap Devious Maids.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan played Thomas Wayne in Batman v Superman, making him the fallen Wayne patriarch of that continuity. But the film with Phoenix simply called Joker, directed by Todd Phillips, will take place away from DC’s floundering film universe. In that respect, Joker is yet another reboot to add to Batman’s storied mythos.

Joker is reported to be a darker, grittier crime film set in the 1980s and is supposed to have traits of the seedy noir of that period. Martin Scorsese’s name and work has been mentioned as an inspiration — apropos since De Niro is attached.

Filming is underway for Joker in New York City ahead of a scheduled October 2019 release.