Deadpool 2‘s Zazie Beetz in Talks to Join Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker Movie

If you were to ask us to name an actress we’d love to see in Joaquin Phoenix and Todd Phillips’ Joker, Zazie Beetz would be really, really high on that list. The charismatic breakout star of Deadpool 2, as well as Donald Glover‘s consistently excellent Atlanta, is in talks to join the bad boy of Gotham.

The Hollywood Reporter has it that Beetz could be joining Phoenix in the standalone Joker (the film’s official title now—we love it) in what would be a decisive turn from the super ridiculous superhero world of Deadpool to a gritty, grimy Gotham headlined by a supervillain. Phillips’ Joker is being described as a dark character study, and with a modest budget and an actor like Phoenix in the lead, you can be sure it won’t look, sound or feel like anything we’ve seen before. As THR reports, Martin Scorsese’s iconic Taxi Driver is one of the “tonal watchwords” of the Joker film, which will look at how the clown prince of chaos came to be, exploring “a man disregarded by society that is not only a gritty character study, but also a broader cautionary tale.”

While the plot of Phillips and Scott Silver’s script is unknown, THR does report that Beetz would play a single mother who ends up getting the attention of a certain troubled soul, one who goes on to become the most feared, insane villain Gotham has ever known. Beetz has the chops and then some to go dark, and imagining her paired opposite Phoenix makes Joker an even more interesting project than it already was.

If Beetz does sign on, she’ll be at work in short order—Joker is set to start filming in New York this September.

Featured image: Zazie Beetz as Domino in Twentieth Century Fox’s DEADPOOL 2. Photo Credit: Joe Lederer.