Warner Bros. originally wanted Leonardo DiCaprio to play Arthur Fleck
Warner Bros. originally wanted Martin Scorsese to direct Joker. The studio also wanted DiCaprio to play Fleck. Plans changed when Scorsese went on to direct The Irishman.
Joaquin Phoenix couldn’t do reshoots because he lost so much weight
When director Todd Phillips needed to do reshoots, he could not do them with Pheonix. Pheonix lost so much weight for the film, that they decided not to do reshoots for the sake of his health. The other actors had to learn their new lines while their makeup was applied, so they could also shoot their scenes that day.
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