First photo of Joaquin Phoenix as the joker?

Joker movie reveals creepy first photo of Joaquin Phoenix

Ready for a rather mesmerizing first look at Joaquin Phoenix in the Joker movie?

Below is a photo shared by director Todd Philips on Sunday revealing “Arthur,” a.k.a. Phoenix in the film.

As you can see, it’s not what you expect when thinking of the Clown Prince of Crime:

Phoenix’s look — free of clown makeup — is presumably how we first meet the character in the film. But his green shirt and jacket give a nod toward the Joker’s traditional color palette.

Joker is expected to be a standalone origin story that’s not entirely dissimilar to Taxi Driver — and that photo definitely has a Travis Bickle vibe.

“I wouldn’t quite classify this as like any genre,” Phoenix has said of the film. “I wouldn’t say it’s a superhero movie, or a studio movie or a… It feels unique, and I think more then anything, and probably the most important thing, is Todd seems very passionate about it and very giving, and so that’s exciting. I think, underneath the excitement of these films, and the size of them, there are these incredible characters that are dealing with real life struggles. And sometimes that is uncovered and exposed, and sometimes it isn’t, and so I always felt, like, there were characters in comics that were really interesting and deserve the opportunity to be kind of studied. And so I think that’s what Todd sees appealing about this idea.”

Joker is currently in production and is expected to be released next year.

The official description: “Under the direction of Todd Phillips, the film centers around the iconic arch nemesis and is an original, standalone story not seen before on the big screen. Phillips’ exploration of a man disregarded by society is not only a gritty character study, but also a broader cautionary tale.”