The trailer for The People’s Joker is finally here, and no lawyers can stop you from seeing it

The trans retelling of the Joker's origin looks as wild as promised

By Sam Barsanti  |  March 5, 2024 | 9:17pm
Aux News Joker
The trailer for The People’s Joker is finally here, and no lawyers can stop you from seeing it
The People’s Joker Screenshot: YouTube

A lot of media has promoted itself as “the thing they don’t want you to see,” but The People’s Joker probably deserves that label more than most. Comedian Vera Drew started crowdfunding the project years ago, pitching it as a trans retelling of Todd Phillips’ The Joker. Despite those obviously parodic origins, the film almost immediately faced some rights issues when Drew tried to premiere it at the Toronto International Film Festival, eventually leading to Drew scrapping an entire planned festival run. It was all apparently in the name of ensuring that the film could someday get screened in theaters and then released to the public, and—sucks to be you, Gotham City—that’s finally happening.

Today, distributor Altered Innocence released a trailer ahead of the film’s theatrical release on April 5, and now we can all get a glimpse of Drew’s autobiographical-ish superhero masterpiece. As teased in this delightfully DIY trailer, the movie is about a closeted trans girl who dreams of becoming a comedian and moves to Gotham City—where she meets a love interest named “Mister J” and crosses paths with the city’s “fascist caped crusader.”

The People’s Joker – Trailer (In Theaters April 5th!)

In addition to starring Drew (who also wrote and edited the film on top of directing it), The People’s Joker features Bob Odenkirk (as a henchman named Bob), Maria Bamford (as a CGI Lorne Michaels), and Comedy Bang! Bang! host Scott Aukerman (as Mr. Freeze). There’s also a wide array of references to DC Comics stuff and the various movies that have featured The Joker—including Suicide Squad, The Dark Knight, and, of course, Joker.

You can go to the Altered Innocence website to see when The People’s Joker is playing somewhere near you, just don’t let anyone from any gigantic media corporations known for their famous water tower find out! Just kidding, they can’t stop you as long as you loudly declare that you recognize that this is parody.

 
Join the discussion...