Entertainment Movies See Joaquin Phoenix in Full-On Joker Mode in Terrifying Photo from Set of Origin Movie The Joker origin film is scheduled for release in October 2019. By Nigel Smith Nigel Smith Nigel Smith is the Senior Movies News Editor for PEOPLE. He is an experienced culture editor and writer with a 12-year history of working in the online and print industries. People Editorial Guidelines Published on September 24, 2018 02:05PM EDT Joaquin Phoenix is the stuff of nightmares in the latest onset photo from his Joker origin movie. The actor, 43, is fully decked out as the DC super-villain in the latest peek at director Todd Phillips’ thriller. Sporting the creepy makeup he premiered last week, this latest image also shows Phoenix wearing the character’s signature color suit and surrounded in a subway station by what appear to be henchman wearing scary clown masks. While plot details have been kept under wraps, Phoenix has previously opened up about taking on the character in a July interview with Collider. “It feels unique, it is its own world in some ways, and maybe, mostly, it scares the f— s— out of me, or something,” Phoenix said, adding that an actor’s next project “might as well be the thing that scares you the most.” See Joaquin Phoenix as The Joker — in Super-Creepy Makeup! SplashNews.com The actor also discussed what it’s like to step into a role that so many people have their own opinions about. “It’s a magnified version of what you deal with as an actor,” he said, explaining that whenever an actor takes on a role and gets in front of the film’s creative team, it can be pretty nerve-wracking. Joaquin Phoenix Spotted Out in New York City as He Prepares to Play the Joker Todd Phillips/Instagram “They have their expectation, and they’ve imagined things in their head, and they’ve imagined different actors, and suddenly you take it on and so there’s this moment of anxiety of ‘Did I live up to their expectations?’” he continued. “And at some point, you have to just own it and say like ‘I can’t consider who they might have thought up before or what the movie was for the six months ago, this is what it is now and I have to find my way into it.’” Todd Phillips/Instagram The famous character has previously been portrayed by many actors, including Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger and Jared Leto. Warner Bros has described the film as being an “exploration of a man disregarded by society [that] is not only a gritty character study but also a broader cautionary tale,” according to The Hollywood Reporter. The Joker origin film is scheduled for release in October 2019.