We can actually totally see this.
Joaquin Phoenix has always had a kind of brooding, unpredictable menace about him - and now he may get to put it to good use in a film role, as reports suggest that he's in talks to play the Joker in the forthcoming DC Comics standalone movie directed by Todd Phillips.
Phillips' film doesn't have a title as yet, but Variety report that he has made it clear that Phoenix is his humber one choice for the role and that they had met late last year to discuss it. They also say that Phillips had previously wanted Leonardo Di Caprio for the role, but it didn't work out.
Insiders have 'stressed' that Jared Leto - who played the Joker in DC's Suicide Squad - would have no bearing on the film, nor would Phoenix's potential role as The Joker affect anything that happens in the DC universe, going forward. Leto is set to reprise his role in Suicide Squad 2.
Phillips' story, meanwhile, is set in the 1980s and is rumoured to be an origin film for the character, delving into "what it took for the Joker to become a mastermind criminal."
Joaquin Phoenix will make an appearance at this year's ADIFF later this month, so there's plenty of time to ask him about it then.