Yahoo News DC's Joker replaces Alec Baldwin as Batman's dad
After DC's Joker origin story flashed the Bat-signal in the sky over Hollywood when Alec Baldwin dropped out of a key role, another actor has answered the call.
The former 30 Rock star had been cast opposite Joaquin Phoenix to play Bruce Wayne's father Thomas Wayne in the upcoming prequel, which has been described as a gritty crime thriller set in the '80s.
Unfortunately, Baldwin's busy schedule meant that he had to drop out of the Worlds of DC movie only a few days after being cast, but he insisted that there were "25 guys who can play that part" in Hollywood.
Director Todd Phillips has presumably spent the last few weeks trying to woo all 25 of those guys, with Warner Bros has now telling ComicBook that he's settled on 62-year-old character actor Brett Cullen.
While Cullen's name might not be instantly recognisable, he's been in lots of classic TV shows, from playing one of The Others in Lost (Goodwin Stanhope, to be exact) to more recently appearing in Person of Interest and portraying the US Ambassador Arthur Crosby in Netflix's Narcos.
He's also no stranger to comic book movies. He popped up as one of the Congressmen in Christopher Nolan's third Batman film The Dark Knight Rises as well as playing the titular hero's father Barton Blaze in Marvel's Ghost Rider.
[Brett Cullen in Lost]
His version of Thomas Wayne in Joker has been described as a departure from past on-screen versions in that he'll be more of a shrewd and cut-throat mogul rather than a soft-hearted philanthropist.
Filming is currently underway on the standalone movie, with director Todd Phillips offering a surprising first look at Joaquin Phoenix as The Joker over the weekend.
Joker has a release date of October 4, 2019 in the US.
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