(KGTV) — No one has really settled on the origins of one of comic's most iconic villains.
But director Todd Phillips is giving it go, despite inaccurate on-screen depictions.
"But that's what happens when you set out to make an origin story about a character who doesn't have an origin," Phillips told the Associated Press of the Joker.
The trailer for the upcoming film "Joker" was released Wednesday, showing actor Joaquin Phoenix tackle the early history of the well-known "Batman" villain.
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Phoenix plays Arthur Fleck, seen throughout the trailer experiencing highs and lows: Working as a clown spinning a sign on the street, helping his mother take a bath, taking the stage at a nightclub, trading smiles in a diner with a woman.
"My mother always tells me to smile and put on a happy face. She told me I had a purpose, to bring laughter and joy to the world," Phoenix's character says chillingly, as Nat King Cole's "Smile" plays through the footage.
And, eventually, Fleck seems to descend into madness — and appearing to bring the rest of Gotham City with him.
Check out the trailer:
Phillips has even played joker himself with Warner Brothers, according to the AP, telling them he couldn't describe his film and only saying "it's a tragedy."
"Joker" is due in theaters October 4.
