About The Peoples Joker
Directed by: Vera Drew
Starring: Vera Drew, Lynn Downey, Griffin Kramer, Kane Distler, Nathan Faustyn, Phil Braun, David Liebe Hart, Scott Aukerman, Tim Heidecker, Maria Bamford, Bob Odenkirk
Cinematography: Nate Cornett
Edited by: Vera Drew
Music by: Justin Krol, Quinn Scharber, Danni Rowan, Elias and the Error
Running time: 92 minutes
Language: English
The Peoples Joker is a funny superhero movie from 2022. It’s about growing up and making fun of superheroes. Vera Drew directed it, and Drew and Bri LeRose wrote it. The cinema was first shown on September 13, 2022, at the Toronto International Film Festival. But, they couldn’t show it again because of some problems with rights. The movie is like a joke about characters from Batman comics. The main character is a transgender woman who acts like the Joker, and Vera Drew plays this character. Other actors in the movie include Scott Aukerman, Tim Heidecker, Maria Bamford, David Liebe Hart, Robert Wuhl, and Bob Odenkirk. They all play smaller parts in the movie.
Plot of The Peoples Joker
In a world where Batman watches over everything, a young person grows up in Smallville, Kansas, loving the comedians on a TV show called UCB Live. The main character’s mom gets worried when the child asks if they were born in the wrong body. So, the mom takes the child to Dr. Crane at Arkham Asylum, who gives them a drug called Smylex. It makes people act happy, even if they feel sad or different about their gender.
Fifteen years later, the hero moves to Gotham City to join UCB Live. A computer picks them as a male Joker, but the women are nameless Harlequins. To be on the show, they must pay a lot of money and take classes from Ra’s al Ghul. The hero becomes friends with Oswald Cobblepot, another comedian. They can’t afford the fees, so they decide to make their comedy group called “anti-comedy.”
They set up in an old warehouse at a broken-down carnival and are joined by other rule-breaking comedians. One of them is Jason “Mr. J” Todd, who does unfunny acts dressed as his own Joker. Mr. J and the hero become friends, and Mr. J reveals he’s a transgender man. This encourages the hero to say they’re a transgender woman. They plan for the hero to transition by diving into a vat of estrogen.
When they try to do this, a retired Batman appears to stop them. Mr. J is scared because Batman is his ex. Batman adopted a kid named Carrie Kelley and trained her to be Robin, even helping her transition to become Jason Todd. But their relationship became terrible and inappropriate.
Batman keeps appearing in public, even hosting UCB Live. This makes Jason angry, and he tries to make everything about himself. The hero, now called Joker the Harlequin, breaks up with Mr. J and decides to challenge the comedy system. She hacks into UCB Live and gets a chance to host instead of Batman.
During the show, the producers use Smylex to make the audience laugh no matter what. Joker has a moment of clarity and realizes she doesn’t need approval from others to be happy. She ends up in the Fifth Dimension with Mx. Mxyzptlk, who offers to change the time for her. Joker asks that her friend Oswald get fame, and she has a happy memory from 1992, singing along to “The Joker” with her mom.
After the credits, it’s hinted that Joker will be back in The Joker’s Nightmare, and Freddy Krueger’s glove appears on the screen.
Cast in The Peoples Joker
- In The Peoples Joker Vera Drew as Joker the Harlequin/Vera, a trans woman from Smallville trying to break into the world of stand-up comedy.
- In The Peoples Joker Griffin Kramer as a young, pre-transition Vera, whose deadname is bleeped.
- Lynn Downey as Vera’s mother
- Kane Distler as Mr. J, an emotionally manipulative trans man who is a composite of Jason Todd and the Jared Leto incarnation of the Joker from Suicide Squad.
- Nathan Faustyn as The Penguin, Joker’s slacker friend and another aspiring comedian.
- David Liebe Hart as Ra’s al Ghul, the emcee of UCB, Gotham City’s only comedy showcase.
- Phil Braun as Batman, a closeted gay man with far-right politics, who was Mr. J’s abuser.
- Maria Bamford as Lorne Michaels, the controlling producer of UCB. Saturday Night Live star Sarah Sherman originally voiced the role but asked to be recast following the Toronto Film Festival premiere.
- Christian Calloway as Dr. Jonathan Crane, who prescribes the young Vera with Smylex, an ineffective antidepressant with grotesque side effects.
- Trevor Drinkwater as The Riddler, another aspiring comedian.
- Ruin Carroll as Poison Ivy, a non-binary aspiring comedian.
- Tim Heidecker as Perry White, a belligerent Alex Jones-style political commentator.
- Scott Aukerman as Mr. Freeze
- Bob Odenkirk as Bob the Goon
- Arden Hughes as the UCB Computer
- Robert Wuhl as himself, an actor in superhero films appearing via a Cameo
- Alec Robbins as Mr. Boop
- Cricket Arrison as the Creeper. Film critic/bartender Mike Vanderbilt originally appeared as The Creeper in early versions of the film. However, after allegations of sexual assault came out against Vanderbilt, Drew announced she would be replacing Vanderbilt for future screenings.[4]
- Mia Moore Marchant as The Huntress
- Ember Knight as Mxy
- Sandy Honig as Mr. Boop’s Wife
- Eliot Glazer as Lil Timmy Too Times
- Denali Winter as Clark Kent
- Bambi Belle as Lois Lane
Production of The Peoples Joker
In 2019, Bri LeRose, who worked with Drew, suggested that they change the movie Joker. While fixing it, Drew started thinking about how the characters in the movie were like her own life. She felt like she needed to work on a big project about gender, comedy, and issues with being a mom. Drew’s original plan was to change every Batman movie and some other films to make this new movie. But later, she decided to remove those parts from the plan. Drew asked many people to help with money and drawings to make the movie. Over 100 artists gave backgrounds and illustrations for the movie.
Release of The Peoples Joker
Drew got a letter from a big media company that seemed angry. They wanted her not to show her movie. Some people thought The Peoples Joker was Warner Bros. Discovery, but nobody confirmed it. After the movie premiered on September 14, 2022, more showings were stopped because of legal problems. The film tried to be okay under fair use, saying it’s a parody. Drew wants to find people supporting the film and make it available for trans people and their families. On September 21, Drew also took the film out of other festivals. However, we’re still determining if it’s because of legal issues or if we need to find a company to release it.
The first time the movie was shown in the U.S. was at the Outfest Film Festival in Los Angeles on July 15, 2023. “The People’s Joker” is set to come out in theatres in the United States on April 5, 2024.
Click here to visit more!
