Atlanta star Lakeith Stanfield stopped by to visit Jimmy Kimmel on Thursday night, and what transpired was some thrilling, hardcore nerding. Officially, Stanfield was on hand to promote The Photograph, his romantic drama with Issa Rae, and while Stanfield is proud of that project, he admits that he never envisioned himself appearing in such a, well, romantic movie. Instead, the Uncut Gems and Get Out actor didn’t hide his desire to play a very specific role, that of the Joker. The greatest supervillain of Gotham! Move over, Joaquin Phoenix and your Oscar nomination. Thank you.
On that note, Kimmel produced a photo of Stanfield in full makeup as the clown prince of crime while attending last fall’s Los Angeles premiere of the decorated Phoenix movie. You gotta respect this bold move. His grill was made of foil! C’mon, that’s devotion.
As Stanfield confidently explained, he will in fact play the Joker at some point, whether a studio chooses to hire him or not. He’s not deterred by Phoenix’s prowess in the Arthur Fleck role, nope, not one bit. “Wait ’till they see me do it,” he declared while throwing down the gauntlet. Well, after he commanded full attention with performances in recent films including Sorry to Bother You, Selma, Straight Outta Compton, and Knives Out (and to go way back, Short Term 12), the world should also be his comic-book oyster. Stanfield even claimed to make his own mini-movies as the Joker at home. However, he only wants to play Joker. That’s the one. Make it happen, Hollywood.
