The People’s Joker—the queer, crowdfunded coming-of-age creative vehicle of one Vera Drew—now has a trailer ahead of its upcoming release, and that’s a very big deal.
The People’s Joker drew headlines in 2022 after getting disqualified from the Toronto International Film Festival on the basis of copyright issues, despite very firmly falling into the camp of transformative parody.
Despite this setback, however, Drew’s atomic whirlwind of a DC Comics spoof has gone on to nab a perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes from the critics who have seen it. With the promise of a theatrical release to go along with its brand-new trailer, wider audiences will soon be in for a hearty, psychedelic dash of Drew’s partially autobiographical, uproariously provocative film that, even at the very least, is bound to start many a worthwhile conversation.
What’s The People’s Joker about?
The People’s Joker follows protagonist “Joker the Harlequin,” a struggling, aspiring comedian who makes the move to Gotham City to try and make it in the comedy world, a world she’s seemingly forced to break into via UCB Live, the only government-funded sketch show in a world where comedy is illegal.
When things initially go as expected, Joker ends up teaming with a ragtag group of fellow disenfranchised comedians to form an anti-comedy troupe, which winds up with Joker bashing heads with Batman, the totalitarian overseer of Gotham City.
Who stars in The People’s Joker?
Drew, who also directed and co-wrote the film (with Bri LeRose), stars in the film as Joker the Harlequin alongside Bob Odenkirk, Tim Heidecker, Maria Bamford, Scott Aukerman, and David Liebe Hart—a wickedly impressive haul of talent for a crowdfunded film. Collaborators Lynn Downey, Griffin Kramer, Kane Distler, Nathan Faustyn, and Phil Braun also star.
When does The People’s Joker release?
The People’s Joker arrives in select theaters in the United States on April 5, 2024.
(featured image: Altered Innocence)
