In a strange turn of events, Alec Baldwin will no longer be playing Thomas Wayne in The Joker.

This just days after it was reported that the actor had signed on to play Bruce Wayne’s father, who was described as a “cheesy and tanned businessman who is more in the mold of a 1980s Donald Trump” in the film. More on the story below.

The news was revealed in an interesting way. First Baldwin sent out a cryptic tweet saying that there was no real truth to his character’s description:

Let me state, for the record, that I have NOT been hired to play a role in Todd Phillips’ JOKER as some Donald Trump manque.
That is not happening.
Not.
Happening.

— ABFoundation (@ABFalecbaldwin) August 29, 2018

However, that tweet could have also been looked at as he never signed on to play the role at all, or that his character would not have been in the same mold as Trump.

Regardless of what the answer was, Baldwin will not be playing Thomas Wayne with a Trump-like personality. This according to USA Today. However, it wasn’t because of the way the character was being portrayed. According to him, it was because of scheduling issues. Baldwin told the publication “I’m sure there are 25 guys who can play that part.”

That said, of the 25 guys who can play him, he is one of the more popular ones, having impersonated Trump for the past two years on SNL.

This may put the film a little behind schedule as production was set to begin early next month.

Based on the one-shot comic book The Killing Joke, the film stars Joaquin Phoenix in the title role, beginning with him as an ordinary man who quits his job to become a comedian but ends up making some bad choices leading to him becoming the Joker. Also starring in the film is Zazie Beetz (Deadpool 2), who is set to play a single mother who catches the interest of Phoenix’s character before he becomes the Joker; Robert De Niro as a talk show host who is a key influence in the Joker’s life; Francis Conroy as the Joker’s mother; and Marc Maron as the Joker’s agent.

The film is being described as an “exploration of a man disregarded by society” that is “not only a gritty character study, but also a broader cautionary tale,” and will be more of a gritty hard-boiled crime drama than a traditional comic book movie.

Directed by Todd Phillips, The Joker will open in theaters on October 4, 2019.

[Source: USA Today]