Back in 2022, Vera Drew’s highly personal, incredibly irreverent stylized memoir movie The People’s Joker made a splashy debut at the Toronto International Film Festival — in that immediately after its premiere, DC Comics’ parent company, Warner Bros., filed a cease-and-desist order against the movie, shutting down all subsequent screenings and throwing the movie’s future into doubt. It’s taken years for the film to see the light of day, outside of the occasional festival screening. I saw it at the 2023 Fantastic Fest, where Vera Drew was present to talk about the experience, but was careful not to address the question of whether her film might ever get a real theatrical run. But now, according to the poster, it’s “coming soon. Legally. Seriously.”
The People’s Joker has finally been cleared for release, albeit covered in disclaimers reminding everyone that it isn’t an official DC project, and that its satirical takes on Batman, the Joker, Harley Quinn, the Penguin, and other comics characters aren’t canon or affiliated with WB products. Not that anyone who’s ever seen the movie could make that mistake. The People’s Joker is unmistakably a personal story — specifically, a transgender awakening and coming-out story, complete with a first queer romance and a journey of self-definition.
It’s patterned somewhat after Todd Phillips’ Joker, but it’s unmistakably its own riotous, gleeful, deeply emotional creation, a genre mashup that uses costuming, simple animation effects, digital veneers, and goofy props to stylize Vera’s coming-of-age story by turning it into a pop-art odyssey. Here’s the official description:
In the absurdist autobiographically-inspired dark comedy that boldly reimagines the Joker’s origin, a painfully unfunny aspiring clown (Vera Drew as Joker the Harlequin) grapples with her gender identity while unsuccessfully attempting to join the ranks of Gotham City’s sole comedy program in a world where comedy has been outlawed. Uniting with a ragtag team of rejects and misfits, Joker the Harlequin forms an illegal anti-comedy troupe that puts her on a collision course with the devious caped crusader controlling the city.
THE PEOPLE’S JOKER features cameos from comedy multi-hyphenate Tim Heidecker, award-winning actor Bob Odenkirk, Maria Bamford (Netflix’s Big Mouth, Adult Swim’s Teenage Euthanasia), and Scott Aukerman (Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis co-creator and host of the Comedy Bang! Bang! podcast), with Vera Drew, Lynn Downey (Amazon Prime Video’s Daisy Jones & The Six), Nathan Faustyn (SADDLED), and Kane Distler, in his film debut, making up the film’s core cast. With her own life as a trans woman and artist motivating the film’s story and theme, the script was co-written by close creative collaborator Bri LeRose (Netflix’s Magic for Humans and Chad & JT Go Deep).
The People’s Joker will open April 5 in New York at the IFC Center, and expand across the U.S. and Canada over the course of April and May. You can find a list of participating theaters and screening dates at the movie’s website.
