DC Gets A Trans Redux In The Trailer For Vera Drew's The People's Joker
Typically, saying you're more excited about something other than the new Lady Gaga project is fair grounds for having your queer card taken away, but an exception can be made in the case of "The People's Joker." Indeed, as intrigued as I am to watch Gaga's Harley Quinn sing and dance her way through a toxic romance with Joaquin Phoenix's Clown Prince of Crime in Todd Phillips' "Joker: Folie à Deux" (a sentence I couldn't have imagined writing after watching Phillips' original Scorsesean DC drama for the first time back in 2019), it's Vera Drew's trans-coming-of-age DC Comics superhero parody that has my current attention.
Drew, similar to her fellow trans comedienne Harper Steele (the subject of Will Ferrell's acclaimed upcoming Netflix documentary "Will & Harper"), has quietly worked on some of the more memorable and daring comedic offerings of the past decade. In addition to editing Scott Aukerman's podcast turned talk show parody "Comedy Bang! Bang!" and Sacha Baron Cohen's mockumentary-esque political satire "Who is America?", Drew also edited the standup comedy special "An Evening with Tim Heidecker" and multiple episodes of Tim Robinson's exquisitely absurd sketch comedy series "I Think You Should Leave." Now, with "The People's Joker," she's trying her hand at feature directing for the first time after helming shows like "Tim and Eric Qu?z Game" and the Heidecker-hosted web series and podcast "On Cinema."
You can check out the trailer for "The People's Joker" by clicking above!
Put on a happy (queer) face
What even is a Joker movie without a little controversy? "The People's Joker" was all ready to premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival when it was pulled at the last minute, reportedly under the threat of legal action by DC Comics owner Warner Bros. Discovery. This was in spite of Drew and her collaborators going above and beyond to ensure that the parody film was exempted from copyright infringement under fair use legislation. (Not David Zaslav's media conglomerate potentially bending the law to serve its own purposes?)
If previous Joker films have taught us anything, though, it's that the clown revolution will always be televised. Sure enough, "The People's Joker" has since made its debut to critical raves on the festival circuit and is now being distributed theatrically by Altered Innocence. Drew directs from a script she wrote with Bri LeRose, on top of editing and starring as Joker the Harlequin/Vera opposite a cast that includes Kane Distler as one "Mr. J," Nathan Faustyn as The Penguin, David Liebe Hart as Ra's al Ghul, Tim Heidecker as Perry White, Scott Aukerman as Mr. Freeze, and Phil Braun as an abusive fascist known as "Batsy."
"The People's Joker" will laugh it up in theaters starting April 5, 2024.