By Iman Sadri
Joaquin Phoenix is the next Joker. A film being directed by Todd Phillips, of Hangover fame. Early images of Phoenix as the Joker are quite remarkable. After his next film projects are wrapped, he should consider playing in another biopic.
Phoenix has an uncanny resemblance to a young Leo Tolstoy, the Russian author known for War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Phoenix should play Tolstoy in a biopic, choosing from two available scripts on The Blacklist about the young Tolstoy. This is an original biopic idea we came up.
Phoenix is no stranger to biopics having played Johnny Cash in Walk the Line, opposite Reese Witherspoon. He is a three time Academy Award nominee and a Grammy and Golden Globe Award winner. He is a mercurial actor with immense range and intensity. He easily has the chops to pull of a Russian accent, as well.
A Leo Tolstoy film was made called The Last Station, starring Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren. It depicted the final days of Tolstoy’s life. But the best biopics are the ones where the actor / actress playing the titular character actually resembles the historical figure. (Ghandi – Ben Kinglsey ; Malcolm X – Denzel Washington ; The Doors – Val Kilmer)
We hope this biopic comes to fruition and will reach out to Phoenix and Todd Phillips’ reps.
Iman Sadri is the founder of @LASmileMagazine and @ThePersianObserver and writes of biopic ideas for Casting Directors.
