Alec Baldwin Drops Out Of Joaquin Phoenix’s ‘Joker’ Movie: ‘There Are 25 Guys Who Can Play That Part’

Despite a story by The Hollywood Reporter on Monday that said otherwise, Alec Baldwin is not, in fact, playing the role of Thomas Wayne, future Batman Bruce Wayne’s father, in Joaquin Phoenix and The Hangover director Todd Phillips’ upcoming Joker movie. The Boss Baby franchise star initially took to Twitter on Wednesday to denounce the report, saying that he “[had] NOT been hired to play a role” that he described as “some Donald Trump manque.” No, the frequent Saturday Night Live Trump impersonator insisted, “That is not happening.”

— ABFoundation (@ABFalecbaldwin) August 29, 2018

That’s just Twitter, of course, so USA Today reached out to Baldwin’s camp for confirmation. In response, the actor told the outlet that he was “no longer doing that movie” because of a “scheduling” conflict. If that weren’t enough, the 60-year-old added of his apparently abandoned role, “I’m sure there are 25 guys who can play that part.”

Even without Baldwin’s involvement, Phoenix and Phillips’ small scale DC Comics film boasts an impressive cast in addition to its main star. Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, and Marc Maron have all signed on for supporting roles in the small-scale film. What’s more, it seems the pressures that go with doing a comic book adaptation these days — especially one that centers on a popular and oft-portrayed villain like the Joker — aren’t getting to Phoenix. In a recent interview, the actor declared, “I don’t really think that much about what people think. Who cares, who cares”