Dad Joke: Alec Baldwin Leaves 'Joker' Origin Film Days After Casting Announcement

Previously revealed as the father of Bruce Wayne, the Batman, actor Alec Baldwin has now departed Warner Bros' October 2019 supervillain origins movie Joker.

Citing scheduling conflicts as the reason for his withdrawal, Alec Baldwin told USA Today as well as his social media followers on Twitter that he would no longer be appearing in the "Joker" movie.

"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" he wrote in an August 29 post to the ABFoundation's Twitter account.

"I'm no longer doing that movie," he had told USA Today the same day. "I'm sure there are 25 guys who can play that part."

Joker, directed by Todd Phillips of "The Hangover" comedy trilogy, is expected to emerge as a dark character study into one of Batman's most infamous enemies.

With Joaquin Phoenix as a struggling comedian who, it is said, may be related to Batman himself, Robert De Niro is involved as a TV host whose approval Joker needs, Marc Maron as a talent agent, and Zazie Beetz as Joker's love interest. The Hollywood Reporter had previously outlined the "Joker" incarnation of Thomas Wayne as "a cheesy and tanned businessman who is more in the mold of a 1980s Donald Trump," in contrast to traditional portrayals of Bruce Wayne's CEO philanthropist father.

Baldwin himself has spent two years spoofing Donald Trump on sketch comedy show "Saturday Night Live" and returned to cinemas as part of July 2018 blockbuster Mission: Impossible - Fallout. As well as the "Mission Impossible" appearance, Baldwin is due to co-star in The Public, Arctic Justice: Thunder Squad and Drunk Parents in 2018, with a commercial success and critically acclaimed BlacKkKlansman having released early August.

Projects in development include Motherless Brooklyn, Stupid Happy, Crown Vic, and sportscar industry biopic Lamborghini, in which he plays Enzo Ferrari, as well as The Boss Baby 2, NBC's TV movie adaptation of A Few Good Men, and cop thriller Blue Before Blood.

(With AFP Relaxnews inputs)