Alec Baldwin drops out of Joker movie

So, was it all just a joke?

Alec Baldwin has dropped out of the Joker movie, EW has confirmed.

The surprise move comes just a couple days after Warner Bros. confirmed his casting as Thomas Wayne, the father of Batman/Bruce Wayne.

The actor also seemingly dissed the role to USA Today by adding, “I’m sure there are 25 guys who can play that part.” Baldwin also cited “scheduling” issues, yet any such issues are normally resolved before an actor signs on for a role.

The film reportedly is re-imagining the Wayne patriarch as a “cheesy and tanned businessman who is more in the mold of a 1980s Donald Trump” instead of how he’s traditionally portrayed as a warm-hearted billionaire philanthropist intent on bettering Gotham City before he’s cruelly gunned down by a mugger in front of his young son. The role of doomed Thomas Wayne is normally a bit thankless, yet it sounded like the film was doing something uniquely interesting with the part.

Baldwin also, of course, regularly plays a cartoonish version of Trump on Saturday Night Live.

The Joker film is also said to be a darker, modestly budgeted character-based drama compared to the bombastic spectacle of Warner Bros.’ other DC Comics titles like Justice League and Suicide Squad.

Production on Joker (just that, not The Joker) will begin this fall, with Joaquin Phoenix playing the demented supervillian.

The official description: “Under the direction of Todd Phillips, the film centers around the iconic arch nemesis and is an original, standalone story not seen before on the big screen. Phillips’ exploration of a man disregarded by society is not only a gritty character study, but also a broader cautionary tale.”

Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, and Marc Maron are also on reportedly on board in undisclosed roles.