The silence surrounding who will be playing the leading role in Warner Bros' upcoming Joker origins film rolls on, but Hollywood A-lister Joaquin Phoenix has spoken out a little bit about how he would approach the character if he is indeed jumping on board to play the Clown Prince of Crime.

Could Joaquin Phoenix make for an iconic Joker?Could Joaquin Phoenix make for an iconic Joker?

For weeks, rumours have been swirling around Todd Phillips' planned Joker film, on which he's working with producer Martin Scorsese. A recently-released synopsis told us that the film would be serving as a prequel to Christopher Nolan's 'Dark Knight' trilogy, in which we saw the late Heath Ledger take on the villainous role. The actor would even go on to win an Academy Award for his performance.

Because of that, expectations are high, and whoever steps into the shoes of the DC Comics Big Bad will have a lot riding on their performance. With it looking increasingly likely Phoenix is next in line, following Jared Leto's portrayal in the unofficially titled DC Extended Universe, the actor finally spoke out about all of the chatter.

Speaking with Fandango about the rumours surrounding his potential leading role in the upcoming Joker origins film, Phoenix said: "I see it as any other movie. I wouldn’t say...’I won’t do Westerns.’ It depends on what it is. I don’t really care about the genre, I care about the character and the filmmaker. If you have the ability to transcend the genre, then that’s what you want to do. So I wouldn’t say, hands down, no – I wouldn’t do that kind of movie. There are things where I’ve flirted with the possibility where there was the potential for this to be... something that’s actually interesting to me. But then for whatever reason they never got to that place where everyone else feels the same way. And that’s key. Everyone has to want to explore the same thing or else it just doesn’t f**king work. I’m not opposed to it. I don’t make decisions on budget or things like that – it’s really the filmmaker and the character."

It's great to know that if Phoenix is going to play Joker, he isn't letting the pressure of bringing such an iconic villain to the big screen once more get the better of him. For many, it would be the role of a lifetime, but Phoenix isn't about to let all of that creep into his potential performance.

We've never seen a definitive origins story for Joker before, and many fans would prefer it be left that way. What Phillips and Scorsese will do remains to be seen, but we think we'll finally be getting some answers about how the Jester of Genocide came to be so psychotic.

More: Todd Phillips Joker Origins Movie Will Serve As Prequel To Christopher Nolan's 'Dark Knight'

We'll bring you more news surrounding the upcoming Joker origins movie as and when we get it.