'Joker' director Todd Phillips shares new teaser clips with hidden message for fans

Joker director Todd Phillips has posted a series of teaser clips on Instagram and eagle-eyed fans have decoded a hidden message within the film footage.

Starring Joaquin Phoenix in the lead role of the classic Batman villain, the film is set to premiere at the Venice Film Festival tomorrow.

Ahead of its big screen debut, Phillips shared six short clips of the film to give fans an insight into what they can look forward to when Joker is finally released on October 4.

There's no sign of Phoenix in the first clip however, with Robert De Niro shown taking the stage in his role as a TV talk show host named Murray Franklin.

Phoenix first appears in the second clip dressed as the Joker in a red and yellow suit dancing manically on a set of stairs.

The third short shows him as the supposedly mild mannered Arthur Fleck - a down-on-his-luck clown comedian from Gotham - in an apartment kitchen, climbing into and sitting down inside a refrigerator.

The fourth clip features Phoenix in full Joker make-up as a menacing grin appears on his face, and the fifth shows his character mysteriously sprinting through an underpass, before the final scene captures Fleck walking through the pouring rain.

Fans were quick to take notice of brief flashes of text that appear in each clip, which when put together reads: "TRAILER 8.28"

The initial teaser trailer was unveiled back in April, but fans are now anticipating a more in-depth follow-up to be revealed within the next 24 hours.

Fans are super excited to see what Phillips does with the project, which is not connected to Christopher Nolan's hugely popular Dark Knight Batman franchise, and is the start of a new origin story about how the Joker became the Clown Prince of Crime.

Phoenix is the latest in a long list of actors to take on the role of the Joker, including the late Heath Ledger in Nolan's The Dark Knight, and Jared Leto in Suicide Squad.

Phoenix's Joker appears more in tune with Ledger's disturbing depiction, although his costuming looks inspired by Cesar Romero's classic 1960's Batman version.

It all looks fantastically creepy and we can't wait to see more.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission