Marc Maron talks about his 'Joker' role

Actor Marc Maron says he has a "pivotal scene" in Joaquin Phoenix-starrer "Joker", where he will be seen sharing screen space with veteran star Robert De Niro.

Phoenix is portraying the title character, who is considered one of the most notorious DC supervillains and an arch-nemesis of The Batman, in the Todd Philips-directed film.

De Niro is playing a talk show host.

In an interview with IndieWire, Maron said he has a small yet important part in the film.

"I'm present during the last part of the movie. My scene in that is not huge, but I do have a pivotal scene with Robert De Niro and Joaquin.

"I basically play De Niro's producer in a quick scene. My character is a guy trying to manage the whole situation with the two of them," the 55-year-old actor said.

He described the movie as a character study of the man who later attains notoriety as the Clown Prince of Crime.

"Todd's approach was really to do a character study of a mentally ill person, going into why he's mentally ill and what his struggles are as a person, and how that collapses his moral foundations," Maron said.

"He's not a traditional comic book universe villain because this is kind of an origin story," the actor added.

"Joker" will release worldwide in this October.