Alec Baldwin to play a Donald Trump-esque slimy businessman version of Thomas Wayne in Todd Phillips’ Joaquin Phoenix-headlined Joker movie? Yes, that was what we were hearing earlier in the week. But now, Baldwin himself has moved to clarify that he is now not a part of that upcoming picture.

Speaking to USA Today, the actor – currently being seen in Mission: Impossible – Fallout – explained, “I’m no longer doing that movie. I’m sure there are 25 guys who can play that part.” Baldwin would go on to add that it was the ever-familiar scheduling conflicts that caused him to depart the film.

The star also fired this out on his Twitter page:

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.

— ABFoundation (@ABFalecbaldwin) August 29, 2018

So, the USA Today story is that Baldwin had to drop out due to scheduling issues, while the actor’s Twitter message seems to suggest he was never hired for the role. Either way, the project is moving forward without any sort of involvement from Alec Baldwin.

Joker is to be set in the ‘80s and will exist separately to the DC Extended Universe. The picture will be the first of Warner Brothers’ new DC Dark/DC Black banner that will look to feature more adult-orientated content.

In addition to Phoenix on headlining duties, Joker has already lined up Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy, and Marc Maron for supporting roles. Longtime De Niro collaborator Martin Scorsese is on producing duties, with the film currently being pegged as a mixture of two classic Scorsese efforts – Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy.

At present, Joker is booked in for an October 4th, 2019 release.