Joker casting rumors abound

So the latest buzz is Heath Ledger is playing the Joker.

Now, until this is solidified as fact, I ain't gonna really sweat it too much. However, this particular word is getting a wee bit more attention from the legit sites than the usual rumors. Good casting? I couldn't see Heath in the role, but the thing is, I suspect that whomever is eventually cast is not going to initially seem right for the role. I fully suspect whoever's cast as the Joker is something that Nolan and company will have in mind, that we won't truly understand until we see the movie. So if Nolan honestly thinks Heath or someone like that is good for the role, I'm open to being convinced.

But if Jake Gyllenhaal actually is cast as Harvey Dent, as many of the more baseless rumor sites have been rambling about, then the Joker/Dent relationship will have a whoooole other subtext.

When it comes to Joker dream casting, most of fandom keeps clamoring for Crispin Glover. Ok. WHAT THE FUCK. Glover is not a good choice. At all! When has Glover ever even SMILED, for God's sake?! Much less, acted in a way that could ever be Joker-ish? Fans are on crack, seriously. Crispin fucking Glover

Me, I still say either get Michael Keaton or Mark Hamill in SIN CITY-style prosthetics. Or Willhem Dafoe or Christopher Eccleston, no prosthetics required.

But I TRIED, didn't I? Goddamnit, at least I did that.

So I toweled off after getting all haggard and sweaty at the gym, then took a look in the mirror to see Randle P. McMurphy staring right back at me.



Yes. Apparently I have become 70's era Jack Nicholson.



It's one of the few times I'm actually not mortified by how balding I am (I keep telling myself- Kevin Spacey, Bruce Willis, Nicholas Cage, Patrick Stewart... I have more hair than any of these people! I totally do! I can still make it as a leading man actor!) and embrace it for the greater goofiness.

Why just think, when Halloween comes around, I TOTALLY will be the Joker for Bloo's Harley Quinn.

BATMAN: THE MUSICAL

I was wondering whatever became of this project.

BATMAN: THE MUSICAL

For those who don't remember, a few years back Tim Burton was set to direct a big budget broadway musical of Batman, score to be written by Jim Steinman (Meat Loaf's main songwriter, also wrote "It's All Coming Back To Me Now" for Celine Dion and "More" for Sisters of Mercy). Well, we've heard nothing of the musical since... till now.

Thanks to this website, we can learn what might have been. They've even posted demos of Jim Steinman performing a couple songs, such as the huge opus Gotham City/The Graveyard Shift, in which Jim freely borrows lyrics from several of his other misguided solo efforts, namely Bad for Good and one which he wisely had Meat eventually perform,Original Sin.

But all that's nothing compared to the Joker's solo number: Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?

Ok. At this point, let me say one thing. Jim Steinman should never, but NEVER, work with anybody other than Meat Loaf. And unless it's Richard O'Brien or Andrew Lloyd Webber, Meat Loaf can never, ever work with anyone else but Jim Steiman. These two NEED each other. Seperately, they're mediocre cheese, at best. At worst? They're something like BATMAN: THE MUSICAL. Listen to Jim Steinman *try* to sing in these tracks, and compare it to that youtube clip of Original Sin, with Meat Loaf actually singing? Huge bloody difference! But unless you got Meat Loaf to play Batman (and in a way, I'd pay to see that), thank merciful GOD that the musical never happened.

That said, I will be very interested to hear what one of the intended songs, "In The Land of the Pigs the Butcher is King," will sound like when Meat performs it on BAT OUR OF HELL III: THE MONSTER IS LOOSE. I am an unapologetic fan of Meat Loaf and Jim when they're together.

But again: The Joker's Song (Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?) Dear lord. Dear, dear lord.