Joker casting rumors abound

[thehefner]

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.

Comments

[kosher-jenny.livejournal.com]

Eccleston FTW. As much as I trust Nolan an co, I just can't see Ledger as the Joker.

[morganashkevron.livejournal.com]

If they hadn't done such an awesome job with Cillian Murphy as Scarecrow, I'd suggest him for Harvey/Twoface - he's got that crazy-eyes thing down and yet he's still so charming.

Anyway, Jack will always be the perfect Joker in my mind, but I could possibly see Eddie Izzard pulling off that sort of role. You need someone a little over the top. And, think about Jared Leto as Twoface. Just mull on it a bit. Someone suggested it to me a while back as a possibility and I scoffed at first, but the idea has grown on me.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

I don't know enough about Leto to say either way. I adore Eddie, but he's far too deadpan and understated for someone as theatrical and over-the-top as the Joker, isn't he? Eddie's more of a Riddler type to me.

I used to think that Ray Liotta would be an ideal Harvey/Two-Face. Now he's too old, but when I suggested that to a favorite Batman writer, he said that Ray was too menacing to be Harvey. Two-Face is menacing, but Harvey has to be down-to-earth, heroic, tragic, likeable, and classically handsome. I'm not sure lanky and sunken-chested (not to mention crazy-eyed and kinda creepy) Cillian is up for that.

I'll keep Leto in mind, should I see him in anything else in the future.

[jellied.livejournal.com]

Oh snap. You just dissed on my baby's daddy (Cillian).
The kid gloves are off.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Look, I love the boy, he's a great actor and quite attractive in a non-traditional leading man way (not a dis), but I've seen 28 DAYS LATER and that boy is sans chest. Just like Alan Cumming. Who also woudn't be a bad Joker, methinks.

[jellied.livejournal.com]

I like 'em sans chest. I kind of like them waify.

[heleneotroy.livejournal.com]

What's up with them casting all of these younguns?
I mean, Cillian Murphy is teh hawtness and makes me feel all tingly in the wrong places. But he is the same age as Christian Bale. I much prefer Dr. Crane as the aging professor at Gotham University, spurned by his young student, to the young prodigy.

Not that I have anything against the hotness that is young, geeky, prodigies. Heck, its the whole reason that I watch "Criminal Minds." :)

[marred82.livejournal.com]

I saw they were talking to Paul Bettany as the Joker. In this case, the Joker will be an albino monk who leaves Dan Brown books at the scene of the crime. Then, he wins Wimbledon. After which, it is discovered that he is just a dillusion of the real monster: Russel Crowe.

[heleneotroy.livejournal.com]

*snarf*!

There is now coffee all over my desk. :)

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

You are a special lad indeed. :)

[kali921.livejournal.com]

....Heath Ledger?


...NO. He just doesn't have the range, unless he's given a brilliant director and actually listens to what his director says.

He doesn't have the manic quality. I've never seen him give a performance that can portray the unhinged quality that a good Joker needs.

No way.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Again, tis but a rumor, albeit one of the more substantive rumors to date.

[mircasi]

lol must feel like a fool now huh

[mirthical.livejournal.com]

I am pleasantly chilled by the thought of Willhem Defoe as Joker. He's already got the pre-requisite scary number of showing teeth when he smiles. The problem with Defoe, though, is that he'd be an ideal older Joker, ala Alex Ross. I have a suspicion that a younger Joker is going to make an appearance, just because in the Batman timeline, it's still very early on.

I kind of hope that it's a no-name actor that just really fits well, like Brandon whatshisname in Superman Returns. I'd rather not have a more well-known actor with an uncomfortable fit.

Heh, what about Richard O'Brian? Hehehe.

*is amused at possible Joker/Harvey subtext*

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Yeah, too old would be a problem. Heh, maybe if they did Dark Knight Returns... although far that particular Joker, I'd kinda like to see Tim Curry. "Batman. DARling."

A no-name would be perfect, in a way. Considering how the Joker himself is a no-name.

Oh, so are you or are you not gonna be in Chicago August 3-6? Because that's when the Chicago ComiCon is, and I thought, mayhaps... but that's juuust too early for you, right?

[mirthical.livejournal.com]

gargh, I'm moving in on the 5th, and will be in no condition to do fun things. poop.

[heleneotroy.livejournal.com]

Richard O'Brien is a god.
But I see him more as Dr. Strange or whoosaamacallit the Man-Bat guy. Langstrom?

I'm crossing my fingers that we'll see the Mad Hatter or the Ventriloquist soon.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Ooh, you mean Dr. Hugo Strange? Man, O'Brien would be *perfect*. I loves me some Hugo Strange.

I too would love to see Mad Hatter. And poor Ventroloquist, getting bumped off like that.

[gnort.livejournal.com]

I think Christopher Titus would've made an excellent Joker. He's got the big teeth thing going on and he's had breakdowns before so if they do use the Killing Joke as a basis I could see him nailing that moment when he sees his new face in the water and snaps. If not him or Mark Hamill then Brad Dourif, granted he's getting up there age wise but if you could make him look like he did in Exorcist III it would work out quite nicely.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Damn. Titus *would* be good.

Unfortunately, Brad's up there Dafoe in the "brilliant but too old" category. Seriously too bad.

[seangrimm.livejournal.com]

Hamill is solidified in my mind as the voice of Joker but I don't have anyone in my mind as the face. I don't see Gyllenhall as Harvey Dent...he's just too...pretty.

Can we bring back the Scarecrow in the sequel? I loved him.

Killer Croc : So I hit him with a rock...it was a big rock.

Who remembers the star of clueless as batgirl? Anyone? Anyone? Let's hope they kill off the dawsons creek wench.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Too pretty? You mean too girly or too good-looking? Because Harvey Dent was so gorgeous and handsome, he was called "Apollo" by the papers.

We might get him back, but I don't want too many characters. I'd sooner want Ra's to come back. You KNOW he survived that.

[spacechild.livejournal.com]

i could see Crispin Glover as the Riddler, tho...