It’s not exactly a dream job to play The Joker on television. Almost all of the actors who have played the Batman nemesis have achieved legendary status. Even though it’s too soon to know where Irish actor Barry Keoghan stands on the list (he just had a brief cameo as the Clown Prince of Crime in this year’s The Batman), the actor feels confident in his interpretation of the role because of the character’s parallels to his own tumultuous childhood. Keoghan said in a recent feature for GQ that he had tried out for the role of The Riddler, but was ultimately cast in a different character. Paul Dano was cast as the Riddler.
Keoghan sent an unsolicited audition tape to director Matt Reeves after hearing about the next Batman picture. This film, which has been sitting on Keoghan’s Vimeo website unnoticed for years, has him stepping out of an elevator while wearing a bowler hat, green suspenders, and a black shirt. Keoghan’s Riddler strolls around, twirling his stick, as classical music plays in the background. He reappears with blood on his face, suggesting he has recently committed murder. His version of the villain was far more campy and reminiscent of Peaky Blinders than the grim serial killer inspiration that made it into the finished picture. Keoghan had previously met the co-producer, Dylan Clark, and seen him in action when they first met. In spite of Clark’s protests, the actor continued to have him view the footage of the audition.
After waiting a few months, his agent finally called with the news: “The Batman wants you to portray the Joker – but you cannot tell anyone.” There was a brief cameo by Keoghan’s Joker at the very end of the film when he proposes friendship to Dano’s Riddler. The Joker’s conversation with Robert Pattinson’s Batman was cut from the final cut of the film, but the sequence was eventually posted online and has since amassed millions of views. The character, in Keoghan’s interpretation, is “a broken-down youngster.” Because he wanted “some form of human in there underneath the cosmetics,” he requested that they not place lenses in his naturally blue eyes. I’d like for people to be able to identify with him and see this as an act. Famous actors including Jack Nicholson (in Batman), Heath Ledger (in The Dark Knight), Jared Leto (in Suicide Squad and Zack Snyder’s Justice League), and Joaquin Phoenix (in Joker and its impending sequel) have all played the Joker on the big screen.
Two of the four actors (Ledger and Phoenix) who have won Academy Awards also played The Joker in their respective films. Throughout his career, Keoghan has given critically lauded performances in films including Dunkirk, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, The Green Knight, and Calm with Horses. Soon he’ll be seen in The Banshees of Inisherin, directed by Martin McDonagh. Reeves has already begun filming the sequel to the critically and commercially successful Batman.