Fans of the Joker talk a lot about favorite interpretations of the character, but what
about the actors who only almost took the role?
We will probably never know how some of these guys would have played the clown prince of
Gotham City, but it doesn't hurt to dream, right?
The late Robin Williams topped many a fanboy's wish list of actors who would have made a
perfect Joker, and it's easy to see why.
With his chaotic, manic comedy style, the man practically was the Joker.
As it turns out, the comic book fan who most wanted to see Williams play the Joker was
Williams himself, according to Empire Magazine.
In a 2010 interview, he claimed he was offered the part in Tim Burton's 1989 Batman, but
he was, in his words, "screwed" out of the role.
Warner Brothers reportedly always wanted Jack Nicholson for the part, and used Williams'
interest as a bargaining chip.
Years later, Williams worked with Dark Knight trilogy director Christopher Nolan in Insomnia,
and according to IGN, once again expressed his desire to play the Joker, saying,
"Oh God, I'd love to do that one."
Needless to say, Williams never ended up getting the role.
John Lithgow trained at Harvard College and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art,
so he's no dummy.
Yet by his own admission, he was stupid to avoid what could have become a most prestigious,
and profitable part: The Joker.
In fact, he avoided playing the Clown Prince of Crime not once, but twice.
The first was when Gremlins director Joe Dante briefly flirted with filming a Batman movie,
and wanted Lithgow for the part, according to Vulture.
Lithgow claimed he was too busy with a Broadway show to do the role, saying,
"It was an exhausting show.
It would have meant leaving that show and going right into a movie, and I said, 'I just
don't think I can'.
How about that for stupid?
Actors are not necessarily smart people."
"Besides which, at that point I thought, who's gonna want to see a movie about Batman?"
"Another great call by you."
Lithgow followed up this blunder by bombing an audition for Tim Burton, on purpose.
The actor revealed,
"My worst audition was for Tim Burton for Batman.
I tried to persuade him I was not right for the part, and I succeeded.
I didn't realize it was such a big deal.
About a week later I heard they were going after Robin Williams and Jack Nicholson."
Before Christopher Nolan cast Heath Ledger as the Joker, there were a lot of interesting
alternatives.
Among the most compelling was Adrien Brody, who won the Oscar for Best Actor in 2003 for
The Pianist.
According to MTV News, he even met with Nolan.
"Christopher Nolan really made the superhero movie the kind of movie that I would want
to do."
Later, Brody heaped praise on the actor who did get the part, saying,
"Heath was tremendous in that, but yeah, I would've loved to have done that.
It was an amazing role.
Amazing."
The role that won Ledger his Oscar could have easily been the role that won Brody his second.
Though after seeing Ledger's unforgettable take, it's safe to say fans were pretty pleased
with the way things turned out.
"Why so serious?"
Ryan Gosling seems better suited to play a superhero than a psychopathic villain.
But according to IndieWire, before Jared Leto won the role, the part of the Joker in Suicide
Squad was apparently offered to Gosling, a two-time Oscar nominee.
However, the changing dynamics of the superhero movie business led him to turn it down.
Gosling's Joker would be part of the DC Extended Universe, meaning he would have had to sign
up for multiple movies.
He was apparently turned off by the obligation, as it would potentially interfere with his
other cinematic pursuits.
When asked point blank by Variety if he'd ever consider playing the role of Batman instead
of the supervillain, Gosling said he would only do it if his La La Land director Damien
Chazelle directed.
He added,
"Damien Chazelle Batman.
That I want to see."
After Batman Begins breathed new life into the Batman franchise and teased the Joker's
imminent arrival, it seemed like everybody wanted the role, even Steve Carell.
In the mid-2000s, Carell was just coming off his breakthrough in The 40-Year Old Virgin,
but was perhaps best known for his role as manager Michael Scott on The Office.
At the time, Sean Penn was supposedly the frontrunner to play the Joker in The Dark
Knight, though Penn has denied he was ever offered the part, according to Screen Rant.
Carell wanted the part so badly he joked that he'd be willing to wrestle Penn for it, telling
Total Film Magazine,
"I would love to play the role.
If it's either Sean Penn or me in line, I want a showdown to prove which one of us in
the better actor.
We'd just have to oil up and wrestle for it."
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