A deleted scene of Barry Keoghan's Joker has just been revealed by director Matt Reeves
after fans solved multiple riddles on the rataalada website, and we get horrifying footage
of the actor in full prosthetics.
When watching the scene set in Arkham Asylum, we learn quite clearly why Matt Reeves decided
to cut this footage from the film, but it overall just gives
us an idea of the actor's proto potrayal and the potential new look of the clown prince
of crime.
There will be a link in the description to this scene if you haven't watched it already,
but in this video, I'm going to breaking it all down and discussing what it could mean
for the future.
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But without further a do, lets dive into the Joker deleted scene from The Batman.
So the new deleted scene with Barry Keoghan's Joker, gives us an idea of when this scene
was originally going to happen in Matt Reeves film.
It takes place soon after Paul Dano’s Riddler had killed some of Gotham city’s
corrupt rich and with Batman needing answers surrounding the new villain, he heads to Arkham
State Hospital to see if the Joker can give him some answers surrounding the crimes
he is commiting.
In a scene of mostly blurred footage of Barry Keoghan in prosthetics, he looks at the documents
and evidence of the crime scenes that Batman brings him and identifies
that these crimes are truly personal ones.
He also highlights that the Riddler is targeting those who have wronged him, while being
desperate to be seen as a somebody.
Robert Pattinson's Batman asks Joker why Riddler is specifically writing to him, and the clown
prince speculates that he could be a fan or someone
who has a grudge against him.
But with the Joker you of course get the mind games too and it's at this point that Barry
Keoghan's character outlines that this is quite upsetting to
the caped crusader and that he and Riddler actually have more in common.
Which in the film, we find out is quite true.
While Pattinson's crusader thinks that Joker is wasting his time
and eventually turns to leave the cell, the villain gets under his skin once more, stating
that deep down, Batman believes those corrupt elites deserved to die.
And at this point point, Bruce doesn’t really care about Riddler’s
motives and just wants to track him down, but it's a moment that starts to suggest the
more grey moral concepts on display.
And the Joker is quite the person who can highlight
that to Bruce before he even figures out exactly what has been going on, as further suggested
by his maniacal laughing at the very end of this scene.
Apparently, Matt Reeves had previously spoken on why this scene was cut, saying in an older
interview, “it wasn’t necessary.
It was one of those scenes where, given how complex the
narrative was, by taking it out, it kept the story moving in a way it needed to.
It’s a really creepy, cool scene.
That was the scene that was meant to introduce this guy and just to
tease the audience to go like, ‘Oh my god, he’s here too?
And he’s not yet the Joker...
what is this eventually going to be?’
And then it seems so delicious in the story, since we’d
already set him up, to have the end of the story and the completion of the Riddler's
arc, be that he was in a cell next to this guy.”
He continued by discussing why Batman would want
to go to the Joker with this evidence, saying, “I thought he would be really insecure about
this and he’d probably want to find some way to get into the [Riddler’s] mindset,
like in Manhunter or Mindhunter... this idea of profiling
somebody, so you can predict his next move.”
So from Matt Reeves previous comments and from now watching this scene in full, it's
pretty clear why it was cut from the film.
This scene begins to lay out through Barry keoghan's Joker the motives of the riddler,
and having this in there soon after one of his crimes
and before that eventual face to face between Bruce and Edward, it would probabaly take
away from the mystery of him finding this stuff out himself.
And with it being quite a long scene, I think primarily, Reeves wanted to
keep the focus on the two central characters without having a conversation with the Joker,
one that starts to give him partial answers.
And by the way I really like this scene and it’s
cool to see a little more of Keoghan in the role and what his version of The Joker is
potentially like.
It's much better than what we got of him in the actual film from a performance
standpoint, but again, having this in there would completely take away from the way we
found out about Riddler's motives.
So I completely understand why Matt Reeves cut this scene.
Still, we did get a tease of the Joker in the actual film and as the years go on with
the potential of more teases, they've really planted
the seed for this character to be big in a future instalment.
Coming now to the look of Barry Keoghan's Joker, just through numerous close ups and
shots, we get an idea of what kind of version this is, and while it supports the other comments
made by Reeves about the inspiration behind this look, it also gives us hints surrounding
other aspects of the Joker pourely in design.
Not only do we get more of his growing personality, but we also get a much better
look at the details of his face and potential reasons behind them.
Following that of Heath Ledger and Joaquin Pheonix, this proto-Joker is
already off to a decent start judging on his early performance, and the body-horror visuals
we get do stand out quite well.
While we don't get a full look at Barry Keoghan’s Joker in
the movie or even this deleted scene, you can quite clearly tell that this version is
badly disfigured and has a permanent smile, which Reeves previously said is one that stems
from a congenital disease, reflective of 1928’s
The Man Who Laughs, known as the character who originally inspired The Joker’s creation
in the 1940s.
This is again a proto version of that and as the years pass, we can only expect
this design to be built upon as Barry Keoghan fully transforms into the Joker.
Also, you can already see lots of blood around his nails and
what looks to be newer scars on his face, suggesting that this earlier version of the
character is literally peeling away at his own skin, becoming more and more disfigured
than the permamanent smils he's dealt with his whole
life.
Something that other fans are pointing out is that on the back of his head and around
some of his facial scars, it almost looks like
what we'd see in the result of acid scarring, and if you know the Joker, you'll know that
his origin included falling into a vat of acid.
Do I think this is the case, well I'm quite unsure about that as of far, but what I will
say is that the scars on the back of his head do look like that of Acid damage, so it's
still very likely.
Maybe it's a cool reference to his origin, giving us a Joker that for one
has a congenital desease, but two, has also gone through other stuff like with that of
his famous origin in the comics.
It could be a case of blending the comic book version with this
almost body horror interpretation from a visual perspective, and to be honest, I really like
that.
It's definitely different yet through Keoghan's early performance here, he totally
embodies the psychology of the Joker.
Some other things to point out too, include that of his voice and signature laugh, one
that in the movie I wasn't too keen on, but this scene
has definitely sold me more on them.
To be honest, I really like the voice and it's almost an amalgamation of Heath Ledger,
Jack Nicholson and the Gotham portrayal in that aspect, but one
which also compliments the more silenced approach from Pattinson's Batman.
Keoghan seems very calculated but in all the crazy ways and
that makes for a perfect reflection to this version of Batman.
And when it comes to the laugh, I'm definitely more happy with that now.
It felt a bit too comic booky in the film, where
as here, it's played in a maniacal way, working quite well after Keoghan's character poses
that Batman might believe those corrupt victims deserved to die.
Either way, these are the kind of things that can be fleshed out even
more as the character fully grows into that role, so I'm not too worried on the performance,
especially when most of it here is very good and that Keoghan is a great actor.
Looking at all the images put together you get a big early look at this proto joker and
it will be interesting to see what route they take him in
once fully formed.
So now that we’ve seen this Batman deleted Arkham scene, and the other scene in the film
with Paul Dano’s The Riddler, where could this Joker be going in future installments?
Well like many people, I don't think we'll be seeing
him as a main antagonist in The Batman 2.
I don't think Reeves would want to do the same as Nolan's trilogy by having the villain
be central in a second film.
But that doesn't mean we won't see more of him in the second film because I think that
this is the kind of Joker that is going to be around and built up for
when he does eventually take the spotlight.
They could really build up to him being used in a final film, adding to his performance
and visual look with every instalment, meaning that
by the time we do get him, he'll be a fully formed Joker.
Matt Reeves himself has said that there’s no guarantee that he’ll be present in The
Batman sequel, but he also didn't rule out an appearance, nor deny that he could be involved
in the Arkham series for HBO Max that was officially announced.
That spinoff seems a likely example of Barry Keoghan's Joker showing up
especially considering that he's still in Arkham and that the show will likely dive
deeper into many of Batman's rogues gallery.
We'll have to see, but yeah, I think they are going to
build up to this character over time and really show him develop into his final form, visually
and from a performance perspective.
But that was my video breaking down our first big look at Barry Keoghan's Joker in the deleted
Arkham scene.
It'll be interesting to see how they tackle this character going forward,
including how Keoghan will portray the clown prince of crime as he evolves into the full
Joker down the line.
I think that they will save him for a final movie whether that be in the
conclusion of a potential trilogy or an even longer film series, but then again, like I
said, I can see this character popping up more often leading into that, presumably being
shown more in the scheduled Arkham Asylum show.
It would make sense and give the room for his character to develop and show up before
squaring off against Robert Pattinson's Batman.
Still, whatever direction Matt Reeves does go in,
after the first film, I have complete faith in the filmmaker to construct a story around
him and only include more of him, if he feels it's
totally right.
This scene was brilliant but I can definitely see why they cut it from the overall piece.
And in the future, there will most likely be a bigger place for this character
to really shine.
But let me know down below in the comments section what you thought of this deleted scene
from The Batman including the footage of Barry Keoghan's Joker.
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