Originally published November 25, 2014. Updated April 15, 2018.
Thomas Roach with five actors who could play The Joker in the new DC Universe…
After Heath Ledger’s tragic death in 2008 and the actor leaving his mark on the world with his iconic portrayal of The Joker in The Dark Knight, the next person to take on the role of the Clown Prince of Crime faces a difficult struggle indeed. With The Joker expected to make an appearance in the rebooted DC Universe as part of the Suicide Squad movie, there’s been discussion as to who could portray a new version of the character. Jared Leto seems to have been tipped for the role in Suicide Squad, but as yet there’s been no solid confirmation. There are so many actors who could bring something very special to The Joker, and here are five I believe would fit the role…
Willem Dafoe
Dafoe has played his fair share of psychopaths and villains so The Joker would certainly be a role he could tackle. Dafoe portrayed the Spider-Man villain Green Goblin in the Sam Raimi movies and gave a great performance. I am sure he could do the same for the Joker. There’s a lot of fan art of Dafoe as the Joker and he does look the part. He’s 59 years old, so many would deem that too old to play a role of this nature, but Dafoe’s track record is good enough to merit casting him. As he’s already taken on an iconic comic book villain, he may be reluctant to do it again, but who knows if he would take it if it came his way.
Michael Pitt
Michael Pitt is the youngest actor on this list at 33 years old, which puts him significantly younger than Ben Affleck’s Batman. As this is an already established universe we will presumably have to believe that The Joker and Batman have already quarrelled on several occasions, so having an actor younger than Affleck may make this version of The Joker less believable. Pitt has starred recently in Hannibal in which he plays Mason Verger, and to me this demonstrated his ability to play the Joker. Even further back, he was in the remake of Funny Games as a psychotic teenager who played a game of torturing his neighbours. Pitt’s name has been brought up several times by lots of people to play The Joker, so this is one I and many others would want to see. As Lex Luthor is being played by a younger actor in Jesse Eisenberg, a younger Joker may be appropriate too.
Andrew Scott
Andrew Scott has become popular over the last few years for playing the Sherlock Holmes villain Moriarty in BBC’s Sherlock. Having played a criminal mastermind who is insane would surely mean that he could have a go at playing The Joker in a movie? I am sure Scott does not want to get typecast playing psychopaths so he may be wary to take the role even if it was offered to him. Scott is also a similar age to Ben Affleck, so it would be believable that they are equals of some sort.
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