The Batman Joker actor Barry Keoghan has revealed that he actually tried to audition for the Riddler before the producers called him to play the Clown Prince of Crime.
In an interview with GQ, Keoghan recalled the audition process. According to the report, when Keoghan heard that the Riddler would be the villain in The Batman, he created an audition tape and sent it in.
The video itself is interesting. It features Keoghan in a bowler hat with a dress shirt and slacks that are decorated with green suspenders. He also carries a cane that’s evocative of the Riddler. However, to update the character’s look, he wore eyeliner a-la Clockwork Orange.
The scene is brief. It shows Keoghan’s Riddler walking down a hallway to Saint-Saëns’ Danse Macabre. He then enters a room, where he emerges with a bloody streak across his cheek.
Allegedly, The Batman’s producer, Dylan Clark, reached out to Keogahn and rejected him for the part, stating that Jonah Hill had taken the role. Of course, that casting later changed to Paul Dano.
Despite the rejection, Keogahn insisted that Clark watch the video. Four months later, representatives from the movie called Keoghan saying that they’d seen the tape, but instead of giving him the Riddler role, they asked if he wanted to play the Joker instead!
Barry Keoghan on Humanizing the Joker
A ton of scarring prosthetics plastered Keoghan’s face when he filmed the Joker scenes. However, there was one part that the actor insisted remained untouched: his eyes. To Barry Keoghan, the eyes are what humanizes the Joker.
I wanted some sort of human in there behind the makeup. I want people to relate to him… [to know] this is a facade he puts on. [The Joker is] a broken-down boy.
As fans know, Keoghan’s Joker only made it into the last few minutes of the final film. However, there’s a much longer deleted scene online where they imply a shared history with Batman.
How wild is it that the producers can like you so much that they make you an offer to play a different character to the one you auditioned for? Hopefully, we can see more of Keoghan as the Joker in a sequel to The Batman.
Source: GQ-magazine.co.uk
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