The Joker Thread - Part 1

[Captain Tired]

For some reason I just don't like the idea of Gyllenhaal as the Joker. I personally think he'd be a more exciting choice as someone like the Ventriloquist.

 

[Eddie Dean]

Why would Reeves meet with someone to play Joker when he hadn’t even cast his Batman yet?

 

[Gothamsknight]

Boss Logic
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perfect casting

 

[emielaen]

I feel like having the Joker actor as a stand-in for the first movie feels much more likely

If Joker even has a cameo, I can picture a laugh, cackle, and quote from the darkness and that’s it. We don’t even need to see his face.

Maybe just some green hair and some white skin.

 

[shauner111]

If Joker even has a cameo, I can picture a laugh, cackle, and quote from the darkness and that’s it. We don’t even need to see his face.

Maybe just some green hair and some white skin.

If it’s a stand in though, the only thing they can really do is the back of a dude’s head with green hair.

If Reeves has his actor, then I would DIE for a laugh tease like that. Imagine hearing that and trying to figure out who the actor is for 3 years? Lmao. Supreme troll move.

 

[Mindreaper21]

For some reason I just don't like the idea of Gyllenhaal as the Joker. I personally think he'd be a more exciting choice as someone like the Ventriloquist.

I would love to know what inspires that thought.

 

[Captain Tired]

I would love to know what inspires that thought.

I always remember his stuttering, childlike cadence in Donnie Darko. I think that kind of style would be well suited to an anxious and emotionally stunted character like Arnold Wesker. The other half is that it would simply be interesting and more of a challenge for Gyllenhaal than the Joker.

 

[Art Vandelay]

He seems like a likely choice. I still kinda have a hard time physically seeing it though.

I have to wonder what you're looking for in a Joker where you can see Caleb Landry Jones, but not Gyllenhaal.

 

[BobJM]

Jake Gyllenhaal’s role/performance in Okja in Netflix is what first showed me he could deliver a great Joker. Nightcrawler another good example.

Has anyone yet suggested Taron Egerton? Might be an interesting choice

 

[AndyTrevino]

I have to wonder what you're looking for in a Joker where you can see Caleb Landry Jones, but not Gyllenhaal.

It's hard to explain. His facial features are just very..."big". He almost always looks very heavyset to me.

 

[AndyTrevino]

But here, I can kinda see it.

 

[AndyTrevino]

If Gyllenhaal was cast as Joker, then I'd get behind it pretty quickly. He's got the chops, and I'd LOVE to see what he does with the voice.

 

[Captain Tired]

He almost always looks very heavyset to me.

If Gyllenhaal was cast as Joker, then I'd get behind it pretty quickly.

Are you sure your car would have enough gas to make that journey?

 

[emielaen]

If it’s a stand in though, the only thing they can really do is the back of a dude’s head with green hair.

If Reeves has his actor, then I would DIE for a laugh tease like that. Imagine hearing that and trying to figure out who the actor is for 3 years? Lmao. Supreme troll move.

True. But that would be hilarious and huge. Lol

 

[Art Vandelay]

It would be pretty huge if Jake was cast as Joker, and his casting was kept secret.

 

[shauner111]

Jake Gyllenhaal’s role/performance in Okja in Netflix is what first showed me he could deliver a great Joker. Nightcrawler another good example.

Has anyone yet suggested Taron Egerton? Might be an interesting choice

Harvey Dent material.

 

[Jekecy]

With that initial Collider report stating Reeves was in heavy talks with Jake, I'd always thought that was for an earlier iteration of the film where it covered Batman's mature years. Sort of as a smooth transition from Batfleck even though it's technically its own thing. Looking back, it doesn't sound as plausible. This Y2 angle seems so laser focused and feels like the only path Matt wanted to take.

I can absolutely buy into Matt wanting to "lock down" a major part like Joker early on. Especially with actors who have several months/years of projects already underway, making scheduling difficult. This was about a year before Rob was even in the picture, but Joker is such a special role it's not unfathomable it could have been cast first. I don't imagine it to be the type which requires the normal chemistry test anyway.

 

[hellblazer103]

If Gyllenhaal is cast then he's gotta bring back that Prisoners haircut imo

 

[AndyTrevino]

Are you sure your car would have enough gas to make that journey?

I'm a very indecisive person. Cut me some slack lol

 

[SwordOfMorning]

If Gyllenhaal is cast then he's gotta bring back that Prisoners haircut imo

I may or may not use his cut in this movie as a reference for barbers

With that initial Collider report stating Reeves was in heavy talks with Jake, I'd always thought that was for an earlier iteration of the film where it covered Batman's mature years. Sort of as a smooth transition from Batfleck even though it's technically its own thing. Looking back, it doesn't sound as plausible. This Y2 angle seems so laser focused and feels like the only path Matt wanted to take.

I can absolutely buy into Matt wanting to "lock down" a major part like Joker early on. Especially with actors who have several months/years of projects already underway, making scheduling difficult. This was about a year before Rob was even in the picture, but Joker is such a special role it's not unfathomable it could have been cast first. I don't imagine it to be the type which requires the normal chemistry test anyway.

I'm really curious what that original conception of the film looked like because I do suspect the whole Jake thing, which from Jake's reaction to being asked about it in an interview I entirely believe, was rooted in being a loose progression of Batfleck. Maybe they weren't originally totally keen on Reeves straight up rebooting or maybe the importance of Bruce's youth didn't become apparent 'til further along in the writing process?

 

[shauner111]

@Jekecy yup that makes perfect sense. Is it possible that Reeves did another draft to make him a few years younger? I mean...Jake was probably 36 when negotiations took place. He’s 39 now and looks mid 30’s right? So MAYBE the first draft had Batman around Year 5, with a full rogues gallery. Then Jake said no to Batman. Simply had different ideas on how to approach the character (like what happened with Brolin/Snyder). So Matt made Bruce a bit younger and started cutting down the villains once Tomlin came into the ‘writer’s room’. That’s one possibility.

But I doubt that now. The way Reeves talks about this movie, it’s like the entire premise and reason for him to even do this was to have a Batman who is in his late 20’s, just a bit later than Year One. The entire point of the story is that Batman is not in his prime yet and needs to go through one major arc in order to get to that “world’s greatest detective” sweet spot. He hasn’t been Batman long enough to create change. So it’s weird that he would be looking at Jake Gyllenhaal for that role.

Early 2019 would have been the latest for Reeves to lock down the idea of Joker in his script. Probably earlier, but yeah...that’s before anyone knew Todd Phillips movie would be a smash hit. It was treated like a small movie where nothing may come from the experiment. So Matt wouldn’t have felt intimidated at all. Just going about his universe building for a new Batman and Joker.

I can totally see a recurring Hannibal Lecter esque Joker pitched to actors in 2018 or 2019. A few years ago, Jake would have been a major contender, and not so much the likes of Adam Driver during his Last Jedi days or Bill Skarsgard during the making of IT or George MacKay pre-studio breakout or Andrew Garfield pre-arthouse era. Caleb is possible because Get Out was the newest most talked about movie at the time.

If Gyllenhaal is cast then he's gotta bring back that Prisoners haircut imo

YES!!

 

[hellblazer103]

I also keep picturing it a VERRRRY dark green (practically black really ) ala BTAS and Jeremiah in Gotham . Him with his hair like that smiling from ear to ear rabidly is a beautiful image I can't get out of my head

 

[Boom]

It's possible that Collider was wrong about the Gyllenhaal thing from the get-go.

 

[AndyTrevino]

It's hard to explain. His facial features are just very..."big". He almost always looks very heavyset to me.

I say that, and then I see this on Twitter. I've been meaning to share this here. Looks a lot like either Gyllenhaal or Driver:

 

[Captain Tired]

Looks like Michael Jackson to me, chief.