The Joker Thread - Part 1

[Eddie Dean]

I still think Vince kinda couldha been Two-Face.

 

[Captain Tired]

So it's basically an "IT" situation?

No I get you're talking about IT. I just don't think that comparison is necessarily warranted. The 2017 version was hardly a shot for shot remake, was it? And though I disliked his portrayal and thought he was basically just copying Tim Curry's superior version, Skarsgård's Pennywise was very widely praised by a lot of people.

 

[AndyTrevino]

No I get you're talking about IT. I just don't think that comparison is necessarily warranted. The 2017 version was hardly a shot for shot remake, was it? And though I disliked his portrayal and thought he was basically just copying Tim Curry's superior version, Skarsgård's Pennywise was very widely praised by a lot of people.

I don't really think he was copying Curry at all. His version made itself more obvious, and even in the book I think he's even described as being "off" somehow

 

[Mr. E Nygma]

I still think Vince kinda couldha been Two-Face.

I always thought he was the perfect choice for Batflecks world

 

[Captain Tired]

I don't really think he was copying Curry at all. His version made itself more obvious, and even in the book I think he's even described as being "off" somehow

I was talking about the actual performance though. You're just talking about their appearances. And honestly I don't care that he's described as looking 'off' in the book. King doesn't exactly have a great track record in deciding what aspects of his source material translates well into cinema, e.g., his Shining miniseries.

 

[SwordOfMorning]

Curry is also only really good as Pennywise in a campy, ironic way as opposed to it being any kind of actual good performance in my opinion. Skarsgard is actively terrible. Neither of them is particularly effective or interesting as a movie monster.

It also, frankly, isn't a particularly great book or story to begin with. The first of the two recent films gets about as much mileage out of it as I think you really could with a faithful adaptation, the second is mostly undone by staying faithful to the kinda awful novel.

 

[Eddie Dean]

I really don’t blame Skarsgard, I like when he’s just being a scary clown but then every scene he has to turn into some huge cg monster with a gaping jaw.

 

[SwordOfMorning]

I really don’t blame Skarsgard, I like when he’s just being a scary clown but then every scene he has to turn into some huge cg monster with a gaping jaw.

I think he was a little miscast but ultimately it's the makeup and CG doing most of the (shoddy) work on Pennywise in those movies. His contribution is mostly the voice, which is... sometimes effective.

He's outright great in that first scene in the sewer.

 

[Captain Tired]

I still maintain that he's basically just copying Curry's faux-NYC accent. Difference is that Curry's natural baritone makes it sound bizarre and perhaps even otherworldly. Skarsgård just sounds like a Scooby Doo raised in the Bronx.

 

[SwordOfMorning]

I still maintain that he's basically just copying Curry's faux-NYC accent. Difference is that Curry's natural baritone makes it sound bizarre and perhaps even otherworldly. Skarsgård just sounds like a Scooby Doo raised in the Bronx.

That... that is exactly what he sounds like. Oh my god.

 

[Captain Tired]

Anyways I wouldn't say IT is outright bad as a novel, but I would say it's significantly overrated.

 

[SwordOfMorning]

Anyways I wouldn't say IT is outright bad as a novel, but I would say it's significantly overrated.

There's a lot of good stuff in the childhood sections and it is filled with interesting thematic ideas but ultimately for me it's just a grade a example of Stephen King's coked-out 80s overwriting. Ideally, I think a film adaptation would've been a fairly radical reworking like The Shining or Doctor Sleep.

 

[Captain Tired]

I was recently listening to the audiobook version of King's novella 'The Library Policeman', and that deals with similar themes and features yet another emotional bloodsucker type villain. That was just as good, and far quicker to the point imo. Though even that went on a bit.

 

[SwordOfMorning]

I was recently listening to the audiobook version of King's novella 'The Library Policeman', and that deals with similar themes and features yet another emotional bloodsucker type villain. That was just as good, and far quicker to the point imo. Though even that went on a bit.

King is a brilliant short story writer. Most of his best novels are relatively brief or so completely bananas like The Dark Tower that how far off the rails they go is sort of the point.

 

[Art Vandelay]

Anyways I wouldn't say IT is outright bad as a novel, but I would say it's significantly overrated.

It is a great book, you're both wrong.

 

[Art Vandelay]

Curry is also only really good as Pennywise in a campy, ironic way as opposed to it being any kind of actual good performance in my opinion. Skarsgard is actively terrible. Neither of them is particularly effective or interesting as a movie monster.

It also, frankly, isn't a particularly great book or story to begin with. The first of the two recent films gets about as much mileage out of it as I think you really could with a faithful adaptation, the second is mostly undone by staying faithful to the kinda awful novel.

I didn't think the sequel was faithful at all (or the first movie, for that matter), and I think that's a large part of why the movies don't work. Of course, I think the biggest problem is that the book would have worked better as a single season series, rather than a two part movie.

And awful novel...I feel personally attacked...

 

[SwordOfMorning]

Due to the title conversations about It always sound like each participant is very embarrassed to be publicly discussing the book in question and are trying to avoid naming it. You know, it, I just wasn't into it, what can I say?

Oh, what is it? Uhhh... It's... You probably wouldn't have heard of it.

 

[Sawyer]

Oh good. A piece of fan art I posted brought out all the terrible King-related hot takes.

 

[Captain Tired]

Actually it arose from an inexplicable comparison between Vaughn's Norman Bates and Skarsgård's Pennywise. Always nice to hype up your own importance though.

 

[shauner111]

I always thought he was the perfect choice for Batflecks world

That would be a good choice if the Batfleck series needs a Two-Face.

 

[AndyTrevino]

I'd like for him to have animated mannerisms. Using his hands a lot, very loose posture, expressive eyes, etc.

 

[Eddie Dean]

I'd like for him to have animated mannerisms. Using his hands a lot, very loose posture, expressive eyes, etc.

 

[AndyTrevino]

That could work. Here we go again with our old-timey influences for The Joker

But yeah, something akin to an actual comedian's body language onstage with that extra Joker-y swagger would be pretty cool.

 

[Eddie Dean]

 

[AndyTrevino]

I genuinely wouldn't mind him having a couple Kramer-like facial expressions.

All that aside, I've always envisioned the character having a lot of swagger anyways, at least when he's intimidating other people, like performance art.