The Dark Knight Well....this is intresting? (Joker news)

[Pythenis]

Big Joker Scoop?
Author: Jett
Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - 5:44 AM CENTRAL TIME: Jett here. The following comes in from a LONGTIME source who has provided BOF with much dead on info regarding BATMAN in the past. Some news has been revealed/broken here at BOF (like Ken Watanabe and Katie Holme's casting in BEGINS); some has been kept secret to keep this source anonymous. This is a rather lengthy report, but it clears up a lot of stuff and reveals the Joker info I alluded to cryptically last week. (One note regarding news from BOF: If you copy and paste this on message boards -- cool; But PLEASE include a link back to BOF. Thank you.) Anyway, here goes...

I first slipped you information many years ago that centred on the possible casting of Jude Law as Bruce Wayne/Batman. This was long before Christopher Nolan’s involvement with the franchise. Law’s name was also thrown about re: Petersen’s BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN project. Now it seems we have come full circle. Your site has mentioned Law as a candidate for Harvey Dent. This is incorrect. Law is being [considered for The Joker]. He is a WB suggestion (one of a select few). WB do not have a “wish list,” but WB has narrowed down a couple of names for Nolan etc. to consider later this year.

As far as I know, Paul Bettany is not on this list. His name holds some appeal with a section of the Batman fan base, but the idea is not exactly setting WB’s world on fire. Too many creepy villain roles; been there, done that. He was never really in this race, as your site intimated recently – well done

Lachy Hulme is on this list. He is not the “frontrunner” as many have suggested; he is the “dark horse.” WB is concerned about his lack of profile in the US, but they are keeping a very close eye on him. Hulme’s lack of profile could be remedied with two projects, MACBETH and an Australian comedy called BOYTOWN. The buzz for both films is very strong. Cillian Murphy landed his casting call for BATMAN BEGINS off the career boost 28 DAYS LATER gave him; likewise, Hulme only needs for one of these films to click. FYI: Hulme HAS met with the producers. He is the only actor not contracted for sequels to have done so.

I can confirm that The Joker role is a small and mysterious one in the sequel. It will be nothing like the Jack Nicholson-style showcase that the previous Joker provided.

Reps for Sam Rockwell were pursuing the role in the hope that this Joker would be on par with the 1989 Joker, but soon discovered otherwise. Hugh Jackman also expressed interest in The Joker. Upon learning the size of the role he explored the Harvey Dent option instead. Due to Jackman’s association with Marvel, however, you can probably count him out of either role in the BATMAN BEGINS sequel. Probably.

Hugo Weaving is also on the WB Casting list; Johnny Depp is not. Guy Pearce has never been discussed for any role in the sequel; neither has Robin Williams.

The other issue perplexing WB is Katie Holmes. I can’t confirm whether she will be in the sequel or not. This is not due to whether she was weak in BATMAN BEGINS; the consensus at WB is that Holmes delivered a fine performance. The issue is, what to do with her character? That is a problem for Jonah and Chris to resolve.

 

[Macphisto]

http://batman-on-film.com/batmovienews.html (Best to also provide a link)

This news is indeed very interesting.

'I can confirm that The Joker role is a small and mysterious one in the sequel. It will be nothing like the Jack Nicholson-style showcase that the previous Joker provided.'

This sounds terrific. Have the joker lurk in the shadows, pulling a few strings, and then BAM! The big reveal at the end. Well, that's how I hope things play out...

 

[warren_sparta27]

kool, go Hulme.
but the Jokers role small...? i thought he would be the main villian?

 

[Qui Gon Ducard]

How would it have been if at the end of BEGINS, there had been no Joker hint, then in this there was a person pulling the strings etc and like macphisto said Bam the big reveal at the end. If Nolan and co could have kept the whole Mr J thing under wraps and you sat there watching a film in which you were waiting for say...Harvey to become two face and them up pops Mr J how mind f*****g would that have been? I would have loved that...

 

[The Fallen]

Bettany is out eh? Stormin Norman's gonna pitch a fit! Looks as though Hulme, Law and Weaving are the main Joker candidates now. The thing that's got me was the 'small, mysterious role' bit. I like this idea, it's a BATMAN movie, so it should be about Batman.

From reading this, I'd say Law may get the part, but who knows?

 

[Batman1939]

what if Jett is wrong and he has a large role but obviously not like Nicholsons because B89 was basically Jokers origin story not Batmans. I Dont want Joker to have a huge role though. just like say in between scarecrows and ra's al ghuls.

 

[trustyside-kick]

Whoa. Bettany not on list and Hulme on the list? Meh.

 

[Rynan]

This is interesting news. I wonder how small of a role The Joker really has. I mean is it Zsasz small or Kroenen small. Or Scarecrow small? What is small in their sense? It's a bit perplexing, but then again, it's Hollywood news. They're always vague.

 

["V"]

Jude Law and a small role for the Joker? Jude Law is such an overrated actor, gaining most of his recognition for cheating on his partners and being pictured in Hello magazine, the balding pretty boy! Although i'm not fully convinced Bettany is the best choice for Joker he's far more suited to the role than Jude Law, what a farce.

As for the Joker having a small role, this disappoints me. How can they drop in that tease at the end of Begins and have him hide in the shadows? While I don't think we should have a repeat of Joker 89 I still want to see him for around 40 minutes of the movie. I wouldn't mind a slow build up to his intro maybe, like "Man who laughs" we just see the crime scenes and then he reveals himself in dramatic fashion. But if we only see him for a small portion of the movie I will be disappointed.

A small role for Joker raises another question who will be the main villain? And if this means Joker will have a bigger role in the third film rather than the second then what will become of the Two Face arc? And another point, a small role for the Joker might see the bigger actors turn it down so it falls to someone like Hulme, or it will see a bigger actor take it with Joker's screen time being extended.

Jude Law?

 

[trustyside-kick]

This is interesting news. I wonder how small of a role The Joker really has. I mean is it Zsasz small or Kroenen small. Or Scarecrow small? What is small in their sense? It's a bit perplexing, but then again, it's Hollywood news. They're always vague.

It would suck if it were Zsasz small. If it is going to be a "small" role it should be bigger than Scarecrow's at least.

 

[ultimatefan]

Well, this is interesting to say the least. Remember, Nolan doesn´t want the new franchise to feel like the old one, to make a popular character like Joker a "Keyser Sose" shadowy villain would be a bold move, but Nolan´s not known for running away from bold moves... It always comes down to the story. Scarecrow had a relatively small rone in Begins, but he served the story pretty well.

The candidates... I don´t think Bettany not being on the list necessarily pulls him out of the reign of possibilities. According to the report itself, Joker´s gonna be whoever Nolan wants. I remember lotsa early reports on Begins where Bale was not considered a strong candidate for the role... Law, Weaving are high profile actors and they´d quite likely deliver the role, but like the report said, it´s just suggestions from the studio, and Nolan apparently prefers an unknown. I never had a problem with Hulme, but his fate will depend on his upcoming movies - if you support him, go see them...

The Jackman bit was interesting cuz he thought the Joker role was small and persued Dent instead... Does it mean Dent has a larger role in the sequel than Joker? Intriguing.

 

[ultimatefan]

Jude Law and a small role for the Joker? Jude Law is such an overrated actor, gaining most of his recognition for cheating on his partners and being pictured in Hello magazine, the balding pretty boy! Although i'm not fully convinced Bettany is the best choice for Joker he's far more suited to the role than Jude Law, what a farce.

As for the Joker having a small role, this disappoints me. How can they drop in that tease at the end of Begins and have him hide in the shadows? While I don't think we should have a repeat of Joker 89 I still want to see him for around 40 minutes of the movie. I wouldn't mind a slow build up to his intro maybe, like "Man who laughs" we just see the crime scenes and then he reveals himself in dramatic fashion. But if we only see him for a small portion of the movie I will be disappointed.

A small role for Joker raises another question who will be the main villain? And if this means Joker will have a bigger role in the third film rather than the second then what will become of the Two Face arc? And another point, a small role for the Joker might see the bigger actors turn it down so it falls to someone like Hulme, or it will see a bigger actor take it with Joker's screen time being extended.

Jude Law?

Remember that the movie will have more than one sequel and part II is supposed to be pretty tied to part III, so Joker could be in both movies and have a larger role in part III.

 

[wikum]

I'm slightly sad that it's over for Bettany by the looks of things but I think Law, Hulme and Weaving could all play The Joker.

When the guy says the role is small, it's not gonna be as big as B89. I would imagine he has around 15-30 mins of screentime in the whole film. In B89 The Joker was in the film for almost half of it in one form or another. So I would expect The Joker in this new film to have maybe 5 or 6 scenes with maybe one or two of them being major scenes.

Sounds like they got it perfect if I'm right.

 

[Equinox]

I'm slightly sad that it's over for Bettany by the looks of things but I think Law, Hulme and Weaving could all play The Joker.

When the guy says the role is small, it's not gonna be as big as B89. I would imagine he has around 15-30 mins of screentime in the whole film. In B89 The Joker was in the film for almost half of it in one form or another. So I would expect The Joker in this new film to have maybe 5 or 6 scenes with maybe one or two of them being major scenes.

Sounds like they got it perfect if I'm right.

If I remember right, I think the Batman had just about 30mins of screentime in B89

 

[trustyside-kick]

I'm slightly sad that it's over for Bettany by the looks of things but I think Law, Hulme and Weaving could all play The Joker.

When the guy says the role is small, it's not gonna be as big as B89. I would imagine he has around 15-30 mins of screentime in the whole film. In B89 The Joker was in the film for almost half of it in one form or another. So I would expect The Joker in this new film to have maybe 5 or 6 scenes with maybe one or two of them being major scenes.

Sounds like they got it perfect if I'm right.

With it being down to Law, Hulme and Weaving no way in hell do I see Weaving as the Joker...and Law I don't know...so for me it is a dead give away that Hulme will be Joker which I am ok with.

 

[Rynan]

Post Rynan cannot delete!

 

[ultimatefan]

If I remember right, I think the Batman had just about 30mins of screentime in B89

I made a rough screen time account of 89 and, counting both Bruce Wayne and Batman time and Jack Napier and Joker time - not counting their scenes together -, Jack Nicholson has a bit more screen time than Keaton.

 

[El Payaso]

If I remember right, I think the Batman had just about 30mins of screentime in B89

And it wasn't much larger in Begins.

 

[ultimatefan]

And it wasn't much larger in Begins.

Maybe, but Bruce Wayne/Batman appeared a lot more than any villain in the movie.

 

[Milkman95]

I like this - I'm rooting for Hugo to get the role, he could pull off a pretty scary Joker I believe.

With speculation being that Harvey Dent, Black Mask, Boss Maroni, The Penguin, and The Joker are in this film of course his role could be smaller, but I'm sure it's the best written one outside of Bruce Wayne - especially if he's got his own agenda and is playing Maroni...........

 

[El Payaso]

Maybe, but Bruce Wayne/Batman appeared a lot more than any villain in the movie.

Bruce Wayne's another story.

 

[Attikus]

As much as I like Hulme, having Jude Law play Joker (rent Road to Perdition, he plays a sadistic assassin who likes to photograph his kills) and Jackman as Dent would be the best cast ever! And I also agree that Katie Holmes wasn't as bad as everyone on these boards say...she was effective as Brucie's conscience.

Attikus

 

[Anjow1060]

This is interesting news. I wonder how small of a role The Joker really has. I mean is it Zsasz small or Kroenen small. Or Scarecrow small? What is small in their sense? It's a bit perplexing, but then again, it's Hollywood news. They're always vague.

I've been talking to Jett about that EXACTLY that thing and he says its not gonna be small, as in a "cameo" or even small at all. Just very mysterious. But IMO, thats not the Joker we all know and love from the comics, as we were told we were getting.

 

[Ronny Shade]

They should put Eccleston on this list dammmit!

 

[Ronny Shade]

http://batman-on-film.com/batmovienews.html (Best to also provide a link)

This news is indeed very interesting.

'I can confirm that The Joker role is a small and mysterious one in the sequel. It will be nothing like the Jack Nicholson-style showcase that the previous Joker provided.'

This sounds terrific. Have the joker lurk in the shadows, pulling a few strings, and then BAM! The big reveal at the end. Well, that's how I hope things play out...

That's a terrible way to do the Joker.

I'm actually getting worried.