News culture “I wasn’t ready” Joaquin Phoenix could have played the Joker in Christopher Nolan’s trilogy: he waited 11 years to become Batman’s enemy
Published on 02/11/2024 at 08:00
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For several decades, like the character of Superman, Batman, the famous vigilante of Gotham, has been entitled to adaptations on television or in the cinema. Proof of the popularity of the DC universe, the emblematic characters are now entitled to their own project. In 2019, Todd Phillips took the helm of the film Joker with Joaquin Phoenix in the lead. At this time, it’s a big first for the actor… even if he had already been approached in the past to offer him a huge opportunity: The Dark Knight by Christopher Nolan.
Joaquin Phoenix could have played the Joker eleven years earlier!
In recent weeks, the release of Joker: Folie à Deux reminded us that it was not always easy to succeed brilliantly in the perilous exercise that followed. In October 2019, director Todd Phillips, supported by Joaquin Phoenix in the role of Batman’s sworn enemy, bursts onto the screen with Jokera sort of origin story around the character played by Arthur Fleck. At this time, the plebiscite was very present and Joaquin Phoenix even achieved recognition by winning the Oscar for best actor a few months later thanks to his performance. Five years later, we have moved far from these quality standards.
Box office crashcolossal losses of several million dollars, murderous reviews…To top it all off, and try to alleviate the debacle around this second part, spectators across the Atlantic can already watch it via a Premium VOD service, just less than a month after its release in cinemas. For Joaquin Phoenix, the adventure in the skin of the Joker does not end in the best way. However, the actor’s career around this character could have been completely different. As he revealed during a recent interview, he was approached in 2008 by Christopher Nolan to appear in the casting of The Dark Knight.
It wasn’t the right time for Joaquin Phoenix, but that didn’t stop him from winning an Oscar
Recently, American actor Joaquin Phoenix participated in Rick Rubin’s show ” Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin » and took the opportunity to share an anecdote about which he had never spoken before. Eleven years before playing Arthur Fleck, the director ofOppenheimer had sought to contact him to offer him the role of Batman’s sworn enemyan interpretation ultimately falling to Heath Ledger due to Phoenix’s refusal. According to him, he was not yet quite ready to take on the role of this character.
I remember talking with Christopher Nolan about “The Dark Knight” and it didn’t happen for one reason or another (…) I wasn’t ready at the time. It’s one of those things where you wonder what it is inside of us that isn’t working. And it wasn’t about me. There was something else.
Regardless, Joaquin Phoenix explains that he knew someone else would be required to take on this role. Today, the actor is unable to even imagine what the film could be The Dark Knight without Heath Ledger’s stunning performance. In the end, it was surely destiny for Joaquin Phoenix to leave his place to someone else. The future will have partly proved him right (between the financial success of the first Joker and the ultimate reward awarded to the actor), even if the conclusion of this story is not the most pleasant.
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