The bizarre Barry Keoghan audition for ‘The Batman’
Following Heath Ledger’s impeccable portrayal of the infamous DC supervillain, the Joker, a select few actors have endeavoured to match his acting brilliance and breathe life into the cherished jester on screen. In 2022, Barry Keoghan took a shot at the challenging role in Matt Reeves’ The Batman.
Although Keoghan’s portrayal of the Joker might not have graced the screen for as extended duration as Joaquin Phoenix’s or even Jared Leto’s, its impact was potent enough to generate excitement for a potential sequel. The Saltburn star delivered an outstanding cameo in the film shortly after his appearance in Marvel’s Eternals, portraying the Joker as a more unsettling entity than his Hollywood counterparts did.
In fact, Keoghan’s portrayal stood as the most intense rendition of the Joker witnessed on the silver screen, if only from an aesthetic perspective. The extensive hours spent in the makeup chair, intentionally shrouded, were all a deliberate part of the plan – a nod to Ledger’s interpretation – with an undoubtedly promising future ahead.
Before sitting in said makeup chair, however, Keoghan sought to showcase his superhero prowess by creating an audition tape based on another character: The Riddler. Although Paul Dano got the role, Keoghan’s $10 audition tape ended up impressing director Reeves so much that he offered him the part of the Jester of Genocide instead.
“I just made it up,” Keoghan told Variety about his tape, in which he charismatically appears from an elevator dressed as The Riddler. “I wanted to make it Kubrick-y: symmetrical, the X on the back, the square doorframe, everything square. I just wanted swag to come across. Swag and endearing. It was just me giving my idea. And then I’s like, ‘I’ma send this in!'”
Although the actor ended up channelling his creative energy into the Joker instead, his portrayal earned much praise from critics and fans alike. “I wanted some sort of human in there behind the makeup,” Keoghan said, describing how he approached the infamous DC character. “I want people to relate to him…[to know] this is a façade he puts on.”
While Keoghan’s Joker cameo generated a lot of excitement about a second film, Reeves clarified after its release that featuring Keoghan’s Joker was not necessarily a hint at the character’s return in a sequel. “It’s not an Easter egg scene,” he said. “It’s not one of those end credits Marvel or DC scenes where it’s going, like, ‘Hey, here’s the next movie!’ In fact, I have no idea when or if we would return to that character in the movies.”
