In a recent interview on Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin, Joaquin Phoenix shared for the first time that Christopher Nolan once asked him to play the Joker in the 2008 movie The Dark Knight. However, Phoenix admitted he didn’t feel ready to take on the Batman villain role at the time, which ended up going to Heath Ledger.
I remember talking to Chris Nolan about The Dark Knight, but for some reason, it didn’t work out, I just wasn’t ready. Sometimes you wonder, ‘Why am I not doing this?’ But it’s not always about you. Someone else is meant for it. I can’t imagine that movie without Heath Ledger’s performance, right?
Phoenix shared
I don’t know if Christopher Nolan was telling me, ‘You’re definitely the one for the role.’ I can’t remember exactly why we met, but I know we did, I felt like I shouldn’t take it, but maybe he also thought, ‘He’s not the right guy.’
Phoenix saidAdvertisement
Heath Ledger’s powerful performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight earned him a posthumous Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Years later, in 2019, Joaquin Phoenix was finally ready to play the Joker in Todd Phillips’ Joker, which won him an Oscar for Best Actor.
The movie became a huge box-office hit, making over $1 billion globally and leading to a sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux, featuring Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn. However, the sequel hasn’t done well with critics or audiences, earning only $57 million in the U.S. since its October 4 release and a total of $201 million worldwide.
See More: Joaquin Leaves Joker: Folie A Deux Minutes Before the Standing Ovation Ends
A recent report from The Hollywood Reporter suggests that Christopher Nolan influenced the original Joker movie by stopping Todd Phillips from ending it with Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker carving a smile into his face. Since facial scars were already the signature look for Heath Ledger’s Joker in The Dark Knight, Nolan reportedly didn’t want Phoenix’s Joker to do the same.
However, Joker: Folie à Deux does include a scene with a character carving a smile, which Phillips was allegedly allowed to add now that Nolan is no longer working with Warner Bros.
Watch Joaquin Phoenix’s full interview on Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin in the video below.
Source: Variety