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http://www.darkhorizons.com/news05/051222c.php
After having the likes of Liam Neeson, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine and Morgan
Freeman in supporting roles in your first venture, I always said any
villains they hire for the potential sequels have to be Oscar nominees at
the minimum if they're going to be taken with any credibility.
Now, Batman on Film scored a report from a scooper adding to a rumour
earlier this week that this year's most likely Best Actor Oscar winner may
be up for a the secondary villain role in the next film - "I live in the
Rochester, NY area, which is where Philip Seymour Hoffman grew up. The media
has been covering his Golden Globe nomination for Capote, and in a recent
interview with his old high school drama teacher (who remains close to him)
on a local news program, she confirmed that Hoffman has been in talks to
take on The Penguin in the upcoming BATMAN sequel and is very interested in
the role".
As for The Joker, the role is many months away from casting as yet though
Sam Rockwell is apparently campaigining to try and get the part.
Also:
http://www.batman-on-film.com/batmovienews.html
An umbrella for Hoffman and Rockwell wants in on the Joke?
Author: Jett
Tuesday, December 6, 2005 - 8:35 AM, 2:50 PM CENTRAL TIME: This is how it
usually works - no news/rumors for a while, and then they flow in one after
another. Fresh on the heals of this morning's Rockwell rumor, comes more
scuttlebut on who may play The Penguin. A trusted source has told BOF that
Philip Seymour Hoffman (CAPOTE) may get a look as a potential Oswald "The
Penguin" Cobblepot. Honestly, I know of the guy, but I'm not all too
familiar with his work. Anyway, another name to add to the mix...
I have been told that actor Sam Rockwell (CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND)
"...has been personally campaigning for the role of The Joker in [Chris]
Nolan's [BATMAN BEGINS] sequel." Hey, I'm sure he is - he any just about
every actor his age in Hollywood! I'm kidding - sort of. Anyway, I'm not
saying that Rockwell is "officially" being considered, and I'm certainly not
saying he isn't either. This info came in from a reliable individual who got
it from someone close to Mr. Rockwell. Our sources adds, "This doesn't mean
he is confirmed or unconfirmed or even under consideration, but I can
definitely say that the man is pursuing the role."
So like... if anyone is gonna play the Penguin, Hoffman is the guy... but
really... of all of the major Batman villains, the Penguin is pretty much
the lamest. He's the one that starts to tip Batman over into campy Spiderman
territory. Not that I'm knocking Spiderman... it's just an entirely
different kind of beast.
The thing with Batman villains is that the really good ones represent an
aspect of Batman himself. They're all pieces of Bruce Wayne's fragmented
psyche.
You see (just in case you hadn't picked up on it yet) Bruce Wayne is
completely insane. He lives in a fairly real world, and he's a nutjob. He's
not like Superman or Spiderman or The X-Men, who are sane heroes in an
insane world. Batman is an insane hero in a sane world. He lives in a world
where he generally takes on every day type criminals. Muggers and rapists
and theives and mafia goons and the kind of people who exist in our world.
The "villains" he goes up against... the ones in costumes and make up...
they only exist in this world because Batman exists. Batman didn't start
doing what he does because of these costumed criminals... the costumed
criminals started doing what they do because of Batman.
Hell, Batman is DIRECTLY the reason The Joker is The Joker. Until Batman
knocked him into a vat of poisonous chemicals, he was just a down on his
luck stand up comic who owed the mob a favor (if you go by Alan Moore's
rendition of his origin, which you should)
If you look at all of the best Batman villains (excluding losers like Bane
and Clayface and Killer Croc) it's easy to see what each one represents in
Bruce Wayne. You've got The Joker, who is insanity at it's worst. He's just
as insane as Batman, but he goes in the opposite direction. His insanity
manifests itself in cruelty and depravity. He's what Batman COULD have been,
had he not gone the way he did. He's essentially Batman's mirror.
You've got Two Face, Bruce Wayne's good friend Harvey Dent, who has major
personality issues. He's got this dark undercurrent to him that comes out in
full force after a failed attempt at his assassination. A hitman threw acid
in his face, horribly scaring one side of it. This was the catalyst that
brought his "dark side" out in full force, and now he's full on split
personality, with one aspect of him still the upstanding decent guy and the
other side being the sadistic monster. Again, you've got a pretty straight
forward correlation to Bruce Wayne's psychosis. Obviously we're dealing with
duality issues, which are prevalent in both Two-Face and Batman
Take a look at Ra's Al Ghul, who's only recently become a really interesting
Batman villain. He's this super powerful head of this dark cult of like,
ninja dudes, that are looking to cleanse the earth of evil... but in totally
harsh and wicked ways. He's essentially what Batman is, but taken to the
next level. He's not content to just throw bad guys in jail... he wants to
bring down entire cities. He's the next level of Batman... he's Batman WAY
over the line.
Then there's The Riddler. The Riddler is interesting because his motivation
is essentially the thrill of the chase. He gets off on leaving clues in the
form of riddles. To him, it's all about being smarter than Batman. Batman is
supposedly the "worlds greatest detective" and The Riddler just wants to
beat him. So he leaves his riddles and gives Batman a time limit to figure
out whatever The Riddler is up to this week. To me, he represents the part
of Batman that actually gets off on what he does. The part of him that
doesn't REALLY give a shit about justice or revenge... the part that simply
gets a kick out of doing the insane shit he does. The part of him who feels
comfortable BEING the fucked up person he is. The part that feels pride over
the skills he's acquired and his abilities. He enjoys the thrill of the
chase as much as anyone, and The Riddler is the guy who brings that about
the best.
Then you get to the Penguin.
The Penguin is weird. He's weird because he's one of the very few Batman
villains that isn't insane. He's not motivated out of being crazy or revenge
or some need to defeat Batman. He's simply a thief. He likes stealing
shit... and happens to look like some fucked up Penguin guy. It's a gimmick
to him.
And to me, he's not very interesting. The Penguin gets a lot closer to the
old Adam West Batman than to the really bitchin modern Batman. When i think
Penguin, I think of Burgess Marideth with his cigarette holder and top hat
going "quack quack quack"
I mean, I guess you could say that the Penguin is an aspect of the cold
blooded business man that Bruce Wayne is... but I think that's reaching. I
think The Penguin is just a sort of throw away villain. He's a guy that
shows up when whoever's writing Batman doesn't particularly feel like trying
very hard.
Fuck the Penguin. I hate him.
BUUUTTTTT... if anyone is gonna play him, Phillip Seymour Hoffman is the
pimp to do it.
Now, regarding Sam Rockwell...
Strangely enough, last night I was going nuts because I couldn't think of
the actor who I had thought of earlier in the week as the perfect Joker.
That actor was actually Sam Rockwell. I think he'd be a fantastic Joker.
He's got just the right balance of humor and that Gary Oldman nutso look to
pull it off.
I could probably name five or six actors who I'd be really happy to see play
The Joker. I care very much about this particular bit of casting because The
Joker is my all time favorite comic book character, and he has to be done
just exactly right. Honestly, Alan Moore did it right in his book The
Killing Joke. The people who did Batman the Animated Series did it REALLY
REALLY right, along with Mark Hamill. I didn't like Jack Nicholson as The
Joker at all. There were moments of brilliance, but over all it really felt
phoned in. It felt like "Look it's Jack Nicholson! And he's doing stuff! And
he on make up! Silly Jack!"
He just struck me as silly rather than genuinely insane. He seemed like a
really silly dickhead that killed people. I didn't like his obsession with
mutilating people either. That felt very... I dunno. The Joker's not just
some sadistic fuck that's bent on hurting people out of revenge for his own
disfigurement. He's a sadistic fuck that gets a kick out of exploiting the
strangeness of society. His motivations are purely for entertainment. He's
bent on revenge. He's not trying to make the world hurt because he thinks
it's art. He's constantly in search of amusement. He finds humor in
terrible, awful things.
The person that plays The Joker has to be able to get both the insane, evil
sadistic aspect of him but masked with a wicked sense of humor. It has to be
someone that can carry a lot of emotion in their face and eyes.
Sam Rockwell could easily pull that off. Had he not already played
Scarecrow, Cillian Murphy could also really do it well. Shit, Christian Bale
would have made a fucking FANTASTIC Joker, which says something, I think,
about the whole "Joker is a mirror of Batman" thing
But, anyway, the entire point of this whole post was to get to this:
Joe's list of actors who could play The Joker
#1. Crispin Glover
This, to me, is a no brainer. The guy practically IS The Joker. He's a
grinning, insane freak. This is the guy who was kicked off of the Letterman
show because he was too fucking nuts to be on the Letterman show (he came
within inches of karate kicking Dave in the face)
If you have any doubts about the complete and utter insanity of Crispin
Glover, check out the trailer for his feature film
What Is It?
#2. Adrien Brody
I've felt like he could pull off The Joker for a while now. There's the
obvious thing that he just simply LOOKS like the Joker... or, at least, the
way the Joker's typically drawn. He's got the very long, angular face and
the big, sharp nose and usually has his hair all fucked up and spiky. But
aside from that, there's a certain undercurrent that he's got going that I
think could really work. It's like this intense conflict or desperation. I
think that any humor and insanity he would bring to the table would carry
with it that sort of chaotic, desperate undercurrent that not many other
actors could pull off.
#3. Joaquin phoenix
Similar to Adrien Brody in that he's also got a really dark undercurrent to
him. But where Adrien's is a sort of desperate, confused, lost current,
Joaquin's is most like on the next level of desperation. It's like he's
gotten past being upset about it and he's just gone into full blown
delirium. He looks like he's gotten to that place where he doesn't know
whether to cry or bust out laughing. Being around Adrien Brody wouldn't
particularly bother me. I think I would be afraid of Joaquin Pheonix.
Because, even though he looks like he's a little guy, he also looks like
that if he were to go into some sort of insane fit, he wouldn't feel the
bones in his hands breaking as he bashed them into a brick wall.
#4. Ralph Fiennes
So this is pretty much the only guy I can really think of from the "over 40"
category. There are a few people that, were they a few years younger, I'd
consider. There's a certain spirit to the Joker that I think needs to come
from a younger actor. That was part of the problem with Jack in the first
Burton Batman movie. I see the Joker as very animated and constantly moving,
kind of like Johnny Depp playing Hunter Thompson in Fear and Loathing.
There's a certain fluidity to his movements that tends to get lost as people
get older. Jack doesn't strike me as particularly graceful. He just kind of
seemed like an old guy.
That aside, Ralph Fiennes has a very intense, nutty vibe to him that could
work really well. He's also got the angular, pointy face like Brody has.
That's it for now, because I'm getting bored of this
Runners up include:
Tim Roth
Vince Vaughn
Robert Carlyle
Willam Defoe
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