The Joker Of 1989

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Had a look and couldn't find a thread on this...


I just sat and watched a review on Batman (1989)... and the reviewer said that Nicholson's Joker is perfect, blah blah blah... which is pretty much the same tune everyone sings...


... then he said "At that time in the movie business, nobody else could have played Joker. He was the only actor with the talent and charisma at that time to portray the character."
Now, I don't agree with that. Not straight away at least... there must have been someone who could have played the role.
Sure, not in the same way Nicholson did... but to say that the entirety of the movie business had just one actor who could play a comic book villain is a bit, well, narrow-minded isn't it?


So... let's say you could go back in time, and recast Joker in Burton's 1989 Batman: Who do you think could do it?


I'm gonna wrack my brain on this one and see if I can come up with anything.



Good call, SC


I've just had Dustin Hoffman pop into my head as well.
Hoffman's Joker? Now that, I'd pay to see.



What about Tom Waits?

Or, how about this... Christopher Walken?
No to both.

Maybe Robin Williams?

He's funny, but he's also done dark stuff.

What about John Candy?

Fat Joker. That could have been interesting. I could see John Candy working with Tim Burton.




What about John Candy?

Fat Joker. That could have been interesting. I could see John Candy working with Tim Burton.


Candy would have made an excellent Mr Freeze.



Candy would have made an excellent Mr Freeze.
I wouldn't want anybody else besides Arnold as Mr. Freeze. Frankly, that performance as Mr. Freeze is up there with Jack's Joker. At least in terms of them both being performances you wouldn't want to see other actors performing for that particular role in that particular movie. Somebody else could have been Mr. Freeze in a different Batman movie, but not Batman and Robin.



You mean me? Kei's cousin?
Bill Murray
He's just be stupidly laid back, getting his minions to do all the work for him.
Funny, considering that they thought of him to play Batman himself.
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^^ All of those would have bombed
Gibson would have been a brutal-fighter Joker rather than the mind-games type.



You mean me? Kei's cousin?
^^ All of those would have bombed
Gibson would have been a brutal-fighter Joker rather than the mind-games type.
I guess I should have clarified. They were the the others being considered to play Batman. My mistake.



I wouldn't want anybody else besides Arnold as Mr. Freeze. Frankly, that performance as Mr. Freeze is up there with Jack's Joker. At least in terms of them both being performances you wouldn't want to see other actors performing for that particular role in that particular movie. Somebody else could have been Mr. Freeze in a different Batman movie, but not Batman and Robin.
We owe Arnold's Mr. Freeze entirely to Otto Preminger - because he gave us the Mr. Freeze with a German accent and since the days of the TV series people accept (or maybe even expect) a Mr. Freeze with a German (Austrian's pretty much the same) accent.




For the Joker - Lyle Lovett (he sure had the face for it)! All he would've needed was the face paint and some green dye for his hair!



Lovett even looked like Brian Bolland's version of the Joker come to life!




Some more choices for 1989:

Willem DaFoe (of course)

Ray Liotta (at that time he would've been a young snazzy joker, along the lines of Leto's)

David Patrick Kelly (he was the guy who did the "Warriors... come out to playeeyay!" schtick in The Warriors - he had a long chin and just the right amount of psycho to be a great Joker).