Five years after Joaquin Phoenix made his debut as the iconic DC villain in Todd Phillip’s Joker, the actor is currently back in the role that won him the Oscar for Best Actor. However, Phoenix almost came close to portraying the supervillain much earlier – because Christopher Nolan had him in mind for the role in The Dark Knight.
Instead of Heath Ledger: Joaquin Phoenix spoke to Christopher Nolan about the Joker role in The Dark Knight
As Joaquin Phoenix recently revealed in an interview with Rick Rubin (via Variety), Christopher Nolan asked him for the role at the time:
I remember talking to Christopher Nolan about The Dark Knight, but that didn’t happen, for whatever reason. I wasn’t ready then. It’s one of those things where it’s like, ‘What is it about me that I don’t do this?’ And it’s not about me. There is something different. There’s another person doing something… And I can’t imagine what it would have been like without Heath Ledger’s performance in this film, can you?
Phoenix further explained that he no longer remembers exactly whether the cancellation was in agreement with Nolan:
I can’t remember if Christopher Nolan came to me and said, ‘You’re definitely the one.’ I can’t remember the context, but I know we met. My feeling was that I shouldn’t do this, but maybe he also meant, ‘He’s not the right one.’
Ultimately, the role went to Heath Ledger, who gave what was probably the best performance of his career and, like Phoenix, won the Oscar for Best Actor 11 years later.
Christopher Nolan influenced Todd Phillips’ Joker
As The Hollywood Reporter recently reported, Christopher Nolan influenced Todd Phillips’ Joker adaptation with Joaquin Phoenix, as he was still working with Warner Bros. as a studio at the time. Accordingly The Joker wasn’t allowed to carve a smile on his face at the end of the filmas this is too reminiscent of Nolan’s The Dark Knight. Now that Nolan is no longer working for Warner Bros., Phillips was allowed to do the scene in Joker 2: Folie à deux.
Joker 2 is currently showing in cinemas. You can currently stream The Dark Knight with a subscription on Netflix and WOW, among others.