Heath Ledger’s Joker still ranks as one of the best performances in a comic book film. There’s a large portion of fandom that would say he’s easily the best. No matter what, Ledger is iconic as the Joker. But it appears Christopher Nolan might have been toying around with the idea of another actor for that role, someone who would actually go on to play the Joker at a later time.
In a recent episode of Rick Rubin’s “Tetragrammaton” podcast, he spoke to Joaquin Phoenix about his life and career. And towards the end of the discussion, Phoenix shared that he spoke to Christohper Nolan years ago about playing the Joker in “The Dark Knight.”
“I talked to Chris Nolan about “The Dark Knight” and that wasn’t going to happen for whatever reason, I wasn’t ready then,” said Phoenix. “I can’t imagine what it would be if we didn’t have Heath Ledger’s performance in that film, right? I don’t know whether Christopher Nolan was coming to me and saying, ‘You are definitely the person.’ I can’t remember the context of how we met. But we met and my feeling was, ‘I shouldn’t do this.’ Maybe he was also like, ‘You’re not the guy.’ I couldn’t say.”
READ MORE: ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ Could Lose Up To $200 Million From Its Theatrical Run
Given how committed Phoenix has been to the role of Joker in two films, you have to assume he would have brought a similar intensity to “The Dark Knight.” And honestly, it could have worked. That doesn’t mean he’s better than Ledger. Not at all. What Ledger did in that role is legendary and can’t be topped. However, Phoenix could have been good too.
Phoenix would go on to land the role of the Joker in two films for filmmaker Todd Phillips. As everyone knows, the first film would go on to become the highest grossing R-rated film of all time (at the time). The second film… well, we don’t really talk about that right now.
You can hear the full discussion below:
