By now, the question of whether there will be a sequel to “The Dark Knight” has been asked ad nauseum. Most of us suspect that there will indeed be a third installment to Christopher Nolan’s brilliant saga. Media sources like the MTV Splash Page are reporting that Nolan and ‘Dark Knight’ co-writer David S. Goyer are in talks to continue the story. The more riveting question is if said members of the Batman franchise would roll the dice and let another actor take on the role of Batman’s greatest nemesis, The Joker. Heath Ledger, who you are aware passed away from an accidental drug overdose unless you live in a mineshaft, seems like an Oscar lock for his performance as The Clown Prince in ‘TDK.’ Emotions clearly are flying high right now over the subject, but it looks like some key people in the Batman camp believe The Joker could be filled by another man’s shoes.
‘TDK’ producer Chuck Roven said at a recent red carpet, “We have to separate the actors from the role,” when asked by Splash Page about whether things would have changed if they had known Ledger wouldn’t be returning. Roven continued, “On a personal level, Heath was a friend of mine. We had worked together before ‘The Dark Knight,’ but I still think that ‘The Dark Knight’ is its own thing, and we have to separate them.” Maybe we’re just hunting for clues like we’re at a Gotham City crime scene, but that really sounds like an endorsement to us for the move to continue The Joker’s story.
The question is a tricky one to answer. Ledger absolutely owned the role in ‘TDK.’. That, combined with his unfortunate passing, makes it difficult to remove the character from being attached to him. Still, there are many people who would tell you that The Joker has been around long before Ledger or other actors like Jack Nicholson, and that the part doesn’t belong to any particular actor, no matter how well they played it. The works of William Shakespeare come to mind when considering this thought. Nobody IS Hamlet. And let’s not forget that there was a time not so long ago when “expert pundits” were up in arms over Nolan’s choice of Ledger to take on the role. “Nobody could match Nicholson’s performance,” we heard. Yeah, about that …
Keeping with the Shakespeare theme, we think an adequate choice would be Joseph Gordon-Levitt. He has the look and the talent possibly to play second fiddle in The Joker’s symphony. Call it Six Degrees of “10 Things I Hate about You,” as Ledger and Gordon-Levitt teamed up in the modern adaptation of “Taming of the Shrew.”
First good recommendation for the sequel that I’ve heard. I think he has real talent.. Mysterious Skin?
Thanks for the comment, anonymous reader. 🙂 I liked Mysterious Skin a lot and definitely would give the thumbs up to Gordon-Levitt taking a crack. It serves to Nolan’s advantage if he takes a lesser known actor in this case. I love Johnny Depp as much as the next guy, but wouldn’t we see that coming from a mile away? Also, Depp has already been rumored to play The Riddler anyway.
Ben Wishwaw would be really good too and they were both in I’m Not There.
Batman has the most varied rogue’s gallery of any comic book hero. Going back to the Joker well is just lazy.
I think JGL is a good pick, but yeah out of respect for Heath, no one should ever be cast to fill that role again.
At least not in this Nolan iteration. Maybe 20 years from now when they decide to do it all over again because Nolan left after Batman 4 and the people who took over run it into the ground and made it a joke (like they did the first time).
tangentially, i wish they woulda given Singer another chance with Superman. That movie had so much budget against it, that was impossible for anyone to really make a profit off it.
I still think its hilarious that the movie was about to begin with McG and then he quit at the last minute because he’s afraid of flying and wouldn’t go to Australia.
I wonder how much time Singer had between McG quitting and shooting on the film. Hopefully it was more than a few weeks.
The “not flying” thing was a smokescreen- McG has since flown plenty in the making of “Terminator Salvation”. “Superman Returns” gave Bryan Singer carte blanche, which is why he brought on his own writers and went with such an odd angle. While I approve of the sadness and thematic weight of “Superman Returns”, creatively it was a commercial mistake. I would love to see Singer make another Superman, but if I were WB, I would say hell fucking no.
Yeah, i think you’re right. Even as I wrote that, i thought, “gee, that sounds like total horseshit, he probably got cold feet.”
I appreciate what Singer was trying to do, but in the end, it just didn’t work. He should have done his own thing without being so reverent to Donner’s film(s).
JGL…I can see that. He actually looks kind of like Ledger in the Killshot trailer.
Michael Shannon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iu-8wMUzxk