Batman: The Dark Knight’s Joker was nearly played by a very different actor

It’s hard now to imagine anyone else playing the Joker opposite Christian Bale’s Batman. Heath Ledger brought such a new and unique energy to the role that blew audiences away.

However, Ledger was, of course, part of an auditioning and choosing process, and it seems that another actor was considered and would have brought something very different to the role.

For more adventures in Gotham you should check out The Penguin from HBO

And that actor isn’t unfamiliar with the Joker either.

It turns out that Joaquin Phoenix talked with director Christopher Nolan about taking the role of the clown prince of crime for The Dark Knight.

Discussing this nugget of cinema lore on ‘Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin’ Phoenix admitted that he ended up moving on from the role as he didn’t feel ready for that part.

“I remember I talked to Chris Nolan about ‘The Dark Knight’ and that didn’t happen for whatever reason,” Phoenix admits.

There’s no doubt that if the actor could have tapped into what he inevitably brought to Arthur Fleck in both Joker films, he could have pulled off the iconic role.

Phoenix continued, “I wasn’t ready then. That’s one of those things where it’s like, ‘What is in me that’s not doing this?’ And it’s not about me. There’s something else. There’s another person who is going to do something.”

Of course, the Batman villain role went to Heath Ledger who turned in a stellar performance and perhaps Joaquin Phoenix knew deep down that someone else was destined for that role.

The actor’s final words on the matter were simply, “I can’t imagine what it would be if we didn’t have Heath Ledger’s performance in that film, right?”

Ultimately, whatever feeling Phoenix had brought one of the best Joker performances to the audience and he went on to represent the role of Joker in his own way.