Barry Keoghan initially auditioned for Riddler in The Batman

When Barry Keoghan first heard that Matt Reeves was creating a brand new Batman film, he desperately wished to participate. As we all know, Barry Keoghan wound up portraying Joker in The Batman, however the actor instructed GQ that he initially had his eyes set on Riddler. He put collectively a wordless audition video set to Camille Saint-Saëns’ Danse Macabre whereas sporting a bowler hat, carrying a cane, and channelling A Clockwork Orange. Though it’s been obtainable on-line for a number of years, a few of you might have by no means seen it or didn’t understand it was for The Batman. You’ll be able to take a look at the audition beneath.

Barry Keoghan met with The Batman producer Dylan Clark, who instructed him that the function of Riddler had already been crammed, however months later, he bought a name from his agent who instructed him, “The Batman needs you to play the Joker – however you can’t inform anybody.” The actor solely seems because the Joker close to the tip of the film, however a deleted scene was later launched that discovered Robert Pattinson’s Batman asking him for assist.

Regardless of the brevity of his appearances, Barry Keoghan wished to make his tackle the character memorable and made certain that his pure blue eyes got here by means of the prosthetics. “I wished some type of human in there behind the make-up,” Keoghan stated. “I would like folks to narrate to him… [to know] it is a façade he places on.” The actor described his Joker as “a broken-down boy.“

The Batman director Matt Reeves has stated that Joker’s look wasn’t meant to arrange a sequel. “[It] was by no means meant to be an Easter egg scene, to say like, ‘Oh guess who we’re utilizing within the subsequent film,’” Reeves stated. “It was meant to be one thing scrumptious for the viewers to type of expertise these two characters assembly, and in reality for the Unseen Prisoner to say to him, ‘Riddle me this,’ which is in fact proper out of ‘Batman’ 66.” I discover it arduous to imagine that Barry Keoghan’s Joker received’t seem in any Batman sequels, however the actor stated that he’ll be there “as quickly as that decision comes.” Though Barry Keoghan might not have received the bigger function of Riddler (performed brilliantly by Paul Dano), he’s set himself up for future appearances.