While adding a few new blogs to The Watchtower today, I came across Valerie D'Orazio's Occasional Superheroine and a post she made about Robin Williams' desire to portray the Joker in the sequel to Batman Begins.
But Williams, despite a career slump in sub-Disney hell, is still an Icon. And maybe that's what the franchise needs. I mean, I can't even remember who played the villain in "Batman Begins."Bad idea, says I.
Jack Nicholson completely stole the first Batman, and the sequels tried to one-up their predecessors with increasingly ridiculous stunt casting that ultimately gave us Ah-nold as Mr. Freeze.
"Chill."
No thanks! Christopher Nolan was smart in casting strong actors who, with the exception of Liam Neeson, weren't necessarily household names and allowed the focus of the story to be Batman. (Cillian Murphy and Tom Wilkinson, the other two villains, were great, IMO.)
I think Williams would be an unnecessary distraction in a sequel that won't need "an Icon" for a box office boost. Maybe he can play Bizarro Superman in that other guy's sequel?
Paul Bettany would make an interesting Joker, though, as would Crispin Glover, whose name seems to have faded since popping up almost immediately after Batman Begins was declared a success. Or, Nolan could really push the envelope, drive the fanboys wild and cast Terrence Howard in the role!
Think about it...
Let the rumors begin!
6 comments:
Do you think we're ready to have a black man in Whiteface, even if it's clown makeup, in a blockbuster film?
"Do you think we're ready to have a black man in Whiteface, even if it's clown makeup, in a blockbuster film?"
So White Chicks wasn't a blockbuster?
Erech: Nice! I was hoping somebody would do that. Can I add it to the post?
Nerd: That's a great question, and considering the massaging Nolan did to Ra's Al Ghul's backstory, it's an angle they could incorporate into the movie.
Dan: White Chicks is one of the movies that should never be mentioned in my presence, along with American Beauty and Jackie Brown.
LOL! Done, and not done. ;-)
Hmmm, still think from a purely dollar n' cents marketing standpoint that it helps to have a big-name actor play the villain. Then you can slap his image on McDonalds glasses, T-Shirts, nodders, ad nauseum. Though obviously someone like Bettany or Howard or (yay!) Glover would be far more satisfying artistically. The problem is that these franchises can devolve from art to pure commercial fodder with every sequel -- enter Robin Williams with perhaps Ashlee Simpson as Harley.
...enter Robin Williams with perhaps Ashlee Simpson as Harley.
Oh, god! Bite your tongue.
As long as Nolan's at the helm, I don't see him going that route...unless the sequel falters and he's forced to do something like cast Adam Sandler as the Ventriloquist and Verne Troyer as Scarface. (Or Rob Schneider, maybe?) :-O
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