After what has seemed like an eternity in waiting, The Batman has finally hit theatres. The movie stars Robert Pattinson as the Dark Knight and the general consensus amongst fans and critics alike is that Director Matt Reeves has knocked it out of the park with this one.
*Spoilers ahead for The Batman*
Aside from the excellent performances and stunning cinematography, fans have been talking about one character in particular after watching the movie. According to the credits he is simply known as ‘Unnamed Arkham Inmate’ however given his “clown” reference and distinctive laugh it’s obvious that this character, played by Irish actor Barry Keoghan, is The Joker. Something that has since been confirmed by Reeves.
In fact, Keoghan actually filmed more than one scene as The Joker.
The Joker scene cut from The Batman
In a recent interview with IGN, Matt Reeves confirmed that they filmed another scene where Batman visited Barry Keoghan’s Joker in Arkham as a way to profile the mind of a serial killer, to help him catch the Riddler.
The scene that was not in the movie, the scene that this is really the companion to, which is actually a really cool scene that will release at some point, it’s a scene where Batman is so unnerved because the Riddler is writing to him. And he’s like, ‘Well, why is this guy writing to me?’ And he figures he’s got to profile this killer.
He goes to see another killer that he’s clearly had an experience with in these first two years. And this killer in this story is not yet the character that we come to know, right? So everybody’s in their infancy. So in the comics, these characters often declare their alter egos in response to the fact that there’s a Batman out there. And so here, we have a Joker who’s not yet the Joker
Matt Reeves on The Joker
Reeves went on to say that the scene will eventually be released, perhaps giving fans a reason to buy the DVD in a few weeks time.
Barry Keoghan’s Joker origin story from The Batman
While discussing his version of The Joker, Matt Reeves also described how Keoghan’s character might have come to be the clown prince of crime, or at least to the very precipice of it.
He’s got this congenital disease. He can never stop smiling. And it made Mike and I think about — I was talking about The Elephant Man because I love David Lynch. And I was like, ‘Well, maybe there’s something here where it’s not something where he fell in a vat of chemicals or it’s not the Nolan thing where he has these scars and we don’t know where they came from. What if this is something that he’s been touched by from birth and that he has a congenital disease that refuses to let him stop smiling? And he’s had this very dark reaction to it, and he’s had to spend a life of people looking at him in a certain way and he knows how to get into your head.’”
So [it’s] this idea of him being very incisive and brilliant and being able to get into your mind and basically having this nihilistic point of view that’s like from his inception, from his birth, life has been a cruel joke on him. And this is his response, and he’s eventually going to declare himself as a clown, declare himself as the Joker. That was the idea
Matt Reeves on The Joker origin
The Batman sequel will likely be confirmed soon meaning fans will hopefully get the opportunity to see Pattinson’s Batman vs Keoghan’s Joker play out on the big screen.
As always, thanks for reading.
