If you’ve seen Matt Reeves’ The Batman (pictured above), you know that Barry Keoghan makes an appearance as an inmate in Arkham who will clearly become the Joker. Keoghan, however, originally wanted to play another character in Reeves’ Batverse, and sent the director an unsolicited audition tape reflecting that.
GQ recently did a profile on Keoghan and crowned him “the year’s most compelling breakout star.” In that article, Keoghan confesses that he initially wanted to play the Riddler, and his audition tape has him as that character, complete with a bowler hat and a cane as he saunters down a hallway to the tune of Saint-Saëns’ “Danse Macabre.”
Check it out below:
Now watch @BarryKeoghan's audition for Matt Reeves' The Batman. This one got him the role of Joker. pic.twitter.com/vOPsKRdoid
— British GQ (@BritishGQ) October 3, 2022
The tape didn’t get Keoghan the Riddler role—that part went to Paul Dano—but it did get Keoghan an invite to play the Joker. We’ve seen his take on the role at the very end of the film as well as in a clip released after the movie and the actor’s portrayal of the iconic character is pretty impressive.
A sequel to The Batman is now in the works, though not even Keoghan knows whether his Joker, which he describes in the GQ article as a “broken down boy,” will be in it. If Reeves calls him, however, Keoghan says he’ll be there. In the meantime, it looks like Taikai Waititi’s Star Wars film is the next big movie he wants a part in. “I’m tryna meet him,” Keoghan says about trying to get on Waititi’s radar. “I’ve been askin’ everyone.”
You can catch Keoghan’s existing Joker performance in The Batman, which is now streaming on HBO Max.
