Here’s unexpected news – the Joker in The Dark Knight will not be silly like Cesar Romero! OK, we all saw that coming, but for many it’s comforting to hear it reiterated. Christopher Nolan gave an interview to Mean Magazine (hey, I write for those guys) for The Prestige, but of course things got around to the Batman sequel. Better Than Fudge blogger Josh Horowitz was doing the interview for Mean, and this is what he got out of the director:
Horowitz: I take it [the Joker] will be less Cesar Romero and Jack Nicholson than the Joker we saw portrayed in a comic like The Killing Joke?
Nolan: Yes. I would certainly point to The Killing Joke but I also would point very much to the first two appearances of the Joker in the comic. If you look at where the Joker comes from there’s a very clear direction that fits what we’re doing very well.
Horowitz promises more when the magazine hits stands on October 23 (and by the way, look for yours truly doing a tag team interview with Will Arnett and Bob Odenkirk!), but this is just the sort of stuff that soothes the savage fanboy breast. Actually, it almost soothes mine – while I have a lot of issues with Batman Begins (none of which, by the way, are removed with the absence of David Goyer this time, who really only did a draft and change on the first film. Christopher Nolan wrote the bulk of BB, from what I understand), I am being positive for The Dark Knight, but one area I am worried about is the Joker. Will Nolan play him too dour? That’s what the fans want, it seems, but the Joker should be a madcap weirdo who is scary not because he’s psycho seeming but because he’ll suddenly shoot you for no good reason at all. Batman needs to be playing the straight man to the Joker, and that element is in The Killing Joke. I honestly have no clue what the Joker’s first two appearances in comics were like, though.