John Lithgow turned down playing the Joker
By Dan Selcke
Today in fun showbiz tidbits, we learned that John Lithgow, the Emmy and Tony-winning actor who’s turned in memorable performances in everything from The Crown to Cliffhanger to The World According to Garp to Third Rock From The Sun, was once in the running to play the Joker in Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman, the movie that arguably jump-started Hollywood’s current superhero obsession. And he talked the director out of it.
Why? He put it in his own words while talking to Conan O’Brien:
“I came into that room sort of ashen-faced and tired and persuaded Tim Burton not to hire me or even think about me as the Joker,” Lithgow remembered. “Now, granted, ultimately, he probably would have had the choice between me and Jack Nicholson and it would have been a slam dunk.”
To be fair, he’s prooooobably right about eventually losing out to Nicholson. Even now, that performance is pretty iconic.
But you never know! Things could have gone very differently. Superhero movies as we know them could have been completely different had Lithgow been in a slightly better mood!
Best of all is what Lithgow was thinking when he got in the room with Burton. “I figured, ‘Who’s gonna wanna go to see a movie about Batman?'” See? That’s a funny joke. He totally should have played the Joker.
Next. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier casts Shannara Chronicles, The Terror alums. dark
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