Every generation seems to have at least one villain that becomes culturally iconic — but there’s one who stands out just a hair above the rest:
DC’s - The Joker.
I’m very curious who people here think would make a compelling Joker on screen
Personally, two actors have always stood out to me:
1: Willem Dafoe — He already carries the unsettling energy, the physicality, the Glasgow smile, and the vocal control. He’s proven time and again that he can inhabit psychologically complex villains. The only real drawback is age.
2) Johnny Depp — This one goes beyond age. Take Jack Sparrow’s unhinged, chaotic energy and fuse it with the darkness and intensity of Sweeney Todd. Put him in a green and purple suit… honestly, enough said. Drawback: he may not hit the laugh as well as Dafoe.
That’s just my take — I’d genuinely love to hear who you think could pull it off, and why.
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Dafoe and Depp, fantastic choices!
A pick I would add to the pool would be Ray Nicholson, Jack Nicholson's son, as a tie-in and potential meta-twist. His performance in Smile 2 was an homage to his father's role in The Shining so he's got experience with on screen madness. And since he's young he could do a long run as the Joker.
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now imagine that photo in colour: green hair, red lips, purple waistcoat. i rest my case.
wait, what, he’s d-
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Hey, Matthew Wach. I’m a Stage 32 Lounge Moderator. I wanted to let you know I moved your post from the Introduce Yourself Lounge to the Anything Goes Lounge. You can talk about this in your introduction post, but you need to introduce/reintroduce yourself to the community. You could check out other posts in the Introduce Yourself Lounge to get ideas for your introduction post. Let me know if you have any questions.
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Noah Schnapp, @Matthew. Check out this picture. He has the Joker look and feel. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6907855/mediaviewer/rm679387905/?ref_=nm_ov_ph
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Maurice Vaughan Thank you for moving it to the correct lounge. I actually wasn’t 100% sure which lounge was best, so I simply picked the largest one.
Noah Schnapp huh? I don’t dislike the idea! Seriously, I just don’t think we have seen enough of him to warrant him playing one the most difficult and iconic characters in cinema.
5-10 years from now, with a more mature reputation and more experience? I could see him being a “suicide squad” version of the joker, 1,000%!!
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You're welcome, Matthew Wach. I agree. Or Noah playing Joker could make his career take off. Or maybe he could be another villain, Robin, Nightwing, or Terry McGinnis in a Batman Beyond movie. And I can see Willem Dafoe and Johnny Depp being Joker.
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Michael Dzurak i am going to go a little “unprofessional” here, to a tiny extent. BROOOOOOO!!! (That was the tiny bit of “unprofessionalism” lol)
Ray Nicholson: The man has joker IMBEDDED into his dna! The attached image is absolutely perfect! This man is absolutely up there with my two pics!
Actually, physical appearance alone, he knocks Depp out of the 2 spot. 10/10 pick there man.
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Ray Nicholson would be an incredible Joker, Michael Dzurak!
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James LO David Bowie? Okay. Granted he passed away in 2016 (I believe) I love the visual of him as joker, completely agree with you on that!
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Maurice Vaughan If I were to be 100% honest, him in stranger things, I can understand the concept of him being joker.
Unfortunately, the joker role, literally put one of Hollywoods greatest actors into a psychological manic state that pushed him over the edge and eventually ended his life.
When the Joker was originated in comics, I wholeheartedly believe he was NEVER meant to make it to the big screen.
Playing a character who has such deep rooted trauma and psychological issues is not healthy. Because the person that’s portraying him has to match his personality and energy try acting schizophrenic when you’re not, or even scary thought.. try having a schizophrenic act “normal”.
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here’s an idea so crazy it’s worthy of the joker himself—Nicholas Hoult!
he’s got the acting chops
and after all there are precedents
Chris Evans
Michael B Jordan
etc
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James McAvoy, maybe.
I'm mostly thinking of SPLIT when I say this.