Dark Knight Update: Was Sean Penn The Joker?

Had Sean Penn taking the role, it would have sunk the franchise again. I saw Mytic River and thought his performance was mediocre at best. I'm not convinced that Ledger can pull this off and was not impressed by his Oscar nominated performance in BB Mountain. I guess I'll just have to stay tuned and see if he can.

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Whoo boy! This going to be dark...
If Nolan is drawing from "The Killing Joke," the Joker is going to sadistic. For those unfamilar with the particular issue, the Joker breaks into Comm. Gordon's home shoots his daughter in the stomach (paralyzing her), kidnaps the both of them, and holds Gordon in a room and forces him to watch a live feed of his daughter naked and agonizing in pain...all for a laugh.

Now I'm sure it won't get that sadistic...but we can expect something close...I hope.

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Well as far as the Sean Penn offer goes. I remember when it first surfaced as a rumor months ago. Like the rest of you I was terrified. However, someone made a pretty good point. The Joker loves to entertain himself through the misery of others. However, if the jokes on him...he will kill you. Does anyone remember Penn's lack of humor at the Oscars some years ago? Sure he is Spicolli...but when the jokes on him or one of his buds...he might kill you.

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the killing joke is pershaps the best batman /joker story ever told. if he does this well, he will make batman what he should have been fromt he start

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Maybe, but he still sucks.

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"although i haven't seen ledger taking any active stances politically or otherwise (or rather because i haven't) i don't feel any antipathy for him when watching him in a movie."

who cares if an actor has political stances? i know lots of people who campaign for causes they care about, or candidates - regular people who i work with or just happen to know in my personal life. when did becoming famous start to mean that you suddenly have to shut up about your beliefs? stars are just like anyone else - they have strong beliefs, or maybe they don't, just like you or me.

i care about an actors appearance in a movie because of their skill, or lack thereof, and their ability to do the role.

in this case i think Penn would be an awful, over-acting joker. i'm glad he didn't get the role for that reason.

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True and I would agree with you Josh...but then again I (and looks like Paramount too) got really tired of Tom Cruise expressing his beliefs of Scientology and anti-psyche tirade. Maybe ten years ago, I might have liked him for the Tony Stark roll in Iron Man but after all his idiotic rantings, I could care less if he never really acted in anything.

So sometimes an actor's or actress's personal politics play a part in how people see a movie.

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i can't stand sean penn, and am glad he didn't get/take the part. he takes himself far too seriously these days, and although i haven't seen ledger taking any active stances politically or otherwise (or rather because i haven't) i don't feel any antipathy for him when watching him in a movie.

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I still think Nolan missed a MAJOR opportunity by not casting Christopher Eccelston as the Joker.

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