TRENTON JUDD
Columnist
How will Jared Leto make his rendition of the Joker different from Heath Ledger’s and Jack Nicholson’s?
The complete casting list of DC’s Suicide Squad movie was released a few weeks ago and the biggest announcement to come from that list was that Leto would be playing The Joker.
So far there have been three actors who have played the Joker. Cesar Romero was the first actor to portray the Joker in live action. His Joker was goofy and comedic and embraced the hokey 1960s comic book nature of the Joker at that time and soon Romero’s Joker became canon.
The next actor to don the purple suit was Nicholson, and many people were skeptical of how he would portray the character because it was the ‘90s, and comics were starting to take a darker tone. Nicholson did a fantastic job playing The Joker because he still was able to have the goofy energy of the ‘60s, but the jokes were put into a context that was able to mirror the darker turn that comic books were taking. Soon Nicholson’s Joker became the definitive example of what The Joker should be. The Joker that Nicholson portrayed even became the template that was used to animate him in the animated series of Batman that followed the film.
When it was announced that Ledger would be playing the Joker in the sequel to Christopher Nolan’s “Batman Begins” many people were in disbelief because they felt that Ledger was too young to portray the Joker, and that he wouldn’t be able to fill Nicholson’s shoes.
When “The Dark Knight” was released, everyone was absolutely blown away by Ledger’s performance because he completely disregarded the goofy aspects of the character and made him dark, gritty and realistic. Ledger’s Joker still managed to have comedic moments, but the comedy his Joker delivered was very dark. Ledger’s portrayal earned him an Oscar and his Joker is still today said to be the definitive Joker.
Leto will be taking on the character sometime next year, but I’m positive that he will be able to pull it off. Something the film makers should think about is that instead of trying to tackle the realistic Joker, they should go back to his comic book origins and have a post-acid bath Joker which, would bring back the familiar origin story. Out of the many people they could have cast I think Leto is the best possible choice because he is an Oscar winner, he only likes to play characters that are very layered and every character that he has played, Leto just throws himself into the role. By these qualifications I don’t think we need to worry about his portrayal, but instead embrace it and look forward to what Leto will bring to the character.