Irish actor Barry Keoghan caused excitement by showing up in the closing scenes of Matt Reeves’ The Batman – as a certain clown-faced inmate of Arkham Asylum greeting Paul Dano’s The Riddler with a hysterical laugh that we’d recognise anywhere. Warner Bros then released a five-minute long deleted scene which featured Pattinson’s Batman visiting Keoghan’s Joker, revealing that the two have a shared history.
This of course led to immediate speculation regarding The Batman 2, which must surely be either a sequel or a prequel involving Keoghan’s Joker in a much larger capacity. In a new interview for his movie The Banshees of Inisherin – which has been a fall festival hit, with 100% on Rotten Tomatoes – Keoghan opens up about feeling intimidated to take on a character with such a legacy.
Speaking to Collider, Keoghan said; “It’s very intimidating [playing the Joker]. Heath Ledger was the best for me. So you have a lot of people to draw from and that. But again, you bring your version to it. That’s what I do with any character I play, is think ‘no one has seen my version of it.'”
Keoghan continues; “And again, going back to it, I don’t want to be like so-and-so, and follow that method and that method. I want to do me. I want to bring my version, because I feel that is new in a way, and unique, that when you bring your version no one has seen it. And that may make people relate to it. So it was intimidating, but I was excited for it.”
Keoghan was full of praise for the cast and crew; “Matt [Reeves] is amazing. I mean, again, it’s sort of like you go into a numbness when you’re there, because you forget. [He’s a] great director at communicating what he wants in the most delicate way, and making you understand. That’s the most important thing for me, is being able to understand what my director wants. But he’s just amazing. And he was so on board with me, and same with [producer] Dylan Clark and getting to do the scene with Rob [Pattinson] and Paul Dano was just, again, masterclasses.”
While we wait to hear more about The Batman 2, check out our guide to the best Batman villains.