The Batman: Barry Keoghan Explains How a Riddler Audition Lead to His Casting as the Joker, and More

Irish actor Barry Keoghan recently shared some details about his casting as the Clown Prince of Crime in Matt Reeves’ The Batman.

While the first film of the Robert Pattinson-led Dark Knight franchise mostly revolved around the Batman’s struggles with the Riddler, the film ended on a major tease involving the Joker as he conversed with Paul Dano’s character inside Arkham Asylum.

Other than his scene with the Riddler, Keoghan also shot a faceoff with Pattinson’s Batman, which was later released as a deleted scene by Reeves. The character’s chilling smile suggested that the actor might soon return as the primary villain in a sequel, and the actor is ready to come back in a heartbeat.

In his recent GQ profile, the Eternals star stated that he hasn’t been invited to the much-awaited sequel. However, if a call from Reeves does arrive, he won’t hesitate to return as the icon of villainy.

The GQ profile shares other details about Keoghan’s casting, as the actor stated that he initially sent in an unsolicited audition tape of him as the Riddler.

Barry Keoghan’s audition tape for the role of the Riddler in The Batman.pic.twitter.com/n81wb56Pw0

— The Art of The Batman (@thebatfilm) October 3, 2022

The tape sees Keoghan in a much classic Riddler attire compared to Paul Dano’s iteration, who felt much more like the Zodiac Killer in the 2022 film. While the tape seems promising, it proved to be a little too late, as Jonah Hill was already casted as the character, with Paul Dano later replacing him.

Even though the Irish star missed out on the role, Keoghan was notified by his agent four months later about his tape being noticed by the film’s crew, as he was soon roped into join as the crazed clown.

In the end, it seems like Keoghan is here to stay in the DC universe as an overarching villain in The Batman franchise, and we can’t wait to see how his character shows up in the sequel.