Jack Nicholson is ‘Furious’ Over Heath Ledger’s Joker

Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on November 8, 2007 Share

jack-nicholson.jpgIt’s safe to say that Jack Nicholson won’t be the first in line to see Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight next June when it is released. In fact, if I were a betting man I would say that Jack isn’t going to catch the flick at all. How do I know this? Because that’s what Jack told Josh Horowitz at MTV in an interview this week. When asked about Heath Ledger’s upcoming portrayal of the character that he played so wonderfully almost 20 years ago, Nicholson said that he was “Furious”. Here is a little snippet from the conversation:

MTV: What do you think of another actor, Heath Ledger, playing the Joker in next summer’s “The Dark Knight”?

Nicholson: Let me be the way I’m not in interviews. I’m furious. I’m furious. [He laughs.] They never asked me about a sequel with the Joker. I know how to do that! Nobody ever asked me.

MTV: It was never brought up?

Nicholson: No. It’s like, in any area, you can’t believe the reasons things do or don’t happen. Not asking me how to do the sequel is that kind of thing. Maybe it’s not a mistake. Maybe it was the right thing, but to be candid, I’m furious.

MTV: I’m surprised to hear you sounding competitive about a role like that.

Nicholson: Well, the Joker comes from my childhood. That’s how I got involved with it in the first place. It’s a part I always thought I should play.

It remains to be seen as to whether Ledger’s Joker will be as well-received or as iconic as the one that Nicholson gave us in Tim Burton’s original Batman, but it is disappointing to see that Ledger never even talked to Jack about it. One would assume that a conversation about The Joker with the original Joker would be standard research for an actor taking on such a huge role. But then again, maybe Christopher Nolan and Heath Ledger wanted it this way, starting with a clean slate and reinventing the character completely. It makes sense, seeing as Nolan and Co. have done everything possible to redefine everything about this Batman series. And who are we to argue — at least we won’t be seeing any nipples on the Bat suit.

What do you think? Should Jack’s Joker have had an influence on this new Joker? Or would you have started over completely, too?

Related Posts with Thumbnails


Read more articles by Neil Miller

« Previous Article | Next Article »

Related Topics:

Movie News, , , , ,

Your Ad Here

Comment Policy: No hate speech allowed. If you must argue, please debate intelligently. Comments containing selected keywords or outbound links will be put into moderation to help prevent spam. Film School Rejects reserves the right to delete comments and ban anyone who doesn't follow the rules. We also reserve the right to modify any curse words in your comments and make you look like an idiot. Thank You!

  • aurea gontijo
    o ,joker de heath ledger foi anos- luiz melhor do que jack nicholson.
  • Inju
    Jack looks like an ant in front of Ledgers acting as the joker !!!!
    Heath Ledger has set new standards of how good a person can act and not just as the joker
    !!!
    I wasn't able 2 like any movie after watching Dark Knight.
    The Dark Knight was a good movie but it was better only because of Ledgers acting.
  • Mr. Window
    Sorry, Jack, but Heath Ledger made a better Joker than you.
  • Fred Ingram
    Jack Nicholson was the best Joker ever. Ceasar Romero was also good. I wish that Jack Nicholson had played the role of the Joker in the last film. He would have added so much to the Dark Knight movie. You will never have an actor top Jack as the Joker. He was true to the classic DC comic and had me laughing so hard when he played that role in the Batman movie back in 1989 with Micheal Keaton.
    I saw Jack as the Joker when I was about 20 years old and now I see this crap of a movie with that Heath Ledger. I think young people these days have no class to say that Ledger was a better Joker. He was terrible. The Joker is by defination a comedian who is a killer. Jack looked and played the role perfect. He was great. Ledger depressed me and was not humorous in any way. I do not think Ledger even came close to being as good a Joker as Jack. Jack's laugh was superior and I really think Ledger's laugh was awful. I don't even remember Ledger's laugh to be honest. I miss movies that were entertaining and had great actors like Jack.
  • Nathan Lund
    I've seen The Dark Knight four times, and I've loved every second of it. Anyone criticizing the cinematography should present reason for the vlaue his or her opinion. Many of the camera choices were great, and perfect for the action genre. The script is dynamic, and the audience isn't spoonfed unformation, except for Lucious (Morgan Freeman) Fox's monologue on the utilization of cell phones, and the presented moral dilemma of invading privacy. The Dark Knight is a two-and-a-half-hour movie, which seems normal length; it is engaging, and requires the audience to be thoughtful.

    This movie truly raised the standards of not only the Batman series, but of the entire superhero genre.
  • Ricardo Dirani
    Burton's 1989 Batman is based on the 60's TV series, which is said to have been a parody of the campness of the Batman golden age comics. Since then Batman has been revisited in great graphic novels such as Allan Moore's The Killing Joke, Frank Miller's Dark Night and (my favorite) Neil Gaiman's Arkhan Azylun. At the same time, the super-heroes genre, which had been forever plagued by awkwardness, has been turned into serious and highly successful action movies such as X-Men. This is the context for Nolan's Dark Night.

    One can measure it also by how we remember the actors portraying Batman. Michael Keaton is a joke. He is good for pastiche characters like Beetlejuice. Valk Kilmer had his time and never went much further then being Iceman, or Jim Morrison. George Dr. Dough Ross Clooney... puh lease. Now for Christian Bale all we need to say is "Patrick Bateman" to cast him up on a totally other level. Hell, Bateman was probably the best Joker possible. Just picture him ranting on Phil Collins to Jared Leto's Paul Allen, dancing around him, and then giving the "Try getting a reservation at Dorcia now, you f*ing stupid bastard!" line. It's one of the funniest and freakish scenes in movie history.
  • Tony
    Jack Nicholson is a great actor, but he is too old for the role at this point. Heath Ledger's performance is worthy of an academy award. It's unfortunate that Hollywood has always been adverse to giving Best Actor or Best Actress awards to actors playing in action movies, otherwise I'm quite confident he would receive one, albeit posthumously, for his role in The Dark Knight. This fact alone completely justifies the decision to give him the role.
  • Trey
    The way I see it, Jack's Joker is from a past generation. He fitted that Joker perfectly, cause the Batman film then had a different vibe and feel to it. Heath's Joker now blends perfectly well with The Dark Knight. This time around, the Joker was played more justified. You didn't see just some actor, or Heath Ledger, you saw a psychotic, mass-murdering, remorseless human being who had no rules, and wanted to set the world on fire just for his own amusement. You can saw whatever you want about Heath Ledger, but you cannot deny how much effort, heart, emotion, and committment he put into this film to make it come out the way he did.

    I'm sorry Jack is "furious". Maybe it's just cause he feels threatened that someone could play a better role than he could. I don't know. Maybe not. But either way, there's only one way to look at it... Jack and Heath have two different styles of acting. And they both justified in both of their Batman movies. But, Jack was then. Heath is now.
  • why so serious?
    Jack nicholson is such a doushbag. in his role as the joker he didnt try to alter his voice and his laugh was terrible, something the joker should be remembered for it was basically just jack nicholson wearing makeup. he brought no electricity to the role and the outfit they have him wearing looked like a gay ringmasters circus attire. Heath actually tried and did one hell of a job portraying the joker as a dark and sadistic killing machine. afterall the joker needs to remembered as an iconic villain not jack nicholson with green hair and painted up like a french whore. for jack to even consider this role at what 70yrs old? who'd he think was playing batman? micheal cain? i doubt theyd be able to digital edit his walker out of every scene. maybe they can cast him as a new villain in the next one.. grandfather time. as for the old batman movies the older they go the queerer they get and u cant get much gayer than the first one. the new remakes are remarkable as blockbuster hits and pretty much sets the new standard for batman moveies
  • John
    Heath Ledger is best JOKER out of the two. Jack Nicholson was not as good as Ledger.

    It's tragic that Heath is gone. I dont see anyone out there including Jack, who can do a better job than Ledger. HL is the best actor for this movie.
blog comments powered by Disqus