Mark Hamill’s role as the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series might not have happened if it weren’t for Michael Keaton’s Caped Crusader.
In a recent interview with wired, the Star Wars The actor explained that the controversy surrounding Keaton’s casting and his eventual success with it helped him feel more confident going into his audition than he would otherwise have been.
“There was a big outcry that Michael Keaton was going to play Batman,” Hamill recalled. “‘Oh, he’s Mr. Mom, he’s a comedy actor.’ I mean, they hadn’t even seen him, and they didn’t realize how great he was going to be, but there was a lot of controversy.”
He continued, “So when I went in I was like, ‘Do you think they’re going to hire Luke Skywalker to play the Joker? The fans are going to go crazy!’ I was so sure I couldn’t get cast, I was completely relaxed.”
The machine actor explained that there is typically fear of failure in an audition because actors want the roles they are reading for.
“Here I knew I couldn’t get the part, so who cares? And I pulled out of the parking lot thinking, ‘That’s the best Joker they’ll ever hear, and it’s a shame they can’t cast me.’” Once he got the part, his attitude completely changed. “I was like ‘Oh no, I can’t do this!'”
Hamill went on to say that Joker is one of his favorite characters to play.
“He’s insane, and because he’s insane, he never gets bored,” he said. “It’s just fun to play a character who causes chaos wherever he goes.”
