Matt Reeves reveals the origin of the Joker’s gaunt appearance in The Batman, as well as talking about his presence in a possible second part of the film. This past week we were able to enjoy a shocking deleted scene in the acclaimed The Batman with the quintessential villain as the protagonist, and it seems that the Joker was going to spend more time on screen than we have finally seen in the film. These five minutes that accompany this article are enough to glimpse a more emaciated character than usual, played by British actor Barry Keoghan, and whose influences Matt Reeves, the director of the film, has spoken about.
At first glance, and as is evident, what most attracts the attention of this Joker is his disheveled and deformed appearance, the result of the fantastic makeup work designed by Mike Marino. As revealed by Reeves, the inspiration for this version of the villain comes from the movie The Man Who Laughs, from no less than 1928. In it, the protagonist played by Conrad Veidt is mutilated in such a way that it seems that he is permanently smiling.
“In the scene that you will see in the future you will see that we have worked on the aspect of him, and he remains in this form in suspense,” said Reeves. “I wanted to create an iteration of him that felt different and new, but went back to the roots, so he’s very close to the model of Conrad Veidt in The Man Who Laughs.”
Will we see it in a sequel?
Obviously, the question that all fans ask themselves when leaving the cinema is if in a hypothetical second part of The Batman, this Keoghan Joker will take on a greater role, something that Reeves does not fully reveal. “I don’t know if the Joker will be in the next movie, but I can tell you that this you’re seeing is a version from the early days of the character, and trouble is brewing in Gotham.”
