Barry Keoghan revealed what went into creating his viral self-tape audition for the role of the Riddler in Matt Reeves‘ The Batman.
Though he ultimately landed the role of the Joker in the 2022 film, the Saltburn actor said he initially heard there was an opening in the movie for the supervillain and decided to take his chances and send in a tape.
For the audition, he spent $10 on a cane and a hat at a costume shop as well as storyboarded the entire scene, which saw him walking in slow motion through a door and down a hallway in a creepy manner without speaking as music played.
“I just made it up. I wanted to make it Kubrick-y: symmetrical, the X on the back, the square doorframe, everything square,” Keoghan said in a recent interview with Esquire magazine. “I just wanted swag to come across. Swag and endearing. It was just me giving my idea. And then I’s like, I’ma send this in!”
Paul Dano went on to play the Riddler, but Keoghan heard back several months later that he got the role of the Joker in the Robert Pattinson-led movie. While he’s only seen briefly at the end of the film, Reeves later released a deleted scene in which Pattinson’s Caped Crusader meets Keoghan’s Joker at Arkham Asylum.
The Banshees of Inisherin actor previously recalled the moment his agent called him to tell him that they saw his tape and that he got a role in the film. He told GQ last year that his agent said to him, “The Batman wants you to play the Joker – but you cannot tell anyone.”
As for how he embodied the character, Keoghan told the outlet that his Joker was created from his own experiences, both “a bit charming and a bit hurt.”
A sequel, The Batman Part II, is currently in the works and is set to be released in 2025. But it has yet to be confirmed if Keoghan will reprise his role as the Joker.
