Barry Keoghan and Joaquin Phoenix are finally crossing paths after playing the same Batman villain.
“Just havin’ a laugh 🤡,” Keoghan, 31, captioned Instagram photos taken at the 2024 Golden Globes on Sunday, January 7. In the series of snaps, the Saltburn star stood next to Phoenix, 49, as they smiled and chatted.
Both Keoghan and Phoenix have taken on the role of the Joker in different interpretations of the Batman comics.
Phoenix starred as the title character in 2019’s Joker, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. He will reprise the role in the upcoming sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux, which also stars Lady Gaga as fellow DC Comics villain Harley Quinn.
“There’s so many different ways of looking at it,” Phoenix said of his character portrayal during a 2019 Vanity Fair interview. “You can either say here’s somebody who, like everybody, needed to be heard and understood and to have a voice. Or you can say this is somebody that disproportionately needs a large quantity of people to be fixated on him. His satisfaction comes as he stands in amongst the madness.”
Keoghan, for his part, was cast as the Joker in the 2022’s Robert Pattinson-led The Batman. While his scene didn’t officially make it into the movie, it was released on YouTube and promptly went viral with fans praising Keoghan’s performance.
Keoghan had submitted a self-tape for the character of The Riddler, but that role ultimately went to Paul Dano.
“The Batman wants you to play the Joker — but you cannot tell anyone,” Keoghan told GQ when recalling a conversation with his team about the offer.
News of Keoghan’s casting wasn’t revealed until March 2022 when an “Unnamed Arkham Prisoner” (how he was credited in the film) offered a bone-chilling laugh many fans identified as that of the Joker.
Though his scene was initially deleted, Keoghan put plenty of thought into his character. He described his iteration of the villain as someone who is “a bit charming and a bit hurt.”
“I wanted some sort of human in there behind the makeup,” he told GQ. “I want people to relate to him… [to know] this is a façade he puts on.”
When asked about reprising the role in the highly anticipated The Batman II, Keoghan said he’d “love another crack” at the character.
“I’ve got a ton of back work done on him. If an opportunity does arise but, you know, they make the call, and I’ve got to respect that,” Keoghan said on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast in January 2023. “I’ve got a few other things I’d love to bring. Actually, I have this little half-Moleskin book I’ve written a lot in already and so yeah, I want to show people what that is.”
