Willem Dafoe has been at the height of fan castings to play DC’s Joker since even before Robert Pattinson starred as Batman in Matt Reeves’ The Batman movie, however, Dafoe doesn’t reckon it will be a role he’ll take on anytime soon.
When talking to Wired in an episode of their popular web series known as the Wired Autocomplete Interview, Dafoe spoke on the popular Google search query “will willem dafoe ever play the joker”, to which Dafoe responded with “I doubt it, it’s not the worst idea in the world, but I’ve got other things to do too”.
Will Willem Dafoe Ever Play DC’s Joker?
Despite the popular fan castings placing Dafoe into the iconic DC villain arena to play Joker, it doesn’t look like he will be taking on the role for any projects anytime soon.
Joaquin Phoenix is currently playing the Joker character in Todd Phillips’ Joker movies, with Joker: Folie à Deux (aka Joker 2) currently in production as of writing this article, with Barry Keoghan last appearing as the live-action joker in Matt Reeves’ The Batman.
However, Dafoe does mention that it isn’t the worst idea he’s ever heard, potentially hinting that if the opportunity arises one day, he may be up to take on the challenge, as DC’s Joker has been adapted across both live-action projects in Film and TV along with animated appearances such as Mark Hamill’s Joker in Batman: The Animated Series.
It is unlikely that any new Joker roles will be opening up anytime soon, at least in the live-action realm of Hollywood, however, that’s not to say that Dafoe will never get the chance to take on the role sometime in the future as the character is well-known for being recast throughout the years of DC projects.
It should also be noted that Warner Bros. Pictures are currently undergoing a massive restructuring within their DC universe of projects, with James Gunn and Peter Safran at the helm, with Gunn currently working on a new Batman movie entitled The Brave and the Bold.
With a new Batman project already in the mix, the possibility of Dafoe at least being offered the Joker role has technically become a reality, however, nothing has been confirmed as of yet.
Source: YouTube