Steve Carell Desperately Wanted To Play The Joker in ‘The Dark Knight’

The most iconic character to emerge from 2000s cinema is, arguably, the Joker from 2008’s The Dark Knight. Heath Ledger’s take on the iconic Batman villain is simply mesmerizing, at any one time, crazed, terrifying, cunning, and even darkly funny. It’s one of those rare performances where the actor completely disappears into the character, like his cast mates, Gary Oldman in Hannibaland Christian Bale in Vice. It’s hard to imagine anyone else in the role, let alone so successfully, but there were other actors considered for the Clown Prince of Crime, including Joaquin Phoenix, who would place his own mark on the character with 2019’s Joker. But there’s one actor said to have been in the running that would have made The Dark Knight a very different film. That actor is Steve Carell, and he wanted it.

Steve Carell Reaches the Heights of Fame With ‘The Office’ and ‘The 40-Year-Old Virgin’

Carell made his Hollywood debut as Teslo in 1991’s Curly Sue, and worked in relative obscurity until his memorable appearance as Evan Baxter in 2003’s Bruce Almighty gained him a degree of notoriety. It would be his scene-stealing part in 2004’s Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy that put Carell on the map, but it was the one-two punch of The Office and The 40-Year-Old Virgin in 2005 that rocketed him to fame.

The 40-Year-Old Virgin saw Carell as the shy, introverted Andy Stitzer, a role that could easily have fallen into a loser stereotype, but Carell imbued the character with kindness and warmth, riding a fine line between someone to laugh at and someone to sympathize with and root for (and made “Kelly Clarkson!” the quote of the year). Although The Office premiered before the film hit theaters, The 40-Year-Old Virgin not only made it the show to watch, but gave the series’ writers what they needed to turn Michael Scott from an ass to an incompetent manager who genuinely cares for his people (but not Toby… never Toby), even though he’s spectacularly bad at showing it. From there on, Carell could have any role he wanted, and he wanted the Joker.

It’s Best Steve Carell Didn’t Land the Joker Role in ‘The Dark Knight’, But It Poses a Fascinating “What If” Scenario

Carell publicly expressed his interest in the role, telling an English reporter that he would like to play the Joker in The Dark Knight, but that he would be up against Sean Penn for the role (Penn was long rumored to be up for the role, but came clean in 2018 that he had never been approached about it). He told the reporter, “I want a showdown to prove which one of us is the better actor. We’d just have to oil up and wrestle for it.” It was a remark made in jest, but it backfired, with a headline emerging that read: “ANCHORMAN star STEVE CARELL is planning an acting ‘showdown’ with OSCAR winner SEANPENN to win the coveted role of THE JOKER in the next BATMAN film.”

Whether Carell was ever seriously considered for the role is pure speculation, and he was never approached about it anyway. Still, it was for the best. At the time, Carell had reached fame on the strength of his comedic performances and was so closely associated with the two roles that it would likely have proved a distraction for moviegoers. Ledger, on the other hand, went in without any preconceived notions of what he would bring, freeing him to do as he saw fit. Carell wouldn’t really fully showcase his dramatic talents until 2014’s Foxcatcher.

Yet it’s that very film and his performance as John Eleuthère du Pont that make the argument that his Joker could have been something special. As noted in the Hollywood Reporterreview of the film, critic Todd McCarthy praises Carell, saying:

“From the beginning, you can’t take your eyes off Carell; as if by some secret alchemy, the actor makes you believe that his character is an entirely uncharismatic man while delivering a completely charismatic performance… He is so socially maladroit that no one would tolerate him but for his wealth and status, although his speech habits command attention by virtue of their simple weirdness.”

It suggests that Carell’s Joker would have been far more unnerving, eschewing the manic energy Ledger brought in favor of a disturbingly calm villain simmering with a psychopathy ready to explode at any moment. That kind of Joker would have changed the direction of the film significantly, elevating its noir elements and, perhaps, adding a far more sadistic twist to the Joker’s plans. Whether it would have matched or exceeded Ledger’s take? That’s a riddle worthy of another Batman villain.