Joaquin Phoenix was considered for the Joker Role in 'The Dark Knight', opted out

IN A recent podcast, Joaquin Phoenix revealed that director Christopher Nolan once approached him to play the Joker in the 2008 film "The Dark Knight."

Phoenix, however, decided he "wasn't ready" to take on the role of Batman's iconic antagonist at that time. Ultimately, the role went to Heath Ledger, whose portrayal earned him a posthumous Oscar for Best Supporting Actor after his death six months prior to the film’s release.

Reflecting on the decision, Phoenix mentioned that his hesitation may have been guided by a sense that "another person" would be better suited to the role.

“I remember I talked to Chris Nolan about ‘The Dark Knight’ and that didn’t happen for whatever reason. I wasn’t ready then. That’s one of those things where it’s like, ‘What is in me that’s not doing this?’ And it’s not about me. There’s something else. There’s another person who is going to do something. … I can’t imagine what it would be like if we didn’t have Heath Ledger’s performance in that film, right?” he said during the discussion with Rick Rubin on the "Tetragrammaton" podcast.

The actor, who eventually played the Joker in Todd Phillips' 2019 origin story film, received his own Academy Award for Best Actor in 2020.

He added, "I don’t know whether Christopher Nolan was coming to me saying, ‘You’re definitely the person.’ I can’t remember the context of how we met, but I know we met. My feeling was I shouldn’t do this, but maybe he also was like, ‘He’s not the guy.’"

Phoenix has recently returned to the role for Phillips' sequel, "Joker: Folie à Deux," which also stars Lady Gaga.