As Batman The Animated Series celebrates its 25th anniversary, no one can imagine a world where Mark Hamill is not portraying the clown prince of crime. However, Hamill himself felt he would not receive the role of the joker. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Hamill stated,
“I figured there was no way they’d hire Luke Skywalker as the Joker. So, in a way it was very freeing,” . “I had great confidence at the audition because I thought there was no way I could get it. I thought, ‘I’m going to give them the best damn Joker they’ve ever heard and they’re really going to regret not being able to cast me.”
“I remember going in and they gave me the Nicholson note, which wasn’t anything I wanted to do,” recalls Hamill, a note that said ‘Don’t Think Jack Nicholson’. “I wanted to deliver an old-school comic book interpretation of the Joker. He’s a theatrical guy who really has fun; the joy has to come across in his battle with Batman.”
While he would eventually land the Joker thanks to his signature laugh, something that has become synonymous with not only his version of his character, but one of the signature joker laughs in any genre.
