Mark Hamill Was Certain Star Wars Would Block Him From Being Cast As The Joker

Hamill’s certainty that his past success as Luke Skywalker would block him from landing the Joker role didn’t have anything to do with his ability or skill. Instead, he was convinced he’d never get the part due to assuming that Bat-fans wouldn’t want him in the role. Ironically, that belief gave him the confidence to give a knockout audition. As he told WIRED in a recent interview:

“I had a confidence that really helped me, because there was this big outcry that Michael Keaton was gonna play Batman. ‘Oh, he’s ‘Mr. Mom,’ he’s a comedy actor.’ I mean, they hadn’t even seen him and they didn’t realize how great he would become. But there was great controversy. So when I went in I thought, ‘You think they’re gonna hire Luke Skywalker to play the Joker? The fans will lose their minds.’ I was so sure that I couldn’t be cast. I was completely relaxed. A lot of times there’s performance anxiety ‘cuz you want the part. Here, I knew I couldn’t get the part, so who cares? And I drove out of the parking lot thinking, ‘That’s the best Joker they’ll ever hear. And it’s too bad they can’t cast me.'”

The joke, in fact, turned out to be on Hamill in the best way. As is typical of an actor’s neuroses, finding out he got the part caused Hamill to do a 180 on his self-confidence, recalling that he thought to himself, “Oh no, I can’t do this” when the news broke, and almost turning down the part. Fortunately, the allure of playing the role caused that self-doubt to dissipate rapidly, and Hamill went on to voice the character for not only the entirety of the series’ run but off and on for several decades.