Heh. I think Nicholson came close to punching out a reporter over the stupid stunt he pulled in the wake of Ledger’s death. Wish he had.

I think, though, for a lot of people one of the most definitive Joker portrayals ever is going to remain Mark Hamill. Because he didn’t HAVE to make the look work physically, he could just work it verbally and rely on the animators to carry it off.

But yeah, this is sad for a lot of reasons. For one, because Ledger’s performance is probably going to be fantastic. For two, the franchise doesn’t originally seem to have gone with the “kill off all the villains at the end” stupid bullshit so many other hero movie franchises do. So Batman could have had his most iconic villain as recurring across multiple movies…

But to recast Joker in this iteration after Ledger’s death? Bleh. Usually I’m for practicality in such matters, but the idea here leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Think of the cameo’s that could be done in future Dark Knight movies. Think of the pre-pub “Who will show up as the Joker next?” Normaly I hate when they change actors, but with Joker showing up as I small part of the over all movie, it could be done in such a way that would work. But who knows how many more Batman’s they will make after Dark Knight.