Brad Dourif Almost Played The Joker In Tim Burton’s ‘Batman’

Brad Dourif revealed during his appearance at the New York City Comic-Con that he almost played the Joker in director Tim Burton’s 1989 superhero flick Batman.

According to We Got This Covered, the secret came to light during the Curse of Chucky panel last week. When someone in the audience asked if he would ever consider voicing the iconic villain in a Batman project, Dourif dropped some knowledge on the audience that caught plenty of Dark Knight nerds by surprise.

“Tim Burton saw me on a plane and wanted to cast me, but [the studio] said no!” Brad Dourif explained.

Despite Burton’s bid for the actor, the role of the Joker in Batman famously went to Jack Nicholson. When someone mentioned the actor’s name, Dourif remarked that Nicholson “takes all his roles.”

Business Insider reports that the actor was also in the running to portray the Scarecrow in Tim Burton’s Batman Forever. However, the character vanished from the flick once Burton dropped out and filmmaker Joel Schumacher took over.

Although casual moviegoers may not know Brad Dourif by name, they are probably very familiar with his work. In addition to voicing the murderous doll Chucky in writer-director Don Mancini’s Child’s Play movies, Dourif also tackled the role of Grima Wormtongue in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

The actor recently reprised his role as Chucky in the 2013 horror flick Curse of Chucky. In addition to Dourif, the horror sequel also stars his daughter Fiona. Don Mancini told Entertainment Weekly that he initially had reservations about offering her the role.

“I worried maybe it would confuse people who would think, Well, if they’re casting Brad Dourif’s daughter then this character must be the daughter of Charles Lee Ray, which is not the case. But we brought her back and she read again and she was just so spectacular. Then I just embraced it,” he explained to the publication.

Do you think Brad Dourif would have made a great Joker in Tim Burton’s Batman?

[Image via Dimension Films]