Anyway, bearing the Nicholson Joker in mind, I don't look forward to Heath looking and behaving like that. I know they will throw some sort of new spin on this role version, including the makeup and the crazed behaviour, but the main characteristics will remain, won't they? How scary can something like that *be*?
Here's what I'm hoping. The objective of the first Batman Begins seems to have been to portray Batman as a regular person who endured some disturbing experiences (including his parents' murder) and so decided to become a mysterious crime-fighter (yeah, yeah, I know, doesn't everybody do that after a disturbing experience?). He's a regular mortal who doesn't have superpowers, and it shows him methodically inventing the various gadgets he uses in his work. It's sort of an attempt to demystify Batman and make him into an interesting three-dimensional character rather than a comic-book caricature.
I would say they were somewhat successful in pulling it off. The villain, BTW, was Cillian Murphy, and he was also depicted as a scary and deranged but regular person who as I recall only dressed up in costume to freak people out, after giving them mind-altering drugs.
So I'm hoping they will treat the Joker the same way. I have no idea how you could be a regular person and also be The Joker. But maybe they'll find a way. That's about the best we can hope for, I think.
To be honest, the whole thing does make me nervous. I have no problem with the Batman concept in general. And though I like Christian Bale, I don't mind ogling him -- I mean,
seeing him -- as Batman. In fact, I thought he was pretty good. But I don't feel very personally attached to Christian Bale.
Nicholson as The Joker worked because we're used to seeing Nicholson in hammy roles, playing some exaggerated, tongue-in-cheek figure who is basically a caricature of himself. He can be a serious, subtle, effective actor too, but that's not central to his public persona. His image is of a bemused, shades-wearing, hipsterish, laid-back, defiantly aging bad-boy megastar, and he frequently exploits that image in his roles. I can see someone like, say, Owen Wilson becoming that type as he gets older.
But Heath hasn't established that kind of ironic and self-mocking persona -- in fact, I doubt he ever will; he seems too shy and serious in real life. Besides, I have all kinds of extra sensitivity when it comes to Heath. For Pete's sake, I haven't been able to bring myself to see
Casanova yet!
