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Mark Hamill never believed that he had a shot at becoming the voice of the Joker on Batman projects.
Speaking to Movieweb, Hamill recalled, “When I went in [for the Joker role], 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 because you want the part, here I knew I couldn’t get the part, so, who cares? 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.’ And as soon as they did cast me, it reversed. I was like, ‘Oh no, I can’t do this!’
Hamill did move forward, voicing the Joker in “Batman: The Animated Series,” which originally aired for 85 episodes on Fox Kids from 1992-1995.
Hamill also indicated he drew courage to go for the Joker when Michael Keaton was cast as Batman, an unlikely choice at the time, but one that grew in stature among fans. Keaton returns in the role in this summer’s The Flash movie.
” I had a confidence that really helped me,” Hamill said, “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 [in the role] and they didn’t realize how great he would become. But, there was great controversy.”
