Director Matt Reeves explains why the Joker’s face was kept out of focus during a recent commentary on The Batman’s deleted sequence. The Batman, which debuted in theatres in March and has now grossed more than $760 million worldwide, has been a huge hit. Furthermore, Reeves’ detective-noir take on the Caped Crusader’s story, which was recently released on HBO Max, received over 4 million views in its first week of streaming. The Batman chronicles Batman’s second year of protecting Gotham, starring Robert Pattinson as the Dark Knight. Zoe Kravitz, Jeffrey Wright, Colin Farrell, and Paul Dano are among Pattinson’s supporting cast members.
The Batman pitted the titular hero against Dano’s Riddler, a deadly killer with a deep hatred for the Wayne family. Following his brutal attacks across Gotham, the Riddler was eventually taken to Arkham, where he met a fellow convict, played by Barry Keoghan and merely credited as “Unnamed Arkham Prisoner.” While context clues suggested that this inmate was the Joker, official confirmation of Keoghan’s role came in the form of a deleted scene later released by Reeves, in which Batman meets with this mystifying character in order to learn more about Riddler, with only small, out-of-focus glimpses of Keoghan’s face revealed to viewers.
Now, Reeves deconstructs the Joker deleted scene, providing many behind-the-scenes facts. The director explains in a Warner Bros. commentary that he always meant for the Joker to be out of focus while drafting the script. Reeves explains that Keoghan’s villain is an early version of the character who hasn’t yet evolved into the comic book villain fans are familiar with and that the exposure of his mouth near the end of the scene was meant to further this image. Here’s a quote from Reeves:
“I think one of the fun things to talk about in terms of what [make-up artist] Mike Marino and I talked about [is that] I always wrote him in the script that he would be out of focus and that you’d only see his mouth up close at the end and that’s where you would realize that this is some early iteration of the Joker. But Mike only had the out-of-focus space to work with to try and create that Conrad Veidt, classic sort of style of image and so everything he did he was kind of sketching in the out-of-focus part of the frame and I think he did a beautiful job here.”
Warner Bros. held a panel at CinemaCon recently, during which they teased a number of new projects. One of the most thrilling developments for many was the formal confirmation of The Batman 2, with Pattinson and Reeves guaranteed to return. Little else was revealed in terms of plot, but given that The Batman teased the presence of the Joker within its own universe, many have speculated that Keoghan will play the lead antagonist in the highly anticipated sequel – though the director himself has stated that this isn’t necessarily the case.
It’s fascinating to learn that Reeves meant for Joker to be out of focus at this moment from the start, and to hear what he thought this would communicate to the audience creatively. Many people were enthralled by Reeves’ unique perspective on a figure that has had a significant impact on cinematic history, and fans are now eager to see what the director has planned for the Joker in the future. While many fans are hoping to see Keoghan return in The Batman 2, it is unclear what the future holds for this terrible figure.
