Barry Keoghan’s brother Eric announced last month on social media that his brother would be playing the Joker in the upcoming “The Batman” directed by Matt Reeves. The post was removed, but since everything is visible on the internet, rumours have continued to circulate. Keoghan appears in the film in some form, but up until now, the rumour had claimed that he plays Stanley Merkel, Jim Gordon’s partner in the Gotham City police department (played by Jeffery Wright).
Warner Bros. is now testing two separate cuts of “The Batman,” one with an undisclosed actor and one without, according to THR. What the heck is going on here, then? Is Keoghan the unidentified actor in a certain version of the movie? And is he portraying Merkel or the Joker? Unfortunately, we can’t give you any firm responses, but how about we make some wild guesses instead?
A Certain Actor
When Jim Gordon initially joins the Gotham Police Department in the “Batman” comics, he is partnered with a police officer by the name of Stanley Merkel. And according to a number of reports, Barry Keoghan, who is best known for his roles in “Dunkirk,” “The Green Knight,” and “Eternals,” plays Merkel in the upcoming “The Batman.” When Keoghan’s brother Eric Keoghan asserted on social media that Keoghan was truly playing the Joker in Reeves’ movie, things took an unexpected turn. We still don’t know exactly how to interpret the erased post. As rumours tend to do when they include movies like these, there’s a high probability that everything was just a prank that went out of hand and spread like wildfire. However, a fresh fact has just come to light, providing additional fuel to the fire. In a recent newsletter, The Hollywood Reporter shared the following information:
Last month, the internet went a little crazy about Barry Keoghan maybe, maybe not, playing the Joker in Matt Reeves’ upcoming The Batman. Don’t look to us to answers on that one. But we can tell you this: Multiple sources tell us that Warner Bros. has been testing two different cuts of The Batman, one with a certain actor, one without. And the final test screening occurred last week, with the decision now made as to which version the studio likes, says one source.
What the hell is going on here, then? The THR report is extremely hazy. Even though Keoghan was mentioned by THR, there is no way for us to know for certain if he is the “certain actor” in question. That could imply a number of things. If Keoghan is the actor in question, then his role in the film is probably quite small. He probably doesn’t have that many scenes if he can be completely eliminated from the movie for a different version. But that only begs the question: Is he actually portraying the Joker? And does that imply that the Joker might or might not make an appearance in the movie? Or are the rumours that Keoghan will portray Stanley Merkel true? Does that mean Merkel will be eliminated from consideration? Again, I’m at a loss for actual solutions. However, it appears that “The Batman” is experiencing some problems.
