John Lithgow Purposefully Bombed His Joker Audition For Tim Burton's Batman

There's a pretty easy argument to be made that the Joker is the most iconic comic book villain of all time. Certainly, he's one of the most easily recognizable, especially after an Oscar win for the late Heath Ledger and a nomination for Joaquin Phoenix for their respective performances in the role. Still, as great as Ledger and Phoenix were as the Clown Prince of Crime, for some fans no one will ever match Jack Nicholson's iconic turn in Tim Burton's 1989 film "Batman."

Nicholson's performance was so memorable that it's become one of his signature roles, alongside McMurphy from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and Jake Gittes from "Chinatown." Because Jack was so good, it's hard to imagine that another venerated actor was originally targeted for the role: John Lithgow. 

That's not the only way the film could have turned out differently, either, as the original intention was to have "Gremlins" director Joe Dante at the helm. It was Dante who wanted Lithgow as his Joker, but even after Burton came on board, he was keen on bringing in the Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated actor to talk about the part. What happened instead was that Lithgow ended up talking himself out of the running.

In the context of the 1980s, you can kind of forgive John Lithgow for intentionally bombing his audition. This was well before the recent explosion of superhero movies, and in 1989 they were far from being as mainstream — and high quality — as they are now. Two of the comic book movies released shortly before "Batman" were "Howard the Duck" and "Superman IV," so it's hard to really blame Lithgow for not anticipating the cultural significance Burton's film would take on. As Lithgow told Vulture in a 2017 interview:

"I have never told anyone this story, but I tried to persuade him I was not right for the part, and I succeeded. I didn't realize it was such a big deal. About a week later I heard they were going after Robin Williams and Jack Nicholson."

And it wasn't just Burton whom Lithgow declined for the part, either. Even when Dante was still in line to direct, Lithgow turned it down — a move he now regrets:

"I was doing 'M. Butterfly' on Broadway and it was an exhausting show. It would have meant leaving that show and going right into a movie, and I said, 'I just don't think I can'. How about that for stupid? Actors are not necessarily smart people."

In the end, things probably worked out best for all parties involved (except maybe for Lithgow's bank account). Nicholson turned in a legendary performance, and Lithgow has continued to enjoy a busy and celebrated career. Of course, seeing his calmly menacing work as the Trinity Killer in "Dexter" (a role he also nearly passed on) certainly makes you wonder what might have been.