BREAKING NEWS: Don Rickles as Batman and Sammy Davis Jr. The Joker?
Well this is certainly a shocker. I know it’s April Fool’s Day and what not, but I certainly didn’t expect such controversial movie news to coincidentally hit the web on April Fool’s Day. According to Movie Site.com, Christopher Nolan has made some major casting announcements for his next Batman film. Get this; Don Rickles as Batman and Sammy Davis Jr. as the Joker! Huh? I’m sure I’m not the only person thinking a big WTF at this news. First off, shouldn’t these roles be reversed? Lots of people have been backing the idea of a Don Rickles Joker performance for years now, making Nolan’s choice to cast him as Bruce Wayne a bit of a slap in the face of fans around the internebs. And Sammy Davis Jr.? Aside from the fact that he’s been dead for years now, everyone knows that Davis IS The Dark Knight. In defense of his decision, Nolan claims that it was the audition process that really identified the strengths of Rickles as the Caped Crusader. From his blog, NolanBlog.com:
“He walked into the room and I thought to myself ‘This is Batman. No question’. He then began joking about Hollywood being run by the jews, called me a polak and insulted my Mother. It was hilarious. I thought ‘Hmmm…maybe this is The Joker?’. I asked him to grimace for me, and it was like no…this is definitely Batman.”
In response to Sammy Davis as The Joker:
“Well we now know that a posthumous Joker performance works best. Sammy Davis just has an energy to him…or he used to have an energy to him…that just works for this role. Also, we all know he’s already got a pretty solid connection to the franchise. Why not work with it?”
This has been Film Junk’s official April Fool’s Day post for this, April 1st 2009. Enjoy the rest of your day.
Comments (21)
LOL, April Fools Day is such a played out holiday on the web, nice spoof.
Posted by TheMovieVampire on April 1st, 2009My April Fool’s joke seems to be working pretty well. And disguised well too. Grinding people’s gears on something trivial is a blast.
Posted by Andrew James on April 1st, 2009Haha you guys are awesome!
Posted by msilver on April 1st, 2009What the hell? This website was good a few weeks ago, now there are 13 updates a day and they are all stupid.
Quality over quantity. Please.
Posted by Shut-Up Ed on April 1st, 2009I was excited to learn this news, only to realize that I was the victim of a juvenille prank.
If you’ve got the real scoop on the new Batman movie I’d like to hear it.
Posted by Rusty James on April 1st, 2009Don Rickles looks like someone who could live in the sea.
Posted by cronenfly on April 1st, 2009I think he would make a terrific aging aquaman, you know the kind that gets drunk and beats his wife, but fights the good fight, and saves sea creatures from oil spills, giant nets, other various underwater menaces.
“What the hell? This website was good a few weeks ago, now there are 13 updates a day and they are all stupid.
Quality over quantity. Please.”
Ha! Awesome April Fool’s comment Shut-Up Ed! Glad to see people joining in on the fun!
See ya!
Posted by Jay C. on April 1st, 2009… but… but I was serious. There have been 2 updates in the 5 hours since I wrote that this site is getting sucky for posting too frequently.
Quality por favor. Besides, it’s April 2 in Iraq.
Posted by Shut-Up Ed on April 1st, 2009Sorry to hear that we are working too hard for you Ed. We’ll try slacking off a little bit.
Seriously, we are aiming to put up 5 to 10 posts a day. Compared to most of the other blogs out there, that is a mere drop in the bucket. I’m curious if you have ever read any of the other major movie sites.
On the other hand, if you’re concerned about the quality of the posts, all I can say is that it’s been a slow news day due to April Fool’s.
Posted by Sean on April 1st, 2009@ Quality por favor. Besides, it’s April 2 in Iraq.
April Fools day is too meta.
Posted by Rusty James on April 2nd, 2009Shut-Up Ed: Which posts are you unhappy with?
Posted by Jay C. on April 2nd, 2009Good Lord!
How is it quantity over quality? There’s new film related news coming out almost everyday and that’s why news are being posted, and that has nothing to do with quantity and quality. It’s as simple as that! Take a chill pill bro!
Posted by msilver on April 2nd, 2009EXACTLY!!! There is news coming out every day, I don’t need to hear all of it, only the interesting junk. Quality over quan-tittie.
Hey! Rumor about a movie in 2034!
Posted by Shut-Up Ed on April 2nd, 2009Hey, Director said his movie will be good!
Hey! Tom Cruise stubbed his toe!
Hey, Scoobie-Do DVD release next week!
Shut-Up, Shut-Up Ed.
keep up the good work guys. you are doing a yeoman’s task (just as Ed is in Iraq) what makes this site better than the others are the creative posts (Jay’s Gag Scenes) weirdos like Reed, Sean’s programing, and the good healthy insightful banter. not the stupid one line bullshit like on Ain’t It Cool News.
Posted by rus in chicago on April 2nd, 2009Maybe you don’t need to hear it. As long as it’s movie related then it must be posted! That’s what the site is for. Deal with it!
You guys do a great job with the site! Much props.
Posted by msilver on April 2nd, 2009The weird thing is, I actually agree with Shut-Up Ed in that I prefer quality over quantity as well, and I think we do a good job at offering that most of the time. We’re way more selective than most… partially by necessity, but still, the effect is the same. If he thinks a lot of our posts focus on mundane details and non-stories, then he hasn’t seen many other blogs.
Posted by Sean on April 2nd, 2009I actually think your strength over the other sites is more about the content you generate in-house, such as, podcast, versus, DVD commentary, individual articles on topics that interest you like Reed’s and Jay’s columns.
The news updates, in my view, are second to that and what will always separate you from the other sites is the in-house content. The posts are good in that they allow weird and wonderful discussions to happen.
Posted by rus in chicago on April 2nd, 2009Is Shut-Up Ed saying we should only post things on topics that he is interested in?
I would think we should post as much stuff as possible and hopefully, there will be something of interest for everyone. How hard is it to scroll past or click to the next set of posts?
I am grateful that people might read Treknobabble even though they have no interest in Star Trek. I would hope that I touch on subjects that apply to all films.
I even wanted Cantankerous to only talk about things related to film, but Jay and Sean are more keen on focusing on my idiosyncrasies.
I would prefer that Film Junk be more “academic,” but as Jay has mentioned, I guess he (and Sean) are more interested in a casual approach where films are discussed in a pub-like atmosphere (even though the guys are teetotalers).
I think I’ve said all of this before, but if Jay can repeat that Werner Herzog quote over in the discussion about the “Where the Wild Things Are” trailer, then I’ll keep on repeating myself.
BTW, I like Wintle’s posts because they deal with esoteric film matters that I would never have known about.
Oh, the “posthumous Joker performance” bit with Sammy Davis Jr. in Jay’s post was inspired.
Posted by Reed Farrington on April 3rd, 2009Thanks, Reed.
I’m guessing that I’m primarily to blame for the perceived increase in quantity/lack of quality. Sorry about that. I’m always interested in hearing anything constructive readers have to say. If one person complains, I imagine there are dozens who remain silent.
Posted by Wintle on April 3rd, 2009Increase in quantity, yes. Lack of quality, no. I appreciate Shut-Up Ed’s input, but we’re not going to change the site for one person. As always, the ones who are fairly satisfied are the ones who remain silent.
Shut-Up Ed never really elaborated on what stories he found problematic, but I don’t think Wintle has been posting any stories about movies rumoured to be coming out in 2034, or about Tom Cruise stubbing his toe.
Posted by Sean on April 3rd, 2009Yes, but I wish I had.
Posted by Wintle on April 3rd, 2009Leave a Reply