“I Thought I’d Keep a Scar”: That’s How Difficult Preparations for “The Batman” Were for “Saltburn” Star Barry Keoghan

Barry Keoghan is one of the most interesting actors of our time. His work to date not only includes arthouse hits like “The Banshees Of Insiherin”, “The Killing Of A Sacred Deer” and “American Animals”. The Irishman also appeared in high-budget productions such as ‘Dunkirk’ or ‘Eternals’. In ‘Saltburn’, which is currently on everyone’s lips and can be streamed on Amazon Prime Video, Keoghan also stars in the lead role – showing complete physical exertion in the truest sense of the word!

But that’s not all, as Keoghan also secured a role in the critically acclaimed DC epic “The Batman” – that of the Joker, the Dark Knight’s arch-enemy! In Matt Reeves’ film, Keoghan was only seen in one scene – and it was quite blurry – but one thing was clear: preparing for his performance as Joker certainly took a lot of makeup work and was time-consuming.

The hitter

Starting date

March 3, 2022

|
2 hours 57 minutes

By
Matt Reeves

Of
Robert Pattinson,
Zoe Kravitz,
Paul Dano

User rating

3.8

Movie releases

4.5

On power

In conversation with the Keoghan has now spoken about it in detail and once again made it clear how strenuous and time-consuming the transformation into the Joker was:

“It took all of us six hours to finish. I couldn’t sit still for six hours, no way. I remember we were working for about five hours and then someone said, “We’re canceling production because there’s COVID.” I was like, ‘Huh? Real? What happened? [Anm. der Redaktion: Macht dabei eine Kopfbewegung, als würde er sich in Richtung der Stimme drehen] There was a steel thing that cut my cheek. I thought I would keep a scar.”

As we now know, his face was spared a scar. The question currently arising is whether Barry Keoghan will return as Joker in the recently confirmed second part of ‘The Batman’. In December, Keoghan expressed keen interest in reprising the Batman villain: “It would be exciting, wouldn’t it? Seeing the Joker come back to life.” Whether that will actually be the case remains to be seen. “The Batman 2” starring Robert Pattinson is scheduled to hit German cinemas on October 2, 2025.