Jack Nicholson and Batman

[CTTT]

We know that he has made huge money off the original Batman as well as royalties from the other Bat movies (man, what a steal and he wasn't even in the other movies!), but wasn't he also a Batman fan as well?

[The Shredder]

I'm sure Jack was, at least to a extent.

Jack probably read Batman as a child, eventually lost interest when his love for basketball and women took precedence. He nay very well have been reacquainted with Batman, thanks to the Adam West series, right before Jacks career really took off. However, Jack probably was a casual fan at best.

One thing to note, was that you could easily tell that he thoroughly enjoyed his role as the Joker in Batman 1989. Thanks to his interview in the documentary that accompanied the SE/bluray releases of Batman 1989. Which is kinda unheard of, as Jack rarely gives interviews for any of his movies. Jack had a real enthusiasm during his scenes, and its readily observable when watching the movie.

I remember Tim Burton revealing that Jack basically shielded Burton away from the Warner execs who were constantly breathing down his neck to get the movie done, and how that was cool of him to do so. Which may very well be a reason why they eventually reunited 6 years later or so for Mars Attacks!

[CTTT]

That's awesome about Jack enjoying his role as the Joker. I agree that you can tell, he really throws himself into the role too. Plus Michael Keaton was a controversial casting choice at the time. People thought "the star of Mr. Mom as Batman?" But he easily proved them wrong.

[theonetruebatman]

I can't even imagine how much he is going to make off Flashpoint as his deal is for ANY sequels that are based on the 1989 franchise. This move is going to make upwards of 1.5 billion easily if theaters are back in business.

[nepenthes]

Nicholson wasn’t the first pick for Joker, Button originally wanted Brad Douriff (Wormtongue from LOTR), John Lithgow or Robin Williams. Jack only came on after a few big nights with John Peters and eventually offered influence on his character arc, including improving his scenes, and his final pick on the make-up design..all of which he then upgraded into points on the merchandise lol, a first for the time. The cathedral scene was reworked on the fly on Jacks insistence to add more sexual tension with Vicki Vale..one of his acting principles being “always know what’s happening sexually in every scene”.

[DisneyBoy]

Woah - I'd heard that Jack got back-end profits off merchandise, but not that he would get money from every sequel indefinitely! Where are the details of this deal of his?

If he really enjoyed playing the character so much, and I believe he did just based on the performance, I wonder why he's never really signed off on them making a Joker action figure. The only one that exists is like a huge doll with cloth clothing, etc. Fans can't seem to get a 5 or 6 inch Jack Joker supposedly because he wants so much for the likeness! Weird. You'd think if he's collecting $$$ every month from that one gig, he'd be fine with them making one action figure...

[Alan2099]

Woah - I'd heard that Jack got back-end profits off merchandise, but not that he would get money from every sequel indefinitely! Where are the details of this deal of his?

If he really enjoyed playing the character so much, and I believe he did just based on the performance, I wonder why he's never really signed off on them making a Joker action figure. The only one that exists is like a huge doll with cloth clothing, etc. Fans can't seem to get a 5 or 6 inch Jack Joker supposedly because he wants so much for the likeness! Weird. You'd think if he's collecting $$$ every month from that one gig, he'd be fine with them making one action figure...

The thing that i found weird was in the old Batman movie toyline that came out in 89, the Joker was just comicbook Joker. It looked nothing like Jack. A while after they came out with this guy.



Clearly Jack, even to the point where his face changed colors in water to mimic the scene where Vicki splashed him, but they never released it in movie colors even though there were several repaints of it used.