Barry Keoghan bought props for his Riddler audition tape for The Batman

Barry Keoghan is definitely starting to show up on everyone’s radar lately. After making appearances in films like Dunkirk and Marvel Studio’s Eternals, a mass audience may be starting to get more and more familiar with the Dublin actor. Then, Keoghan made a splash with his Academy Award-nominated role in The Banshees of Inisherin. Many have also seen him in another big role that they have perhaps not realized. Keoghan can be heard but not seen in Matt Reeves’ The Batman as The Joker. However, in a deleted scene of The Batman, Keoghan’s Joker can only be seen through a semi-transparent partition.

It had been revealed a while ago that Keoghan initially auditioned for the main villain role of The Riddler in The Batman. The Hollywood Reporter has now revealed that Keoghan was determined to play up his self-taped audition with some props that he purchased. Keoghan would go to a costume shop and buy a makeshift Riddler costume with a hat and cane. His audition was even storyboarded by him and consisted of him as The Riddler creepily walking down a hallway without dialogue set to music. He would spend $10 on the costume for his audition.

Keoghan elaborated on his audition tape in an interview with Esquire. The Irish actor explained, “I just made it up. I wanted to make it [Stanley] Kubrick-y: symmetrical, the X on the back, the square doorframe, everything square. I just wanted swag to come across. Swag and endearing. It was just me giving my idea. And then I’s like, I’ma send this in!”

Paul Dano would eventually land the role as The Riddler, but Keoghan’s attempt wasn’t in vain. According to an interview in GQ, Keoghan’s agent would still bestow some good news when his agent told him, “The Batman wants you to play the Joker — but you cannot tell anyone.” Keoghan would not have a lengthy role in the film, but he would still realize his character through his personal experiences as he plays his Joker as “a bit charming and a bit hurt.”

The Batman II, which exists in its own continuity outside of the DCU, is planned for a 2025 sequel and is currently in the works, although there is no word on Keoghan’s involvement as the clown prince of crime.