In Robert Eggers' Nosferatu, Bill Skarsgård takes on the title role of ancient vampire Count Orlok, and it was far from the actor's first time undergoing a twisted transformation to play a monstrous villain.
Skarsgård is, of course, best-known for playing Pennywise the Clown in the IT movies, and is set to return as the demonic entity in HBO/Max's Welcome To Derry spin-off series, which director Andy Muschietti is co-writing and producing.
During an appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Skarsgård was asked if he'd spoken to Muschietti about the planned DCU Batman movie, The Brave and the Bold. He said that he had, but wasn't "sure where he's at with it," and didn't give any indication that he'd actually talked about a potential part.
Host Josh Horowitz followed up by asking his guest if he's ever considered taking on a comic book movie role, and it sounds like Skarsgård would be interested in playing either Batman or The Joker (or both!) if the opportunity came his way.
“There's a pretty cool Joker in me, and it would be very sick.”
Horowitz followed-up by asking Skarsgård about the rumors that both he and his brother Alexander (The Northman) were in contention to play Lex Luthor in James Gunn's Superman prior to Nicholas Hoult landing the gig. The actor said he read the reports online and asked Alexander about it, but neither of them received a phone call.
Skarsgård is frequently fan-cast as The Joker, but there is a perception among some that he might be a little too obvious a choice to play that particular character. Batman would definitely be an outside-the-box idea, and one we're not sure how many Dark Knight fans would be on board with.
How would you feel about Bill Skarsgård playing either the Caped Crusader or the Clown Prince of Crime? Are there any other DC or Marvel characters you feel he'd be a better fit for? Drop us a comment down below.
A new take on F. W. Murnau's 1922 version and Werner Herzog's take in 1979, Nosferatu is a gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her, causing untold horror in its wake.
Written for the screen and directed by Robert Eggers, Nosferatu stars Bill Skarsgård, Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, Ralph Ineson, Simon McBurney and Willem Dafoe.
Nosferatu is now playing in theaters in the US, and opens in The UK and Ireland on January 1.