Willem Dafoe 'Fantasized' About Playing A Faux Joker Alongside Joaquin Phoenix

From the moment Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin first glided onto the big screen with his sleek silver hoverboard in 2003's Spider-Man, the beloved actor cemented himself as a Marvel legend, a portrayal so iconic that he sported the green armor again nearly two decades later in Spider-Man: No Way Home. But even with this momentous MCU success, it seems Dafoe is still evidently dreaming about putting his own unique spin on more comic book villains – specifically, DC's infinitely meme-able Batman antagonist, the Joker.

In a new interview with British GQ, Dafoe revealed he's “fantasized ”about playing an “imposter” version of the character – a Faux Joker and/or Faux-ker, if you will – alongside Joaquin Phonex's iteration of the villain, which he played in 2019's Joker. 

“There is something interesting about, like, if there was a Joker imposter,” Dafoe said in the interview, published on Monday. “So it would be possible to have not dueling Jokers but someone that to be the Joker that isn’t the Joker. And that kind of opens up the possibility of an interesting story, particularly if you had Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker, and then you had someone who was either imitating or riffing off what he did," he continued. 

But even with his proposed Joker sequel,  Dafoe says he doesn't feel differently about playing evil characters than the other parts he's played throughout his five-decade-spanning career. 

“I don’t know what that is,” he replied when asked if he enjoyed playing villains. "I’ll play dumb. You play characters. I could say, ‘Oh yeah, it's fun to play villains ’cause you can do things that you can't do in life, or it's fun to play with your dark side’. But I don't know. I'm not thinking about those things.” 

So, DC overlords, if you're reading this, put down the script for The Other Suicide Squad (Now With Even Less Jared Leto Joker) – Dafoe's got you covered. 

Top Image: Marvel/DC

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