Willem Dafoe says he 'fantasises' about playing 'Joker imposter' opposite Joaquin Phoenix

Willem Dafoe recently spoke about wanting to play another comic book villain besides his iconic rendition of the Green Goblin. 

The actor said he 'fantasises' about putting his own take on Joker, Batman's nemesis. 

In an interview with British GQ, Dafoe said, "There is something interesting about, like, if there was a Joker imposter. So it would be possible to have not duelling Jokers but someone that [claims] 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.”

Indiewire notes that fans have often drawn similarities between Dafoe and the Batman villain in comic books. 

Besides Phoenix, the role has previously been taken on by Heath Ledger, Jack Nicholson, and Jared Leto, while Star Wars alum Mark Hamil has voiced the animated version of the Joker.

Dafoe was most recently seen in Spider-Man: No Way Home, where he reprised the role he had originally played in Sam Raimi's trilogy. Also seen in this Marvel Studios movie were Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield and Alfred Molina. 

His other recent releases include Nightmare Alley, The French Dispatch and the upcoming The Northman. Dafoe is also set to make his Saturday Night Live debut on January 29.