There have been some great (and some not so great) Jokers over the years. While many will attribute either Heath Ledger or Jack Nicholson's portrayals as the greatest of the bunch, and likely Jared Leto's as the worst, over the years we've also seen Cesar Romero, Joaquin Phoenix, Barry Keoghan, and Cameron Monaghan amid the list of those who have taken a crack at the character in some form in live-action, and then even Mark Hamill, Alan Tudyk, and Zach Galifianakis lending their voice to the character in the past too. Despite all of these iterations of the Clown Prince of Crime, Late Night with the Devil, Oppenheimer, and The Suicide Squad star David Dastmalchian hasn't had a chance to don the iconic face paint just yet.
But he really, really, really would love to. This has been confirmed to Collider in an interview, where Dastmalchian states:
"I know we're just kidding around here, but I would love it. I think some people go 'Hamlet is my life's quest,' or 'Willy Loman is my life's quest.' Getting to put on the makeup of the Clown Prince of Crime at some point in my lifetime is up there next to one of my greatest career dreams, which is to be an enemy of James Bond."
The closest Dastmalchian has ever come to playing the Joker was starring as one of his thugs in The Dark Knight, but perhaps that will change in the future. Either way, the years have proven that Dastmalchian has a knack for character acting, making him a good candidate for the role of the fearsome criminal.
The question now for Dastmalchian is what he'd pick if he had a chance? Would he prefer to play the Joker or become a Bond villain? If you had the choice, what would you pick?