More weight to Joker as "Hannibal Lecter" in BATMAN 3

By Matt Holmes / June 25, 2011

Batman On Film guest contributor Mark Hughes wrote on 23.01.10 in a piece titled "Why and How The Joker CAN return in Batman 3" that nicely compliments my own from two days ago, in regards to the probable re-use of The Joker in next Christopher Nolan directed Batman movie;

"A subplot about this aspect of the Joker as he relates to Batman and Gotham could be an important addition to the storyline... We need not see an entire new storyline about the Joker menacing all of Gotham. The Joker as a supporting character, much like Lecter's role in SILENCE OF THE LAMBS was not the main plot but instead the most important narrative element making up subplots and character arcs".

In an Oscar winning performance for Best Actor in the Oscar winning movie Silence of the Lambs - British thesp Anthony Hopkins is famously only on screen for 16 minutes of screentime but is the crux of the narrative, helping our protganist Clarice Starling's murder case because she does not insult his intelligence and arouses a kind of sexual affection for her. Even though the most memorable scene of the 2008 blockbuster The Dark Knight took place inside a prison cell between Batman and The Joker - if I were David Goyer and Jonathan Nolan, writing that script for Batman 3 right now, this is exactly how I would accomplish the tricky feat of re-introducing the character in the next movie, but not overshadowing the new theme Nolan will want to explore. Batman needs to visit The Joker because he has information on the new villain (The Riddler, The Penguin or whatever), or maybe Batman suspects that The Joker is pulling the strings from his prison cell.