12 Actors Who Should Play The Joker In Scorsese's Origin Movie

5. Zac Efron

Like Wood, Efron probably isn't at the top of a lot of people's lists of interesting character actors who should be considered for The Joker, but he is arguably the most erroneously under-rated actor in Hollywood.

A lot of that comes down to him choosing the wrong projects - like Baywatch and Dirty Grandpa - when he should be seeking to cast off his High School Musical past with more interesting projects like The Paperboy. Admittedly, they don't make as much at the box office, but they'd do more for his image.

Intriguingly for Efron, he has the Ted Bundy biopic coming up, which should see him flexing his dramatic muscles a lot more, and which should actually put him in the right frame to play someone like The Joker. Mr J is not just about weirdness (as Leto fundamentally misjudged), he's also compelling because you perversely want to root for him through the sheer weight of his charm.

Taking some of what he puts into Bundy - who was devastatingly charming and articulate - and then flipping it to become the Joker would be a brilliant portrait of his origin.