8 Best Batman Movie Villains You Didn't Get To See

4. John Lithgow's Joker

The Film: Batman 1989

John Lithgow played one of the greatest ever TV villains in Dexter and while he has probably best been known as a comic actor, his flair for serious roles and villains is well plotted throughout his career. And he almost added The Joker to his list of cinematic baddies.

He was courted by Joe Dante when the Gremlins director was attached to Batman before Tim Burton came on board, and then Burton also went after Lithgow. Unfortunately, he was unavailable because of his schedule so he basically sabotaged his own audition:

“My worst audition was for Tim Burton for Batman,” Lithgow told Vulture this weekend at the Tony Awards. “I have never told anyone this story, but I tried to persuade him I was not right for the part, and I succeeded. I didn’t realize it was such a big deal. About a week later I heard they were going after Robin Williams and Jack Nicholson.

“I was doing M. Butterfly on Broadway and it was an exhausting show. It would have meant leaving that show and going right into a movie, and I said, ‘I just don’t think I can’. How about that for stupid? Actors are not necessarily smart people.”

And while Nicholson's Joker would have been great, seeing Lithgow's blend of mania and presence would have been a wonderful direction too.