Killing Joke “Earns Its R-Rating” Says Mark Hamill
Speaking at Star Wars Celebration, actor Mark Hamill went off script and talked about his reprising of the Joker role for the animated DC Comics films The Killing Joke. He talked about how many people have come up to him to talk about it, including some very young people:
“Kids will come up to me and say, ‘Oh, I’m so excited for “The Killing Joke,”‘ and I say, ‘Don’t you watch that!'” the voice of The Joker told the crowd Friday at “Star Wars” Celebration Europe.
“The thing is, it’s not for kids,” Hamill explained, “and I really apologize for this. It’s rated R […] but it’s really mean and nasty.”
He also reiterated though that the film is not a full-on adaptation of the original book.
“And, by the way, for you Alan Moore fundamentalists, of which I am one, it’s not — because I thought of it as a book on tape where we were going to do every single word, right, and just do music and sound effects,” Hamill said. “Because Alan Moore doesn’t like anything that they do — you know, ‘V for Vendetta,’ he didn’t like ‘Watchmen.’ It’s just, you know, he’s a perfectionist, so he’s going to hate ‘Killing Joke.’ But ‘Killing Joke’ is embedded in a larger story that I can tell you involves Batgirl and Batman. And, like I say, it’s earned its R rating. I mean, they really did it like the book.”
Killing Joke arrives on DVD August 2nd.