When released in 2019, Joker was a big hit, making over a billion dollars at the box office and granting actor Joaquin Phoenix an Oscar. It would only come naturally that the Todd Phillips-directed movie would get a sequel greenlit—which was released this year. Unfortunately, the critical and commercial flop of that film, Joker: Folie A Deux, might be a sign that audiences could be tired of The Clown Prince of Crime. However, one actor wants a crack at the character, and it’s none other than Jack Kesy from Hellboy: The Crooked Man.
Hellboy: The Crooked Man is the latest iteration of the well-loved superhero Hellboy. The half-Demon comic book character first jumped to the big screen with Guillermo del Toro’s 2004 Hellboy film. The character, played by actor Ron Perlman, was welcomed by many fans and opened the door for 2008’s Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Though the sequel was another successful hit for Del Toro – a final entry in the director’s trilogy ultimately never happened.
Sadly, 2019’s Hellboy, directed by Neil Marshall and starring David Harbour, happened instead. The film wasn’t the reboot that Millennium Media was looking for, and the studio decided to try again with Hellboy: The Crooked Man—directed by Brian Taylor. A new Hellboy was sought out, and the team behind the film found him in the form of Jack Kesy. The actor is no stranger to comic book movies – having appeared in 2018’s Deadpool 2 as Black Tom Cassidy.
The cast and crew behind Hellboy: The Crooked Man attended this year’s San Diego Comic-Con to support the latest Hellboy film. We were lucky enough to catch up with Kesy to talk about his take on the character and ask him if there were any other comic book characters he would want to play.
So this isn’t your first comic book film. You played a character in Deadpool 2.
Jack Kesy: Yeah, a little something.
Do you see yourself getting into another comic book adaptation or anything like that?
Jack Kesy: Hey, my phone is here. I’m waiting for the calls.
Is there any particular character that comes to mind? Maybe Cyclops or anyone else?
Jack Kesy: I would love to get a crack at Joker one day, a different spin – or Gambit. So that’s one day, hopefully. We’ll see. We’ll see. Challenging. That would be cool.
There have been iterations of the Joker with varying degrees of success, but each actor has always brought something different and new. Andy Muschietti’s The Brave and the Bold is still in pre-production, and with no news on casting at the moment. If James Gunn is on the lookout for the next Joker – maybe Kesy’s name could be thrown in the hat.
Playing Gambit in a live-action X-Men movie is another story. After Deadpool and Wolverine, fans of the character have been calling for Channing Tatum to finally get his Gambit movie – but Marvel’s plans are currently unknown. We’ll have to wait and see if the stars will align for Jack Kesy, and maybe he will get the chance to grab one of the roles.