tim curry

Just as Tim Curry will always be thought of as the iconic Pennywise from the ‘It’ miniseries, we also know that Mark Hamill will forever be thought of as The Joker, or that brief moment where he was that farm boy in those barely remembered ‘Star Wars’ films. However, many don’t know this but Curry was initially hired to play the voice of the Clown Prince of Crime. While it is hard to imagine anyone outside of Hamill as the voice these days, Curry was originally cast. Years later, no one is quite sure as to why he parted ways forcing producer Bruce Timm to make the difficult decision of recasting this iconic character.

Rumors have popped up over the years that his take on the character was too fearsome for the target audience but it seems like there was a much simpler problem that got in the way. As Curry explains it:

“I did play Joker for a while, but I had bronchitis and they fired me—and hired Mark Hamill. That’s life.”

We all know there is no clowning around when Curry takes on the part of a sociopathic clown but I also can’t help but think that he wouldn’t have been able to deliver The Joker in quite the mesmerizing manner that Hamil was able to with his voice alone.

Are you glad that bronchitis prevented Curry from continuing on in the role and paving the way for Hamill to make it his own or could we have even had something better if he was able to stay in character? Share your thoughts below!

Source: Screen Geek