The Batman’s Barry Keoghan is Playing a Very Different Villain in Upcoming Movie

Barry Keoghan, who plays Joker in Matt Reeves’ The Batman series, is set to star in his dream project.

Reported by Deadline, Keoghan will star in a new film retelling the story of Billy the Kid. Bart Layton is set to direct, with whom Keoghan previously worked on 2018’s American Animals. The movie will be produced by Element Pioctures and Film4.

Keoghan spoke to Deadline about the project, saying, “We’ve seen many versions of Billy the Kid on screen before… My interest was in trying to tell a version that breaks from the facade of that cool, calm, and collected gunslinger Billy the Kid that we’re all used to seeing. I wanted to humanize him in a way.”

The movie will lean into Billy the Kid’s Irish ancestry and complicated childhood. Billy the Kid, originally known as Henry McCarty, was born in New York in 1859. He was orphaned at age 15 after the death of his mother, and was first arrested for robbery a year later. He was wanted for murder by the time he was 18, and was shot and killed at age 21.

Keoghan grew up in the foster system after his mother died when he was 12, and the actor told Deadline he understands the pressures that pushed McCarty towards crime.

“I wanted to step outside of the legend that was built up by the papers and tackle the pressure he must have felt from those early days. He was running his whole life. I felt related to Billy in the sense of him being a mummy’s boy, but obviously, I took a different path, turning my circumstances into something positive rather than rebelling against them. Nevertheless, there’s a soul and a vulnerability to Billy that I think it’s important to bring, to understand him as a real person rather than the myth that he has become.”

Keoghan first attempted to pitch the project in 2020, before the pandemic halted progress on it. Now, Layton hopes to start production in the first half of next year. Keoghan built this project from the ground up, and told Deadline this is the role he hopes he’s remembered for.

Keoghan briefly appeared in last year’s The Batman as Joker, and said he’d jump at the opportunity to play the iconic villain again. The actor is currently nominated at the Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Banshees of Inisherin.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over six years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.