--- title: The Room's Tommy Wiseau Makes Terrifying Joker Audition Tape description: Tommy Wiseau is making a bid to be the next joker with a now-viral video of himself unofficially auditioning for the role. canonical: https://time.com/5196289/tommy-wiseau-joker-audition-tape/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-03-12T19:52:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:51:20.403Z og:title: The Room's Tommy Wiseau Makes a Very Terrifying Joker og:description: Why so serious? og:url: https://time.com/5196289/tommy-wiseau-joker-audition-tape/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8cc303b6d24c0fa4/69892a8f86f68e48966e8949/tommy-wiseau-joker-audition.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: American Airlines At The 2018 Film Independent Spirit Awards og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Room's Tommy Wiseau Makes a Very Terrifying Joker twitter:description: Why so serious? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8cc303b6d24c0fa4/69892a8f86f68e48966e8949/tommy-wiseau-joker-audition.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # _The Room_ Star Tommy Wiseau's Joker Audition Is Actually Terrifying  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Mar 12, 2018 7:52 PM UTC  SANTA MONICA, CA - MARCH 03: Actor/filmmaker Tommy Wiseau attends American Airlines at the 2018 Film Independent Spirit Awards on March 3, 2018 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo by Lester Cohen/Getty Images for American Airlines) SANTA MONICA, CA - MARCH 03: Actor/filmmaker Tommy Wiseau attends American Airlines at the 2018 Film Independent Spirit Awards on March 3, 2018 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo by Lester Cohen/Getty Images for American Airlines)Lester Cohen—Getty Images for American Airlines  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Mar 12, 2018 7:52 PM UTC [Tommy Wiseau](http://time.com/5104301/tommy-wiseau-jonas-brothers-comeback/) might be best known for creating, directing and starring in accidental cult classic [_The Room_](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1992396,00.html), but this notorious aspiring multi-hyphenate has his sights set on a new, sinister role: [The Joker](http://time.com/4627755/mark-hamill-joker-donald-/). Although Joaquin Phoenix is [reportedly](http://variety.com/2018/film/news/joaquin-phoenix-the-joker-origin-movie-todd-phillips-1202692188/) playing the infamous villain in an upcoming prequel film, Wiseau made his bid to play the Joker with an official audition tape that he created with _Nerdist_. In the clip, Wiseau recites notable lines from previous Joker film appearances like Jack Nicholson (“Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?”) and Heath Ledger (“What doesn’t kill you makes you stranger” and “Why so serious?”) while attired in a full face of Joker-esque makeup and an outfit fit for Batman’s evil nemesis. While Wiseau’s audition may not net him the Joker role, it’s definitely worth a watch. See the full clip below. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5196289/tommy-wiseau-joker-audition-tape/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5196289/tommy-wiseau-joker-audition-tape/"},"headline":"The Room Star Tommy Wiseau's Joker Audition Is Actually Terrifying","datePublished":"2018-03-12T19:52:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:51:20.403Z","description":"Why so serious?","url":"https://time.com/5196289/tommy-wiseau-joker-audition-tape/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8cc303b6d24c0fa4/69892a8f86f68e48966e8949/tommy-wiseau-joker-audition.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8cc303b6d24c0fa4/69892a8f86f68e48966e8949/tommy-wiseau-joker-audition.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"American Airlines At The 2018 Film Independent Spirit Awards","caption":"American Airlines At The 2018 Film Independent Spirit Awards","creditText":"Lester Cohen—Getty Images for American Airlines","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5196289/tommy-wiseau-joker-audition-tape/","name":"The Room Star Tommy Wiseau's Joker Audition Is Actually Terrifying"}}]}] ```