Johnny Depp as the Riddler, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the Penguin!
Well, this is some inspired casting if I ever saw it. In a new article over at MTV, we’ve got new casting news for the next Batman movie straight from the mouth of Michael Caine himself:
In an interview with MTV News conducted just hours ago at the Toronto Film Festival, Michael Caine — there to promote “Is There Anybody There?” — seemed to confirm rumors that the next installment of the “Batman” film franchise will feature two very well-known names playing the roles of The Riddler and the Bumbershoot Bandit, The Penguin. “They’ve already got them in mind,” said Caine, when asked who he’d like to see take up arms against the Caped Crusader. “It’s Johnny Depp as The Riddler. And The Penguin is Philip Seymour Hoffman. I read it in the paper.”
So Caine is like the rest of us, reading gossip in the tabloids, right? Except for one thing…according to the actor, he confirmed the news through the studio itself.
“When Christopher [Nolan] said we were going to do ‘The Dark Knight’ next, I didn’t what that meant in Batman terms,” related Caine, who plays Bruce Wayne’s loyal butler, Alfred Pennyworth. “I said, ‘What’s the story?’ and he said The Joker. I said, ‘Oh, s–t! How are you going to top Jack [Nicholson]?’ He said, ‘Well, I’ve cast Heath Ledger. And I went ‘Ha! I couldn’t top Jack, but if anyone could, maybe Heath could.’ And he did.
“I was with [a Warner Bros.] executive and I said, ‘Are we going to make another one?’ They said yeah. I said, ‘How the hell are we going to top Heath? And he says ‘I’ll tell you how you top Heath — Johnny Depp as The Riddler and Philip Seymour Hoffman as The Penguin.’ I said, ‘S–t, they’ve done it again!’”
This is absolutely inspired casting; Phillip Seymour Hoffman pretty much rocks the HELL out of every role he’s ever been in, and of course Johnny Depp is pretty much made of teh awesome. Yay!
Tags: batman, dark-knight, heath ledger, johnny-depp, michael-caine, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Seymour Hoffman as The Penguin, Warner BrosRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Actors
1 opinion for Johnny Depp as the Riddler, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the Penguin!
cari
Sep 10, 2008 at 22:57
Michael Caine was what they call ‘pissing’ on us. Noone knows who, what, why or when….and especially IF in regards to a third film.
In light of all the nonsense, I heard PeeWee Herman is in talks for the Riddler with Kermit the Frog as his sidekick. Although no one has ever seen Christian Bale and Kermit together at the same time….just saying.
So how long til someone picks this up as fact??
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