David S. Goyer, the screenwriter of ‘The Dark Knight,’ revealed in a recent podcast that after Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the Joker, Warner Bros. considered casting Leonardo DiCaprio as the Riddler.
Leonardo DiCaprio as the Riddler
Christopher Nolan’s 2008 superhero film ‘The Dark Knight,’ featuring Heath Ledger’s Oscar-winning performance as the Joker, was undoubtedly a tough act to follow for any Batman antagonist. In a new podcast called ‘Happy Sad Confused,’ screenwriter David S. Goyer has disclosed that Warner Bros. contemplated casting Leonardo DiCaprio as the Riddler in ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ (2012). (Also Read: George Clooney on Nearly Dying in ‘Batman’ Series: ‘When You’re Starting…’)
David’s Revelation
David recalled in the podcast that an executive at Warner Bros., who controlled the ‘The Dark Knight’ franchise, suggested to him at the premiere of ‘The Dark Knight’ that for the next installment, they should cast Leonardo DiCaprio as another Batman adversary, the Riddler.
However, David abandoned the idea even before it reached director Nolan. He said, “Chris is very process-driven. I had a sense that when Spider-Man movies or superhero movies started to come out, the studios would start asking, ‘Okay, who’s our villain in the next film?’ and they’d start moving around on the chessboard pieces. Chris was vehemently against it because it’s not really a ground-level way to tell a story. Let’s do this in a very natural way. Let’s figure out what story we want to tell, specifically what we want to do with Bruce (Wayne, aka Batman), and let’s find a villain who fits into that story.”
About ‘The Dark Knight’ Franchise
Christopher Nolan initiated his interpretation of Batman with ‘Batman Begins’ in 2005. Christian Bale played the lead role in his franchise. Following the first installment, ‘The Dark Knight’ and ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ followed, concluding the franchise. Tom Hardy portrayed the villain Bane in the final installment.
Batman is being rebooted in a new franchise. Matt Reeves directed the first installment as ‘The Batman’ last year, starring Robert Pattinson as the Caped Crusader. Prior to that, Ben Affleck played Batman in ‘Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’ (2016), even making an appearance in ‘The Flash’ this year.
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