The role of The Riddler was meant for Paul Dano. This week, moviegoers all across the world will see Dano play the renowned supervillain in The Batman, a new film directed and co-written by Matt Reeves. Because the film is situated in an independent universe, every DC character in the plot has to be recast. After auditioning a number of performers, Reeves believed he’d discovered the right Bruce Wayne when Robert Pattinson showed up to read for the part.
The Riddler, who serves as the film’s principal villain, is yet another important casting choice. However, finding The Batman’s Riddler was not as difficult because Reeves already had Dano in mind. Reeves was trying to cast Dano as the Riddler based on his work as artist Brian Wilson in Love & Mercy. Dano played Wilson’s issues with a psychiatric condition in that picture, and Reeves thought the actor had the appropriate mix of bizarreness and familiarity to give the role just the right level of depth.
“That character, he’s caught up in his artistry and he struggles to communicate with those around him. That was spiritually connected to the idea of this isolation that the Riddler felt. The Riddler is a product of our time, the way that people become isolated online and retreat to mental activities that substitute for not having contact. Paul is just off center in a way that makes him very relatable. I didn’t want this character to be a villain. Even in his darkness, I wanted to see that humanity.”
Dano claims to have steered clear of comic book films in the past. That’s not to say he was rejecting offers directly, but he’d never gone out of his own to seek any of those types of films. Dano was persuaded by the brilliance of the tale when he was offered the script for The Batman with the intention of him playing the Riddler in mind. Many early reviews have applauded Dano’s performance, so it appears that the casting is going well.
The Riddler is the major antagonist in The Batman, which takes place two years after Bruce Wayne begins his new life as a crime fighter in Gotham City. He’ll put Batman to the test with a series of murders that feature riddles for the hero to solve at the scene of a crime. The Riddler’s greatest achievement would be fooling “the Batman,” converting the plot into a lethal game of cat-and-mouse.
In addition, Zoe Kravitz plays Selina Kyle, a.k.a. Catwoman, in the movie. Bruce Wayne is played by Robert Pattinson, Oswald Cobblepot aka Penguin is played by Colin Farrell, Alfred Pennyworth is played by Andy Serkis, and Jim Gordon is played by Jeffrey Wright. The film was directed by Matt Reeves, together with the aid of his co-writer, Peter Craig.
The Batman will be released in cinemas in the United States on March 4, 2022.
