This Week’s Batman Rumor: PSH as The Penguin
Trade News | September 9, 2008 | Comments (50)
Because I’m willing to believe anything right now that disproves rumors that Cher might play Catwoman, I’m all over more speculation that Johnny Depp may play The Riddler and that The Penguin may make an appearance in a future film as well. And these rumors were fueled by Michael Caine, an actual cast member, so they’ve got to be true, right? Granted, he has absolutely no control over the script, or casting, nor does he erase the fact that neither Christian Bale nor Christopher Nolan have been signed. Still, let’s imagine in our minds his British accent delivering this nugget, from an interview with MTV at the Toronto Film Festival:
“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!’” [Laughs]
It’s the sort of quote that almost suggests that a doddering old Caine is having a laugh at some poor interviewer’s expense, but it’s a nice idea, all the same. I don’t really buy Depp as The Riddler — he’s still got the stink of Disney on him — but Philip Seymour Hoffman as The Penguin I can totally envision, particularly after his evil fucking turn in Mission Impossible III. Like that movie or not, you gotta concede, PSH was killer.
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Comments
Posted by: jM at September 9, 2008 10:19 AM
AHA! I knew some mischief was afoot!(jM's afoot count: 2 whoo!) Last night I mistakenly wandered into this Dark Night rumors thread only to find Dustin, a Ryan Reynolds poster, a rubber ducky, and a link to The Eloquent Forum. That's right, I sleuthed it. I'll be expecting my decoder ring in the mail.
P.S.: Dustin, I'm not sure if what I saw you doing last night is illegal or not(probably just in the Bible belt), but if it isn't, I think you're sitting on a goldmine. I've never seen anything so amazingly terrible, yet I couldn't look away. You're quite limber, Sir.