Not bad casting over all. PSH should be fine for Penguin. Depp can be a little hit or miss. He takes weird chances with characterizations and sometimes it works brilliantly (Keith Richards Pirate), but sometimes it doesn’t work at all (Michael Jackson Wonka).
I think a lot’s going to depend on how Nolan conceptualizes these characters. Like I said in one of the other threads, The question mark costume has got to go. Maybe they can find some otherway to incorporate some element of it, but I think too many costumed villains just won’t fit into Nolan’s DK universe.
Having said that, I do think that Angelina Jolie will probably look ok in a skin tight leotard. I also think she’s a good actress who does well at these kinds of larger than life characters.
Of course, I still would have rather seen more of Ledger’s Joker.
I don’t like it. I like Depp, but I don’t like this idea. Depp has the same weakness for whimsy as his sometimes collaborator Tim Burton. I suspect and fear that Depp would take the franchise back into campiness and thereby destroy it.
I’m thinking Batman needs to stay as far away from Tim Burton and his camp as possible.
(I also can’t imagine Hoffman delivering a non-campy performance.)
You do realize she just had twins?
I would hate to see the studio force megastars into the villain roles. I think that was part of what killed the last franchise. I’d rather cast actors of lesser wattage, who maybe come to the roles without a lot of audience preconceptions.
I don’t think this will happen. With the success of #2, Nolan can do whatever he wants and if you look carefully, he’s basically stayed away from American actors. In the first movie, he had Katie Holmes and Morgan Freeman. I guess Caine, Neeson and maybe Hauer has name recognition, but not as a-lister. Added Americans for the second outing are Eckhart, Gyllenhaal, Eric Roberts and Anthony Michael Hall. Nolan doesn’t need an a-lister for any villain part and I think he’ll stay away from them, so as not to remove focus from the Batman and the Story.
Hadn’t Ledger died, there wouldn’t have been as much brouhaha about his performance other than it being good.
I think Kristen Bell has a bigger chance than Jolie in landing the role as CW (and I think she’d be excellent).
The Riddler, Penguin, AND Catwoman in the same movie? That is going to require a ton of plot and if this holds up, we’re looking at another 150 minute movie, at least.
I wouldn’t worry too much about Johnny Depp. Keep in mind that Chris Nolan has a good deal of say as to what type of Riddler he wants so if he wants Depp to dial it back, Depp has the ability. I think Chris Nolan deserves a little trust.
I’ve never been crazy about Catwoman as a villain and I was hoping that Batman would go off the beaten path a little in terms of villains, but as long as they stay away from Jim Carrey Riddler and Danny DeVito Penguin, I’ll be fine.
I think the Penguin has been ruled out because the character is perceived by Nolan as being a bit too…well campy (no other word comes to mind) for this particular Batman universe. That’s what someone posted in the big Batman thread.
I’ve seen Depp do very well in a number of serious films. This isn’t Jim Carrey where even in his more “dramatic” roles is stil doing the smirk and the aside to the 4th wall and so on (and I liked what Carrey did in The Truman Show and Man in the Moon).
I like Johnny Depp as much as the next guy, but honestly, does he have to be in every movie ever made? I don’t know that he would be a bad Riddler, but he’s not the right actor for every part. I get the sense some people would push for him to star in a Grandma Moses biopic.
Based on what he did as Jack Sparrow, which was great, I can see where people think he might work as the Riddler. I’d definitely give it a shot. But he didn’t impress me as Wonka or Sweeney Todd, so I do have some concerns.
I like Philip Seymour Hoffman, but Batman Begins was very serious - I’m the last person in the U.S. who hasn’t seen The Dark Knight, but I hope to get there Sunday - and it’s hard to take the Penguin seriously. I won’t say Angelina Jolie couldn’t play Catwoman, it just seems a little trite. And the character might be best avoided in case anyone remembers the Halle Berry movie.
Not that it’s going to happen, but I’ll probably stay home if either Depp or Jolie get cast. I love PSH but I’ll also probably stay home if the penguin is in the movie at all.
I agree. Depp is just way too theatrical. Jack Sparrow, Willy Wonka, Sweeny Todd, etc. Very Broadwayish.
I think Hoffman would be good except it would be just too similar to his MI:III bad guy. I don’t think he’s got a seperate bad guy in him.
IMO, both Depp and Carrey show (in their best dramatic roles) that they have the talent to be in consideration for a role in the next Batman movie.
However, as you point out, some select (and recent) roles were less than stellar.
Is that the fault of the actor, or the director?
I think it takes a director with a clear vision, with a talent for communicating this vision to the cast, and motivating them into bringing out their acting chops to the fullest, that would make a Depp pick “not a bad one”.
That said, hopefully a Riddler in the Dark Knight vision would not be as flamboyent as Carrey was made to play him in Batman & Robin.
The Riddler? Catwoman? The Peguin? Geeze, been there, done that ever since the Batman TV show. Can’t we have some new or maybe even original villians in these movies?
Agree 100%. With most of these comic book movies they have 40, 50, 60+ years of source material and they keep going back to the same well. Origin stories. Recycled villains. Gimme a break. I would love to see a villain done exclusively for a movie, if done right (as opposed to taking an existing villain and changing him for the movie.)
Edit: And not every movie needs multiple villains. It usually just makes it overly complicated and robs screentime from the better villain. The only case I can think of where it worked was X-Men, but there are multiple X-Men so that makes sense.
I agree that these three villains are overdone. There’s plenty of great minor villains in batman’s rogues gallery.
As for the actors, I think Johnny Depp is gonna over do it of he gets picked for Riddler. He might be able to do straight serious movies but keep in mind that this is a serious batman movie and he’s being sought to play The Riddler, too much camp potential and I just don’t trust him for it.
Same for Angelina Jolie as Catwoman. She plays the same femme fatale in every action movie she’s in. There were better suggestions in that catwoman thread.
And PSH as a villain? Maybe if he played some sort of Leonard Lake or John wayne Gacy psycho (of which there are plenty in the comics) than the aristocratic Penguin. I think people are just making rumors of good actors for the sake naming them. “How about that guy in the Capote movie? He’s fat.” “Your’e right! The Penguin!”
What are some lower-profile villians from the comics which could fit into the Bat-o-Nolan-Verse? [I don’t read same BTW]
But pardon me for the following: isn’t the Riddler kind of a theatrical, vaudevillian, over-the-top kind of character anyway? I’m reading the Wikipedia entry on him and that’s always been the impression I’ve gotten. If so then yeah he may not fit into Nolan’s world either. May.
That was 11 years ago, though. Eleven years before Superman: The Movie, one could have said the same of Marlon Brando, but the next year he made himself a whole new kind of legend with his Apocalypse Now craziness. Can you point to something more recent to suggest that Depp can still dial it back?
Did you ever see Batman: The Animated Series? That’s how you do The Riddler.
A serious businessman who treats his crimes (and life and death for that matter) as a series of puzzles and games. And if you refuse to play, bad things happen.
Everything in the 2000s prior to the Pirates trilogy?
I get the sense some people would push for him to star in a Grandma Moses biopic.