As fun as I’m sure it is getting to don a suit and pretend to fly around punching meteors and bad guys, deep down inside every actor must secretly be itching to play one of the bad guys themselves. In the world of comic books there are more than enough villains to go around, and Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne knows exactly which one he wants to play if given the shot: The iconic Batman baddie, The Riddler.
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Redmayne opened up about his desire to play the villain with a million questions while doing an interview with IMDb where they asked several actors at TIFF which villain they would want to play. “I’d love to play the Riddler. Just putting that out there,” Redmayne said, thus speaking into existence what would be pitch-perfect casting.
The question was asked given that villain fever is at a pitch right now as JOKER comes out of TIFF as the biggest conversation piece for all sorts of reasons. By and large, the big takeaway is that star Joaquin Phoenix is astounding in the role of the iconic comic book villain, and right now the movie has enough steam going where it’s poised to have a big presence both at the box office and awards season.
DC is leaning into other movies that may not feature your traditional band of heroes, with the next film to come out after JOKER being BIRDS OF PREY, which features Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn as the central figure – and she’s not exactly fighting crime alongside Superman on a regular basis. Another actor to recently express interest in playing a big Batman villain is Dave Bautista, who threw his name into the ring for the character Clayface.
As far as playing a villain goes Redmayne has already proved himself, having been the absolute best part of the movie JUPITER ASCENDING as the fancifully-dressed baddie Balem Abrasax. Redmayne could very well get his shot at Riddler in the future, considering DC is about to get going on a new Batman movie with Robert Pattinson in the lead role and Matt Reeves directing. There’s no word yet on who the villain for this movie would be, but if it’s not Riddler right now then there’s no reason Pattinson's Bruce Wayne can't find himself looking at a massive riddle as a way of teasing the next big case.
JOKER is in theaters October 4.