Matt Reeves has been busy assembling the cast for THE BATMAN, but it seems that one of the players is no longer involved. Last month, it was reported that Jonah Hill (THE BEACH BUM) was in talks to play a villain in THE BATMAN, either Penguin or The Riddler, but Deadline has now revealed that talks with the actor have broken down and he's no longer involved.
Warner Bros. is already said to be looking at new candidates for those roles, and Deadline even claims that there's been interest in Seth Rogen for the role of Penguin, but there's been no offer at this point so take that with a grain of salt. Update: THR's Borys Kit has said that although "there were some initial talks for [Rogen] to play Penguin while WB courted Hill for Riddler," those talks didn't wind up panning out. THE BATMAN is set to star Robert Pattinson (THE LIGHTHOUSE) as the Dark Knight, Zoe Kravitz (Big Little Lies) as Catwoman, and Jeffrey Wright (NO TIME TO DIE) has been in talks to play Commissioner Gordon. There's no official start date just yet, but production on THE BATMAN could begin either later this year or early 2020. THE BATMAN is slated for a June 25, 2021 release. We still don't know all that much about THE BATMAN at this stage, but Matt Reeves has teased that it will finally do justice to Batman's reputation of the World's Greatest Detective.
It’s very much a point of view-driven, noir Batman tale. It’s told very squarely on his shoulders, and I hope it’s going to be a story that will be thrilling but also emotional. It’s more Batman in his detective mode than we’ve seen in the films. The comics have a history of that. He’s supposed to be the world’s greatest detective, and that’s not necessarily been a part of what the movies have been. I’d love this to be one where when we go on that journey of tracking down the criminals and trying to solve a crime, it’s going to allow his character to have an arc so that he can go through a transformation.
Now that Jonah Hill is out of the running, which actors would you like to see take on the roles of Penguin and The Riddler?