Michael Caine: Johnny Depp Is Riddler, Philip Seymour Hoffman Is Penguin
Michael Caine is at the Toronto International Film Festival to promote 'Is There Anybody There?', but of course, the hot topic at the panel was still the next Batman flick.
Caine, who played Alfred Pennyworth in both 'Batman Begins' and 'Dark Knight', was asked who the studio was looking at to face off against Batman: "They've already got them in mind. It's Johnny Depp as The Riddler. And The Penguin is Philip Seymour Hoffman. I read it in the paper."
But Caine says he's also heard the same from a Warner Bros. executive: "I was with an 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, 'Sh-t, they've done it again!'"
"When Christopher Nolan said we were going to do 'The Dark Knight' next, I didn't know what that meant in Batman terms," recalls Caine about what he thought heading into the sequel. "I said, 'What's the story?' and he said The Joker. I said, '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."
Before you get too excited, remember the conversation Caine had was with a WB executive and what Christopher Nolan has in mind could be something entirely different. Nolan has previously said that he doesn't want to do The Penguin because he would be too 'ridiculous' for the world he wants, but with a few tweaks that can obviously be changed.
Nolan is currently on vacation, and will likely do one or two other movies before returning to Gotham, as he did between 'Batman Begins' and 'Dark Knight' -- and given the scope of the latter, you can understand why. So it may be a while yet before anything is officially confirmed.
TV Shark.com - Michael Caine: Johnny Depp Is Riddler, Philip Seymour Hoffman Is Penguin
