We’re all living in 2019 but director Matt Reeves is making casting choices like it’s 3019. Reeves isn’t messing around. He has been consistently making fantastic picks for his upcoming The Batman and today he strikes again!
Variety is reporting that Paul Dano (Little Miss Sunshine, There Will be Blood, Escape at Dannemora) will be playing The Riddler against Robert Pattinson’s Batman in the highly-anticipated comic book film. This comes hot on the heels of finding out that Jonah Hill will not be appearing in the film after much speculation that he would be playing a villain, most likely The Riddler. So we get Dano instead of Hill and I can’t think of a better upgrade. This is one of those casting picks that just makes you slap your forehead and say “Why didn’t I think of that?” I wish I could take credit for this. Dammit, Matt Reeeves…
That means that Reeves has so far cast Pattinson as Batman (great), Jeffrey Wright as Commissioner Gordon (greater) and Zoe Kravtiz as Catwoman (greatest). And there’s much more casting news on the way. According to sources, The Batman will feature many villains so that means Reeves has a few more dynamite choices up his sleeve. He hasn’t let us down yet and I can’t wait to see what else he has waiting for us.
Dano is an exceptional actor. He’s the perfect amount of intelligent with a dangerous streak underneath. I can see him as The Riddler because he feels smarter than me but he also feels maybe just a little unhinged, like he could explode at any moment. He’s a quiet guy but you can imagine him going full-on psycho at the drop of the hat. That sounds like a Batman villain to me! Dano is an actor who consistently turns in terrific work and is probably one of the best performers of his generation. The idea of him sinking his teeth into an unhinged, methodical and evil comic book villain is very, very intriguing.
But let’s save our enthusiasm for the next casting selection from The Batman. We don’t know when we will hear another blockbuster choice but it should be soon and, after what Reeves has already given us, we have every reason to believe it’ll be fantastic decision.
