The Dark Knight Rises

[picolas]

Hoffman: 'I'd Love To Play The Penguin'

9 September 2008 3:11 PM, PDT

Philip Seymour Hoffman is thrilled he's among the names in contention for Batman villain The Penguin, because he has always wanted to play the comic book bad guy.

Despite The Dark Knight star Michael Caine's confirmation that the Capote star has already landed the role, Hoffman insists he's yet to be officially offered the part - but he can't wait for the phone call.

He tells TheStoneReport.com, "I grew up a comic book fan, so I love that stuff. I love going to that stuff. I think what they're doing with that whole Batman story is really true to what that whole Batman thing has always been.

"It's one of the darkest origins of a superhero, to get all nerdy and geeky on you. That character sees his parents gunned down as a young child. I remember when I was a kid reading that story, so seeing it now come to life as the dark tale that it really is intense, really dark, very visceral."

If he lands the role, he'll follow Danny DeVito, who played The Penguin on the big screen in 1992's Batman Returns.

[matt35mm]

I'd like to see Dustin Diamond as The Riddler and Danny DeVito again as The Penguin.

[Alexandro]

Yeah, I think it's inspired. I don't see it as being in relation to Hoffman in an action film or anything like that. I just think that the kind of operatic and big level in which these films work it's something new for him, at least on this scale. MI3 was boring, really, and he was a forgettable villain there. I don't even remember what was the point of him doing whatever he was doing. The Penguin is a role in which he could really go wild.

Depp is just too Burtonish.

[hedwig]

my turn:

sacha baron cohen as riddler.

richard dreyfuss as penguin.

naomi watts as catwoman.

samantha morton as poison ivy.

bonus: (anyone but) ellen paige as harley quinn.

[Pozer]

Hoffman denied any conversations about this and said he is a big fan of Batman movies but has no interest in playing a character... its all rumors.

Hoffman: 'I'd Love To Play The Penguin'

take that, pal.  i mean kal.

[Kal]

Hoffman denied any conversations about this and said he is a big fan of Batman movies but has no interest in playing a character... its all rumors.

Hoffman: 'I'd Love To Play The Penguin'

take that, pal.  i mean kal.

See what I meant saying that the press distorts everything? Here is the complete article and you'll see what I was talking about.



Yesterday, we reported that "Dark Knight" castmember Michael Caine claimed that as far as he knew, the villains for the next "Batman" film had been cast with Johnny Depp landing the role of The Riddler, and Philip Seymour Hoffman playing The Penguin. Today at the Toronto Film Festival, we went right to the source and asked Hoffman directly if he indeed had been cast as The Penguin.

"No one has talked to me about it ever — never," replied Hoffman. "It happened, like, five years ago, too. It was a rumor back then and it's still a rumor. [laughs] It's just in the press. It's funny."

To further cement this issue, Hoffman added that he'd never met Nolan ("Maybe I did or met him in passing?"), and that his interest in comic book movies is purely on a fan level, and he intended to keep it that way.

"I'm such a fan of those movies," related Hoffman. "Comic book movies in general I look forward to — I am a real cheerleader for them. I want them to do well because those are terrific stories. As a kid I was a big comic book collector. What [Nolan]'s doing is taking it in a whole other exciting great place. I'm more a fan, so the interest of being in it isn't that great. It's more the interest in wanting to see the next one. It's probably better that way."

When further pressed for his level of interest if Warner Bros. approached him about the role, Hoffman said, "I don't know. I think I'm more interested in seeing someone else do it. I don't know if I'd be a good Penguin to be quite honest. [laughs]"

[MacGuffin]

Riddle me this: Will Johnny Depp star in the new 'Batman'?
Source: Los Angeles Times

It's the question fanboys have been agonizing over for weeks: Will Johnny Depp portray arch villain the Riddler in director Christopher Nolan's third film installment of "Batman"?

Holy casting coup! Michael Caine, who plays Bruce Wayne's butler consigliere Alfred in Nolan's "Batman Begins" (2005) and "The Dark Knight," claims the rumors are true and that Depp has been locked in for a role.

Sources at the movie franchise's studio home Warner Bros., however, say that as of now, there is no truth to Caine's claims.

Intrigue bubbled up Tuesday when Caine was interviewed by MTV at the Toronto Film Festival. Asked which actor he'd like to see face off against the Caped Crusader, Caine said: "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."

Pressed on the issue of where he got his information, Caine said he heard the news through someone at the studio.

"I was with [a Warner Bros.] 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?' " –- referring to Heath Ledger's critically acclaimed performance as the Joker in "The Dark Knight" –- "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, '. . . they've done it again!' "

Casting doubt on Caine's credibility, Hoffman has denied accepting the role and claims never to have met Nolan.

And in a similar swirl of inuendo last month, pop diva Cher shot down rumors that she will star as Catwoman in the upcoming "Batman" sequel.

[Alexandro]

russel crowe as the penguin, or pacino, that would be creepy...giamatti?

riddler: paul bettany, paul dano.

[RegularKarate]

If Caine is taking a piss about Depp and Hoffman, he's probably doing the same about Riddler and Penguine, why is everyone assuming one is true if we know the other isn't?

[Sleepless]

I say   to Hoffman and Depp. Also, I don't think the Penguin or Catwoman should be a part of the next film. Riddler I think would be interesting, depending on who is cast. All this speculation is irrelevant when considered alongside the ongoing story that Nolan is wanting to tell with his series of films. The Joker was not just a badass, he served a clear function within the thematic aspect of the series too. How is Penguin or Riddler or whoever going to allow he to expand on that in the next film? That needs to be the focus here. And Caine is just stirring to try and keep TDK in the public's consciousness.

Lol, and hopefully they won't call it 'The Caped Crusader,' kind of a lame follow-up to 'The Dark Knight.'

My pick for the next film would be to follow the Joker dynamics, but have someone who truly is Batman's negative - Man-Bat!!!



And what about Jason Bateman? Talk about inspired casting!

[pete]

how about lets fucking talk about some real movies, eh?  Everybody?  Goddammit, just because I've stopped watching movies doesn't mean everybody else has to too.

[MacGuffin]

'The Dark Knight' Screenwriter David Goyer On 'Batman 3' Rumors: 'It's All B.S.'

It's the second most successful movie of all-time, a cultural tour de force that's reverberated with critics and fans alike, redefining what a summer blockbuster and a comic movie can be capable of.

To paraphrase the Joker himself: It's changed things. There's no going back.

But there is, of course, going forward. Three months removed from "The Dark Knight," and it seems all anybody wants to talk about is "Batman 3" – a new "scoop" coming our way every couple of days.

Yet whether it's that Chris Nolan has signed on, and will start pre-production early next year, or that Johnny Depp and Philip Seymour Hoffman will play the villains, or that Cher (Cher!) is lining up to wear Catwoman's claws, there's one thing that each and every supposed scoop has in common, "Batman Begins" and "Dark Knight" storyman David Goyer told MTV News:

"It's all B.S.," he said. "ALL of it."

That means, no, Nolan has not signed on (yet). No, there is no casting, let alone TALK, of villains, and, no, nobody is certain to return.

"Chris and I haven't even talked about it. He quite understandably is taking a long, long vacation and wants to purge himself," Goyer said.

Goyer means they haven't talked about it "officially," although, of course, he does admit – as he did when we chatted in July – that they've loosely bandied about themes and more.

"We have mused here and there [but] I mean Chris is pretty much a one movie at a time kind of guy," Goyer said. "I wish I could tell you more. There really isn't anything to tell."

So continue to have fun with the speculation, the talk, the great debate fans have argued about back and forth in posts like the above on theme, and others. Goyer himself called the fan speculation "amusing."

Just know there isn't anything official. And when there is?

"If and when [Chris is] ready to talk - we'll talk," he promised.

[MacGuffin]

For now, Nolan and Batman will rest in 'Dark' glory
By Scott Bowles, USA TODAY

LOS ANGELES — Since he took over the Batman franchise in 2005, Christopher Nolan has produced two No. 1 movies, generated $1.4 billion in worldwide ticket sales and created the second-highest-grossing film of all time in The Dark Knight.

So what's stopping him from making a third installment?

For starters, most third acts in Hollywood stink. Look at the disappointing threequels for The Godfather, Superman and the original Batman. The conclusions weren't much better for the more recent Shrek, Spider-Man and Pirates of the Caribbean.

"I don't know why they're hard to do," Nolan says. "Maybe there's so much expectation to them. But I wouldn't want to do one if it weren't going to be as good as the first or second. That's not respectful to the fans."

Nolan says that reverence informed the making of The Dark Knight DVD and Blu-ray, out Tuesday. Then on Jan. 23, fans get another chance to see the film on the big screen as it's re-released the day after Academy Award nominations arrive.

Many consider Heath Ledger, who died of a prescription overdose on Jan. 22, a shoo-in for a supporting-actor nomination. But fans won't find much more of Ledger's Joker in DVD extras. There are features on the staging of the film's elaborate stunts, alternate angles and a segment on the technology behind Batman's gadgets, but not a single deleted scene or outtake from Ledger's performance.

Nolan says he wasn't keeping deleted scenes from fans. "For my past three films, I really haven't had scenes that didn't make it in the movie," he says. "If it's in the final script, I tend put it on screen."

Any outtakes, however, were intentionally left off the DVD. "I don't like outtakes or gag reels," Nolan says. "I don't think it's respectful to the actors, who signed on to have their performance on screen, not the takes that didn't work out. It discourages actors from going all-out if they think every mistake is going on the disc."

Nolan says he is jotting notes and doing some rough outlines for a third story, but he hasn't yet found anything he's willing to commit to film, despite Warner Bros.' eagerness to get a new film underway.

"It was obvious when the box office was so big ($530 million domestically) that we had underestimated how ready fans were to reboot the franchise," he says. "The worst thing you could do now that you've gotten the plane back in the air is mess up the landing."

[MacGuffin]

Is Batman 3 a Go?
Source: Ted Casablanca; E! Online

The next Batman installment is alive and kicking—definitely. We already mentioned today certain Warners sources are leaking to us that Rachel Weisz is being considered for the Catwoman role, too fab. But Warners officially isn't saying bubkes. But other insiders working on the next installment, to follow up where The Dark Knight left off, say it's all so a go:

Despite some recent interviews in which he down-played the possibility of returning as director again, Christopher Nolan (who helmed Knight) will for sure be back directing the third flick, we're assured by a production mole. Christian Bale will obviously rejoin his director pal, and we're very pleased to report that he'll be playing a "sexier" Bruce Wayne. This is heaven-sent news, as, let's face it, Bale couldn't have looked any more constipated in that last flick.

Never mind. And as for Catwoman casting, look, when we chatted with Aaron Eckhart not long ago, he blabbed that he would love to see Angelina Jolie play the role. Well, sorry babes, as we spilled earlier today, Weisz is the one more likely, at this point, to be signed on to play the sexy puss. After all, Angie has her claws out enough in real life, right?

By the by, even though Warners did not comment on any of the above movie talk, additional studio sources did confirm it's certainly "expected" Bale and Nolan will be back, pending a script which is being written as we gossip. However, let's not forget the most important Batman buzz of all, right?

Who dare fill Heath's shoes? A Batman movie is only as good as the villain, right? Don't believe me? Just watch the Oscars next February, and let's discuss after Heath nabs one of those babies posthumously.

[Stefen]

Is Batman 3 a Go?
Source: Ted Casablanca; E! Online

The next Batman installment is alive and kicking—definitely. We already mentioned today certain Warners sources are leaking to us that Rachel Weisz is being considered for the Catwoman role, too fab. But Warners officially isn't saying bubkes. But other insiders working on the next installment, to follow up where The Dark Knight left off, say it's all so a go:

Despite some recent interviews in which he down-played the possibility of returning as director again, Christopher Nolan (who helmed Knight) will for sure be back directing the third flick, we're assured by a production mole. Christian Bale will obviously rejoin his director pal, and we're very pleased to report that he'll be playing a "sexier" Bruce Wayne. This is heaven-sent news, as, let's face it, Bale couldn't have looked any more constipated in that last flick.

Never mind. And as for Catwoman casting, look, when we chatted with Aaron Eckhart not long ago, he blabbed that he would love to see Angelina Jolie play the role. Well, sorry babes, as we spilled earlier today, Weisz is the one more likely, at this point, to be signed on to play the sexy puss. After all, Angie has her claws out enough in real life, right?

By the by, even though Warners did not comment on any of the above movie talk, additional studio sources did confirm it's certainly "expected" Bale and Nolan will be back, pending a script which is being written as we gossip. However, let's not forget the most important Batman buzz of all, right?

Who dare fill Heath's shoes? A Batman movie is only as good as the villain, right? Don't believe me? Just watch the Oscars next February, and let's discuss after Heath nabs one of those babies posthumously.

haha. wtf?