Michael Caine Says Johnny Depp Is The Riddler, Philip Seymour Hoffman Is The Penguin?!
It’s one of the biggest — and most hotly debated — questions in fandom…which actors (and characters) will director Christopher Nolan enlist as a villain for his third “Batman” film? Rumors have abounded since the release of “The Dark Knight,” and Nolan has remained fiercely tight-lipped. But now, has one of his main players let slip some of the biggest casting news of the decade?
In an interview with MTV News, Michael Caine seemed to confirm rumors that the next installment of the “Batman” film franchise will feature two very well-known names playing the roles of The Riddler and the Bumbershoot Bandit, The Penguin. “They’ve already got them in mind,” said Caine, when asked who he’d like to see take up arms against the Caped Crusader. “It’s Johnny Depp as The Riddler. And The Penguin is Philip Seymour Hoffman. I read it in the paper.”
So Caine is like the rest of us, reading gossip in the tabloids, right? Except for one thing…according to the actor, he confirmed the news through the studio itself.
“When Christopher [Nolan] said we were going to do ‘The Dark Knight’ next, I didn’t what that meant in Batman terms,” related Caine, who plays Bruce Wayne’s loyal butler, Alfred Pennyworth. “I said, ‘What’s the story?’ and he said The Joker. I said, ‘Oh, s–t! 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.
“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? 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, ‘S–t, they’ve done it again!’” [Laughs]
- from MTV
Michael Caine IS Harry Brown
God bless Sir Michael Caine. Most men his age – he’s a ripe old 75 – would be enjoying their retirement, perhaps relaxing on a yacht, applying suntan lotion to a boatload of ballerinas.
Not Sir Michael. Oh, no. He’s still kicking ass and taking names, movie-style, and to prove it he’s just signed on to star in a British vigilante movie. The name? Harry Brown. Caine’s character’s name? Harry Brown.
The film, which also stars Emily Mortimer, will see Caine play an elderly ex-serviceman who lives in, frankly, a right shithole, filled with nasty and lawless types who want more than a clip round the ear’ole. They want shooting. Or a good slap. And who better to shoot or slap ’em than the man who was Jack Carter? The man who was Harry Palmer? The man who was Nigel Powers?
That’s precisely the point, according to the film’s producer, Kris Thykier, who will oversee the film for Marv Films, along with Matthew Vaughn, who calls the film an “exciting and contemporary take on the iconic characters… that originally brought him [Caine] to fame.”
Sounds cool. Now, vigilante movies do have a tendency to rub some people up the wrong way, but since Get Carter was essentially a vigilante movie, we’re more than happy to see Sir Michael dishing out a good hiding to thugs again, with the plot calling for him to take action after his best friend is murdered.
- from Empire