Robin Williams has long been linked with roles in
Batman movies over the years. He was apparentaly on the shortlist to play The Joker in the
Tim Burton Batman movie in 1989 but obviously he was up aganist Jack so that never came to fruition and ...depending on who you believe.... Williams was cast as The Riddler in Tim Burton's original take on
Batman Forever before the director left the project and
Joel F**** Schumacher took over. Around the time that
Christopher Nolan annouced he was taking on the
Batman Begins project, he was talked about by fans as the perfect choice to play The Riddler in a future movie, many commenting that his role in Nolan's
Insomnia made him a prime canditate for a dark take on a Gotham villain. Nov 2006, and Robin Willams' name turns up again in discussions about Batman. The actor himself was talking about his new movie
Happy Feet, when the subject of
The Dark Knight turned up and Williams spoke of his desire to be in the movie. He said that he would like to have any role that's "unusual" and even talked about "Arkham Asylum" (clearly a Bat fan... always a good thing). You can watch the video interview for yourself by clicking
here, but I'll admit it's quite hard to hear what he is saying but he does speak of his desire to be in The Dark Knight. I could dig Robin Williams as The Penguin. That character keeps getting mentioned as possibly having a role in The Dark Knight and a serious Williams take on him would be something I would like to see. Robin Williams circa 1995 was perfect for The Riddler also, but I could still dig an older take on the character too, I think that could work. I say cast him! He is clearly a Bat-fan, is a great actor and has shown he can play great villains (
One Hour Photo, Insomnia). They could certainly do a lot worse that's for sure. Oh, and Warner Brothers have annouced the release date for the movie. July 18th 2008... mark it on your calendars (does anyone have calendars for 2008 yet???) source -
latino review,
batman on film