He'd have specialised in a very specific type of riddles...

In the latest issue of Empire, there's lots of interesting information about The Dark Knight Rises (via Batman News), such as the fact that:

"[Co-writer] David Goyer said that at the premiere of The Dark Knight, Warner Bros. executives were already talking about a villain for The Dark Knight Rises -- "it's gonna be The Riddler, and we want it to be Leonardo DiCaprio...""

Also, among other things:

"More than a third of the film, 1 hour, was shot in IMAX"

(Woo-hoo!)

and

"Christopher Nolan confirmed that Anne Hathaway's character, Selina Kyle, is never referred to as "Catwoman" in the script."

The subtext of that last quote is "Commence speculation now."

The notion of Leonardo DiCaprio as The Riddler brings to mind Inception parallels: “I specialise in a very specific type of riddles…subconscious riddles.”; “Whuh?”; “I’m talking about dreams.”

Maybe he'd pose riddles within riddles within riddles...

Much of the Inception cast is in fact in The Dark Knight Rises anyway: the Bat-newcomers Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and the returning Michael Caine.

Leonardo DiCaprio is a fine actor (and has worked with Christopher Nolan before—but hadn’t then—so it’s weird considering the (now-passed) possibility now. Are they trying to confuse us by telling us this now? Are they perhaps trying to distract us from working out the plot of the movie? Or is it simply an homage to Christopher Nolan’s typical style of non-linear storytelling? Anyway, excessively lengthy, self-aware parenthetical, like the legend, must end).

However, he doesn’t immediately strike one as necessarily the perfect choice to play The Riddler. Maybe a character who constantly pores over riddles, and irritably waves people away when they try to distract him. He is good at scowling intently, after all. Though such a character probably wouldn’t make that good a villain. It would just be a whole film of him scowling and Batman brooding. They probably wouldn’t make eye contact, or even realise the other one existed.

More seriously, though, perhaps Leonardo DiCaprio would have turned out to be a brilliant choice for the role, like the late Heath Ledger as The Joker.

Now, it seems we’ll never find out. Until the reboot, that is. (Starring Andrew Garfield as Spider-Bat-Man! But will they let him be a part of the Avengers if he’s half-Marvel, half-DC? #LudicrousMetaTextualSuperheroIdentityCrisis*)

Over the years, fans have suggested numerous different actors to play the role of The Riddler, such as David Tennant, Jim Parsons, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. That is to say, such iconic characters as the Tenth Doctor, Sheldon Cooper, and Arthur from Inception. It seems that The Riddler won't be in The Dark Knight Rises after all; though Joseph Gordon-Levitt is in the movie, as another character.

At premiere of The Dark Knight back in 2008, hopefully the executives didn’t take the cynical “Let’s see, who’s a film star? I know, Leonardo DiCaprio!” approach. Or the “Let’s see, who’s a film star? Okay, Jack Black’s busy. I know, Leonardo DiCaprio!” approach.

(Actually, Jack Black is hilarious. And could probably make a good Riddler. But not in a Christopher Nolan Batman film. Or a non-Batman film, for that matter. That would be weird. Or brilliant, depending on what kind of film it was.)

Maybe Christopher Nolan ignored the studio executives because they began all their casting suggestions with “Riddle me this…” For instance, “Riddle me this…Steven Seagal for The Riddler! (He riddles...with his fists!)”

Maybe the executives were actually performing an Inception for the casting of the Inception lead… A bold move, considering that writer-director Christopher Nolan actually came up with the idea of the film in the first place. Or did he? Maybe it was their idea all along! Maybe this so-called ‘Christopher Nolan’ is just a puppet! (And he looks remarkably like Leonardo DiCaprio in Inception, thus reinforcing the metaphor.) (Please note, fellow Nolan fans: This is a joke.)

* This is the name of my next band. Or comic book. Whichever comes first.

The Dark Knight Rises stars Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, and Michael Caine, and is released 20 July 2012. Tickets are  rumoured to go on sale from 11 June.

See also:

Nolan on Batman 3: “It Won’t Be the Riddler”
8 Reasons Why The Riddler in Batman 3 Would Be a Bad Idea
An analysis of the new posters for The Dark Knight Rises
The Dark Knight Rises poster online
The Dark Knight sells out: of IMAX tickets
Gordon-Levitt and Cotillard’s roles set for The Dark Knight Rises
Sunjata, Gorman to join Dark Knight Rises
Andrew Garfield wants to play Spider-Man in The Avengers 2

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