Two weeks after The Dark Knight was released the first widely spread lie about a sequel that wasn’t even greenlit made its way around the Internet. Johnny Depp was going to play The Riddler and Philip Seymour Hoffman was going to play The Penguin. That was on July 31 as regurgitated by The Boston Globe. Since then Brian Austin Green, Angelina Jolie, Cher and Tera Patrick have all been said to be potential villains, and when I say “said” I mean to say someone lied about their potential involvement.
The latest episode involving a third Batman film came yesterday as Michael Caine confirmed he can indeed read the British tabloids to MTV and said a Warner exec “told” him that you top Heath Ledger’s Joker performance by casting “Johnny Depp as The Riddler and Philip Seymour Hoffman as The Penguin.” Whaaa? Shock and awe. You mean to tell me Michael Caine read the same rumor everyone else was talking about at the end of July and was able to recite what he read?
Remember the last time Michael Caine dropped a bit of Batman knowledge on us? Yeah, that didn’t turn out to be true either.
The truth of the matter is it would be best if it were to all end with The Dark Knight.
David Frank already addressed this issue in a column back on July 22 headlined “Do We Need a Christopher Nolan Batman Trilogy?” and many responded, but the conversation never really involved talking about whether or not we need a sequel and morphed into a conversation asking “Who Should the Villain Be?” Fan speculation is human nature and it is indeed fun, but I think it is all proof that no matter what Nolan, Goyer and Jonathan Nolan decide to do it is going to be hell trying to satisfy the masses. On top of that, why not go out on top?
The fact The Dark Knight doesn’t end with The Joker hanging upside down from a massive high rise and instead finishes off the Dent/Two-Face storyline proves Nolan didn’t want a hanging chad. He didn’t want to leave Two-Face for a third film cliffhanger. If anything, The Joker was the cliffhanger and … well … that creates a problem should a third film be made (more on that in a sec). If Nolan’s Batman franchise were a book it would be closed and there wouldn’t be a page beyond it.
While Warner Bros. obviously wants to make a third film and will definitely make a third film (I am not an idiot), that doesn’t preclude me from having a belief that they shouldn’t. Chris Nolan is not yet signed on to direct a third film and if history has taught us anything he is most likely not even thinking about it. He recently screened his 1998 film, Following, in Los Angeles and before The Dark Knight he directed The Prestige. What makes anyone think he is currently worrying himself with any of this nonsense? Especially casting for a script that isn’t even written for a film he hasn’t even agreed to direct.
