You may know the new cast addition for The Batman as young Brian Wilson from 2015’s Love & Mercy. You might also know him for his dual roles as Paul and Eli in 2007’s There Will Be Blood. But now you’ll know Paul Dano for perhaps his most high-profile role to date – the Riddler.
Yes, that’s right. The 35-year-old actor is playing the green-hatted riddle-spewing nemesis in Matt Reeve’s The Batman. Looks like Robert Pattinson’s Caped Crusader and Zoe Kravitz’s Catwoman will have quite the mend-bending challenge on their hands.
Born in New York, Paul Dano is quite a multi-talented man. Not only has he played roles in a number of great films – even being nominated for a BAFTA for There Will Be Blood – he also made his directorial debut last year on the Jake Gyllenhall-starring film, Wildlife, which released to highly critical reception. If that wasn’t enough, he is the vocalist and lead guitarist of the band, Mook.
He isn’t the first to play the role of the Riddler in the film (otherwise known as Edward Nygma). Jim Carrey was the first actor to portray a live-action version of the character in a major motion picture back in the 1995 movie, Batman Forever. While Carrey was praised for his charisma, the movie as a whole didn’t quite achieve the same recognition as Tim Burton’s previous two mature offerings.
While Jonah Hill was originally thought to take up the role for The Batman, he wasn’t the first ‘what could’ve been’ scenario. During the pre-production process of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, studio executives wanted Leonardo DiCaprio to star as the Riddler. This was because he was considered similar to The Dark Knight‘s Joker, portrayed by Heath Ledger.
For now though, we can only guess what Paul Dano will bring to the role.
