Another Famous Comedian Was Almost Cast as The Riddler in Batman Forever
Batman Forever screenwriter recalls casting conversations with another popular comedian for the role of The Riddler instead of Jim Carrey.
It’s been almost 30 years since Batman Forever, Joel Schumacher’s legendary film about the Dark Knight starring Val Kilmer, hit theaters. In an era where superhero movies were not the trend, Batman managed to be one of the few comic book icons to successfully make it to the big screen. In large part, thanks to its villains.
Beyond the personality and cunning of the Caped Crusader, one of the great charms of the Batman universe is Gotham City and the vast gallery of criminals it presents. Some are more realistic like the mafia mogul Carmine Falcone, and others are more eccentric like The Riddler.
Edward Nashton was, in fact, the main villain in the latest appearance of the famous hero on the big screen, played by Paul Dano. And he was also one of the enemies that Kilmer faced in the 1995 movie, where the histrionic Jim Carrey played him. However, it could have been a very different version.
In an interview with The Playlist, screenwriter Akiva Goldsman recalled that during the casting process for the film, Robin Williams was one of the main choices for the role of The Riddler, when Michael Keaton was still the main candidate to continue playing Bruce Wayne before Kilmer took over:
“I remember sort of this extraordinary day where Joel sent me to San Francisco, and I spent the day in Robin’s kitchen and him just talking about the Riddler. And he was like, genius is not the right word. It was as if he had opened up his head and the universe would just talk into it. It was so beautiful and so kind and I remember when I got home, he had left a message on my answering machine… my then girlfriend kept playing it over and over again.”
Who’s The Riddler?
Created by Bill Finger and Dick Sprang in 1948, he made his first appearance in Detective Comics #140 as a man in a flashy green suit with question marks on it, completely obsessed with mind games, riddles, and puzzles.
Additionally, Edward Nashton is known for being one of Batman’s more intellectual enemies, not particularly renowned for murder or wreaking havoc, but rather for playing tricks on the police, planting false leads, and displaying his creative abilities on every crime.
The Riddler is one of the villains that most frequently appears in Batman adaptations, whether in animated format, video games, comic books, and live-action, where he has had a long list of actors playing him beyond Dano and Carrey.
His live-action debut was in the 1966 film and series, where Frank Gorshin and John Astin played him. In the FX series Gotham, which focused on the city and its inhabitants rather than on the figure of Bruce Wayne, who was barely a child on the show, Edward Nygma was one of the great protagonists and one of the most acclaimed characters along with Robin Lord Taylor’s version of The Penguin. In the series Cory Michael Smith brought the character to life.
