THE BATMAN Director Talks About The Origin of Paul Dano's Riddler, and Says, "He's Not Just a Serial Killer"
Paul Dano being cast in the role of The Riddler in The Batman is inspired casting. He’s such a great actor and he’s going to be awesome as this classic Batman villain. I’m looking forward to seeing how his story arc plays out over the course of the film as he taunts Batman.
In a recent interview with Total Film, director Matt Reeves talked about the origin of this version of The Riddler, saying: "Early on, this idea of doing a serial-killer story popped into my head, and I started thinking about superheroes; the idea of wearing costumes. I read Mindhunter. It made me think of the Zodiac killer, and how he actually wore this primitive costume that really is a primitive superhero costume... a rogues’ gallery costume. And I was like, ‘Oh, that’s really scary, the idea of people really wearing masks, and withholding their identities, and terrorizing people, and how scary that is.’ And so I started thinking, 'Well, it could be an origin tale for the Riddler, and it could be an origin tale for some of these other characters.'"
As Reeves goes on to talk about The Riddler, he explains: "He’s not just a serial killer. He definitely has a political agenda. There’s a terrorist aspect to him. He’s indicting the city for what it is. And one of the things he’s doing with each of these crimes is, he’s attacking the so-called legitimate pillars of the city. The whole point of it was to put [Batman] on the path of trying to solve a mystery that was not only going to reveal the history of the city, and why it’s so corrupt, but that also is going to turn at a point, and become actually quite personal."
Obviously, the Wayne family has a heavy involvement with Gotham City and why it was shaped into what it became. When Dano talked about taking on the role, he shared: "I was sort of schoolboy-excited. It’s one of the few times when there’s a really kind of shocking [feeling of], ‘I can’t believe that I get to do this.'"
He went on to tease that the movie offers “a different take on the material, especially for the Riddler". He also says he “wants to preserve the shockingly powerful thrill” that he had when reading the script for the first time, for the audience, so he’s not sharing any real details.
The Batman hits theaters on March 4th!