Batman: Michael Caine Confirms, Hoffman Denies

September 10th, 2008

British actor Michael Caine has accidentally let slip one of the most anticipated casting questions of recent times, who will play the villain in the next Batman movie?

Caine, who plays Bruce Wayne’s butler Alfred in the updated franchise, discussed ‘The Dark Knight’ with MTV News at the Toronto Film Festival.

“When Christopher [Nolan] said we were going to do ‘The Dark Knight’ next, I didn’t what that meant in Batman terms,” he explained. ”I said, ‘What’s the story?’ and he said The Joker. I said, ‘Oh, s–t! How are you going to top Jack [Nicholson]?’ He said, ‘Well, I’ve cast Heath Ledger. And I went ‘Ha! I couldn’t top Jack, but if anyone could, maybe Heath could.’ And he did.

“I was with [a Warner Bros.] executive and I said, ‘Are we going to make another one?’ They said yeah. I said, ‘How the hell are we going to top Heath? And he says ‘I’ll tell you how you top Heath — Johnny Depp as The Riddler and Philip Seymour Hoffman as The Penguin.’ I said, ‘S–t, they’ve done it again!’”

However, MTV approached Hoffman about the news, with the actor responding, “No one has talked to me about it ever — never. It happened, like, five years ago, too. It was a rumor back then and it’s still a rumor. It’s just in the press. It’s funny.”

He continues, “I’m more a fan, so the interest of being in it isn’t that great. It’s more the interest in wanting to see the next one. It’s probably better that way… I think I’m more interested in seeing someone else do it. I don’t know if I’d be a good Penguin to be quite honest.”

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.