For all his heinous crimes, the Joker was given a sympathetic backstory in "The Killing Joke." He was a man that lost everything by the time of his Red Hood caper, so the acid bath was essentially the coup de grace. It'll be interesting to see how much of that plays out in the sequel.

Steve Buscemi as Mad Hatter please. I really can't stand Robin Williams.

Yeah, I really don't know anything about the Mad Hatter character...but there's an artist rendering in the Batman Masterpieces book that makes him look older, so that was my line of thinking...

Nolan's series seems to be sticking to a relatively younger cast though.

I always thought Bob Hoskins would make a great Penguin since they most likely wouldn't want to cast Devito again. As for the Hatter, as goofy as it sounds, after seeing Martin Short play a psycho on SVU, I think he'd be perfect and he looks very much like the character.

Martin Short was on L&O? I did not know that. I knew Chevy Chase was on an ep. I wonder if Steve Martin will do one rounding out all The Three Amigos.

Martin Short played the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland (TV film by Hallmark Entertainment in 1999).

Martin Short needs to be shot. Steve Buscemi played the mad hatter in an SNL sketch, it was awesome.

Hoffman is too big. I don't want to see a 6'4 Penguin.

Are we talking about Dustin Hoffman? I always thought he was short.

No, they're talking about Phillip Seymour Hoffman, who is about 5'9" or so.

Would the costume make him 6'4"?

If Penguin would be used in movie, I would to see him as an Owner of a NightClub with hidden playoffs given to him in a back room.
Basically thats what Dini and Timm did to Pengy on the New Adventures of Batman.
Works real well for me.

IIRC, he wasn't even the real Red Hood in the Killing Joke version. He was hired by some thugs and they put the costume on him.


On another note, I didn't see this mentioned in this thread, maybe it was mentioned elsewhere, maybe it's complete bullshit. On the Howard Stern show yesterday they were talking about Tom Cruise and the control he has over Katie Holmes. One of the things mentioned was that Cruise forbade her from appearing in the next Batman film because he didn't want her in any romantic scenes with another man. IMDB has Maggie Gyllenhaal as a rumored replacement for the character.

If that's true then praise Xenu for Tom Cruise, he took out the most worthless and wooden performer from the movie.

Bob Hoskins would make a great Devito

devito would make a great piece of sh!t

Gyllenhaal joining Batman sequel
Actress taking Holmes role in 'Dark Knight'
By PAMELA MCCLINTOCK

Maggie Gyllenhaal is in final talks to star opposite Christian Bale in Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight," the next installment in the revitalized Batman franchise. She'll play the role of Rachel Dawes, played by Katie Holmes in "Batman Begins." Holmes dropped out of the project earlier in the year.

Nolan is set to begin lensing in the late spring or early summer. Pic is eying a summer 2008 release.

Producers are Emma Thomas, Charles Roven and Nolan.

Legendary Pictures and Warner are co-financing partners on the project.

Gyllenhaal, a new mother, was most recently in theaters with "Stranger Than Fiction" and "World Trade Center."

I love Gyllenhaal. I think she can bring allot to the role.

Arghh. When Emily Blunt was announced as a possibility, the thought of Harley Quinn tied into The Dark Knight crossed my mind - and Maggie would be great in that part.

I was hoping for another character aside from Rachel Dawes so they didn't have any overlapping casting. However, Gyllenhaal would have been a fantastic choice from the get go. Whether she's Dawes, Harley, or another interest in Wayne's life, she'll be a great addition to the cast.

I agree she'll be great, and that I too would prefer her as a new love interest rather than a recasting of the Dawes character.

I suppose Nolan and team think the romance loses integrity if they just change the character, but it sounded like Rachel was leaving at the end of Begins, and it's not really a big improvement to keep the character and recast the actress.

I also don't see AT ALL what was wrong with Katie Holmes in the movie. I think people let their opinion of the person change their opinion of the performance. It wasn't stellar or anything, but I don't see what was bad about it.

I think Holmes was fine but she didnt have much chemistry with Bale.

I had no opinion of Holmes either way before I saw the movie, and I walked out thinking that she was one of the most useless characters in the movie. Her performance was wooden, and her only purpose was to play the pretty girl in distress.

I thought she was fine in the first movie. My only problems with her were that she was obviously far outclassed by the rest of the cast(but very few actresses wouldn't be) and she looked way too young to be an assistant D.A.

I think the big reason people suddenly think she sucks in the movie is that since its release, she's been "Cruised". That bizarre marriage seems to have tainted a lot of both hers and Tom Cruise's past work.

With regards to Maggie Gyllenhaal, I've had issues with her since those offensive 9/11 remarks she made a few years ago, but I did enjoy her performance in Stranger Than Fiction. At least from an acting standpoint, she should be a decent replacement for Holmes. She's still ugly as sin though.

I also got the impression Penguin is much older than Bruce Wayne. Like 50s or so. So If Hoffman did play Penguin wouldn't he be too young since they're about the same age?