Riddler Gaining Steam for Third Batman Film

Now that Inception is out in theaters and is killing it review-wise, Christopher Nolan can go back to that "other" franchise he's made a name on, Batman. The third film is confirmed with him at the helm and presumably the entire core cast back (why would Christian Bale, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine or Gary Oldman walk away now?). All that's left is who Batman will be up against in the third film. First Showing has a good inkling that it'll be the Riddler.

The fun doesn't stop there. They also seem to think that Joseph Gordon-Levitt will be playing the inquisitive menace. There source for this info? According to them, there's someone on the inside that has a studio casting grid aligning Gordon-Levitt's name with The Riddler and the word "interested." Of course, as of now, this is extremely "grain of salt" worthy, but I'm intrigued.

For those of you that don't know, First Showing is more than happy to enlighten you on what a casting grid is.

"A casting grid is used in the industry to keep production companies, agencies, etc. in the loop on a project's progress and the roles available for actors to potentially take. These documents are used for business planning in the industry and by no means would use internet speculation to list a character that may not even appear in the film."

So based on that alone, we shouldn't expect Gordon-Levitt to be a definite for the role. What we should expect is that if he does get the part that he will be AWESOME in the role. I don't know what's happened, but Gordon-Levitt has been all over the place recently, kind of like his career is going through a mini-Renaissance of sorts. He is in Inception, so Nolan has seen his work firsthand and, in essence, the film could've been an open tryout for a role in Batman 3. It certainly helps when an actor refers to you as a director as "the genuine article… a real artist" and "a unique voice."

Gordon-Levitt as The Riddler would be fantastic. I could easily see him doing for the character what Heath Ledger did for The Joker. Now I'm not necessarily saying that Gordon-Levitt will turn in the same Oscar-worthy performance, but I do think he's perfect for the role. I'm not knocking on Gordon-Levitt as an actor, but Heath Ledger literally BECAME The Joker and it essentially cost him his life. That sort of commitment is rarely duplicated. I do think that Gordon-Levitt will add that certain unhinged aspect to The Riddler if he does end up getting the role. I'm not quite sure how the character would be worked in to the story without it being cheesy, but in Nolan we trust right?

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