Former Penguin Actor Danny DeVito Weighs in on The Batman Casting

There's a brotherhood in not only being cast in a superhero movie, but specifically being cast in [...]

There's a brotherhood in not only being cast in a superhero movie, but specifically being cast in a Batman movie. With every new iteration of the Dark Knight comes a highly scrutinized, but still greatly anticipated cast of characters, a tradition that goes back all the way to Michael Keaton being cast in the title role for Tim Burton's 1989 feature. Keaton and Burton's second go at Bat saw another highly praised crop of actors join the crew with Danny DeVito as The Penguin and Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman among others. Now decades later we're gearing up for another Bat-movie, and the first Penguin to grace the big screen since DeVito has a special connection to the Academy Award nominee.

For Matt Reeves' upcoming The Batman, none other than Colin Farrell will take on the role of Oswald Cobblepot, a piece of casting that has raised eyebrows across the internet given Farrell's inherent attractiveness and The Penguin's own round history. Funny enough, Farrell and DeVito just starred in a film together, appearing in Disney's (and Tim Burton's) live-action reboot of Dumbo. Speaking with Screen Rant, DeVito was asked what he thought of Farrell taking on the role, offering only praise for the actor.

"Colin's a great actor... He's a good friend of mine. I've known him for many years and I think he's going to do a great job as the Penguin. It's going to be really interesting to see his take on it."

Joining Farrell in the film are Robert Pattinson in the titular role, with Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Paul Dano as The Riddler, Andy Serkis as Alfred, John Turturro as mobster Carmine Falcone, and Jeffrey Wright as Commissioner Jim Gordon. In a recent interview, Pattinson said he has no interest in playing a comic book character who's heroic, hinting this take on the Caped Crusader might be a darker, more grim tone than anything we've seen before.

"The only time I want to play someone an audience knows they're supposed to like is when they really shouldn't like them," Pattinson told Variety. "That's the only time. He's a very, very, very troubled person. There's very few of a character that's regarded by everyone as a heroic character that they know that they need to save the day and they know they're good. And I always find it interesting to know that Batman, he's always struggling a little bit, in some iterations of the stories anyway. He doesn't know if he's that great or not. And that's kind of interesting. Walking the line all the time."

The Batman is scheduled to hit theaters on June 25, 2021. Other upcoming DC Films movies include Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) on February 7, 2020, Wonder Woman 1984 on June 5, 2020, The Suicide Squad on August 6, 2021, and Aquaman 2 on December 16, 2022.

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