The Batman: Paul Dano and Jeffrey Wright on their journeys as Riddler and Gordon
The Batman is an interesting beast – a movie that tells a tale with familiar characters, yet gives them an all-new spin. Director Matt Reeves has done a spectacular job introducing new variations of cinematic and comic book stalwarts, and the cast truly brought that vision to life. Paul Dano and Jeffrey Wright do particularly thrilling work as the villain Ridler and Jim Gordon, respectively.
We caught up with the duo while they were promoting The Batman, which stars Robert Pattinson as the eponymous hero. Here's our Q&A, edited for clarity.
Total Film: I want to start with a question for Paul. The Riddler is like a twisted guy, I think it's fair to say. What was your process of getting into the headspace of a character who's essentially Zodiac Killer meets unhinged millennial?
Paul Dano: [Laughs] Luckily, Matt's script was shockingly powerful. And along with being an incredible mystery and immersive spectacle, it was quite powerful emotionally, psychologically, and thematically.
The first conversation we had was about hero and villain and the two sides of trauma. Batman is born of trauma and in this film, so maybe the Riddler is too. That's really the seed from whichever thing grew – we were trying to make it as sort of personal and emotional as possible. Yes, Matt had referenced the Zodiac Killer, but that was only so potent for me. It wasn't the Bible. And although the film makes contact with reality, which is part of its power, it wasn't as much about thinking about any peoples at large as it was going to the source of this guy's pain, which is the thing that then becomes unleashed.
And yes, he's, I suppose, twisted. But it was important for me, whether this comes across or not, that it wasn't just nature and born
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