Jonah Hill is an exceptional actor and he has proven time and again that he could easily transition between comedy and drama roles. Hill also wore the director’s hat a few times and is currently directing Keanu Reeves in the film Outcome. However, he may have lost a role in one critically acclaimed superhero film.
Hill was reportedly considered for a villain role in Matt Reeves’ The Batman. While it is not exactly known which role he was approached for, reports suggested that he could’ve either played Oswald Cobblepot aka Penguin or Edward Nashton aka The Riddler.
Jonah Hill Could Have Played These Two Villain Roles In Robert Pattinson’s The Batman
In 2019, Deadline reported that Jonah Hill was eyed for a role in Robert Pattinson’s The Batman. At the time, only Pattinson and Matt Reeves were announced to be attached to the film, with Jeffrey Wright’s name speculated to be in the mix. Different sources shared with The Hollywood Reporter that Hill and the studio couldn’t decide on which role the actor would play in the film.
The outlet reported that the conversation was for the villain roles of The Penguin and The Riddler. Deadline later reported that Hill was no longer in talks for both roles. While the reason for his departure was never made public, Variety’s Justin Kroll shared in a now-deleted tweet that the choice of the role was a reason for the deadlock (via Geek Tyrant).
Kroll also added that the War Dogs actor negotiated with the studio for over a month and asked for $10 million for his role. Interestingly, Pattinson was only paid $3 million for his leading role as Bruce Wayne. The film went on to earn a total of $772.2 million at the box office (via Box Office Mojo).
The subreddit, r/batman, claimed that Hill preferred to play the role of The Riddler than The Penguin for the huge salary. While fans might never know what Hill could’ve offered to either of those roles, they’re pretty satisfied with the brilliant cast they got in the film.
Colin Farrell took on the role of The Penguin and even landed himself a Max series of the same name. Paul Dano played the role of The Riddler, who’s a serial killer in this Dark Knight version.
Before Jonah Hill’s Alleged Huge Ask, Another Batman Villain Asked For Greater Pay Than The Lead Star
Jonah Hill allegedly asking for three times the salary of Robert Pattinson is nothing compared to Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s demand for his role as Mr. Freeze. According to Batman & Robin star George Clooney, the FUBAR actor’s $25 million paycheck was almost 20 times his salary.
Clooney was clearly upset at the salary difference, sharing that he worked together with Schwarzenegger only for a day. He added that at such a low salary, it was he who took all the heat for the film’s failure. Clooney shared with The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast:
Schwarzenegger was paid, I think, $25 million for that, which was like 20 times more than I was paid for it, and, you know, we never even worked together! We worked together one day. But I took all the heat.
According to ScreenRant, the Predator actor’s salary came around $1 million a day since he only had 25 days of filming. Schwarzenegger also had a clause in his contract that required him to act only for twelve hours a day. It seems to be a bad deal overall, which makes Jonah Hill’s reported deadlock a good thing for Warner Bros.
The Batman is available to watch on Max and Netflix as of today.
