Robin Williams was one of the most talented and highly appreciated actors in the entertainment industry. Owing to his talent for improvision and knack for comedy, he was known as one of the best comedians of all time. The actor played a variety of roles in his long career and won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Good Will Hunting. Despite playing multiple characters on-screen, the actor always had a desire to do a superhero film.
Mrs. Doubtfire fame was once offered the role of Joker in a Batman film, however, it did not pan out for him. The actor was disappointed when the role of Riddler was given to comedian Jim Carrey.
Robin Williams was offered the role of Riddler in Batman Forever
Dead Poets Society fame had been several times almost associated with superhero movies. Williams was an extremely talented actor, and the directors wanted him in these movies, but due to several reasons, things never panned out in favor of the star.
The actor was initially in talks for the role of Joker in Tim Burton’s Batman, but the conversation did not turn out to be fruitful. Williams shared in an interview posted by the take2marktv,
“It happens. Sometimes they use you as bait. They’ll say, ‘We’re sending it out to him,’ and you go for it. And then they give it to somebody else.”
The Jumanji star added that he was also offered a role in another iconic Batman film. He said,
“I don’t know what happened with that. But maybe there’ll be something else down the line, maybe the Riddler. Who knows?”
The screenwriter Lee Batchler said as per The Hollywood Reporter,
“Later on when we wanted to do The Riddler, it was going to be Robin Williams. With the Riddler, we wrote it with Robin’s voice. He read our script and loved it, they just didn’t make the deal. So when it came to Jim Carrey, he very much did our script. It was just a little less Robin Williams.”
The actor was not sure about the role that he was being considered for, but he assumed it could be the Riddler. Later it turned out that he was right, and could have been the villain in Schumacher’s Batman Forever. But, once again, the deal fell through.
Robin Williams wanted to play Joker or Riddler in Christian Bale’s Batman Trilogy
William could not become part of two Batman movies, but he still did not lose hope. As per Yahoo, the actor wanted to do roles in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, featuring Christian Bale. The Good Will Hunting star shared that he would love to play Joker’s character in The Dark Knight.
Robin Williams said,
“Oh God, I’d love to do that one. I think you can really explore how bright and how nasty-funny he is, just like I guess what Kevin [Spacey] did with Lex Luthor [in Superman Returns], made him really funny, but yet still damaged.”
The iconic role was given to Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, and the movie was a box-office hit. William was interested in being part of the franchise and was ready to take up any role. He shared,
“I’d play the Riddler in the next Batman, although it’d be hard to top Heath as the villain, and I’m a little hairy for tights. I’m using this article as an ad. Chris, call me, I’ll do anything. I could be a great character — or some weird little man in the background in Arkham Asylum.”
The actor could not get a chance to play a character in the Batman movies as he passed away in 2014.
Source-Showbiz Cheat Sheet
