Neil Patrick Harris Wants To Play The Riddler In Standalone ‘Batman’ Movie
It’s pretty evident that there is virtually nothing that Neil Patrick Harris can’t do, and now he wants to possibly delve into the world of being a comic book super villain. On the day after the brand new trailer for Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice was revealed, Harris said on Twitter that he would be open to playing The Riddler in a standalone Batman movie.
Yes, Neil Patrick Harris, or NPH as he affectionately is known, was doing a Q&A session on Twitter and fielding a number of questions. A Twitter account simply known as @SuperheroFeed decided to break open the comic book movie discussion with a very interesting inquiry.
The Twitter account wanted to know if Harris would be up to portraying The Riddler in the upcoming Batman trilogy starring Ben Affleck as the Caped Crusader. The star of How I Met Your Mother and countless other things was happy to answer.
Totally, but only if neither of us have to go full frontal. #GoneGirlGoods https://t.co/jezaVa7MHW
— Neil Patrick Harris (@ActuallyNPH) December 1, 2015
If that’s not interesting and conversation-worthy enough, @SuperheroFeed decided to take it a step further. They had a friend create a quick mock-up of what Neil Patrick Harris could look like as The Riddler.
.@ActuallyNPH We had our friend @Bosslogic draw up what we think you might look like. https://t.co/W4bN4EIE39 pic.twitter.com/UmMLrZB9OP
— Superhero Feed (@SuperheroFeed) December 2, 2015
Harris and Affleck are no strangers to each other as they did star in Gone Girl together. Sure, they weren’t on screen together a lot, but they are acquainted with one another. That movie is the reason that Harris’ Twitter response had a reference to “full frontal” as well.
Yes, Neil Patrick Harris was likely just joking and trying to be funny during the Q&A session, but as the Mirror said, it does start some interesting conversation.
Frank Gorshan played The Riddler on the old Batman television series which originally ran on the air in the late ’60s. John Glover voiced The Riddler for five episodes of Batman: The Animated Series. One of the most remembered, but not best, versions of The Riddler was played by Jim Carrey in 1995’s Batman Forever.
MTV interviewed Carrey about a year ago when Dumb and Dumber To was coming out, and he was asked about the new Batman trilogy. The question was actually posed to him whether he would want to reprise his role as The Riddler again.
“I’d love to work in the new, graphic novel versions of the movie. I don’t know about reprising the role, I don’t know if Chris Nolan would go for that. I’d love to work with him.”
Some may think that Neil Patrick Harris wouldn’t be the first choice to take on the role of The Riddler in the new Batman franchise. Honestly, he may not be the first choice, but DC Comics and Warner Bros. haven’t always made the most expected choices of villains in the past.
No one expected Jesse Eisenberg to be chosen for the role of Lex Luthor or Michael Shannon to take on General Zod. Critics had a lot to say when Heath Ledger was chosen to take on the Joker, but then watched in awe as he brilliantly portrayed the clown.
That same type of skepticism has been thrown around ever since Jared Leto was chosen to take on the role of the Joker.
Neil Patrick Harris may never get near the cast of a Batman movie, but anything is possible. The seeds were planted during that Q&A session, and now it’s known that there is at least an interest for him to play The Riddler. Will it ever happen? That’s a riddle that will have to wait for an answer.
[Image by Ethan Miller/Getty Images]
