Robin Williams came close to playing two iconic Batman villains for both the Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher movies
Robin Williams He was an enormously talented actor, admired and idolized by many, however, he did not have a very happy life, which ended up leading him to a tragic end: suicide. But before this tragic event occurred, many years before, Williams was about to become a villain in the DC Universe.
Warner Bros. was about to have Williams as one of the actors who would play the Joker and the Riddler in two films of the Batman saga. However, the final decision was to choose Jack Nicholson y Jim Carrey, respectively. Because?
It’s a real pity. Williams never got to play either of DC’s two most iconic villains, mostly because she came so close to playing either of them. We will explain to you what happened.
How Robin Williams was about to be the Joker and the Riddler, and why he never was
In ‘Shadows of the Bat: The Cinematic Saga of the Dark Knight’a six-part documentary series included in the home edition of ‘Batman: The Motion Picture Anthology’it is explained that Williams was one of the first candidates to play the Jokeralthough the production company wanted Nicholson to take that role.
Since negotiations with Jack shouldn’t go smoothly, the studio, and Burton, offered the role to Williams as a measure of pressure against the former. Everyone knew that Burton’s absolute preference to play the clown prince of crime was Nicholson.
In the event that he declined the offer, Warner Bros. had Williams in the chamber. However, when Nicholson accepted, as we all know, the offer was withdrawn from Williams, which reportedly ended up making the actor quite angry with the studio, as Williams had done everything he could to win the part. Nobody likes to know that he has been used.
LThe situation changed again when Williams was proposed to play the Riddleralready in the era of Joel Schumacher as the director of the franchise, and with Val Kilmer as the Batman. He shouldn’t have been too upset when he showed interest in joining DC again.
This opportunity seemed to present itself with ‘Batman Forever’, a film in which the Riddler and Two-Face were the main villains. The Riddler character seemed tailor-made for Williams, and that at the time they were considering John Malkovich y Michael Jackson as potential competitors for the role. Unfortunately, Williams failed to reach an agreement with Warner Bros. and was unable to take on the challenge.
And it is that what worried Williams the most about his intervention in the film was, as reported at the time by Entertainment Weekly, being outshone by Tommy Lee Joneswho had been chosen to play the other main villain.
Although Williams did not land the role, this character appeared in the film and featured many of the traits originally listed for him in the script.
Ultimately, the role fell to Carrey, who, with his quirky, comedic style, managed to make a version closer to his acting abilities and left his own mark on the Batman saga.
Fuente CBR
