Christopher Nolan Rejected WB’s Riddler Pitch With Leonardo DiCaprio for His Wildest Film Yet

Although Christopher Nolan took a break from making Batman movies, Warner Bros. wanted him to return with Leonardo DiCaprio as The Riddler!

After he was done creating two Batman films, Warner Bros.

wanted director Christopher Nolan for a third Batman film that would have starred Leonardo DiCaprio as The Riddler.

Though the movie was initially in talks with Nolan urged to return as director and Christian Bale reprising his role of Batman, the project was later scrapped.

Nolan decided to take a break from the superhero genre to focus on other things.

Well, Nolan’s decision turned out to be quite perfect, as we were later greeted with the director’s wildest film yet, Inception.

How Christopher Nolan’s Break From Batman Led To His Wildest Film

It was the year 2005 when Christopher Nolan worked with Christian Bale and Liam Neeson to create an iconic film titled Batman Begins.

A sequel was soon released in 2008, starring Heath Ledger in his most prominent role as The Joker in The Dark Knight.

A still from The Dark Knight | Credits: Warner Bros. Pictures

Finding much success and fame.

Christopher Nolan wanted to take a break from the superhero genre since the director had released two back-to-back Batman flicks.

Although he would later return to direct one of the highest-grossing superhero movies, The Dark Knight Rises, Nolan wanted to focus on something else in the meantime.

That’s when the director decided to start working on Inception.

With a screenplay that he had been writing for 10 years, Nolan went off to make Inception starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy, and several other actors in leading roles.

According to a post on @ATRightMovies/X, Warner Bros.

wanted Nolan to return to finish his Batman trilogy, and they wanted Batman to go against The Riddler with Leonardo DiCaprio helming the puzzling role.

With Nolan taking a break, however, the third film in the trilogy was put on hold.

But hey, we got Inception, right?

Anyways, Leonardo DiCaprio and Christopher Nolan’s alleged plans for The Riddler and Batman wouldn’t have worked that great anyway, and there are several reasons why.

Christopher Nolan’s Riddler Film Wouldn’t Have Worked Anyway

No offense to Nolan or DiCaprio, but the film wouldn’t have worked if Christopher Nolan had done it unwillingly.

A thing that is common in every Nolan film is a heart.

Even Dunkirk had heart, though it was a genre-changing movie.

Leonardo DiCaprio in a still from Django Unchained | Credits: The Weinstein Company

Of course, Leonardo DiCaprio has indeed portrayed some wild roles like Calvin Candie in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained.

However, the actor has been somewhat typecast in this suave, gentleman-like character in almost every movie he plays.

From Titanic to Inception, DiCaprio’s character is always the calm one who often has meltdowns but manages to hold it well together.

On the other hand, The Riddler (like Paul Dano in The Batman) has a certain unpredictability around him.

Dano’s portrayal was collected, composed, and with each clue that the Riddler left Batman, he became more and more deranged and psychotic.

DiCaprio, on the other hand, hasn’t been seen in a role that demands just complete madness and chaos all around him.

So, I don’t think that he would have been a good fit for The Riddler (who is often an insane character).

Although after his break and Inception, Christopher Nolan did return to finish the trilogy with The Dark Knight Rises, which featured Tom Hardy as Bane.

The movie was released in 2012, marking an end to Nolan’s iconic trilogy, which the director finished on his terms.

What do you think about the Batman Trilogy? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Inception and The Batman Trilogy are available to stream on HBO Max (USA).