It’s kind of hard to know if anyone is at fault for this development or if it’s something that was just bound to happen regardless. Jonah Hill reportedly wanted a whopping $10 million to play a part in the upcoming Batman movie, but the issue, or one of them at least, is that this is more than double what the lead of the movie, Robert Pattinson, would be making. It could be argued that star power is what would drive this demand, but there’s also a rumor, as continued by Kevin Burwick of MovieWeb, that Hill wanted to play the part of the Riddler but the studio wanted to cast him as the Penguin. With so many rumors flying around it’s a bit difficult to ascertain just why Hill would finally step away from the project, but a popular theory is that he wouldn’t be getting the money he wanted for the role. That seems to be a driving factor for some folks in Hollywood since they want to be paid for their time, which is understandable, but some of them seem to think that they’re worth top level money when in truth they’re still not considered the same caliber as those that can demand the kind of money they really want. Keep in mind that Hill has been nominated twice for an Academy award, but has never won. Those awards that he has won are kind of impressive, but they’re still not the type that would allow him to demand the kind of money he was wanting.
Some folks are saying he simply threw the number out there to see if the studio would bite, but in way that’s kind counterproductive for an actor Hill’s caliber since it comes with a huge caveat that a lot of studios might not want to take on. Some folks like AJ Caulfield of Looper are regretting this decision but it does seem for the best that Hill isn’t going to be a part of this movie, as some people might think he’s great, for some reason, but in a big way he has his place and time and the Batman franchise doesn’t seem like it unless he’s going to be playing one of the more goofy and not all-important characters. The role of the Penguin might have been doable since the slightly off-kilter villain has for a long time been someone that Batman doesn’t need to take quite as seriously as he can’t really fight, he relies more on tricks and devices, and he’s been one of the easier villains for Batman to shut down throughout the years. The Riddler has honestly been more of a menace than the Penguin, who has been shown to have a serious inferiority complex and a serious temper at times. But for Hill to play anyone else might have been a serious mistake.
He’s been gaining ground as an actor it would seem and was good enough in the Jump Street movies, but otherwise a lot of his characters seem pretentious, a bit over the top, and in a lot of ways kind of egotistical without any real reason to be. Despite what I’ve already said I’ll give credit where it’s due when saying that he’s earned his spot in whatever way works for him, but, and this is opinion, he’s not one of the best in the business. For Hill to demand as much as he did for a movie in which he wasn’t the lead or even one of the main supporting characters seems a little bit ludicrous. It’s happened that some actors have pulled down insane amounts of money for a mere cameo or for a short but simple role, and it’s no more right than Hill wanting to make so much for this role. The difference is those that have done so in the past managed to get their payday since the studios wanted them that bad. It’s a bit obvious that the studio in this case didn’t want Jonah badly enough to really go for broke, which might have happened had he been allowed to take so much. As it is the movie already has Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman, as Jim Vejvoda of IGN has mentioned, so there’s one villain covered. It sounds as though the studio is now attempting to find someone to fill the role of the Riddler, and there’s no telling what other villain they’ll be bringing in.
Pattinson’s Batman still isn’t being fully supported by fans as there are still holdouts that don’t have that much faith in the former Twilight star’s ability to become the dark knight. In all fairness it might happen that he’s one of the best to ever put on the suit, but until it finally happens all judgment is best left unspoken so as to keep expectations where they should be, as neutral as possible. The studio will find someone eventually, but for now it’s actually comforting to hear that Hill won’t be a part of it.
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