Three weeks ago, we reported that Jonah Hill was in talks to play an iconic villain in Matt Reeves’ The Batman, opposite Robert Pattinson. The most interesting bit of the news was that Jonah Hill wasn’t pencilled in to play Penguin as initially speculated but rather, The Riddler. However, it looks like that will no longer be the case as Hill has decided to exit talks for playing a villain in The Batman altogether.
Collider reports that Jonah Hill (21 Jump Street, Wolf of Wall Street) has passed on The Batman after being in talks with Warner Bros for the past several months. The reason why Hill has left the project, though, is still rather unclear. Some reports claim that Hill had asked the studio for a salary of $US 10 million, which is more than twice of what Robert Pattinson is reportedly getting paid to play Batman.
Could Hill have exited the project because Warner Bros refused to meet his salary demands? It’s entirely possible, but it seems a tiny bit ridiculous that the studio is adamant about not paying a star like Hill $US 10 million in a film that has a very realistic potential of earning upwards of $US 1 billion. Then again, Gal Gadot was only paid $US 300 000 for her role in Wonder Woman (not including box office performance bonuses).
Some sources tell Collider that Hill walking away from the project could very well be more because of the role he was given rather than the money. Per Collider:
Multiple sources have told Collider that Hill was in talks to play The Riddler, as Reeves is said to have approached at least one other actor for the somewhat smaller role of the Penguin. Shortly after posting, we were told that the role was a sticking point in the negotiations, as Hill had hoped to play the Penguin when things didn’t work out for this other actor. A separate individual reached out to say we had it backwards — that Reeves wanted to cast Hill as the Penguin, but Hill wanted to play the Riddler, who is said to be the primary villain in the script.
Okay, so basically nobody knows exactly what’s going on other than Jonah Hill is not going to be in Matt Reeves’ The Batman which is a huge bummer cause the dude is a terrific actor.
The Batman will reportedly hit the big screens in the summer of 2020.
