Jonah Hill Passes On 'The Batman' As Negotiations Break Down With Warner Bros.

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With all the talk about which role Jonah Hill was set to play in Matt Reeves’ “The Batman,” we forgot the obvious answer. Would he play The Riddler or would it be The Penguin? Well, the correct response would have been Option C, “none of the above.”

According to Deadline and THR writer Borys Kit, it appears the days of Jonah Hill playing a villain in a ‘Batman’ film are over before they even began. The reports say that Hill and Warner Bros. couldn’t come close to an agreement as far as price goes and, as of now, the talks have ceased.

READ MORE: Zoe Kravitz Officially Joins Matt Reeve’s ‘The Batman’ As Selina Kyle/Catwoman

Interestingly, Kit goes on to say that WB was concerned about overpaying for Hill, after the studio’s experience in a similar situation on the 1989 “Batman” film, where Jack Nicholson demanded a huge salary to play Joker. Another interesting note to come out of this news is that there was a time when WB was looking at Seth Rogen to perhaps take the Penguin role, but there were no official talks or negotiations, so that appears to be unlikely.

As is also pointed out, this development doesn’t mean that the Jonah Hill talks are completely over. Much like we saw with Sony and Disney fighting over ‘Spider-Man,’ there’s always a chance that WB and Hill could separate and take some time apart before coming back together and making this ‘Batman’ dream turn into a reality.

READ MORE: Matt Reeves’ ‘Batman’ Reportedly Will Tie In With Upcoming ‘Batgirl’ & Might Introduce Robin

With Hill currently out of the picture, it appears that the only confirmed cast for “The Batman” is Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Zoe Kravitz as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, and Jeffrey Wright as Commissioner Gordon. However, with production expected to begin in early 2020, we should be seeing more names being added to that list soon enough.

Reeves’ “The Batman” will arrive in theaters on June 25, 2021.