Robin Williams Was Upset With Jim Carrey for Taking His Role as the Riddler in ‘Batman Forever’
Robin Williams is seen by many as one of the greatest all-around talents of all time. He’s been heralded as a comedic genius, while at the same time showing others he’s a brilliant actor in all genres.
However, there was a point where Williams allegedly felt a bit threatened by his comedic contemporary Jim Carrey. And Carrey snagging the part of the Riddler in Batman Forever, a role that Williams reportedly turned down, didn’t help matters.
Robin Williams was supposed to play the Riddler in ‘Batman Forever’
It’s no secret that Robin Williams had always been orbiting the Batman universe in one way or another. He was first tapped to play the Joker in Tim Burton’s Batman, but plans later fell through.
“It happens,” Williams said in an interview posted by the take2marktv youtube channel. “Sometimes they use you as bait. They’ll say, ‘We’re sending it out to him,’ and you go for it. And then they give it to somebody else.”
Williams also added that even though he missed his chance on the Joker, there was another iconic Batman villain he might’ve played.
“I don’t know what happened with that. But maybe there’ll be something else down the line, maybe the Riddler,” Williams said. “Who knows?”
Williams’ line about the Riddler was more than just wishful thinking. The actor was tapped to play the character in Schumacher’s Batman Forever. In fact, the script was written with Williams in mind. But once again, plans fell through.
“Later on when we wanted to do the Riddler, it was going to be Robin Williams. With the Riddler, we wrote it with Robin’s voice. He read our script and loved it, they just didn’t make the deal,” screenwriter Lee Batchler said according to The Hollywood Reporter. “So when it came to Jim Carrey, he very much did our script. It was just a little less Robin Williams.”
Jim Carrey would later pick up the role, and it was a development Williams was reportedly less than pleased with.
Robin Williams was upset when Jim Carrey took the Riddler role
Radar Online asserted that Robin Williams and Jim Carrey had a slight feud when Carrey found success in Hollywood. According to the publication, journalist David Itzkoff wrote about Williams’ feelings towards Carrey in the biography, Robin. In the book, Itzkoff claimed that Williams was highly upset when Carrey picked up the Riddler after Williams shot down the role.
“Robin was chagrined to find the part had gone to Carrey,” the journalist wrote.
But Itzkoff noted that Williams’ attitude towards Carrey came from the fact that he was a bit threatened by Carrey’s success. So much so that Williams was said to have “completely freaked out” about the Liar Liar actor.
However, Carrey would later go on to deny Radar Online’s claim that there was a true conflict between him and Williams.
“Radar Online is completely off base and creating a feud that didn’t exist,” Carrey said according to Cinemablend. “Robin may have expressed insecurity about me and my rise to success but I have never had anything but the greatest respect for him and his genius. He was always respectful to me in person.”
Carrey went on to add, “There’s no feud if one side isn’t aware of it.”
Robin Williams wanted to have one more shot at the Joker and Riddler
Yahoo reported that Robin Williams expressed interest in revisiting the Joker and the Riddler again. But this time it would be in Christopher Nolan’s grounded Batman trilogy. Williams admitted how much he’d love to play the Joker in Nolan’s The Dark Knight.
“Oh God, I’d love to do that one,” Williams said. “I think you can really explore how bright and how nasty-funny he is, just like I guess what Kevin [Spacey] did with Lex Luthor [in Superman Returns], made him really funny, but yet still damaged.”
But after Ledger was chosen and The Dark Knight came out to massive success, Williams just wanted to be a part of the franchise. He was willing to play any character, including the Riddler.
“I’d play the Riddler in the next Batman, although it’d be hard to top Heath as the villain, and I’m a little hairy for tights,” Williams added. “I’m using this article as an ad. Chris, call me, I’ll do anything. I could be a great character — or some weird little man in the background in Arkham Asylum.”
