Corona | Coming Attractions

Gotta give it to MTV News, they move fast. Yesterday MTV Splash Page reported the rumor, supplied by a Warner Bros. exec to Michael Caine, that the next Bat film will feature Johnny Depp as The Riddler and Philip Seymour Hoffman as The Penguin. Now MTV News has caught up with Hoffman at the Toronto Film Festival and asked him directly about his plans to carry umbrellas and hang out with flightless birds. His answer is as you’d expect.

"No one has talked to me about it ever — never," Hoffman said. "It happened, like, five years ago, too. It was a rumor back then and it’s still a rumor." He laughs when he adds "It’s just in the press. It’s funny." He also said he’s not sure he’s even met Dark Knight writer-director Christopher Nolan.

Hoffman does confess to being "a real cheerleader" of comic book movies, as well as a big comic book collector in his younger days. But in the end, he said, "I think I’m more interested in seeing someone else do it. I don’t know if I’d be a good Penguin to be quite honest."

Now we just need Johnny Depp to deny the rumor (as we expect he will) and we’ll be back to a clean square one.