Paul Dano Confirms What We Suspected About The Challenge Of Playing The Batman's Riddler

"The Batman" is easily one of the most anticipated new movies of the year and, with its theatrical release date of March 4 quickly approaching, fans are only getting more and more excited. Directed by Matt Reeves and with Robert Pattinson in the leading role, the film follows Bruce Wayne in his second year of fighting crime in Gotham City as Batman. As for the villain that Batman will find himself up against in the upcoming film, Paul Dano is taking on the role of the Riddler, a serial killer who is targeting citizens of Gotham.

So far, the Riddler has been fairly absent from the film's trailers, with only glimpses of Dano in character. Thus, as of now, fans are likely expecting not to know much about Dano's interpretation of the character going into the film. However, while promoting the film, Dano has opened up a bit about his experience playing the Riddler — including the biggest challenges he faced in the process.

In a recent Entertainment Weekly interview with Paul Dano, writer Chancellor Agard reports that Matt Reeves used the Zodiac Killer for inspiration when reimagining the Riddler. With this in mind, it makes sense that Dano may struggle a bit with the darkness and intensity of the character. Dano told EW, "There were some nights around that I probably didn't sleep as well as I would've wanted to just because it was a little hard to come down from this character. It takes a lot of energy to get there. And so you almost have to sustain it once you're there because going up and down is kind of hard."

However, struggling with the Riddler's darkness didn't stop Dano from taking the character head on. Dano told EW that he pitched the idea to Reeves for the Riddler to cover himself in plastic wrap to make sure none of his DNA gets left behind at crime scenes. This ultimately led to Dano overheating under the plastic mask. Dano continued, "My head was just throbbing with heat. I went home that night, after the first full day in that, and I almost couldn't sleep because I was scared of what was happening to my head. It was like compressed from the sweat and the heat and the lack of oxygen. It was a crazy feeling." Luckily the costume department was able to make it more breathable for Dano, and they went through with the actor's idea.

We can't wait to see Dano's portrayal of the Riddler come to life on-screen when "The Batman" premieres in March.