Paul Dano says Nirvana inspired his version of The Riddler

Early reviews for the upcoming take on the Dark Knight, The Batman, have been getting a relatively uniform thumbs up. Robert Pattinson appears to have succeeded in his attempt to redefine the legendary superhero in his own way, while the supporting cast offers him plenty of worthy foes to stand toe to toe with.

One of those foes is Paul Dano taking on the brain game-loving villain The Riddler. There’s a pretty long-established history with this particular enemy, and the most famous version of the villain comes from rubber-faced force of nature Jim Carrey in 1995’s Batman Forever. Basically, all Dano had to do was not devour the scenery and his take on the character would be more subdued.

But Dano appears to have culled additional mopey inspiration from a vital source of downer energy: legendary grunge rockers Nirvana. That’s according to a new interview that Dano has done with NME, where the actor discussed how he got into the mindset of the darker Riddler of the modern-day.

“Well, in the script Matt had actually mentioned ‘Something In The Way’ by Nirvana,” Dano explained. “So that right there, that song, those words, that refrain, became hugely important to me. Nirvana became a part of that [character].” 

The Batman famously used ‘Something in the Way’ for the film’s first trailer back in 2020. Evidently, director Matt Reeves’ connection with the Nevermind track extended beyond teasers. Dano also explains that he listened to Aaron Copeland’s ‘Fanfare for the Common Man’ in order to get into character.

“There’s almost a sort of irony there,” Dano continues. “It’s this big, American horn sound, and The Riddler is playing on that.” Both ‘Something In The Way’ and ‘Fanfare For The Common Man’ appear on the film’s soundtrack, but when Dano is asked to expand on his use of the songs, he responds that the matter is “private and personal.” No word yet on whether ‘Lithium’ was used in the formal process either.