There have been a number of reports saying that Philip Seymour Hoffman will be playing The Penguin in the follow up to The Dark Knight, despite director Christopher Nolan himself not yet being attached to the film. Well finally those rumors can now be put to rest as MTV spoke to Hoffman himself, who quickly dismissed the claims.

“No one has talked to me about it ever — never,” replied Hoffman. “It happened, like, five years ago, too. It was a rumor back then and it’s still a rumor. [laughs] It’s just in the press. It’s funny.”

“I’m such a fan of those movies,” related Hoffman. “Comic book movies in general I look forward to — I am a real cheerleader for them. I want them to do well because those are terrific stories. As a kid I was a big comic book collector. What [Nolan]’s doing is taking it in a whole other exciting great place. I’m more a fan, so the interest of being in it isn’t that great. It’s more the interest in wanting to see the next one. It’s probably better that way.”

When further pressed for his level of interest in the role if Warner Bros. approached him about the role, Hoffman said, “I don’t know. 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. [laughs]”

So there you have it, Philip Seymour Hoffman is not interesting in playing The Penguin. I don’t think The Penguin will actually be in the next film, after writer David Goyer said he doesn’t want to use any villains we have already seen. It will be interesting to see what villain(s) they do use, however we have a long time to wait until we hear anything.

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