Cinematical

Just when you thought The Dark Knight was shaping up to be the mother of all Batman sequels, word trickles out that Freddy Prinze Jr. has been cast as one of the Caped Crusader's most infamous villains, The Riddler. The trades report this morning that Prinze Jr. has signed on to two Batman-related films, so we're not sure whether he will appear as The Riddler in The Dark Knight or wait until the third pic, where Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) will most likely make his transformation and become Two Face. Needless to say, it looks like director Christopher Nolan and his team are interested in going the Batman Forever route with the series and include both Two Face and Riddler as the villains in one pic. You'll remember, in that film Jim Carrey played Riddler, while Tommy Lee Jones took on the role of Two Face. Not for nothing, but I'm, um, speechless.

Says Nolan about the casting, "Freddy brings all the right ingredients to the role of Riddler. He's charming and good-looking, but there's something a little bit off about the guy. What is that? Where does it come from? That's what we're looking to explore here." Of course, now that Prinze Jr. is signed on, does this mean there's some truth to those Sarah Michelle Gellar rumors? The other day, I reported on a rumor that claimed Gellar had also signed on to play a role in The Dark Knight. So, either both husband and wife will play roles or, when Gellar said she was too busy to take on another role because of Batman, that meant she would be staying on set with her husband. Heck, what better way to help someone get into character as The Riddler than to make them hang around Sarah Michelle Gellar? The Dark Knight is set to begin production this spring; currently it's scheduled to hit theaters on July 18, 2008. Thoughts? Reactions?

Oh, and one more thing: Happy April Fool's Day!

In the spirit of this annual tradition, here are a couple other April Fool's Day pranks currently spreading like hot cakes across the world wide web:

• Over on JoBlo, they claim Brad Pitt has quit acting. Not quite as good as last year's Wonder Woman joke, but still pretty funny.
• Hey, did you know that HD-DVD and Blu-Ray decided to merge and call their new company HD-Blu? This is the one joke I wish I was true. Drats! [Thanks Judith]
• AICN was tricked into thinking Brad Bird was set to direct a live-action version of John Carter of Mars for Pixar. A live-action Pixar flick? Yeah, right ...

If you come across any other jokes, feel free to let us know in the comments section below. We love this stuff!