Remember when "The Dark Knight" actor Michael Caine told MTV News back in September that he believed Johnny Depp and Philip Seymour Hoffman would be playing The Riddler and the Penguin, respectively, in Christopher Nolan's next Batman movie? It was the scoop heard 'round the InterWebs -- but unfortunately, it turned out to be one big misunderstanding.

While we were quick to follow-up with Hoffman himself, who denied the casting, MTV News finally had a chance to catch up with the veteran actor who first informed us of the villainous Batman casting rumor this week. In town to promote his new film "Is Anybody There?" Caine sat down for a frank chat with MTV Movies Editor Joshua Horowitz about the Depp/Hoffman hub-bub and how all of the casting rumor chaos began.

"I read it in the newspaper and then I got told off," Caine told MTV News. "It was in the newspaper in Toronto about The Riddler and all that, and I thought, 'Well, they announced it.' And then I met this reporter who asked me about it, and the sh-- hit the fan." Read more...

Yesterday, we reported that "Dark Knight" castmember Michael Caine claimed that as far as he knew, the villains for the next "Batman" film had been cast with Johnny Depp landing the role of The Riddler, and Philip Seymour Hoffman playing The Penguin. Today at the Toronto Film Festival, we went right to the source and asked Hoffman directly if he indeed had been cast as The Penguin.

"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."

To further cement this issue, Hoffman added that he'd never met Nolan ("Maybe I did or met him in passing?"), and that his interest in comic book movies is purely on a fan level, and he intended to keep it that way. Read more...

It's one of the biggest -- and most hotly debated -- questions in fandom...which actors (and characters) will director Christopher Nolan enlist as a villain for his third "Batman" film? Rumors have abounded since the release of "The Dark Knight," and Nolan has remained fiercely tight-lipped. But now, has one of his main players revealed some of the biggest casting news of the decade?

In an interview with MTV News conducted just hours ago at the Toronto Film Festival, Michael Caine -- there to promote "Is There Anybody There?" -- seemed to confirm rumors that the next installment of the "Batman" film franchise will feature two very well-known names playing the roles of The Riddler and the Bumbershoot Bandit, The Penguin. "They've already got them in mind," said Caine, when asked who he'd like to see take up arms against the Caped Crusader. "It's Johnny Depp as The Riddler. And The Penguin is Philip Seymour Hoffman. I read it in the paper."

So Caine is like the rest of us, reading gossip in the tabloids, right? Except for one thing...according to the actor, he confirmed the news through the studio itself. Read more...