Director Christopher Nolan trades in the Joker for the Riddler in the next Batman movie and has pegged his ‘Inception’ star, JGL, to star!

What started off as a joke has become a reality —Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who stars in Christopher Nolan’s new film, Inception, is the director’s first pick to play The Riddler in the next installment of the Batman franchise!

“Chris really dug Joseph [as an actor],” a source close to the director tells HollywoodLife.com exclusively. “There was a joke at first between them [on the set of Inception] that Joseph wanted to read for Batman 3 and things heated up as filming continued.”

Adds the insider, “It’s not 100% confirmed that he’s getting [the role of The Riddler] but there’s certainly talk about it. Joseph is definitely on the short list.” This should make fans happy, especially as several fan sites have expressed a wish to see the 500 Days of Summer cutie score the role!

But don’t expect to find out anytime soon whether the 29-year-old actor will actually become The Riddler in reality — the script is still being written! Also don’t expect to see JGL take on his 10 Things I Hate About You co-star Heath Ledger‘s posthumous Oscar-winning role of The Joker, either — Nolan has already confirmed that he won’t be recasting that particular part. Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s rep says, “This is not true.”

The working titled Batman 3 is slated for a July 2012 release, but if you can’t wait to see a Joseph Gordon-Levitt/Christopher Nolan collaboration, check out Inception when it premieres July 16.

Laura Schreffler with reporting by Russ Weakland