Did you know that Jake Gyllenhaal came this close to playing Batman in Christopher Nolan’s “Batman Begins?”
In a recent interview on the Happy, Sad, Confused podcast, “Batman Begins” screenwriter David S. Goyer discussed the casting process for the movie.
“I was involved in the casting process,” Goyer said. “In the early days it was me, Chris, Emma Thomas and Nathan Crowley, the production designer in the garage next to us while Chris and I were writing, he was building early models of the Tumbler. We would chat about all sorts.”
Goyer disclosed that the final contenders were Christian Bale and Jake Gyllenhaal. Goyer expressed his preference for Gyllenhaal, but ultimately, Nolan chose Bale to play the caped crusader and the rest, as they say, is history.
Goyer added: “There were a number of people who had screen tested for Batman, and I had advocated for Jake Gyllenhaal. He’s amazing, Christian Bale is amazing, so who knows?”
Gyllenhaal also screen tested for the role and apparently the the footage still exists. Our bet is that it the footage is in the DC vault somewhere. “I believe there is footage. [He would have been a solid Batman], yeah. It’s hard to know,” Goyer said.
Elsewhere in the interview, Goyer also mentioned the head of Warner Bros. at the time personally asked him to put the Riddler in “The Dark Knight Rises” and have Leonardo DiCaprio play him.
“After ‘The Dark Knight,’ the head of Warner Bros. at the premiere said, ‘You got to do the Riddler. Leo as the Riddler,” Goyer said. “You got to tell Chris, Leo as the riddler.’ And that’s not the way we work.”
When Goyer was asked if Nolan would ever make another Batman movie, he said, “I don’t think thats ever going to happen and I wouldn’t want to do another Batman project either.”
