It’s hard to imagine that we are nearly 20 years removed from the release of Christopher Nolan’s “Batman Begins,” and what would become the start of one of the most famous film trilogies of all time. And other than Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne, there are few characters who actually made it through all three films. One of those is Jonathan Crane, aka Scarecrow, played by frequent Nolan collaborator Cillian Murphy. But according to Nolan and Murphy, the way the actor landed the villain role was actually by suiting up as Batman.
READ MORE: Christian Bale Will Only Return As Batman For Christopher Nolan
In a new conversation presented by EW, Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy talked with each other about how they came about working together on “Batman Begins.” Apparently, Murphy was lined up as one of the lucky actors who would get the chance to screen test in the actual Batman suit for Nolan. However, that didn’t go so well. Fortunately, there was enough there for the filmmaker to make a pivot and turn Murphy into the villain of the film.
“When we had our first conversation I think both of us knew that you weren’t going to wind up playing Batman,” said Nolan. “But I really wanted to get on set with you, I wanted to get you on film. We did those screen tests very elaborately, on 35mm, with a little set. There was just an electric atmosphere in the crew when you started to perform.”
He added, “We did two scenes — there was a Bruce Wayne scene and a Batman scene — and I made sure that executives came down and watched what you were doing on set. Everybody was so excited by watching you perform that when I then said to them, ‘Okay, Christian Bale is Batman, but what about Cillian to play Scarecrow?’ there was no dissent. All the previous Batman villains had been played by huge movie stars: Jack Nicholson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Carrey, that kind of thing. That was a big leap for them and it really was purely on the basis of that test. So that’s how you got to play Scarecrow.”
Murphy agreed about not being a good fit for Batman, but he agreed to the screen test just as a chance to work with Nolan, even for a brief moment.
“It was clear to me from the beginning that I wasn’t Batman material,” said Murphy. “It felt to me that it was correct and right that it should be Christian Bale for that part. But I remember the buzz of trying on the suit and being directed by you. Those tests were high production values.”
As we now know, the role did go to Christian Bale, and Nolan’s ‘Dark Knight’ trilogy would become iconic. However, you can’t deny that the filmmaker was onto something working with Cillian Murphy as Scarecrow. He’s one of the most interesting aspects of each scene he’s in, which is saying a lot in the ‘Batman’ films.
The duo of Nolan and Murphy have their biggest collaboration yet, “Oppenheimer,” arriving in theaters on July 21.