Given so much time has passed, most of the “what if” legends of most superhero films are out there already. For Christopher Nolan’s “Batman Begins,” we all know that Cillian Murphy lost out to Christian Bale for the Batman role. Still, the filmmaker was so intrigued that he cast him as Scarecrow instead, and that was the start of a beautiful acting collaboration that peaked with “Oppenheimer.” We also know Jake Gyllenhaal was up for Batman, Gary Oldman was up for Scarecrow (and took Jim Gordon instead), and Josh Hartnett was another actor up for Batman, too. But now Robert Downey Jr., who starred in “Oppenheimer” and appears to be the frontrunner for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar, has chimed in too.
Downey Jr. was at an American Cinematheque screening for “Oppenheimer” in LA this weekend, and the actor revealed he met with Christopher Nolan for the Scarecrow role in “Batman Begins” but that the filmmaker was polite but seemingly not into the idea. Playlist podcaster and contributor Griffin Schiller was there and recorded the bit with Downey Jr., revealing the “Batman Begins” nugget.
“I’m the scarecrow!” Downey Jr. joked upon hearing the part was up for grabs. “And I remember meeting [with Nolan] for tea, and I remember thinking, ‘he doesn’t seem like he was really leaning in on this interview,’ and he was polite and all that, but you know… you can tell when someone is like, you know…[making a face that suggests disinterest], it’s not going to go anywhere.”
Clearly, it didn’t, and Nolan went with Cillian instead. Interestingly, this was circa 2003 or early 2004, and Downey had not yet really rehabilitated his career with “Iron Man,” which arrived in 2009. Even the precursor to that recovery, the one that paved the way, “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” (2004) or smaller roles in “Good Night, and Good Luck” (2005) would have likely not have been seen yet. Well, thankfully, Nolan kept him in mind, and the rest will probably be history come March as Downey Jr. is pretty much considered the lock of all locks for his “Oppenheimer” performance.