Warner Bros.
Christian Bale was not Nolan’s first choice for his Batman trilogy
A producer of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy has revealed that before Christian Bale, there was another actor who was set to wear the cowl.
It is difficult not to place any of the three films that make up the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy among the 10 best superhero movies of all time. Unanimously, ‘The Dark Knight’ would have to be placed even between the top 3, and there is no doubt that Christian Bale’s interpretation as the guardian of Gotham has a lot to do with that. However, surprisingly, the Welsh actor was not the first one chosen for the role. What would have happened if the first option had worn the black bat suit?
Who was chosen to be Batman?
One of the producers of the trilogy, David S. Goyer, has confessed that over Bale, his bet was different, someone who was already on the verge of venturing into superhero movies on another occasion. It is none more and none less than Jake Gyllenhaal, who would have already been in the pools to be the Peter Parker with Sam Raimi after salary disagreements with Toby Maguire. Goyer confirmed on the Happy, Sad, Confused podcast with Josh Horowitz that Gyllenhaal was his first choice, and that in fact, he insisted a lot on it, although he does acknowledge that Bale is incredible in all three films. Years later, Gyllenhaal would see his wish fulfilled to play a comic book character, becoming the Mysterio of ‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’.
But it is by no means the only surprise, as the second involves Leonardo Dicaprio. According to Goyer, the then president of Warner Bros. wanted Di Caprio to play Riddler. “After ‘The Dark Knight,’ the head of Warner Brothers at the premiere said ‘You got to do the Riddler. Leo is the Riddler, you gotta tell Chris: Leo is the Riddler’.” However, as we saw later, the character does not even make an appearance in any of the three films, reappearing in the Batman cinematic universe in ‘The Batman’, the most recent installment with Robert Pattinson.