It might be hard to imagine another actor playing Batman/Bruce Wayne inChristopher Nolan’sThe Dark Knighttrilogy than Christian Bale, but it seems thatJosh Hartnettcould have been the chosen one if he wasn’t interested in another Nolan’s movie.
A few years ago, theOppenheimerstar revealed that he had conversations with the director to play the beloved DC hero in the popular adaptation which kicked off withBatman Beginsin 2005. And now Christopher Nolan himself confirmed it in an interview with Josh Horowitz on his Happy, Sad, Confused Podcast (via Variety):
“I met with Josh and if I recall, he was a young actor whose work I was very interested in. I had an initial conversation with him but he had read my brother’s script for ‘The Prestige’ at the time and was more interested in getting involved with that. So it never went further than that.”
Unfortunately, thePearl Harboralum wasn’t cast in eitherBatmanorThe Prestige, but almost ten years later he finally joined Nolan in his latest film, where he plays the nuclear physicist Ernest Lawrence, one of J. Robert Oppenheimer’s long-time colleagues and one of the scientists behind the Manhattan Project. In the film, Lawrence and Oppenheimer meet while working at the University of Berkeley, and he’s in fact the one that introduces Cillian Murphy’s character work to the military.
Related:Oppenheimer: Can Christopher Nolan’s Movie Live Up to the Hype?
Batman Was Not the Only Hero Josh Hartnett Said No To
At the very beginning of the new millennium, Josh Hartnett was going through the best moment at his career. After participating in important titles such as The Virgin Suicides, Black Hawk Dawn and Pearl Harbor, everything indicated that the actor was going to become one of the biggest stars of the industry. But he decided to bet on more independent productions after those films made him so popular it overwhelmed him.
Back in 2020,the actor opened up to Metroconfessing why he said no to roles like Batman and Superman, which part he was offered before Brandon Routh ended up becoming the Man of Steel for Bryan Singer’s film:
“At that age it is very easy to become someone else’s tool or someone else’s puppet. I was very aware of the choices I was making and I wanted them to be my choices. There were a lot of powers that wanted me to pursue those films, but I have always been interested in stories about people and I didn’t want to be boxed into that superhero type. Back then a lot of actors had to fight really hard to get their career back after they played those characters.”
Earlier this year, Hartnett was part of another huge project, starring in one of the episodes of the sixth season ofBlack Mirror,Beyond the Sea. In the episode, the actor plays an astronaut in a six-year mission in an alternative reality set in 1969, where astronauts can return to spend time on Earth using artificial replicas of themselves. But a huge tragedy changes Hartnett’s character life forever, both in space and back home.
