Second chances in Hollywood don’t come that often. A lot of actors turn down roles every now and then to appear in big-budget films by some of the most acclaimed directors and that lands them in a pool of uncertainty.
Landing the most suitable face is extremely crucial considering the fact that audiences, for example, have had a hard time imagining another actor in place of Christian Bale in the Batsuit since Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy. The case is pretty similar to Henry Cavill’s Man of Steel and Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man.
Playing the Nobel prize-winning physicist Ernest Lawrence in Christopher Nolan’s recently released Oppenheimer, Josh Hartnett was in talks with the director to star as the caped crusader in 2005’s Batman Begins.
Christopher Nolan Almost Considered Josh Hartnett For Batman Begins
The Dark Knight trilogy, having a cult-like following is majorly due to Nolan’s vision for the film’s story and the grounded take on the vigilante superhero.
Before Christian Bale showed us his iconic take on Bruce Wayne, Josh Hartnett had been in touch with Nolan to discuss the possibilities of him taking on the role.
Given Nolan’s thorough process of casting an actor who can share his vision, Hartnett was put on his table during the early phases of developing the film.
The 45-year-old actor used to be on Nolan’s radar as he had been observing his previous works. But, Hartnett was also involved with the director’s brother – Jonathan Nolan for the 2006’s The Prestige.
Christopher Nolan Had To Let A Confused Josh Hartnett Go
Josh Hartnett may have finally bagged the chance to work alongside Nolan after a long time, but, after his lack of enthusiasm and inability to choose a project out of the two in the early 2000s, Nolan had to end the talks with him.
It is not a mystery that Christopher Nolan, after all these years had Josh Hartnett in mind for a role in Oppenheimer, as he has been vocal about appreciating his work when the actor used to be in his twenties.
In his interview with Josh Horowitz –
“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.”
We can’t possibly know if getting Josh Hartnett to play the iconic character would have been a masterstroke or not, but Christian Bale took two projects out of his hands and delivered an unforgettable experience, both as Batman and as Alfred Borden in The Prestige.
Source: Variety
