Not Christian Bale, Jake Gyllenhaal was the first choice for Batman in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy

When one even remotely thinks about Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy aka The Dark Knight trilogy, the only person to come to mind is the supremacy of Christian Bale as Batman. Although hard to imagine, Bale wasn’t the first choice for the role. Jake Gyllenhaal was being considered to play Batman. The Brokeback Mountain actor actually auditioned for the role.

The revelation

Screenwriter David S. Goyer revealed on Happy Sad Confused about Jake being considered for the role. He had in fact ‘advocated for Jake.’ He also confirmed that there is a tape of Jake auditioning in the Batman costume.

Potential candidates for other roles too

David shared that many were in the running for Ras’ Al Ghul too but Liam Neeson was the perfect fit there. In Batman Begins, Ken Watanabe was credited for playing the character. Liam appeared in 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises. He was credited by his alias, Henri Ducard.

Leonardo DiCaprio suggested too

An executive from Warner Bros. asked David to cast Leonardo DiCaprio as Riddler in the next movie. The writer refused stating that is not how they work, mainly because of Nolan’s thought process. The writer explains that Nolan is ‘staunchly against’ building the movie around a villain. His idea was to explore Bruce first and then figuring out a villain that fits the story.

Actors became iconic with the roles

Whether Bale as Batman, Heath Ledger as Joker, Cillian Murphy as Scarecrow, Michael Cane as Alfred Pennyworth or Liam Neeson as Ras’ Al Ghul, all the actors became iconic thanks to their performances in Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy. Nobody has been able to match their level of perfection in the franchise till date and it barely looks possible now.