Cillian Murphy Says Losing Batman Role Was ‘For the Best,’ Was on a List to Play Oppenheimer 9 Years Before Christopher Nolan’s Film
variety.comZack Sharf Digital News Director Before Christian Bale landed the role of Batman/Bruce Wayne in Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” trilogy, the filmmaker screen-tested his “Oppenheimer” star Cillian Murphy.
Both men have since admitted that Murphy was never a real threat to steal the part from Bale, and Murphy told GQ Magazine UK in a recent interview that it “was for the best” that Bale won the coveted role over him anyway. “Yes, I think it was for the best because we got Christian Bale’s performance, which is a stunning interpretation of that role,” Murphy said. “I never considered myself as the right physical specimen for Batman.
To me, it was always going to be Christian Bale.” Nolan didn’t think Murphy was right for the part either, but he still screen-tested him for Batman so that executives at Warner Bros.
could see what an amazing actor he was. The director wanted Murphy to play the film’s villain, Scarecrow, but Murphy wasn’t exactly a huge movie star.
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