Cillian Murphy’s Batman audition landed him Scarecrow and a BFF in Christopher Nolan
polygon.comBatman Beginsis now old enough that moviegoers have witnessed multiple more cinematic Batmans hit the screen, but it’s worth remembering: The quality that surrounded Christopher Nolan’s gritty reinvention in 2005 was downright mythic. Who could not only take over the mantle of Batman but reinvigorate the property to the levels of Batman 1989, before the campy streak of Batman Forever and Batman & Robin snuffed it out?
The answer turned out to be Christian Bale, but as many Extremely Online casting dorks knew at the time and many have forgotten in the last two decades of Bat-castings, there were more contenders — including Cillian Murphy, who would go on to play the Scarecrow in Batman Begins. The casting shuffle was so well known in the immediate aftermath of the film’s release that Warner Bros. would, in a rare move, release Murphy’s screen test as a bonus feature on the DVD.
What wasn’t as known at the time is how truly smitten Nolan was with Murphy, who was still a relative unknown. The unexpected success of Danny Boyle’s low-budget zombie nightmare 28 Days Later made Murphy a known entity in Hollywood, but not a box office draw or even a logical name for the premiere villain role in a Batman movie. Those roles went to names like Jack Nicholson, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Jim Carrey — movie stars. But the thing Nolan realized at the time was that Murphy had the stuff, and just needed someone to anoint his movie star status.
“You came out to L.A. for the screen test and we had dinner at a hotel. I felt an immediate connection,” Nolan said in conversation with Murphy in a new dual interview in Entertainment Weekly. “I felt like, this is somebody that I want to work with, somebody who has an interesting take on things
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