Although everything has worked out in the end, Robert Downey Jr. recently recounted his original meeting with Christopher Nolan for Batman Begins, which never amounted to anything. When it came to his first big project, Nolan would screentest different people for his caped crusader. He knew he wanted Christian Bale for the role, but decided to also test film Cillian Murphy for it anyway. Nolan would reminisce with Murphy, “When we had our first conversation, I think both of us knew that you weren’t going to wind up playing Batman. But I really wanted to get on set with you, I wanted to get you on film. We did those screen tests very elaborately, on 35mm, with a little set. There was just an electric atmosphere in the crew when you started to perform.”
Similarly, Robert Downey Jr. recently revealed at a recent Q&A at Los Angeles’ American Cinematheque Theater that he met with Nolan for the part of Dr. Jonathan Crane, aka Scarecrow. According to People, Downey Jr. said Nolan just wasn’t feeling it with him. He expounds, “I’m pretty sure I heard about [this role] and I was like, ‘I’m Scarecrow.’ And then I remember meeting [Nolan] for tea and I was like, ‘He doesn’t seem like he’s really in on this interview.'” Downey Jr. continued, “And he was polite and all that. But you can tell when someone is kind of like, ‘It’s not going to go anywhere.'”
At this point in Downey Jr.’s career, he had been working steadily in projects, but would not yet be the draw that he became after Iron Man in 2008, which ironically was released the same summer as Nolan’s juggernaut sequel, The Dark Knight. Equally, that summer, Downey Jr. also co-starred in Tropic Thunder, which got him a Best Supporting Actor nod, although it went posthumously to Heath Ledger.
Iron Man started Downey Jr. down the path to superstardom as the Marvel Cinematic Universe gained steam. And while Murphy won the Scarecrow role, it wasn’t necessarily a big one. However, that was just fine to Murphy. He would work with Nolan on more projects, including the Dark Knight sequels, Inception and Dunkirk. Murphy stated last summer, “I have always said publicly and privately, to Chris, that if I’m available and you want me to be in a movie, I’m there. I don’t really care about the size of the part. But deep down, secretly, I was desperate to play a lead for him.”