Although last year’s Oppenheimer marked the first time that Robert Downey Jr. and Christopher Nolan worked together, it wasn’t the first time they met. Several years before Downey was cast to play Tony Stark/Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he was circling the role of Dr. Jonathan Crane, a.k.a. Scarecrow, in Batman Begins, the first chapter of Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy. Now the filmmaker has admitted the reason why he met with Downey about the Batman movie despite already knowing who would play the fear-obsessed villain.
Earlier this month, Downey recalled how when he met with Nolan about Batman Begins way back when, although the director was “polite” to him, he didn’t seem like he was interested in bringing the actor aboard for the Caped Crusader’s return to the big screen. Nolan copped to this while the two spoke with The New York Times as part of the new press circuit for Oppenheimer following the movie collecting 13 nominations at the 96th Academy Awards, and laid out his ulterior motive for their meeting as follows:
I 100% knew you weren’t the guy [for Scarecrow]. In my head that was already cast. But I always wanted to meet you … I was a huge admirer of yours and therefore selfishly just wanted to take the meeting. But I was also a little afraid of you, you know. I had heard all kinds of stories about how you were crazy. It was only a few years after the last of those stories that had come out about you.
So while it wasn’t officially set in stone at the time Christopher Nolan met with Robert Downey Jr. about Batman Begins, the former had already settled on Cillian Murphy, a.k.a. the future lead actor of Oppenheimer, to play the role of Scarecrow. Instead, the face time with Downey was merely an excuse to see what he was like in person, as he both enjoyed Downey’s professional work, but he was also familiar with the less-than-stellar reputation the actor has obtained in his personal life. This is, of course, referring to Downey’s struggles with drug addiction and getting into trouble with the law between 1996 and 2001.
Still, I think we can all agree that it worked out that Downey didn’t play Scarecrow in Batman Begins. Murphy being selected for the role led to him and Nolan working together on six movies, with Oppenheimer netting the actor an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. In Downey’s case, if he’d played Scarecrow, it’s good bet he wouldn’t have been selected to lead Iron Man, which kicked off his 10-movie run at Marvel and made him one of Hollywood’s most famous stars. This turned out to be a win-win for everyone, though I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t interested in seeing what Downey antagonizing Christian Bale’s Batman would have looked like.
Find how Oppenheimer fares at the next Oscars ceremony when it airs Sunday, March 10 on ABC. If you have a Peacock subscription, you’ll be able to stream Oppenheimer on the platform starting on February 12. Those of you now interested in revisiting in Batman Begins can also find that movie, along with The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, on Peacock now, or stream the three blockbusters with a Max subscription.
