In a 2009 interview, Christian Bale said that during his first scene with Sir Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman (the scene in which he wakes up in bed and finds them waiting for him), he fell asleep after getting ready to shoot. He said that when he woke up, Caine poked him in the ribs and said, "Look at that! He actually fell asleep."
Christian Bale's active dislike of the uncomfortable Batman costume contributed to his Dark Knight performance; he was in a consistently bad mood whenever he wore it.
Early in the casting process, Christian Bale decided he did not want to play Batman in a flat way and chose to portray him as an anger-filled beast, and he thought this might polarize writer-director Sir Christopher Nolan. Bale was delighted that Nolan was very pleased with this unusual interpretation.
Christian Bale lost his voice three times during filming because of the vocal change he made for the role of Batman.
The language Ken Watanabe uses is neither Japanese nor Tibetan nor any known language. It is rumored to be a meaningless language he invented for the role, although the subtitles list it as Urdu.
Sir Gary Oldman accepted the role of Jim Gordon without reading the script. He was the last name to join the cast and learned his lines on the plane rather than at the first shoot.
The door of Christian Bale's trailer did not bear his name but read "Bruce Wayne."
Because Alfred's sense of duty and loyalty to Bruce Wayne reminded him of his army comradeship, Sir Michael Caine based his character's voice on a colonel he had known in the army at the age of 18.
Only a few days before the auditions for the role of Batman, eight actors tried out: Christian Bale, Joshua Jackson, Eion Bailey, Hugh Dancy, Billy Crudup, Cillian Murphy, Henry Cavill and Jake Gyllenhaal. David Duchovny came up again after having been considered for Batman & Robin (1997); Jude Law was also evaluated. Gyllenhaal was David S. Goyer's first choice, but Bale won the role. Sir Christopher Nolan was so impressed by Murphy's audition that he cast him as Dr. Jonathan Crane, that is, the Scarecrow. Murphy was the second Irish actor considered to play Batman, after Pierce Brosnan for Batman (1989). Val Kilmer's Batman costume and cowl from Batman Forever (1995) (the cape was missing) were brought out of storage for the auditions. Cavill was 20 years old when he auditioned for Batman, making him the youngest actor considered for the role. At the same time, he was also being considered for the role of Superman in Brett Ratner's cancelled Superman: Flyby, and he eventually played Superman in Man of Steel (2013).
While promoting this film, Christian Bale continued to use the American accent he had adopted for Bruce Wayne/Batman in his interviews. He explained the reason as not wanting potential viewers to be confused about why Batman, an American institution, was being played by a Welshman. This may not be entirely accurate, however, since Bale rarely gives interviews in his own Welsh accent. The reason is thought to be that Bale always uses the accent required for his next role, reflecting his commitment to method acting.
According to DC Comics, Batman is 1.88 m tall and weighs 95 kg. Christian Bale is 1.84 m tall (according to his IMDb profile) and weighed 95 kg during filming.
Morgan Freeman admitted that he had been reading Batman comics since he was 9 years old but knew nothing about Lucius Fox.
Christian Bale suffered headaches because of the cowl and used them to get into character. He says the headaches made him harsh and impatient.
Because of the height difference between him and Christian Bale (Neeson is 1.93 m, Bale is 1.84 m), Liam Neeson had to stoop during the final fight.
Christian Bale completed his training quickly by watching recordings of his fights. Bale's photographic memory allowed him to memorize the fight sequences easily.
Liam Neeson hesitated about doing this film. As a Superman fan, he says he found Batman "scary."
Sir Christopher Nolan was so impressed by Ken Watanabe that he cast him in Inception (2010).
Christian Bale was the first actor to meet with writer-director Sir Christopher Nolan for the role of Batman.
In his autobiography, Rutger Hauer wrote that he chose to accept the role of Wayne Enterprises executive Mr. Earle because he saw Earle as someone ruthless toward others but quick to accept defeat; that is how it ends in the film as well.
Marilyn Manson, Christopher Eccleston, Ewan McGregor and Jeremy Davies were considered for the role of Dr. Jonathan Crane, that is, the Scarecrow.
According to screenwriter David S. Goyer, Morgan Freeman was the only person who could play Lucius Fox.
Christian Bale kept Batman graphic novels on set for inspiration; he loved the visuals.
Rutger Hauer described Morgan Freeman as one of his heroes and said he had been a great admirer of his acting since The Shawshank Redemption. In his autobiography, he said of Freeman: "Working with someone like Morgan is a form of excitement... I found him very warm, relaxed and very sensitive as he almost disappears into his role. As far as I can see, working with the best actors is the easiest."
Christopher Nolan initially wanted Gary Oldman to play a villain and Chris Cooper to play Jim Gordon. But because Cooper wanted to spend more time with his family, Nolan moved toward the idea of casting Oldman as a non-villainous character.
Ashton Kutcher was seriously considered for the role of Bruce Wayne and was the studio executives' preference. Nolan, however, was not warm to the idea, and the Warner Bros. executives shelved the suggestion. Casting Kutcher could have led to a controversy similar to the one that arose over Michael Keaton's casting in the 1989 Batman film.
This is one of the first films in which Gary Oldman plays one of the "good guys" rather than a villain. Likewise, it is the first film in which Liam Neeson plays the villain rather than the lead.
A significant portion of the main cast consists of European actors using American accents in their roles: Christian Bale (Bruce Wayne/Batman) is Welsh; Gary Oldman (Jim Gordon) is English; Cillian Murphy (Dr. Jonathan Crane) is Irish; Tom Wilkinson (Carmine Falcone) is English; Rutger Hauer (Earle) is Dutch; Linus Roache (Thomas Wayne) is English; Colin McFarlane (Loeb) is English. Liam Neeson is Northern Irish. Sara Stewart (Bruce Wayne's mother) is Scottish.
Keanu Reeves was considered for the role of Batman and expressed his interest in the press while the project was in development. He had also been considered for the role in Batman Forever (1995).
Christian Bale's older sister Louise Bale played Mrs. Wayne, Bruce Wayne's mother, in the short film The Death of Batman (2003).
Sir Anthony Hopkins was offered the role of Alfred but turned it down.
Christian Bale was 31 years old at the time of the film's release, making him the second-youngest actor to play Batman after Lewis Wilson, who took the role at 23 in the 1943 Batman serial.
Laurence Fishburne was considered for the role of Lucius Fox.
Viggo Mortensen and Sir Daniel Day-Lewis were considered for the role of Henri Ducard/Ra's al Ghul. Both actors were also evaluated for the role of General Zod in Man of Steel (2013).
Christopher Nolan cast Katie Holmes because of her 'girl next door' quality.
Lucius Fox was first created in the comics in 1979 and appeared in live action for the first time with this film. He had previously appeared in the DC Animated Universe productions Batman: The Animated Series (1992) and The New Batman Adventures (1997).
Cillian Murphy actually auditioned for the role of Batman and shot a screen test as Bruce Wayne wearing the full Batsuit. The role went to Christian Bale, and Murphy was cast as Scarecrow. Murphy said he never thought he came close to the role and that Christian Bale 'nailed it completely.' Murphy's screen test was later shown in The Fire Rises: The Creation and Impact of the Dark Knight Trilogy (2013), a documentary about Christopher Nolan's films.
In the comics, Ra's Al-Ghul is Middle Eastern. In the film, however, he is played by Ken Watanabe (Japanese) and Liam Neeson (Irish).
In a promotional interview, Sir Michael Caine stated that he had never worked with Christian Bale before this film but was fascinated by his performance as the caped crusader: 'Christian and I didn't know each other before, we get along very well. He's also a perfect actor, the best Batman I've ever seen.'
Amy Adams read for the role of Rachel Dawes during Christian Bale's screen test. She later played Lois Lane in Man of Steel (2013), Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Justice League (2017).
Sir Michael Caine believes Alfred represents the audience: 'Among all the crazies in the film, you are the one.'
Christian Bale did not want to play Bruce Wayne inside the bat costume; to him, it was a completely different character.
Sir Gary Oldman's take on Commissioner Gordon was inspired by the character design in Frank Miller's 'Batman: Year One'.
The cast includes five Oscar winners (Christian Bale, Sir Michael Caine, Sir Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy and Morgan Freeman) and three Oscar nominees (Liam Neeson, Ken Watanabe and Tom Wilkinson).
Brazilian voice actor Márcio Seixas was the official voice of Rutger Hauer and Sir Michael Caine; he also regularly dubbed Liam Neeson and Morgan Freeman and voiced Bruce Wayne/Batman in many animated series. In this film, he dubbed only Caine.
Sarah Michelle Gellar and Rachel McAdams were considered for the role of Rachel Dawes.
Guy Pearce was considered for the role of Henri Ducard but was deemed too young. Pearce had previously worked with Christopher Nolan on 'Memento' (2000) and claimed that, despite Nolan's efforts, he never appeared in another Nolan film because an executive at Warner Bros. disliked him. However, Pearce admitted that his performance in 'Memento' was mediocre: 'I realized I hated what I was doing. The story that an executive at Warners caused me not to work with Chris again collapsed. I know why I didn't work with Chris again - I'm not good in 'Memento'.'
Kurt Russell, Chris Cooper and Dennis Quaid were considered for the role of James Gordon.
Robert Downey Jr. met with Christopher Nolan for the role of Scarecrow. Nolan later told Downey that Cillian Murphy had always been his first choice but that he had still accepted the meeting because 'I always wanted to meet you... I was a big fan and so I selfishly just wanted the meeting. But I was also a little afraid of you, you know. I'd heard all kinds of stories about you being crazy. It had only been a few years since the last of those stories.' The three later worked together on 'Oppenheimer' (2023).
In an interview, Joe Pantoliano revealed that he turned down the role of Detective Flass because he found the character insignificant.
Dr. Crane's name in the comics is Jonathan; this name is never mentioned in the film.
Christopher Nolan finally explained why he chose Christian Bale over Cillian Murphy: 'I think he [Murphy] wasn't physically right at the time. We tested everyone as Bruce Wayne and Batman, and what was striking about Christian was that he understood acting is largely about reality. Acting is about emotional reality. And when you wear a costume like the Batsuit, you have to become an icon. Christian had a crazy energy that he channeled. He had figured out how this works and what it would be - just as Bruce Wayne does in the film.' The director concluded by saying that Christian Bale 'drilled a hole in the screen.'
In an interview for 'Oppenheimer,' Cillian Murphy was asked about his 'Batman Begins' experience and playing a comic book villain. Murphy said that after playing a particular scene without exaggeration, he decided to do a take like a 'real villain' and add a bit of camp to the line 'He's here. The Batman!' Murphy didn't think Christopher Nolan would use it, but that was the take used in the film.
Sir Gary Oldman said: 'When we did the first Batman, London stood in for Gotham. I made 27 round-trip flights from LA. I'd fly in for a day. I'd shoot for a day. To give Chris Nolan his due, he stuck to his schedule. I'd go home for three days. I'd come back for two days. I'd go home for the weekend. I'd come back for a day... otherwise I'd feel like my kids were being raised by a nanny.'
Christian Bale is the first Welsh actor to play the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman.
Sir Michael Caine took his stage name from 'The Caine Mutiny' (1954). That film featured José Ferrer, the uncle of previous Batman actor George Clooney and the first actor considered for the role of the Joker in the 1960s television series.
With Katie Holmes playing Rachel Dawes in this film, it became the second film in which one of Tom Cruise's wives played a Batman love interest. The first was Nicole Kidman as Dr. Chase Meridian in 'Batman Forever' (1995).
Christopher Nolan cast Cillian Murphy as Professor Jonathan Crane, a.k.a. Scarecrow, after seeing him in '28 Days Later' (2002). Comparing Nolan and Danny Boyle, Murphy said: 'I know they have great respect for each other. Chris had seen '28 Days Later' before casting me in 'Batman Begins.' I know they're fans of each other's work. They're singular voices, truly unique filmmakers, and they have the same passion and energy on set.' Murphy recalled the moment he learned he got the role: 'I was at the airport, queuing for a RyanAir flight, jumping up and down.'
Frank Miller, the writer of the 'Batman: Year One' comic book that had a major influence on this film, said: 'When I work on a character, I tend to be very critical of what others do. So I don't tend to like Batman movies or Daredevil movies.' However, he approved of this film: 'It really had heart and essence, and Christian Bale gave without a doubt the best Batman performance I've ever seen.'
Christian Bale earned a total of 34 million dollars for the Dark Knight trilogy, excluding additional back-end profits.
(At around the 31st minute) The homeless man who takes Bruce's coat was played by Rade Šerbedžija. He is also the actor who played the vengeful father in 'Taken 2' (2012), which also starred Liam Neeson.
Christian Bale was considered for the role of Robin in the 1995 film Batman Forever.
Christian Bale and Jack Gleeson appeared together in the 2002 film Reign of Fire.
Gary Oldman (Jim Gordon) was married to Uma Thurman, who played Poison Ivy in Batman & Robin, between 1990 and 1992.
Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman are the only cast members who were alive in 1939, the year Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27.
Gary Oldman and Dennis Quaid turned down the role of Thomas Wayne; both were considered for James Gordon, and Oldman was ultimately cast.
Alexandra Bastedo's (Gotham Society Dame) final cinema film.
Richard Brake's breakout role; although he had previously played supporting roles in Hollywood, this film made him recognizable, and he subsequently often played dangerous/unstable characters.
All of the main cast except Gary Oldman reprised their roles in the tie-in video game Batman Begins; Gavin Hammon voiced Jim Gordon.
One of Michael Caine's (Alfred Pennyworth) first leading roles was the title character Alfred Elkins in the 1966 film Alfie.
Morgan Freeman and Mark Boone Junior appeared together in the 1995 film Seven.
Steven Pasquale was considered for the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman.
Michael Caine and Katie Holmes appeared together in the 2017 film Dear Dictator.
Linus Roache and Richard Brake appeared together in the film Mandy.
Gus Lewis, who played young Bruce Wayne, was actually 11 years old, but played an 8-year-old boy.
In 2020, Michael Caine said that the Dark Knight trilogy was one of the best experiences of his life and some of the best films he has worked on.
At 1.93 m tall, Liam Neeson is the tallest actor to play a Batman villain in a film; he shares this record with Jeep Swenson, who played Bane in Batman & Robin.
Christopher Nolan had previously directed Mark Boone Junior in the 2000 film Memento.