“It was clear to me from the beginning”: Cillian Murphy Broke Silence on Losing Batman to Christian Bale After Landing Oppenheimer Lead Role 18 Years Later
When we rank superhero movies, Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy never misses a chance to grab one of the top three positions. From its gripping realism and grounded character building to the sense of terrifying villains, Batman totally challenged the cliché narrative of superhero movies so far. The trilogy portrayed Batman as a complex human, exploring the inner struggles and moral dilemmas of Bruce Wayne and Batman. All these factors made the person behind the role, Christian Bale, an apt portrayal of a superhero with empathy and grittiness, which were missing in the previous cinematic connotations. For many, Bale is the best thing to happen to Batman, something Ben Affleck and Robert Pattinson couldn’t attain.
Cillian Murphy opens up losing Batman role to Christian Bale
When it comes to Cillian Murphy, who has been widely celebrated for playing the lead role of Oppenheimer, opens up about the situation when he lost Batman to Christian Bale. Despite not playing the character, Murphy acknowledges losing the role to Bale; but he never believed himself a proper fit for the role, as he told GQ Magazine UK.
“Yes, I think it was for the best because we got Christian Bale’s performance, which is a stunning interpretation of that role. I never considered myself the right physical specimen for Batman. and I always felt that it was always going to be Christian Bale.”
Cillian Murphy’s Scarecrow: A big leap for Nolan
When Christopher Nolan had the screen test for the role, he realized the potential of Murphy and decided to cast him for the villain role. Murphy wasn’t then a Hollywood household name as today, but he was fortunate to play Scarecrow, the sole antagonist who featured in all three movies of the trilogy. It was quite a big leap for Nolan to cast a non-star as a villain. His haunting presence and ability to bring the character to life made him a standout in the films.
Nolan recently told Entertainment Weekly,
“All the previous Batman villains had been played by huge movie stars: Jack Nicholson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Carrey, that kind of thing. That was a big leap for them, and it really was purely on the basis of that test. So that’s how you got to play Scarecrow.”
Cillian Murphy’s gradual journey to a Hollywood star
Following the role of Scarecrow, he frequently marked his presence in Dunkirk and Inception before landing at Oppenheimer. But what actually made him prominent was his portrayal of Tommy Shelby in Peaky Blinders. Murph became a true television star as a result of the show’s enormous success.
When Nolan made the decision to work on Oppenheimer as his next endeavor, he immediately realized that the part belonged to his trusted associate. “It was like, ‘Cillian, look, I have a script; it’s ‘Oppenheimer’, and I’d like you to play Oppenheimer.’ That was it,” Murphy said in a conversation with the Hollywood Times.
Now with Oppenheimer, which subsequently made Cillian Murphy a Tinseltown star, he is emerging as one of the most talked about actors in recent memory. However, the movement toward the limelight was gradual and the fate of losing the DC’s gig finally served him well.
Source: Looper
