Batman scribe reveals Jake Gyllenhaal could have played superhero in Nolan's trilogy

Imagine if Christopher Nolan hadn’t roped in Christian Bale for the role of his masked superhero Batman in the eponymous hit trilogy? Difficult to imagine right? There are reports now that this could have been a reality if all had gone well as screenwriter David S. Goyer recently revealed that Jake Gyllenhaal was being considered for the role at one point in time. During an episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Goyer said, “I mean, Gyllenhaal’s amazing, Christian Bale’s amazing, so who knows what.”

David S. Goyer helped develop the trilogy’s story that went on to become one of the best Batman films in the legacy of the DC superhero. David, who co-wrote 2005’s Batman Begins, said that after a number of people screen-tested for the part of Batman, in the first film, he “advocated for Jake Gyllenhaal.”

When the podcast host asked him if there was any footage somewhere of Jake Gyllenhaal auditioning in the Batman costume, David said, “I believe there is, yes.”

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But wait, that’s not it, as there were other contenders for the other parts in the films.David added, “There were a couple of different candidates in the running for Ra’s Al Ghul,” but that he voted for Liam Neeson because he “was a little older.” He said it made more sense with the story they were trying to tell regarding “this paternal story about the shadow of his [Bruce’s] father.”

In Batman Begins, Ken Watanabe was credited as portraying villain Ra’s al Ghul as a decoy while Neeson, who was the real Ra’s al Ghul and returned for 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises, was credited by his alias Henri Ducard.

David also revealed that at one point an executive from Warner Bros. suggested that they use Leonardo DiCaprio play the Riddler in the next film but he told the executive that it’s not the way they work. He added that Christopher Nolan is “very process driven” and was “staunchly against” building a movie around the villain “because he said that’s not a bottom, ground-up way of telling a story. Let’s do it in a very naturalistic way, so let’s figure out what kind of story we want to tell and what we thematically want to explore with Bruce, and then let’s figure out a villain that fits that story.”

While we all know what Christian Bale did to the Batman role, how do you think Jake Gyllenhaal would have served the cape?

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