Why Josh Hartnett Refused To Play Bruce Wayne In Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins

Christopher Nolan and Josh Hartnett will collaborate for the first time on Nolan's highly anticipated film "Oppenheimer," but this was not the first time that the director has tried to cast the elusive Hartnett. In fact, the actor was offered the titular role in Nolan's 2005 film "Batman Begins," and much to Nolan's chagrin, he turned it down.

Nolan had yet to direct a major blockbuster, but his Batman entries would become some of the most successful superhero movies to date. Why would Hartnett refuse to play such a legendary character?

Well, for one thing, the actor was overwhelmed with his newfound success following Michael Bay's "Pearl Harbor," released in 2001. "The intensity of my sudden fame was overwhelming for me," he confessed to Playboy in 2015, "and in the middle of that, I felt I couldn't trust any new person I met or their motives." This made him gravitate towards his family back home in Minnesota and smaller, independent films like "Wicker Park." "If I could go back and take with me my wisdom of today, I wish I'd been more resilient," he admitted. "I hope I wouldn't be as panicked as I was. Maybe I'd have known that no matter what people try to take from you, you don't have to give it to them."

His resistance to fame had real consequences on his career — particularly his relationship with the soon-to-be world-famous director Christopher Nolan.

It's safe to say that Nolan took it to heart when Hartnett rejected the leading role in "Batman Begins."

"I've definitely said no to some of the wrong people," the actor admitted. "I learned my lesson when [writer-director] Christopher Nolan and I talked about 'Batman.' I decided it wasn't for me. Then he didn't want to put me in 'The Prestige.' They not only hired their Batman for it, they also hired my girlfriend at the time." This blunder led Hartnett to a totally newfound approach to his career.

"That's when I realized relationships were formed in the fire of that first 'Batman' film and I should have been part of the relationship with this guy Nolan, who I felt was incredibly cool and very talented," he explained. But time with friends and family wasn't Hartnett's only concern — he was also scared of being typecast as a superhero.

"I was so focused on not being pigeonholed and so scared of being considered only one thing as an actor," Hartnett recalled. "I should have thought, 'Well, then, work harder, man.' Watching Christian Bale go on to do so many other things has been just awesome. I mean, he's been able to overcome that. Why couldn't I see that at the time?"

The actor has since managed to patch up his relationship with Christopher Nolan and is starring in his 2023 wartime biopic, "Oppenheimer." He has since decided that he doesn't regret shying away from a stab at a superhero.

"At that age it is very easy to become someone else's tool or someone else's puppet," Hartnett explained to Metro in 2020. He continued, saying: 

"I was very aware of the choices I was making and I wanted them to be my choices. [...] There were a lot of powers that be that wanted me to pursue those films, but I have always been interested in stories about people and I didn't want to be boxed into that superhero type. Back then a lot of actors had to fight really hard to get their career back after they played those characters."

Superhero films have garnered significantly more critical acclaim in recent years, but a lot of that praise is due to their dipping into the indie darling acting pool for casting — see Colin Farrell and Paul Dano in the 2022 film "The Batman." Who's to say if taking a superhero role too early in his career could have ruined future opportunities for Hartnett?