Billie Eilish Says Dream About Christian Bale Made Her Break Up With Past Boyfriend: ‘I Woke Up and I Came to My Senses’

Christian Bale played the Caped Crusader in three Batman films directed by Christopher Nolan. However, someone else almost played the role if plans had gone a different way.

In an interview with Deadline, Nolan revealed Cillian Murphy tried out for the role before it ultimately went to Bale. According to the story, Nolan and Murphy hit it off during their first meeting, and the director wanted to see what the actor could do so he had him read some of Bruce Wayne’s lines.  

“I just remember a sort of ripple of excitement going through the crew,” Nolan said. “We tested everyone as Bruce Wayne, and we tested them as Batman, and the thing that Christian had that was so striking was that he understood that so much of acting is about reality. So much of acting is about emotional truth.”

He continued, “And when you put on a costume like the Batsuit, you have to become this icon. Christian had this crazy energy that he just directed. He’d figured out how that worked and what that would be—the way Bruce Wayne does in the film. He adopts this persona. It’s a very specific thing. And he tore a hole on the screen as Batman. It was like, there was no question.”