Robert Downey Jr. wanted to play Scarecrow in Batman Begins

Before Iron Man and Oppenheimer, Robert Downey Jr. wanted to play a very different comic book character in a very different Christopher Nolan movie.

At a Q&A at the Aero Theater in Los Angeles following a screening of Oppenheimer on Saturday, the Sherlock Holmes star said that he lobbied for the role of the Scarecrow in Nolan’s 2005 Batman Begins. “I’m pretty sure that I heard, like, ‘there’s this role, Scarecrow,’ and I was like, ‘psh, I’m Scarecrow!” Downey explained in a video captured by audience member and critic Griffin Schiller. 

Downey went on to say that he met with Nolan to discuss the part. “I remember meeting for tea, and I was like, ‘He doesn’t seem like he’s really leaning in on this interview,’” Downey recalled. “And he was polite and all that, but I mean, you know, you can tell when someone is kind of like, ‘It’s not gonna go your way.’”

The role of Dr. Jonathan Crane, the Arkham Asylum psychopharmacologist who uses fear toxins to manipulate Gotham City as the Scarecrow, ultimately went to Cillian Murphy, who starred opposite Downey in Oppenheimer. Both actors are currently nominated for Oscars for their roles.

Nolan previously told EW that after seeing 28 Days Later, he considered Murphy to play Bruce Wayne/Batman, not the film’s antagonist. “I saw a picture of you with your shaved head and your crazy eyes — no offense,” he said during a conversation with Murphy for EW. “I remember being struck by your presence, literally from that one photograph, and then started to look into who you were, and what you'd done, and got very excited about the idea of meeting you, and having you screen test for Batman.”

Murphy quickly realized he wasn't the best fit for the part. “It was clear to me from the beginning that I wasn't Batman material,” he said. “It felt to me that it was correct and right that it should be Christian Bale for that part. But I remember the buzz of trying on the suit and being directed by you. Those tests were high production values.”

Nolan also knew Murphy probably wasn’t right for the Caped Crusader, but still wanted to work with Murphy. “When we had our first conversation I think both of us knew that you weren't going to wind up playing Batman. But I really wanted to get on set with you, I wanted to get you on film,” he said. “Everybody was so excited by watching you perform [screen tests] that when I then said to them, ‘Okay, Christian Bale is Batman, but what about Cillian to play Scarecrow?’ there was no dissent.”

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