Robert Downey Jr. reveals that before Iron Man, he met Chris Nolan for Batman Begins

“I’m pretty sure it was for the role of The Scarecrow,” recalls the Oppenheimer actor.

Robert Downey Jr. has been a hit in recent months thanks to Oppenheimera film that could well offer him his first Oscar (for best supporting actor, for his incarnation of Lewis Strauss). Already nominated at the very beginning of his career for his interpretation of Charlie Chaplin, he had not received the statuette, which is a good thing, according to him, because he was too young to have such recognition.

At 58, the actor who experienced a long slump in the early 2000s before becoming a hit all over the world thanks to the role of Tony Stark/Iron Man at Marvel, is happily participating in the promotion of Christopher Nolan’s film. Like his sisters and brothers Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh or Cillian Murphy, he is not stingy in anecdotes on the manufacture ofOppenheimerand he also talks about other key moments in his career.

Invited by the American Cinematheque this weekend, he revealed to the public that he had already met the director before signing for this biopic. It was already around twenty years ago, for Batman Begins (a blockbuster released in 2005 at the cinema, to be seen again this evening on TMC).

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“I’m pretty sure it was for the role of The Scarecrow, he confides before saying that he understood immediately that he would not have the role. I remember meeting him for tea, and he didn’t seem to have much faith in this interview. He was very polite and everything, but you know when you’re chatting with someone and you feel like it’s not going anywhere? I felt exactly that.”

RDJ recounts this memory with a laugh, but he seems to have been seriously in talks for this film for a while. At the time of their meeting, had Nolan already set his sights on Cillian Murphy for this particular character? This could explain his distance from Downey Jr. at the time of their interview.

We know that initially, Nolan met Murphy so that he could audition for the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman, after having been amazed by his “crazy eyes” In 28 days laterby Danny Boyle – his video “screen test” East there. The director ultimately preferred to hire Christian Bale to play his superhero, but he was impressed by the casting of Cillian and offered him the role of one of the film’s villains, Dr. Jonathan Crane/The Scarecrow, who scares his enemies by playing on their greatest fears. A supporting role which allowed the actor to appear briefly throughout the Dark Knight trilogy. Then he found the filmmaker to Inception (2010), then for Dunkirk (2017) and finally to play the leading role ofOppenheimer. A film in which it was Downey Jr.’s turn to play his enemy!

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