Guy Pearce reveals shock reason he missed out on Batman role despite friendship with Christopher Nolan

Guy Pearce has revealed the surprising reason he missed out on a role in Christopher Nolan’s Batman films, despite being friends with the director.

The critically acclaimed trilogy began with the release of 2005’s Batman Begins, starring Christian Bale as the title character and Liam Neeson as the villain Ra’s Al Ghul.

Pearce had previously played the lead role of an amnesiac in Nolan’s 2001 neo-noir film Memento, alongside The Matrix bombshell Carrie-Anne Moss.

When it came time to cast Batman Begins, Nolan thought highly of Pearce enough to fly him to London to read for Ra’s Al Ghul.

Pearce, 57, was ultimately denied the role due to circumstances beyond his control – and has never worked with Nolan since.

Now he’s finally revealed the real reason why they haven’t taken a photo together in almost a quarter of a century, in an interview with Vanity fair.

Christian Bale played the title character in the trilogy, which consisted of Batman Begins in 2005, The Dark Knight in 2008 and The Dark Knight Rises in 2012.

The problem was that immediately after Memento, Nolan began a long professional relationship with Warner Bros., with one particular director not being a fan of Pearce’s acting and vowing to “never” cast him.

Nolan directed nine films during his 18 years at Warner Bros. including some of his most enduring classics.

During his time with the distributor, he made his beloved Batman films, The Prestige, Inception, Interstellar, Dunkirk and finally Tenet in 2020.

Nolan “talked to me about roles a few times over the years,” Pearce said in his new interview. ‘The first Batman and The Prestige.’

He did not specify which role he was discussing in The Prestige, a 2006 thriller starring Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale as dueling stage magicians in Victorian London.

The Australian actor recalled, “But there was an executive at Warner Bros. who very openly said to my agent, “I don’t get Guy Pearce. I’m never going to get Guy Pearce. I’m never going to hire Guy.” Pear.”‘

He reasoned, “So in a way that’s good to know. I mean, fair enough; There are actors I don’t understand. But it meant I could never work with Chris.”

Pearce noted that the director “just didn’t believe in me as an actor,” which is why the role of Batman Begins’ villain was ripped from his grasp.

Pearce had previously played the lead role of an amnesiac in Nolan’s 2001 neo-noir film Memento (pictured), alongside The Matrix bombshell Carrie-Anne Moss

The critically acclaimed trilogy began with the release of 2005’s Batman Begins, in which Liam Neeson played the villain Ra’s al Ghul – the role that Nolan asked Pearce to read

Nolan is pictured Tuesday interviewing fellow iconic filmmaker Ridley Scott on stage in Los Angeles in support of his film Gladiator II

“They flew me to London to discuss the role of Liam Neeson and I think during my flight it was decided that I wouldn’t be in the film,” he said.

“So I get there and Chris says, ‘Hey, do you want to see the Batmobile and go to dinner?'” said the star of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert.

After Batman Begins, the trilogy included the 2008 fan-favorite film The Dark Knight, for which Heath Ledger posthumously won an Oscar as the Joker, and then the 2012 release The Dark Knight Rises, which saw Neeson return as Ra’s Al Ghul in flashback.

The door has apparently opened again for Pearce to work with the director, as Nolan is no longer at Warner Bros. has been since his 2020 action thriller Tenet.

Tenet turned out to be a box office bomb after Nolan signed with Warner Bros. had negotiated to release the film theatrically, rather than going straight to streaming as some other films did amid that year’s COVID-19 lockdowns.

The following year, Warner Bros. released released its entire theatrical schedule simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max, prompting a scathing response from Nolan.

‘In 2021, they have some of the best filmmakers in the world, they have some of the biggest stars in the world who in some cases have spent years working on these projects that are close to their hearts and that are meant to be big – screen experiences. The intention is to make them available to the widest possible audience,” he said Entertainment tonight.

“And now they’re being used without any consultation as a loss leader for the streaming service — for the upstart streaming service. So there is a lot of controversy. It’s very, very, very messy. A real bait and switch.”

During his time at the distributor, he made his beloved Batman films, Dunkirk, The Prestige, Inception, Interstellar and finally Tenet in 2020; Harry Styles is pictured in Dunkirk

This year, Pearce played a major role in the three-and-a-half-hour historical epic The Brutalist, playing a post-war American industrialist.

His first film since then was last year’s critically acclaimed hit Oppenheimer, which he released with Universal Pictures.

Despite Warner Bros.’ tries to lure him back into their fold, Nolan will continue to work with Universal Pictures on his next film, set for release in 2026.

Although the project is still shrouded in mystery, the all-star cast includes Tom Holland, Zendaya, Matt Damon, Charlize Theron and Anne Hathaway.

This year, Pearce played a major role in the three-and-a-half-hour historical epic The Brutalist, in which he plays an American industrialist who employs the protagonist of Adrien Brody, a Hungarian Jewish architect who survived the Holocaust.