BSP 2014 Advent Calendar: Day 8

Welcome to Day 8 of Bam Smack Pow’s 2014 Advent Calendar! Only seventeen more days left until Christmas, and that means seventeen more superhero films will be mined for trivia. For Day 8, we give you …

Batman Begins (2005)

After the debacle known as Batman & Robin (1997), Warner Brothers was looking for a fresh start for what was once their most coveted and lucrative franchise. They found their lifesaver in a relatively new filmmaker at the time — Christopher Nolan. Winning the confidence of studio heads with his pitch and vision, Nolan got the green light to start production. Batman Begins would become the first installment of what would later be known as the Dark Knight Trilogy — probably the greatest and most thrilling on-screen interpretation of Batman to ever grace the silver screen. The filmed opened to rave reviews from both critics and audiences, and went on to gain a worldwide box office haul of $411 million.

Batman Begins was directed by Christopher Nolan, written by Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer, and starred Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne / Batman, Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth, Liam Neeson as Henri Ducard / Ra’s al Ghul, Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes, Gary Oldman as James Gordon, Cillian Murphy as Dr. Jonathan Crane / Scarecrow, Tom Wilkinson as Carmine Falcone, and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox.

Trivia

Even before Batman Begins was a concept, Christian Bale was interested in playing the character of Bruce Wayne / Batman. This was due to a friend loaning him a copy of the graphic novel Arkham Asylum. After reading it, he told his agent that if anyone was making a new Batman film, he wanted to be part of it.
The actors who tested for the part of Bruce Wayne / Batman were Christian Bale, Joshua Jackson, Eion Bailey, Hugh Dancy, Billy Crudup, Cillian Murphy, Henry Cavill, and Jake Gyllenhaal. Christian Bale won the role, but Nolan liked Murphy’s audition so much that he cast him as the Scarecrow. Cavill would to go on to star as Clark Kent / Kal-El / Superman in the Nolan-produced Man of Steel (2013).
Keanu Reeves was interested in playing the role of Bruce Wayne / Batman.
Studio heads originally wanted Ashton Kutcher to play the role of Bruce Wayne / Batman, but Nolan hated the idea, which made them reconsider.
When Christian Bale won the part of Bruce Wayne / Batman, he was tasked with physically becoming the Dark Knight. This was made especially difficult because he had just finished filming The Machinist (2004), a film which required him to drop his weight down to 120 pounds. Within six months, through diet and exercise, Bale shot to a whopping 220 pounds. At one point, he became so large that he couldn’t fit into the Batsuit and had to lose 20 pounds.
In manipulating his own voice for Batman’s gruff voice, Christian Bale lost his voice three times during filming.
Christian Bale’s trailer had the name Bruce Wayne instead of his own.
Marilyn Manson, Christopher Eccelston, Ewan McGregor, and Jeremy Davies were all considered for the role of Dr. Jonathan Crane / Scarecrow.
Christopher Nolan was so fascinated with Cillian Murphy’s blue peepers that he purposely found reasons for his character to remove his glasses.
Sarah Michelle Gellar and Rachel McAdams were both considered for the role of Rachel Dawes.
The character of Rachel Dawes only exists in this film universe. Nolan and Goyer wrote it specifically for Katie Holmes, and Claire Danes and Reese Witherspoon were back-up actresses.
Michael Caine based his Alfred Pennyworth voice on a colonel he knew when he served in the military as an eighteen year-old. Caine wanted to give the audience a sense of loyalty, honor, and duty.
Both Viggo Mortensen and Daniel Day-Lewis turned down the role of Henri Ducard / Ra’s al Ghul.
When Christian Bale and Liam Neeson were filming their frozen lake katana duel, they could hear the ice cracking. The next morning, the ice had completely melted.
The line “rub your chest, your arms will take care of themselves” spoken by Henri Ducard to a cold and wet Bruce Wayne was an invention of Christopher Nolan’s. It has no scientific basis.
In the speaking scenes with Ken Watanabe as Ra’s al Ghul, the language he uses is nonsense. It was neither Tibetan nor Japanese.
In the scene where he wakes up in bed after recovering from the Scarecrow’s hallucinogenic gas, Christian Bale actually fell asleep in one of the takes.
Christian Bale was not allowed to be near the Tumbler / Batmobile for safety reasons.
The Tumbler / Batmobile was an actual working vehicle that had a top speed of 105 miles per hour.
Batman’s weaponry and suit were all based on actual military technology.
During a shoot in Chicago, a drunk driver crashed into the Tumbler / Batmobile. The drunk driver thought it was an alien spacecraft and panicked.
Christian Bale was so uncomfortable in the Batman costume that he used that frustration to fuel his portrayal of Batman.
Victor Zsasz, a serial killer from the comics who uses tally marks to count his victims, is seen being transferred to Arkham Asylum and as one of the inmates escaping from the same mental institution.
During the release of Batman Begins, Forbes Magazine evaluated how much it would cost to become Batman (training, equipment, etc.). The total came out to be $3.5 million.
To give his crew the vision he wanted, Christopher Nolan invited everyone to a screening of Blade Runner (1982). Afterwards, he told everyone that Batman Begins was to have the same mood.
The track names of the film’s score are all named after species of bats. The first letters of tracks 4 through 9 spell out “Batman.”
This is the fist live-action incarnation of the Scarecrow. The villain was supposed to be used in the fifth Batman film from the Tim Burton / Joel Schumacher era, but that film never saw the light of day.
To keep the view of the film objective, cast members received the script bearing the title of The Imitation Game.
Warner Brothers originally approached the Wachowskis to direct the film. They turned it down to finish the two sequels for The Matrix.
The film is heavily influenced by Batman: Year One.
Because there was no second unit, Nolan oversaw every shoot for the film.
This was the first time Gotham City was represented by a real city, Chicago. In the past, Gotham City was designed purely from imagination.
True to Nolan’s avoidance of visual effects, the Batcave was actually a full-scale set.
The slums of Gotham City were based on the past slums of Kowloon, Hong Kong.
There’s always the joke that Casino Royale (2006) should’ve been named Bond Begins, but there’s some truth to the humor. The mood of Batman Begins inspired Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccolli to reboot the Bond franchise as a darker interpretation with a focus on realism.
Both Tim Burton and Michael Keaton of Batman (1989) said they were impressed with Nolan’s Batman Begins.

Make sure to come back each day because we still have seventeen more days worth of superhero film trivia for you!

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A special thanks to Eric Dufresne for his amazing geometric superhero art that’s being used as the background for the advent calendar.

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