The Dark Knight Trilogy: 18 Cool Behind-The-Scenes Details You Didn't Know

7. Gary Oldman Was First Considered To Play Ra's Al Ghul

Gary Oldman Commissioner Gordon The Dark Knight
Warner Bros. Pictures

The role of Sergeant (later Commissioner) Gordon went to the great Gary Oldman, and it's fair to say that the actor was excited about playing a good guy for a change, since he was usually cast as the villain.

However, initially... Nolan wanted him to play the villain.

When the director first met with Oldman, it was to discuss the role of Ducard, who appears in Batman Begins as Bruce Wayne's mentor in the League Of Shadows. Later in the film, it's then revealed that Ducard is actually the villainous Ra's al Ghul, leading to a final confrontation with Batman inside a speeding train.

Ducard/Ra's al Ghul was ultimately played by Liam Neeson, and as talented as Oldman is, it's honestly hard to picture him in the role. Besides, his version of Gordon is awesome, so things definitely worked out for the best.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!