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

3. Nolan Met With Heath Ledger To Discuss Him Playing Batman

Heath Ledger's Joker The Dark Knight
Warner Bros. Pictures

Before Christian Bale was cast as the first movie Batman of the 21st century, Nolan met with dozens of other potential candidates, and one of those candidates was the man who would one day win an Oscar for playing the Joker: Heath Ledger.

However, in those pre-Batman Begins days, Ledger explained to Nolan that he simply wasn't interested in doing a superhero project.

So, what changed his mind when it came to The Dark Knight?

Well, Ledger saw Batman Begins, and was so impressed with what Nolan managed to accomplish that he called the director to chat about a possible collaboration.

That's right. Nolan didn't go to Ledger - Ledger went to Nolan.

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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!