Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy could have looked a whole lot different if writer David S. Goyer and the studio had gotten their respective ways. As it turns out, Goyer wanted Jake Gyllenhaal as Batman and Warner Bros. pushed for Leonardo DiCaprio to play The Riddler.
While Goyer admitted on the Happy Sad Confused podcast that he actively pushed for Jake Gyllenhaal to play the Caped Crusader, he’s far from being against Christian Bale’s interpretation of Batman; it actually comes across more that he wonders what the trilogy would have been with his choice behind the cowl. “I mean, Gyllenhaal’s amazing, Christian Bale’s amazing, so who knows what.”
And if you think Gyllenhaal as Batman is a huge “What if…?”, consider that the studio thought it would be a good idea to work in one of Hollywood’s biggest stars to step in as The Riddler for The Dark Knight Rises. As Goyer explained, “After ‘The Dark Knight,’ the head of Warner Bros. at the premiere said, ‘You got to do the Riddler. Leo as the Riddler. You got to tell Chris, Leo as The Riddler.’ And that’s not the way we work.”
Jake Gyllenhaal has been tied to Batman before, with rumors floating back in 2017 that director Matt Reeves wanted him as the replacement for Ben Affleck, who himself admits he didn’t exactly “jive” with the idea of developing the character further than he had to. Affleck’s Batman had a cameo in The Flash.
The same year that The Dark Knight Rises hit theaters, DiCaprio instead starred in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, which is undoubtedly one of his strongest performances. Gyllenhaal, meanwhile, led actioner End of Watch. The main villain role went to Tom Hardy, who thankfully wasn’t forced to play The Riddler…
David S. Goyer has a co-writer credit on Batman Begins and story credits on both The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises.
How do you think the casting would have turned out? Could Jake Gyllenhaal have made a good Batman? Is The Riddler the sort of character Leonardo DiCaprio could pull off? Give us your take in the comments section below!
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