Batman Begins Did you feel BB was in good hands?

[Green Ghoul]

What was your initial reaction when it was announced that Nolan was directing and Bale had landed the main role? Did you have any doubts, or did you think both were wise decisions from the get go?

I remember watching American Psycho for the first time and telling one of my friends, "why can't they get someone like this guy to play Batman".

As for Nolan, I never saw it coming. I loved Memento, but Nolan was still new in the industry. I knew the storytelling would be bumped up a notch. Nolan seemed like a smart man that made smart movies. On the other hand I pondered whether or not Nolan was visually right for the mythos.

Although I had minor doubts about Nolan, I felt Batman Begins was in good hands.

 

[Brother Jack]

I didn't really know who either of them were when they were first announced and I honestly didn't follow the development of the film very much. So when I saw the film I was pretty blown away, and sought after their work afterward.

 

[deathshead2]

I was 14 and had no clue who any of them were. I was just happy to hear about a batman movie.

 

[The Joker]

I knew of Christian Bale from American Psycho, so I thought he was a solid casting choice for Batman. Christopher Nolan, I was not familiar with.

But word of mouth about him was good, so I was optimistic.

 

[Mace Dolex]

I wasn't familiar with Nolan's films but I knew Bale from American Psycho, Equilibirum and thought he was perfect casting when the news broke out.

I had an inclination that this was going to be a huge departure from Batman & Robin from the first costume pics.

 

[Cain]

I always wanted Bale in the role so that was a good look, I was very impressed by Memento but not so much by the Insomnia remake even though I found the cinematography & the directing of Robin Williams quite enchanting so I knew that it had great potential to be something great.

My only concern was Goyer which as a movie geek was a concern of mine because even though I enjoyed certain projects he worked on he did have "hackish" aspects. I got a soft spot for Demonic Toys but it's cause I like b movie and the only solo work of his I really enjoyed were Blade and Death Warrant (lol). His finest hour was when he had people help him on the writing (Ie: Blade II and Dark City).

However the first draft leaked and I was quite impressed perhaps too much as I surprisingly didn't enjoy the end product with Nolan's touch ups as much as I thought I would. The first act of that movie was and still is my **** though & I was just thankful to see regular people talk about my favorite character in all of fiction in a positive light again after the embarrassment that was B&R. I remember those dark days where I would wear my Bat oval shirt and people would wonder why I would do that as Batman was no longer "cool" lol so I thank the creative team for changing that.

 

[Two-Face=Badass]

I first heard of it when I saw the trailer. I was in the Dark Ages of Batman fandom, I had lapsed in my interest for comic heroes. That said I honestly thought it would be okay and nothing more, as much like the latest version of King Kong the trailer focused a lot on the events preceding Batman so I had no idea until the end of it it was even DC related.

For some reason it didn't excite me all that much, though I was intrigued. Having no anticipation at all made it so much cooler when the film blew me away.

 

[david icke]

I had been blown away by Memento, I thought it was one of the most unique and enjoyable movies I'd ever seen, and still do. So, I was very excited by the Nolan announcement, and went out and bought Insomnia to check it out, i thought it was a pretty good movie, not totally amazing, but a quality flick, so I was comfortable with the director.

Bale...I was pissed off when i read that the studio had went cold on Bale after Equilibrium and Reign of Fire flopped, I didn't think that reflected on his ability as a performer at all, and was just studio bs. I am not sure what changed their mind, possiblt fan petitioning? but, of course, that would be moot as Nolan had control over the casting(except for KH, which was rumoured to be WB's only stipulation).
and of course, my wanting Bale was because of AP.

After Bale had went cold in the studio's eyes, and i was reading reports of Nolan meeting with David Boreanaz, I was fine with that as i am a big Buffy/angel fan, but still, I wanted Bale.

When I got a recording of that 1st teaser trailer off tv, I couldn't stop watching it, I wish they had put that on the dvd as it of course has non-movie footage.

 

[Travesty]

I was here(and whoever hacked my original account, F' you!) and at BOF about a year or so before the movie came out, so I was following it pretty closely. I normally stayed at BOF at the time, but I knew of Nolan through Momento and Insomnia. When I heard about Bale, I didn't really know who he was, even though I saw American Psycho. And when we were getting rumors that the Batmobile was going to be a tank, I thought they were doing TDKR, but then it was said to be an origin movie, so I was kinda confused. Then, the official pics started to come out slowly, and I was just FLOORED by it all. Everything looked AMAZING in my eyes. I liked how the first few pics gave me a feeling of an old gangster movie, cause everybody was in a suit and tie, and it just had this "feeling" to it. Then The Tumbler pics came out, and I was skeptical, but still very optimistic, and then when the Bat-suit was revealed, any worry I had, was gone. The atmosphere looked great, and the cast felt strong. Then I heard the teaser was gonna be attached to a certain movie(forgot which one it was), and I made all my friends go, just so I can see the teaser. After the teaser was done, I had the biggest grin on my face, and all my friends agreed with me, and said that it looked promising.

Bing, bang, boom-and we're all here now.

 

[El Payaso]

I was absolutely happy with Nolan. I didn't know Goyer much, except that he was constantly attached to a Flash movie. But Nolan was all good news for me.

But I had been executed about Raimi and Spiderman and I didn't like it that much so I tried to be cautious.

In the end it was a promising movie that showed hints of what could be new standards for the genre. But the overall results was all splattered with average hollyoodisms that didn't allow it to fly above other similar movies.

 

[ImWithTeamConan]

I would say it was about as perfect as it could get for me.

I had got in early on Memento thanks to one of my teachers in high school always telling us about cool movies we should check out. It mesmerized me and I was immediately a Nolan fan, even saw Insomnia in theaters.

Bale was always my pick for Batman. ALWAYS. Me and my best friend had to go and sign up at Blockbuster just so we could rent American Psycho when it came out on DVD and after that I was always a Bale fan. Still am, he is my favorite actor, period.

So when Nolan was to direct BB I was thrilled, but then when he cast Bale......I was gone, man, gone.

 

[Doc Samson]

I wasn't familiar with Bale at all, but I was very....surprised with Nolan. Memento & Insomnia were two of my favorite movies at the time, particularly Memento, but neither one of them have the level of action a Batman film would, so for me, there was always some trepidation about that. I knew Nolan could pull off the quiet, dark, more in depth character stuff, but I wasn't so sure about the action. Needless to say I think he's handled himself well, especially in TDK, and I think he may even be better with the action in the next one

 

[returntovoid]

I didn't know s**t about the creative team/cast of Batman Begins, the only actors I was familiar with were Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson and Michael Caine. I did very closely follow the films development on Superhero Hype (I was not a member on the forum, back then) plus various other websites.

I was blown away by Batman Begin's sheer awesomeness that my interest in Batman got revived.

 

[VenomVsSpidey]

True story : I was so unsure of batman being back on the big screen by the same people that killed him, that I didn't even see this till a month before the dark knight.

 

[El Payaso]

say WHAT????

 

[VenomVsSpidey]

here let me help you man.

 

[Two-Face]

I seen Nolan's and Bale's films before I thought the films were good and Goyer was a just such a fanboy sO I knew new Batman film in very good hands. I watched all BB's cast films again.

 

[Paste Pot Pete]

I was very excited.

I loved Memento, and had just seen Insomnia recently, so I was glad to see it in the hands of a young, exciting, talented director.

Bale being cast was a very exciting day, too. He had been my pick since I first saw American Psycho. I was quite astonished, actually, that for once a casting matched up with my pick.

Happened again recently though, with Hugo Weaving as Red Skull. I've wanted him for the role for quite a while, way before Joe Johnston was even on board. Seeing him in Wolfman made it closer to a reality.