Here's the whole excerpt for those interested, or just simply type "batman begins" in wikipedia search box:
"
Cast
Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne / Batman: Wayne is a billionaire industrialist whose parents were killed by a mugger when he was eight years old. Traveling the world for several years to seek the means to fight injustice, he returns to Gotham. At night, Bruce becomes Batman, Gotham City's vigilante protector. Bale was cast on September 11, 2003,[2] having expressed interest in playing Batman since Darren Aronofsky was planning his own film adaptation.[3] Some of the early candidates for Batman/Bruce Wayne were Billy Crudup, Jake Gyllenhaal, Hugh Dancy, Joshua Jackson, Eion Bailey, and Cillian Murphy for the role.[2] Bale felt the previous films underused Batman's character, overplaying the villains instead.[4] To best pose as Batman, Bale studied graphic novels and illustrations of the superhero.[5]
Director Nolan said of Bale, "He has exactly the balance of darkness and light that we were looking for."
[6] Goyer stated that while some actors could play a great Bruce Wayne or a great Batman, Bale could portray both radically different personalities.
[7] Bale described the part as playing four characters: the raging Batman persona; the shallow playboy façade Bruce uses to ward off suspicion; the vengeful young man; and the older, angrier Bruce who is discovering his purpose in life.
[8] Bale's dislike of his costume, which heated up regularly, helped him get into a necessarily foul mood. He said, "Batman's meant to be fierce, and you become a beast in that suit, as Batman should be—not a man in a suit, but a different creature."
[5]
Since he had lost a great deal of weight in preparation for his role in
The Machinist, Bale hired a personal trainer to help him gain 100 pounds (45 kg) in the span of only a couple of months to help him physically prepare for the role. He first went well over the weight required and created concern over whether he would look right for the part. Bale recognized that his large physique was not appropriate for Batman, who relies on speed and strategy. He lost the excess weight by the time filming began.
[7] The role of Bruce Wayne at age eight was portrayed by
Gus Lewis.
[9]
Michael Caine as
Alfred Pennyworth: The trusted butler to Bruce Wayne's parents, who continues his loyal service to their son after their deaths. He is Bruce Wayne's closest confidant. Nolan felt Caine would effectively portray the
foster father element of the character.
[7] Although Alfred's family is depicted in the film as having served the Wayne family for generations, Caine created his own backstory, in that before becoming Wayne's butler, Alfred served in the
Special Air Service. After being wounded, he was invited to the position of the Wayne family butler by Thomas Wayne because, "He wanted a butler, but someone a bit tougher than that, you know?"
[10]
Liam Neeson as
Henri Ducard: In reality the true
Ra's al Ghul in disguise, Ducard trains Bruce in
ninjutsu, a form of
martial arts. Writer David Goyer said he felt Ra's was the most complex of all the Batman villains, comparing him to
Osama bin Laden as, "He's not crazy in the way that all the other Batman villains are. He's not bent on revenge; he's actually trying to heal the world. He's just doing it by very
draconian means."
[11] Neeson is commonly cast as a mentor, so the revelation that his character was the main villain was intended to shock viewers.
[7]
Katie Holmes as
Rachel Dawes: Bruce's childhood friend who serves as Gotham City's assistant
district attorney, fighting against the corruption in the city. Nolan found a "tremendous warmth and great emotional appeal" in Holmes, and also felt "she has a maturity beyond her years that comes across in the film and is essential to the idea that Rachel is something of a moral conscience for Bruce".
[12]
Emma Lockhart as the young Rachel Dawes.
Gary Oldman as
Sgt. James Gordon: One of the few uncorrupted
Gotham City police officers. He was the officer on duty the night of the murder of Bruce Wayne's parents. In this way, he shares a special bond with the adult Bruce and thus with Batman. Nolan originally wanted to cast Oldman as a villain,
[13] but when
Chris Cooper turned down the role of Gordon to spend time with his family he decided that it would be refreshing for Oldman to play the role instead.
[14] "I embody the themes of the movie which are the values of family, courage and compassion and a sense of right and wrong, good and bad and justice," Oldman said of his character. Oldman filmed most of his scenes in Britain.
[15] Goyer said Oldman heavily resembled Gordon as drawn by
David Mazzucchelli in
Batman: Year One.
[7]
Cillian Murphy as
Dr. Jonathan Crane / The Scarecrow: A
psychopharmacologist who works at
Arkham Asylum and has developed fear-inducing toxins. He takes on the persona of the Scarecrow to use during his experiments, in which he uses his patients as human
guinea pigs for his toxins. He is the primary antagonist and works with Ra's Al Ghul and Carmine Falcone, who all three work together. Nolan decided against Irish actor Murphy for Batman, before casting him as Scarecrow.
[16] Murphy read numerous comics featuring the Scarecrow, and discussed making the character look less theatrical with Nolan. Murphy explained, "I wanted to avoid the
Worzel Gummidge look, because he's not a very physically imposing man—he's more interested in the manipulation of the mind and what that can do."
[17]
Tom Wilkinson as
Carmine Falcone: The ruler of the Gotham City underworld. He had shared a prison cell with Joe Chill after Joe murdered Wayne's parents. He had Chill murdered when he decided to testify against Falcone. He goes into business with Dr. Jonathan Crane and Ra's Al Ghul by smuggling a fear toxin through a shipment and putting it in the city's water supply.
Morgan Freeman as
Lucius Fox: A high-ranking
Wayne Enterprises employee who was demoted to working in the company's Applied Science Division, where he conducts advanced studies in
biochemistry and
mechanical engineering. Fox supplies Bruce with much of the gear necessary to carry out Batman's mission and is promoted to CEO when Bruce repossesses the company by the end of the film. Freeman was Goyer's first and only choice for the role.
[7]
Other cast members include
Rutger Hauer as William Earle, the CEO of Wayne Enterprises who takes the company public in the long-term absence of Bruce Wayne;
Mark Boone Junior as Gordon's corrupt partner
Detective Arnold Flass;
Ken Watanabe as Ra's al Ghul's decoy;
Colin McFarlane as
Police commissioner Gillian B. Loeb;
Linus Roache and
Sara Stewart as
Thomas and
Martha Wayne, Bruce's parents;
Richard Brake as
Joe Chill, the Waynes' killer; and
Rade Šerbedžija as a homeless man, who is the last person to meet Bruce when he leaves Gotham, and the first civilian to see Batman."
Anyways, David's acting isn't too bad, and I think he could have pulled it off. He seems to have a good build for the role.
I'm not putting Bale down by any means though.
