Batman Begins

[MacGuffin]

Neeson's Ducard, not Ra's!

According to VARIETY, Liam Neeson is playing Henry Ducard, not Ra's Al Ghul as everyone believed. VARIETY describes the role of Ducard as being a "mentor to Bruce Wayne." So, who the hell is going to play Ra's in this film? Could Viggo Mortensen--rumored earlier for the role--be the one that Nolan and company have in mind? Or is it someone else who's name has yet to pop up on the rumor mill? BatmanOnFilm is digging like heck to get to the bottom of this--stay tuned.

[Raikus]

Good news.

[Gold Trumpet]

Ben Kingsley would have been the best Ra's Al Ghul...

Great choice, but I don't see it hapenning. It'd be Ben Kingsley taking the basis of his work in House of Sand and Fog and applying it to a role of minimal work and likely little importance to him considering how picky he is just with dramas.

Viggo wouldn't work, he has no distinctive look to really suggest Ra Al Ghul, he's just the hot choice of masculinity in movies now and if character logic comes into play, twenty years too young. I'm not sure who'd be the best choice so here's hoping to it being Ben Kingsley.

[modage]

Watanabe to join cast? A MAJOR plot twist in BATMAN?
Friday, February 20, 2004: According to a new BOF scooper, actor Ken Watanabe (THE LAST SAMURAI) will soon be announced as a member of the BATMAN cast. And it is a MAJOR character--Ras Al Ghoul!  This source also let me in on a HUGE plot twist that is cool as hell--and that I know to be true beyond a shadow of a doubt. And one that I wish I didn't know, to be frank with you readers. And I'll never reveal it (So DON'T email me and ask--the answer is NO!), because I respect this film....This same source has told BOF that a young Harvey Dent--not Two-Face--is indeed in the script as speculated. BOF has long reported that Dent was included in the screenplay by Goyer and Nolan. So, who is playing him? Well, if the guy they wants takes the gig, at least he's worked with Nolan before.

[Sleuth]

The ending will blow us away!

[modage]

The ending will blow us away!

ebeaman will LOVE IT!

[Derek]

Ken Watanabe is playing an egyptian?

[Sleuth]

Ken Watanabe is playing an egyptian?

What do you have against him?  You don't think he can play one of them pyramid builders from far away?

[Derek]

I have nothing against him, it's just that he doesn't look egyptian...take a pill.

[Gold Trumpet]

acceptable casting.

[Gloria]

I wouldn't have thought of Watanabe as Ra's Al Ghul...but it could work.  He has the physical build, mystery, danger and dark chrisma to carry that kind of a character. I'm still hoping for the best.

[modage]

Watanabe had to decline BATMAN role? Quaid to be Gordon!?
Monday, February 23, 2004: This in overnight from one of BOF's best and longtime sources. This person knows. I know how he knows, but I can't reveal anything more about him. Let's just say that he has been dead on regarding many things beforehand--most recently with a certain girl who was cast in this film....

Ken Watanabe was offered the role of Ra's Al Ghul, and declined over scheduling problems. Warner Bros. then offered him the role of Ducard. Watanabe desperately wants to be involved in the "Batman" film, and the offer is still, apparently, there. I have no idea how this impacts on reports of Liam Neeson being cast as Ducard. Perhaps the initial reports of Nesson being cast as Ra's are correct, but I can't confirm or deny as I don't know. Also, expect a big or, at the very least, up-and-coming actor to be cast as Jim Gordon. There is a short list which I will have access to shortly. And FYI: The rumors of Laurence Fishburne being offered the part of Lucius Fox were complete lies. Fishburne is way too big a star for such a small role. That was total fanboy fantasy.

From this and what I can gather, Wantanabe is trying to get his schedule in order for him to take the role of Ra's Al Ghul. We should know how all this shakes out--plus other casting (Gordon, Falcone, & Dent) very soon....Speaking of Gordon, according to CINESCAPE ONLINE, "Dennis Quaid is 'close' to being signed for the part of Jim Gordon, the Gotham City beat cop that will one day become police Commissioner." BOF broke the story a while back that Quaid's name had been mentioned in conjunction for the role of Gordon--as far back as July of '03. I hope this pans out as I'd love to see Quaid get the role. The report also says--as BOF reported yesterday--that there is talk of making the official title of the film BATMAN BEGINS. Plus, there is a additional infor regarding The Batmobile and a fight scene. And it seems that CINESCAPE is doing the same thing that BOF and DARK HORIZONS is doing: not giving up major plot spoilers.

[modage]

Christian Bale on Taking the Role of Batman
Source: Superhero Hype! Monday, February 23, 2004

Superhero Hype! reports that Christian Bale commented on why he took the role of Batman in director Chris Nolan and Warner Bros.' upcoming adaptation. He was speaking at the Berlin International Film Festival where his new film, The Machinist, was screened.

"I think Batman is probably more aggresive than most everybody I've ever played, you know. I wanted to take it, because, firstly, when I heard that there was a consideration of doing more of the movies, I just felt like I hadn't been quite satisfied with what I'd seen in the other movies. Certainly in the last two," says Bale.

He said that "it seemed as though there was actually a real character here, that it wasn't just a bland kind of superhero, one-dimensional. With him there really was an interesting character to be played. I loved the kind of fantastical notion of the superhero, but at the same time being able to bring a psychologically interesting element to that."

Bale added the people behind the film were also a deciding factor whether or not to take the role. "Then Chris Nolan is directing who, you know, is not a director I would have expected to do this movie. So that was ideal to me, I liked the fact that the people hiring Chris, hiring myself, were going with people who did want to reinvent the story and have it not just be a continuation."

[MacGuffin]

Ken Watanabe is Ra's Al Ghul in Batman
Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Ken Watanabe, who is nominated for Best Supporting Actor for The Last Samurai, has been will be squaring off against Christian Bale in the upcoming new Batman movie, directed by Christopher Nolan. The Warner Bros. project is scheduled to start production next month in London.

Watanabe will play the villainous Ra's Al Ghul, an immortal strategic mastermind who wants to bring his own brand of order to the world.

He joins Bale, cast as Bruce Wayne/Batman; Michael Caine as Wayne's trusted butler Alfred; Katie Holmes as a childhood friend of Wayne's; Liam Neeson as Wayne's mentor Henri Ducard; and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox, a former board member and sidelined employee of Wayne Enterprises.

Watanabe made his English-language debut with Warner Bros.' "Samurai," though he has been acting since the early 1980s in Japan, where he is a household name, known for playing heroic samurai roles.

[Kal]

man this is a crazy foreign cast... i really like it!