Liam Neeson Kept Rejecting Nolan's Offer for Batman Begins' Ra’s al Ghul: 'You Don't Want Me'
Since we all saw Liam Neeson in Batman Begins, you’d think the actor gladly accepted Nolan’s offer, but he totally didn’t. In reality, he refused him more than once.
Christopher Nolan ’s The Dark Knight trilogy is nothing short of iconic in the world of superhero movies and is largely considered to be the best Batman adaptation of at least this century. It’s on point in borderline everything, and the brilliant cast of the movies has surely done its part, too. However, not everyone wanted to be included.
With Christian Bale ’s Bruce Wayne, we see his story from before he actually became Batman. The first movie of the trilogy, Batman Begins, reveals the tough training that went into creating Gotham’s legendary protector, and revolves around the League of Shadows — the organization that made billionaire Bruce into masked hero Batman.
The spiritual and factual leader of the League of Shadows, the man known only as Ra’s al Ghul, is a fearsome person whose gruesome plans for Gotham are revealed early on in the movie.
Still, he manages to surprise everybody by appearing later and sharing the beautiful story of not being killed by Bruce and proceeding with the plan.
In Batman Begins, Ra’s al Ghul was played by Liam Neeson, and he was an amazing choice for this gig. Everything that’s so scary about Ra’s al Ghul, Neeson adapted to perfection, and even as a viewer, you almost expect him to “find and kill” you at some point in the movie.
But the actor didn’t take the role eagerly; in fact, he kept refusing Christopher Nolan’s offer over and over again.
“[Liam] immediately started recommending other actors, saying ‘No, you don’t want me.’ <...> I don’t know if anything makes you more excited to work with that person because you see a sense of modesty about them, you see a sense of nervousness in a way, and that’s the kind of collaborative person that you want to collaborate with,” shared the director.
Nolan wasn’t about to let a humble legend like Liam Neeson just walk away and kept convincing the actor that he was the perfect feat.
Quite obviously, the director succeeded in the end, and his persistence paid off: Neeson portrayed the charismatic, commanding, scary, and self-righteous Ra’s al Ghul the movie needed.
Source: Christopher Nolan