47 Fun Facts About Batman Begins

Who plays Bruce Wayne's father, Dr. Thomas Wayne, in Batman Begins?

Linus Roache plays Dr. Thomas Wayne, the physician who asks young Bruce 'why do we fall?' after the well accident and is later murdered in an alley beside his wife Martha.

Who plays Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins?

Christian Bale was confirmed in September 2003, beating a field that included Jake Gyllenhaal and Henry Cavill, who would star in Man of Steel a decade later.

Who co-wrote the Batman Begins screenplay with director Christopher Nolan?

David S. Goyer signed on two months after Nolan was hired, and he stayed on to develop the story of the sequel, The Dark Knight.

In Batman Begins, which Wayne Enterprises division does Lucius Fox run?

Lucius Fox runs Applied Sciences, the dead-end division whose shelved prototypes, including the Tumbler and the Nomex survival suit, become Batman's gear.

Which actor plays Henri Ducard, revealed to be the true Ra's al Ghul, in Batman Begins?

Liam Neeson plays Ducard, the mentor Bruce drags from the burning temple, who turns up at Bruce's birthday party as the real Ra's al Ghul and burns down Wayne Manor.

Which actor plays Dr. Jonathan Crane, the Scarecrow, in Batman Begins?

Cillian Murphy plays Crane; he was first asked to audition for Bruce Wayne, and Nolan cast him as the Scarecrow instead.

Who plays Alfred Pennyworth in Batman Begins?

Michael Caine plays Alfred, who hauls Bruce out of the burning manor and hands his father's lesson back to him: 'Why do we fall, sir?'

Which backstory did the actor playing Alfred in Batman Begins invent for the character?

He served in the SAS, the actor decided, and was hired after being wounded because Thomas Wayne wanted 'a butler, but someone a bit tougher than that'.

Which actor plays James Gordon in Batman Begins?

Gary Oldman plays Gordon, the honest sergeant who comforts young Bruce on the night of the murders and ends the film a lieutenant beside the new Bat-Signal.

In Batman Begins, who plays Bruce Wayne's childhood friend, the assistant district attorney?

Katie Holmes plays Bruce's friend turned prosecutor; she did not return for The Dark Knight, where Maggie Gyllenhaal took over the part.

Which character was written into Batman Begins in place of Harvey Dent?

Rachel Dawes, a character invented for the film, took the slot: the writers felt they could not do Harvey Dent justice, and he waited for The Dark Knight.

Who plays Lucius Fox in Batman Begins?

Morgan Freeman plays Lucius Fox, the sidelined Wayne Enterprises engineer who supplies Bruce's gear and is made CEO after Bruce buys a controlling stake.

Which actor plays the decoy Ra's al Ghul during Bruce's training in Batman Begins?

Ken Watanabe plays the decoy; the real Ra's al Ghul hides in plain sight as Bruce's mentor Ducard, a twist the film saves for the third act.

Which crime boss does Tom Wilkinson play in Batman Begins?

Carmine Falcone tells Bruce that real power comes from being feared, a lesson that turns on him when Crane's fear toxin drives him insane.

Which actor plays William Earle, the CEO taking Wayne Enterprises public, in Batman Begins?

Rutger Hauer plays Earle; at the end Bruce reveals he has bought a controlling stake through charities and trusts, and hands Earle's job to Lucius Fox.

Which future Game of Thrones actor appears in Batman Begins as a young admirer of Batman?

Jack Gleeson, later the cruel King Joffrey in Game of Thrones, plays a boy in the Narrows who is thrilled to meet Batman and is later saved by him from Ra's al Ghul's men.

Where does Bruce meet Ducard, who recruits him into the League of Shadows?

Bruce is in a prison in Bhutan, brawling with inmates, when Ducard visits his cell and offers him a path into the League of Shadows up the mountain.

In Batman Begins, which family outing on the night of the murders replaces the comics' Zorro film?

An opera: performers dressed as bats frighten young Bruce into asking to leave early, which puts the Waynes in the alley where they are shot.

In Batman Begins, where is the central hub that Ra's al Ghul's monorail attack targets?

The hub sits under Wayne Tower, the monorail's terminus; Batman fights Ra's aboard the train while Gordon wrecks the track with the Tumbler.

In the final scene of Batman Begins, what clue does Gordon hand Batman?

A Joker playing card: Gordon says the criminal who left it has 'a taste for the theatrical, like you', a tease paid off by Heath Ledger's Joker in The Dark Knight.

Which 1989 short story about Bruce's years of training abroad did Nolan call his 'jumping off point' for Batman Begins?

The Man Who Falls, by Denny O'Neil and Dick Giordano, follows Bruce's travels around the world, and its image of the boy's fall became the film's well scene.

Which film did Nolan cite as his model for the origin story and all-star supporting cast of Batman Begins?

Superman: Nolan pointed to Richard Donner's 1978 film, which set stars such as Marlon Brando and Gene Hackman around a little-known lead, as his model for the hero's growth.

Which 1982 film did Christopher Nolan screen for his Batman Begins crew as a lesson in building a credible universe?

Blade Runner: Nolan showed Ridley Scott's film to his cinematographer and two others, calling its world a lesson in a universe 'that doesn't appear to have any boundaries'.

Which glacier stood in for the Himalayas in the League of Shadows scenes of Batman Begins?

Vatnajökull, Iceland: Nolan chose Iceland for its bleak volcanic rock and glaciers, though 75 mph winds and a lack of snow made the shoot a struggle.

Which English country house stood in for Wayne Manor in Batman Begins?

Mentmore Towers, a Victorian mansion built for the Rothschilds, was picked from twenty candidates for its white floors, which made the manor feel like a memorial to Bruce's parents.

Which US city stood in for Gotham during the Tumbler chase?

The Tumbler chase ran through Chicago's Lower Wacker Drive, and the city raised the Franklin Street Bridge over the Chicago River for the Narrows sealing scene.

Which two composers wrote the Batman Begins score?

Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard shared the job because Zimmer, invited first, asked to bring Howard in; Zimmer took the action scenes and Howard the drama.

Which Hong Kong slum inspired the design of the Narrows in Batman Begins?

Kowloon Walled City: the designers worked from photographs of its covered alleyways and tangled pipes, taken before Hong Kong razed the ungoverned enclave in the 1990s.

In Batman Begins, what device does Ra's al Ghul steal from Wayne Enterprises to vaporize Gotham's water supply?

A microwave emitter: built for desert warfare to boil away an enemy's water, it lets Ra's turn the fear toxin already slipped into Gotham's mains into gas.

What engine powered the street-ready Tumblers built for Batman Begins?

A Chevy V8 of 5.7 litres, chosen as a reliable standard block, drove the 2.5-ton Tumbler, which was built as a real stunt car rather than a digital effect.

What happened on the first jump test of the Tumbler built for Batman Begins?

Its front end collapsed on the first jump test, so the chassis was rebuilt with longer-travel suspension and went on to make 30-foot jumps under its own power.

Which government body shared the electrostatic flocking process used on Batman's cape in Batman Begins?

The British Ministry of Defence shared the process with the costume team, who used it to flock the cape's parachute nylon so that it would billow like a cloak.

What was the codename of the secured Batsuit workshop at Shepperton Studios for Batman Begins?

Cape Town was a guarded compound where the costume team built a suit supple enough to fight and crouch in, unlike the stiff Batsuits of earlier films.

Which close-quarters fighting method was used for Batman's fights in Batman Begins?

Keysi, a Spanish method of tight, close-quarters moves, was chosen because Nolan wanted grittier fights where 'you feel the punches a bit more'.

For which film had the Batman Begins star starved himself to about 120 pounds?

The Machinist: he dropped to about 120 pounds for the 2004 thriller, regained roughly 100 pounds within months, overshot, and had to trim down again before filming began.

Which Asian capital hosted the world premiere of Batman Begins on May 31, 2005?

Tokyo hosted the world premiere two weeks before the US opening; the city's elevated freeways had also helped inspire the look of Nolan's Gotham.

Which earlier Batman film outgrossed Batman Begins worldwide?

Tim Burton's Batman took over $400 million worldwide in 1989, a total Nolan's first Batman film never matched, though its sequel The Dark Knight went on to pass $1 billion.

Batman Begins earned its only Academy Award nomination in which category?

Best Cinematography: Wally Pfister lost to Memoirs of a Geisha, was nominated twice more for Nolan films, and finally won the Oscar for Inception.

Which term did Batman Begins help popularise in Hollywood?

Reboot: the film restarted Batman from scratch, ignoring the four earlier films, and a year later Casino Royale did the same for James Bond.

Which 1997 film's failure led Warner Bros. to shelve the Batman series until Batman Begins?

Batman & Robin was panned in 1997, so Warner Bros. cancelled Joel Schumacher's planned sequel, Batman Unchained, and the series sat idle for eight years.

Which director-writer pitched his own Batman origin film to Warner Bros. before the studio hired Christopher Nolan?

Joss Whedon pitched a Batman screenplay as work began on what became Batman Begins; the studio went another way and hired Nolan in January 2003.

In Batman Begins, Dr. Jonathan Crane abuses his post as head of which Gotham institution?

Arkham Asylum: Crane keeps having the mob's thugs declared insane and moved into his asylum, out of the prosecutors' reach, while he smuggles his toxin into the city.

In Batman Begins, what does the assistant district attorney use to drive off the Scarecrow in the Narrows?

A taser: she fires it at the masked doctor's face as he bears down on her on horseback, and he bolts screaming into the night.

Which airship hangar housed the Narrows set built for Batman Begins?

Cardington, Bedfordshire: the Narrows rose inside one of two giant airship sheds there, and Nolan returned to the same hangar for The Dark Knight and Inception.

Which future Sons of Anarchy actor plays Arnold Flass, Gordon's corrupt partner, in Batman Begins?

Mark Boone Junior plays Flass, the bribe-taking detective Batman interrogates about the drug shipments; he later played Bobby Munson in Sons of Anarchy.

What must Bruce carry up the mountain to be admitted to the League of Shadows?

Ducard tells Bruce to pick a rare blue flower from the eastern slopes and carry it to the top of the mountain; the League later brews its fear toxin from the same flower.

What fuelled the working jet exhaust on one of the Batman Begins Tumblers?

Propane fed the jet car's working exhaust, so a Tumbler could shoot real flame on camera; each drivable car cost about $250,000 to build.