Robert Downey Jr. Says He Met For Scarecrow In ‘Batman Begins’ But Christopher Nolan Wasn’t Into Him

Jenelle Riley Deputy Awards and Features Editor One of the most reliably charming presences on the circuit all season has been Robert Downey Jr. as he speaks about “Oppenheimer,” particularly Christopher Nolan.

Christopher Nolan has revealed the reason why his longtime collaborator Michael Caine didn’t appear in Oppenheimer.The Oscar-nominated film took the box office by storm last year, and saw Cillian Murphy take on the role of the titular theoretical physicist who helped develop the first nuclear bomb.The project marked Murphy’s sixth time working with the renowned director, and first time taking on the lead role following supporting slots in Batman Begins and Dunkirk.However, Oppenheimer did not feature an appearance from another one of the director’s longtime collaborators: Michael Caine.The London actor has featured in eight of his films including The Dark Knight, Inception, Dunkirk, The Prestige and Interstellar, and speaking at the British Film Institute chairman’s dinner, Nolan shed light on why he didn’t take on a role in the 2023 blockbuster.Accepting the BFI Fellowship, Nolan explained that he was willing to have Caine in the movie, but the actor jokingly turned it down, saying: “OK, enough is enough” (via Variety).Discussing his reaction to Caine sitting Oppenheimer out, Nolan said: “I had to go off on my own. OK, I haven’t got Michael Caine, I’d better get Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr, Kenneth Branagh, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett, Cillian Murphy, Tom Conti, and hoped that all those greats would add up to one Michael Caine.”He later added: “So many people have helped me, so many people have been there for me, in so many different ways.

Filmmaking duo Veronika Franz And Severin Fiala, best known Goodnight Mommy, which was Austria’s 2014 entry for Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, and the Riley Keough-led The Lodge, have signed on to direct the horror feature A Head Full of Ghosts. Production is set to begin later this year.

HBO has several highly anticipated titles premiering on its network and Max in 2024, with “True Detective: Night Country” and “Tokyo Vice” Season 2 already bowing. Kate Winslet in “The Regime” is the next big title to drop next month, but after that comes “The Sympathizer,” Park Chan-wook‘s latest foray into TV.

Naman Ramachandran “A Head Full of Ghosts,” an adaptation of Paul Tremblay’s Bram Stoker Award-winning novel, will be directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala. The horror feature will be adapted and directed by Franz and Fiala, the filmmaking duo best known for horror-thriller hit, “Goodnight Mommy,” which was selected as Austria’s 2014 Oscar entry, and the Riley Keough-led “The Lodge,” which premiered at Sundance and was acquired by Neon in 2019. Their next film, “The Devil’s Bath,” is competing for the Golden Bear at the ongoing Berlin Film Festival.

The teaser trailer for HBO’s upcoming limited series The Sympathizer has debuted online!

Christopher Nolan has responded to Robert Downey Jr.’s recent viral comments, revealing that he was slightly “afraid” of the actor when they first met.The actor – who has been nominated for an Oscar for his performance in Nolan’s latest movie, Oppenheimer – revealed that he had met with the director in the early ’00s in hopes to play the villain Scarecrow in Batman Begins.Downey shared that Nolan didn’t seem interested in casting the future Iron Man star, saying: “He was polite and all that. But you can tell when someone is kind of like, “It’s not going to go anywhere.’”Now, in an interview with the actor for The New York Times, Nolan has confirmed the story.“I 100 per cent knew you weren’t the guy,” said Nolan, who ultimately went on to cast Cillian Murphy in the role of Scarecrow.“In my head that was already cast.

When you think of filmmakers working today in terms of teams, one of the easiest ways to separate them is by their public statements about Marvel films. (Yes, this is reductive, but it’s sadly quite true.) There are folks like Martin Scorsese who famously called out Marvel and franchise filmmaking in general as detrimental to the art of cinema.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Robert Downey Jr. made headlines earlier this month when he revealed that he first met his “Oppenheimer” director Christopher Nolan back in the early 2000s in order to nab the role of Scarecrow in the director’s 2005 superhero tentpole “Batman Begins.” Downey said Nolan wasn’t too interested in casting him, which Nolan fully admitted in a recent interview with the actor for The New York Times. “I 100% knew you weren’t the guy [for Scarecrow],” said Nolan, who eventually cast his “Oppenheimer” leading man Cillian Murphy as the Batman villain.

Robert Downey Jr. is winning big!

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Christopher Nolan appeared on “The Late Show” for a lengthy discussion with Stephen Colbert in which the filmmaker heaped praise on his “Oppenheimer” star Robert Downey Jr., who is widely considered the Oscar frontrunner for best supporting actor. Nolan said he always wanted to work with Downey because of his “generosity” and “charisma.” The director went on to call Downey’s role as Iron Man, which birthed the Marvel Cinematic Universe and carried it for a decade, one of the most important casting decisions ever made. “With anybody you work with, with actors…you’re looking for some kind of connection emotionally, empathetically,” Nolan said about being drawn to Downey.

Christopher Nolan had a Shakespearian moment when he came to The Late Show. In a reverse of Marc Antony, he came to praise Robert Downey Jr., his Oppenheimer star, not to bury him.

The Oscars remain about a month away, but all eyes are on the final showdown between “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer.” Which movie of the “Barbenheimer” crazy will win the most awards at the ceremony?  Christopher Nolan‘s film leads Greta Gerwig‘s with 13 nominations against 8, but more crucial questions prevail: like, will Ryan Gosling perform “I’m Just Ken” live on the telecast? Continue reading ‘Barbie’: Ryan Gosling Initially Turned Down Ken Role Due To Scheduling Conflicts, But Greta Gerwig & Margot Wouldn’t Let Him Say No at The Playlist.

Christopher Nolan has praised TV series The Curse, calling it “unlike anything [he’s] ever seen on television before”.The Oppenheimer director shared his enthusiasm at a recent screening for the Showtime series, which stars Emma Stone and Nathan Fielder and made its debut last year.While moderating a discussion with co-creators Fielder and Benny Safdie – the latter of whom starred in Oppenheimer – Nolan said: “Congratulations on an incredible show that’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen on television before.“There are so few shows that come along that genuinely have no precedents,” the director added. “I mean, you’re going back to things like Twin Peaks or The Prisoner or Dennis Potter’s Singing Detective — things like that.

Christopher Nolan recently moderated a panel for The Curse, the Showtime series that stars Nathan Fielder and Emma Stone.

Robert Downey Jr. opened up about losing at the Academy Awards.

In an interview with the cohosts of The View posted Wednesday, Robert Downey Jr., said that not winnig his first of three Academy Award nominations for playing Charlie Chaplin in 1992’s Chaplin came as a relief.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Robert Downey Jr. just picked up his third career Oscar nomination, this time in the supporting actor race for his performance in Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer.” Many pundits are viewing Downey Jr. as the Oscar frontrunner after he won the same category at the Golden Globes and Critic’s Choice Award, plus picked up nominations from the BAFTA Film Awards and the Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Ethan Shanfeld Christopher Nolan is reuniting with Warner Bros. for a theatrical re-release of his time-hopping 2020 sci-fi film “Tenet.” It will return to movie theaters — on 70mm Imax, Imax, digital and 70mm film screens — for one week only, starting Feb. 23.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor “Oppenheimer” has surged ahead of its competition, potentially becoming one of the most dominant Oscar winners since “Slumdog Millionaire” (2008), which garnered eight statuettes. Looking at the state of the race post-nominations, the Universal Pictures’ blockbuster could make an even bigger impact. Christopher Nolan’s historical drama about the father of the Atomic bomb leads the tally with 13, making it the 11th movie to reach such a gargantuan Oscars nomination count.